Rants

Monday Nitro – August 3, 1998

By Scott Keith on 26th December 2013

Monday
Nitro #148

Date:
August 3, 1998

Location:
Denver Coliseum, Denver, Colorado

Attendance:
7,697

Commentators:
Mike Tenay, Larry Zbyszko, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

It’s
the go home show for Road Wild and up to this point there are only a
few matches announced. One of the matches that hasn’t been
officially announced yet is the main event, which presents even more
problems for the mess that WCW is in at the moment. The Leno match
will draw money, but you need a lot more than five days to promote a
match like that. On top of that, we still don’t have a match for
Goldberg and the potential battle royal between the NWO camps has
only been mentioned. Let’s get to it.

We
open with a recap of Goldberg’s HUGE 20 second speech and run-in to
close out the show last week, only to see him get chokeslammed by
Giant.

Opening
sequence.

Nitro
Girls.

Heenan
is on commentary to start things off for some reason. Apparently
Larry is in a meeting with Time Warner executives.

We
get a clip from the Tonight Show on Wednesday with Hogan and Bischoff
taking over. Page and security chased them off a few seconds later
and Leno/Page vs. Hogan/Bischoff is official for the PPV. Publicity
on NBC is a great thing, but having it announced a week or so earlier
would have helped a lot.

Here’s
DDP with something to say. He had to twist Leno’s arm a little bit
but Jay will be in the ring in Strugis. There won’t be anything left
of Scum Hogan and Sleazy E after Road Wild because Leno will clean
house with Bischoff.

Barbarian
vs. Diamond Dallas Page

Apparently
Barbarian came out here for a match with an unnamed opponent but
Jimmy Hart issues a challenge. Page starts with a swinging
neckbreaker and a hiptoss but Barbarian slips away from the Diamond
Cutter. Jimmy distracts the referee and Barbarian gets in a low blow
to take over. Page comes back from some choking in the corner with
rights and lefts, only to have Barbarian pound him down again. A
clothesline drops Barbie but he shoves the Cutter away again. He
blocks it a third time but Page finally pulls him down for the pin.

Rating:
D+. The match was nothing to
see but the ending was a nice idea for a change. I kind of like
someone just shoving Page off instead of going down, especially when
it’s someone you would expect to get pinned in a few seconds. This
actually wasn’t a glorified squash, much to my surprise.

More
fake Hogan on the Tonight Show.

Larry
has taken Heenan’s place and talks about the meeting with Time
Warner. Short version: nothing has changed at all.

We
look at every major match last week as this seems to be another recap
heavy show.

Travis
Tritt Road Wild promo.

Another
Tonight Show clip with Hogan and Bischoff coming out to yell at Leno
for his jokes.

And
now…..NWO Nightcap. You get the idea here: band, stupid jokes,
Leno impressions, threat to Kevin Eubanks, Monica Lewinsky jokes, Jay
Leno jokes, Monica Lewinsky and Jay Leno jokes. The guest is Hogan
of course and we look at more Tonight Show clips of Hogan and
Bischoff storming the set to yell at Leno. Kevin Eubanks came to his
rescue but the NWO took over the show anyway.

Hogan
calls that the shove that changed history and threatens Page a bit.
NBC wants Hogan and Bischoff to take over the Tonight Show after Road
Wild. We get even more trash talk as this just keeps going. They
kept it short this week and only ate up 13 minutes. Remember that
when you see who isn’t on the show tonight.

We
look at Hogan shoving Leno again before we go to break.

To
keep the trend going, here’s a video on Bret Hart.

Tokyo
Magnum vs. Psychosis

This
is supposed to be Psychosis vs. Disco Inferno but he swaps out for
Tokyo instead. Psychosis is cool with that and stomps on Magnum in
the corner but Scott Norton comes in to beat them both up after about
15 seconds.

Norton
issues an open challenge to anyone in WCW for a fight later this
evening. Hugh Morrus comes out to answer the challenge and gets
powerbombed about four seconds later.

Another
video from last week with Bret talking about his respect for Sting
and refusing to fight him later in the night. The promo confirmed
that Bret is officially not part of the NWO.

Hour
#2 begins as I feel sorry for the crowd for the second week in a row.

Nitro
Girls in gold.

Nitro
Party Pack winner. They showed what the Party Pack for once and it
appears to be a bunch of plates and napkins with the Nitro logo.
That would certainly make me want to film a big party let me tell
you.

Time
for more Goldberg talking. Goldberg says Saturday is payback time
for the Giant because the champ is going to enter the NWO battle
royal. He’ll fight anyone to get to Giant, including Sting. That
brings out Sting himself for a showdown but Giant and the Black and
White show up on the stage. Goldberg runs through the goons and
chases Giant off as Bret Hart walks out. Some papers have fallen
from the ceiling, saying “Goldberg, you’re next!”

Back
from a break with Sting in the back, looking over an unconscious Lex
Luger. Sting leaves as soon as medics show up.

Brian
Adams vs. Jim Duggan

Duggan
slugs away and hits some bad looking clotheslines to send Adams to
the floor. Back in and an ax handle to the chest puts Adams down
again but he forearms Duggan in the head. We hit the chinlock on
Duggan before he makes his comeback and crotches Adams on the ropes.
Vincent comes in with the board and the distraction lets Adams
piledrive Duggan down for the pin.

Rating:
D-. When Brian Adams is the better worker you have in a match, you’re
not having the most interesting outing in the world. Was Jim Duggan
really popular enough to warrant getting this many TV appearances?
At least he’s only jobbing and not out there taking away anyone’s
heat.

Bret
Hart comes out of the trainer’s room. He denies having anything to
do with Luger being attacked before offering his services to Sting as
a replacement partner in Luger’s place tonight.

Gene
is on a motorcycle and talks about riding to Sturgis.

Video
on Raven, talking about a lack of joy.

Here’s
the Flock to say Sick Boy vs. Kanyon isn’t happening tonight because
Kanyon is nowhere to be fine. Raven suggests that Kanyon has joined
the Flock. If that’s the case, Saturn is in big trouble on Sunday.
Raven breaks Lodi’s fingers for fun until Saturn makes the save. He
helps Lodi up but Lodi shoves him away, earning a Death Valley
Driver.

Bret
Hart is caught in the back with Scott Hall.

More
of Hogan shoving Leno.

More
Nitro Girls.

There’s
even MORE talking as we’re halfway through the show. This time it’s
JJ Dillon who asks to speak to Dean Malenko. Dean says the loss last
week was last week and he’s not going to cry about it. Jericho was
the better man last week and if he was here, Dean would tell him to
his face. Now a good heel would be out there immediately to make
Dean say that to his face.

Thankfully
for us, Jericho is an awesome heel so here he is to gloat in person.
Jericho goes on a rant about how he was unstoppable last week and
says Malenko will never get to face him again. Dean says that’s not
entirely true. JoJo says that since Jericho has a history of
cheating, there will be a guest referee. Jericho somehow doesn’t see
it coming and says he doesn’t care. The referee of course: Dean
Malenko.

Eddie
Guerrero vs. Juventud Guerrera

The
announcers talk about Sting leaving the building at some point in the
last half hour and Heenan sounds BOMBED. Juvy offers a handshake to
start but gets slapped in the face instead. Guerrera doesn’t take
kindly to that and dropkicks Eddie in the chest. Jericho vs.
Guerrera for the Cruiserweight Title is official for Road Wild due to
Eddie costing Juvy a title shot over the weekend. That took WCW
about 10 seconds to explain and also gives us a reason for this
match. Why is that so hard for modern wrestling companies to do?

Juvy
blocks a superplex attempt and hits a top rope spinwheel kick to send
Eddie outside. A suicide dive sends Eddie into the barricade. The
drunk Heenan gets in a good line about David Letterman betting
against Leno at the PPV. Back in and Juvy’s charge in the corner
sends him into the buckle but he counters a powerbomb into a DDT for
two. Guerrera’s straps come down but Eddie counters the Juvy Driver
into a shoulder breaker, setting up the Frog Splash for the win.

Rating:
C. It was nice to see an actual
wrestling match on this show but the booking makes me shake my head.
Who in the world thought that Eddie, who isn’t even on the PPV this
weekend, needed a clean win over a guy getting a title shot? That’s
modern WWE style booking and it’s just stupid. Tenay pointing out
that Guerrera’s momentum is all gone now doesn’t help.

MORE
Tonight Show stuff.

Gene
is on his motorcycle again.

TV
Title: Stevie Ray vs. Lizmark Jr.

Lizmark
comes out to what I believe became Norman Smiley’s music. This week
Stevie has a notarized statement making him the official TV Champion.
Gene sees nothing official on it but Stevie insists. In some comedy
you couldn’t make up if you tried, Tony says you can’t fool WCW
commentators.

Total
squash here with Stevie knocking Lizmark around like the
cruiserweight jobber he is. A kick to the chest sends Lizmark into
the barricade and a World’s Strongest Slam puts him down again.
Stevie loads up the Slap Jack but here’s Chavo with a fake notary
stamp. Chavo thinks he can make his own marriage license now and
Stevie chases him off for the countout. The fans spent most of the
match shouting about how much this match sucked and how bored they
were, which is a completely acceptable feeling at this point in the
show.

Travis
Tritt ad.

Hour
#3 begins.

Curt
Hennig vs. Konnan

There’s
a new Wolfpack shirt with a red wolf’s head on the front. I wanted
one of those so bad when I was a kid. Hennig tries to jump Konnan to
start but Konnan hiptosses him and clotheslines Hennig to the floor.
Scott Norton distracts the referee so Hennig can get in a cheap shot
to take over but Konnan hits another hard clothesline to take over
again. A basement dropkick and an X Factor set up the Tequila
Sunrise but a Norton distraction breaks it up. Hennig chokes Konnan
with his singlet straps and the PerfectPlex gets the pin. Another
short match.

Nash
comes out to chase off the Black and White post match.

More
Tonight Show stuff.

Chris
Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

Non-title.
Jericho gets in a cheap shot to start but Rey comes back with a
springboard missile dropkick to send him outside. A flipping seated
senton takes Jericho down again and we take a break. Back with
Mysterio hitting what looked like a moonsault press for two. Jericho
catches a springboard cross body and puts Mysterio down with a
shoulder breaker. Mysterio rolls to the floor and gets dropkicked
into the barricade.

Back
in and Rey suplexes Jericho down in the closest thing you’ll ever see
to a power display from Mysterio. Chris comes right back with a
bizarre looking submission hold which can best be described as an
Octopus Hold but from his back. Rey makes the rope but gets
clotheslined down yet again. Jericho launches him into the corner
but Rey lands on the middle ropes and headscissors Jericho down for
two. A springboard split legged moonsault gets the same but Jericho
hits a quick bulldog to get a breather.

Jericho
tries his springboard cross body to the apron but crashes to the
floor instead. Rey hurricanranas Jericho back inside but gets caught
in a butterfly backbreaker. Mysterio gets back up again and tries a
springboard move, only to have Jericho pull the referee in the way.
Rey can’t stop his momentum and hits something like a seated senton
on Mark Curtis. Jericho powerbombs Rey down and loads up the
Liontamer but Rey counters into a rollup. There’s no referee but
Dean Malenko runs out to count the pin.

Rating:
B. I really liked this match
even though it was a different style than I was expecting. It’s an
impressive feat when you can have two guys work a match the opposite
way than they usually would and still get something this
entertaining. The ending ties things in to Saturday’s match and gave
us an entertaining match at the same time. You can’t ask for more
than that.

Same
Tonight Show package for I think the third time tonight.

Nitro
Girls.

We
look back at Buff Bagwell and Scott Steiner talking about Buff’s
injuries last week and JJ Dillon making the battle of the Steiners
for Road Wild.

Here’s
Scott Steiner with something to say. He talks about having black and
white blood in his veins but something has changed his thinking. On
Monday he got a phone call from his mom, telling him that the blood
in his body is the same as his brother’s. Scott takes off the NWO
shirt and says he quits. He asks Rick to come out here for an
apology and the announcers think this is a nice moment. Instead
here’s Buff Bagwell in a Rick Steiner costume and acting like a dog.
But I thought you couldn’t fool WCW announcers. Anyway Scott makes
fun of Rick until the real Rick comes out and WACKS Scott with a
chair.

Tonight
Show clip, literally for the tenth time tonight.

Road
Wild ad.

Nitro
Girls again.

Tony
promises a bonus Travis Tritt concert if you buy the show, meaning
the PPV will be longer than usual.

The
Black and White corner Kimberly before she can get out of the ring
and say she looks good for trailer trash. Kimberly slaps Eric and
here’s DDP for the save but the numbers are too much for him. A long
beatdown ensues with Bischoff talking trash and making sexual jokes
about Kimberly. The Goldberg chants get no response as this just
keeps going. A chokeslam leaves Page laying.

The
announcers go into serious mode to talk about what we just saw before
directly transitioning into plugging Travis Tritt’s new CD.

We
look at Goldberg’s challenge for the battle royal again and him
calling out Sting.

Tag
Titles: Scott Hall/The Giant vs. Sting/Bret Hart

Hall
and Giant are defending. For some reason Sting comes from the
rafters to his old music with the white paint. Hart and Hall get us
started in a Royal Rumble 1993 rematch. Feeling out process to start
with Bret not really wanting to go after Hall. Eventually Bret
cranks on the arm a bit before offering a tag to Sting but Sting’s
arm doesn’t move from the ropes.

Sting
tags himself in and hits a running clothesline and the bulldog but
Hall bails to avoid the Scorpion. Back in and Hall scores with a
clothesline to bring in Giant. A Russian legsweep drops Sting to
give Hall a two count and a fallaway slam gets the same. Bret
finally extends an arm for a tag as Sting shoves Hall into the
corner, but the impact knocks Bret to the floor. Sting fights both
champions off and ducks a bat shot from Hart which hits Hall, giving
Sting the pin and the titles.

Rating:
D. The match was your usual
junk with no time to go anywhere for the most part. This would be
another annoying example of two guys who don’t get along teaming
together to win the titles even though it’s the same story almost
every time. At least Hall and Giant lose the titles as they never
quite fit as champions.

Bret
takes the tag belts and leaves Sting to get destroyed. Goldberg
comes out to end the show and there are no new champions due to the
bat shot, even though the referee didn’t see it.

Overall
Rating: D-. Literally the only
reason this isn’t a failure is Jericho vs. Mysterio. This was
another awful show and a good example of WCW’s biggest booking
problem over the year: they kept putting the entire company on one
match instead of spreading things around. If you don’t like the Leno
match, there is no reason for you to buy the PPV at all. The battle
royal was mentioned in the Goldberg promo and a one off line from
Tony and that’s all.

It’s
a stretch to call Road Wild a two match show but other than that
there’s nothing there. The other problem: just like last month it’s
for nothing but bragging rights. Hogan’s career doesn’t change at
all either way and he still has showdowns with Page and Goldberg
coming up, at least in theory. This was a horrible show as this all
talk and almost no wrestling style gets harder and harder to sit
through every week.

Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for just $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Rants

Rants

Monday Nitro – July 27, 1998

By Scott Keith on 18th December 2013

Monday
Nitro #147

Date:
July 27, 1998

Location:
Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas

Attendance:
19,109

Commentators:
Larry Zbyszko, Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re
getting closer to Road Wild and nothing has been announced as of yet.
It’s clear that Jay Leno is going to be involved in some way, even
if the fans don’t seem that thrilled by the idea. Unfortunately that
means we’re probably going to see another NWO talk show because
wasting ten minutes of their only major TV show of the week on a
segment to set up a match with a talk show host is fine in WCW. It
may have made money at Road Wild, but it’s making for some very dull
television. Let’s get to it.

We
open with a recap of Hall and Nash fighting last week which led to a
Wolfpack vs. Black and White brawl, which led to Sting and Nash
losing the tag titles to Hall/Giant. There’s also a clip of Bret
beating DDP for the vacant US Title.

We
get a voiceover (sounds like Scott Hudson) recapping last week, which
is pretty much what we got in the first video.

Nitro
Girls in white cowboy hats. I could get used to this.

Tony
promises us something that will be among the biggest moments in the
history of our sport: Goldberg is going to talk.

Here’s
the Black and White minus Hogan, Bret and Bischoff, probably with a
lot to say. The announcers are already talking about Jay Leno
non-stop. Hall thinks Nitro being in San Antonio is just too sweet,
much like the new tag team champions. He’s going to be sick if he
has to keep hearing about Nash being upset, so how about we have a
big NWO vs. NWO match at Road Wild?

Brian
Adams tells the fans to shut up and recognize how awesome the Black
and White really is. He tells us about being in Japan and hearing
about Goldberg’s fluke win over Hollywood Hogan. Adams got on a
plane and begged Hogan to let him prove that Goldberg is a fluke.
Therefore, Adams is getting a title shot tonight which hopefully
lasts about 18 seconds.

We
get clips from Bischoff’s talk show last week.

Back
from a break with the Flock in the ring and Raven talking about how
things were supposed to be different than it was in high school.
He’s still despised and attacked by people like Saturn and Kanyon
though. You know, part of society’s norms. This brings out Saturn
who is sick of hearing Raven cry. If Raven wants to cry, stand up so
Saturn can give him something to be upset over. Kanyon runs out to
get a piece of Saturn but gets suplexed down. Saturn picks Raven up
for the Death Valley Driver but gets caught in a Flatliner from
Kanyon. It’s not clear if Kanyon meant to save Raven or not.

Barbarian
vs. Jim Duggan

Duggan
chants USA a lot before clotheslining Barbarian out to the floor.
Back in and a double ax handle drops Barbarian again but he gets a
boot up to stop a jogging Duggan. Jim comes back with right hands in
the corner to little effect but he has to deal with Jimmy Hart.
Barbarian kicks Hart by mistake, allowing Duggan to grab a rollup for
the fast pin.

Post
match Hugh Morrus jumps Duggan but Meng comes in to beat up Morrus.
Duggan gets the board to clean house and offers Meng a handshake,
getting a Tongan Death Grip in return.

Bischoff’s
house band is warming up.

There’s
another horrible looking car in front of a star parking spot outside.

It’s
time for NWO Night Cap and the keyboard player now has NWO glasses.
Eric shakes hands with his fans ala Leno as we’re already two minutes
into this. Joke topics tonight include Japanese Viagara, Monica
Lewinsky, Jay Leno’s chin, bikers, Steve Urkel being NWO Black and
White, the chin again, Leno not being funny, and growing sheep
bladders in a lab.

Oh
and now we get a COMEDY SEGMENT. It’s Headlines, which is showing
various accidental puns in newspapers. The fans are booing this out
of the building. Remember, they paid for a ticket to sit through
this segment. Even Liz in a dress isn’t enough to save this but it
keeps going anyway.

Now
we get our special guest: Hollywood Hogan. Hollywood talks about how
Bischoff is dominating late night and gives a birthday shout out to
Nitro Nick. Bischoff shows us a clip from the real Tonight Show with
band leader Kevin Eubanks talking about Bischoff making fun of Leno
in a badly scripted conversation. We get a clip in the clip of the
original Night Cap, which are the same clips we saw earlier tonight.

Leno
makes fun of Hogan’s beard and says he’s seen better wrestling on
Jerry Springer. Jay makes jokes about Hogan’s age and need for
Viagara before we go back to an annoyed Hogan and Bischoff. Hogan
says Leno’s lawyer should plead insanity for Leno because Jay has
gone way over the line. He gives Leno one more chance to back off or
Hogan is going to come to the Tonight Show and shut him up. Bischoff
promises to show what happened when Karl Malone stepped into Hogan’s
world. We’re FINALLY done after nearly seventeen minutes spent on
this segment. I’d love to see the quarter hour ratings for this
show.

More
Nitro Girls with Fyre stripping off a suit in a solo routine.

Nitro
Party video.

Time
for more talking with Gene bringing out a limping DDP for a chat.
Gene says Page put the title on the line last week even though he was
injured. Page says it was Hogan that attacked him last week because
he’s scum. Hogan shouldn’t hunt what he can’t kill, because Page’s
mission is to now eliminate Hollywood from the wrestling world.
Hogan can keep running, but one day he’ll feel the BANG.

Nice
recap of Malenko vs. Jericho, setting up tonight’s last chance match
for Malenko.

Tony
hypes up the Goldberg interview again but the Black and White has
something to say. Dusty Rhodes is back and heads over to the
announcers’ table with Hall and Norton. Hall says if Nash doesn’t
want a fight, how about sending Sting out to face him later? Dusty
goes on a rant against Larry for talking too much trash about the
NWO. Therefore, Larry is under a gag order tonight, meaning Dusty
gives Tony an actual gag.

Scott
Norton vs. Jim Neidhart

Norton
no sells some forearms and powerbombs Neidhart for the pin in 15
seconds. I’d assume Norton will be Goldberg’s supper one day soon.
Neidhart is already walking to the back before Norton is out of the
ring. That’s some pretty poor selling.

Video
on Goldberg.

The
interview is hyped up again.

We
go to the back for the back for Goldberg’s walk to the ring but he
doesn’t come out. Doug Dillinger comes in and sees NWO graffiti all
over the walls and the room ransacked. Goldberg is nowhere in sight.

Hour
#2 begins at about 9:15.

Here’s
Bret Hart for even more talking. He talks about how wrestling has
become full of pimps and thieves and somewhere he doesn’t want to be,
until now. Bret doesn’t want to hear about Page’s injuries because
Page got in the ring last week. There’s one more person that he
needs to address from last week and that’s Sting. Bret has a lot of
respect for Sting and especially likes his taste in moves. There’s
one thing that is least Sting down the wrong road and that’s all
these people out there. Bret is Sting’s friend and will show him the
right way.

Crusierweight
Title: Dean Malenko vs. Chris Jericho

Jericho
is defending and this is Dean’s last chance at the title. Jericho
dropkicks Dean out to the floor to start and sends him into the
barricade to take an early advantage. Back in and Chris tries a top
rope dropkick but dives into a dropkick from Malenko. Dean goes up
again for a sunset flip but Jericho rolls through into the Liontamer.
Malenko is quickly into the ropes and rolls out to the floor for a
breather. Jericho hits a nice dive to take him out and we go to a
break.

Back
with Jericho kicking Malenko into the ropes but Dean takes over with
a leg lariat. Malenko ducks a victory roll attempt and German
suplexes Chris down for two. Jericho comes right back with a reverse
suplex and the Lionsault to Dean’s back for two. The fans are into
this match. A release double underhook powerbomb sets up the
Cloverleaf but Jericho is too close to the ropes.

Malenko
gets crotched on the top but he counters Jericho’s superplex into a
DDT off the top for three but the referee waves it off because
Jericho had the rope. Chris rolls to the floor and pulls out a
foreign object but Dean stomps him down in the corner before Jericho
can swing. The referee gets poked in the eyes and Dean takes the
knucks away. He knocks Jericho out as the referee clears his eyes
out, drawing the DQ.

Rating:
C+. Really fast paced match
here though the ending is kind of puzzling. Why would you have
Malenko get beaten/screwed out of the title every single time, only
to have him lose the final match? Jericho has dominated the feud as
far as being the better character, but shouldn’t Malenko have gotten
to keep the title at least once?

Gene
swears that we’ll get the Goldberg interview soon. Apparently
Goldberg is fine and in the locker room.

The
Nitro Girls are in the crowd.

Long
video on Road Wild, focusing on country singer Travis Tritt
performing. Again with the celebrities.

Steve
McMichael vs. Curt Hennig

McMichael
throws Hennig around to start but Curt snaps McMichael’s throat
across the top rope. Mongo comes back with a powerslam but a Rude
distraction lets Hennig hit the PerfectPlex for the win. Another 90
second match.

We
look at another clip from the Tonight Show with Leno bringing out a
Hollywood Hogan impersonator who is too old to move.

Cue
the Black and White to talk even more. Bischoff promises to fire
whoever showed that Leno clip. Hogan says he’ll give Page a huge
beating to make up for all the bad things he’s been saying lately.
He’s also ready to ride Page real hard all night long. There’s a sex
tape joke in there somewhere. Hogan accepts the challenge for a
match with Page tonight.

Before
that though, here’s the ENTIRE main event from Bash at the Beach.
The match plus intros eats up nearly half an hour, including a few
commercial breaks. I’m just going to copy and paste this from the
Bash at the Beach review.

Diamond
Dallas Page/Karl Malone vs. Dennis Rodman/Hollywood Hogan

Page
and Malone have matching attire, which look like they jumped into a
vat of hot glue with their jeans on. They come out to some hip hop
song that keeps saying “feel the bang.” Malone looks like he’s
been carved out of granite while Rodman is in a t-shirt and jeans.
The basketball players get us going but first Hogan has to take off
Rodman’s glasses. Rodman runs to the ropes to hide and the fans are
all over him. That works so well that they do it a second time. A
test of strength doesn’t happen as we hit two minutes into the
match.

Rodman
grabs a headlock but bails to the floor when Malone charges at him.
Off to Hogan for a posedown with Hollywood getting frustrated. Malone
hooks a kind of standing chinlock (imagine a left arm Rock Bottom but
he clasps his hands together and squeezes) before slamming Hogan
down. We’re five minutes in now and it’s off to Page. DDP gets
Rodman and shoves him down off a lockup. A shoulder puts Rodman down
again as the stalling continues. They spit at each other and Rodman
armdrags him down. Somehow we’re seven minutes into this match.

They
hit the ropes a bit and collide to send both guys down. Back to the
headlock by Rodman but Page reverses into one of his own. The fans
are clearly getting restless. Rodman leapfrogs Page twice and they
collide again to give us more laying down. Malone comes in and kicks
at Rodman, sending him over to Hogan for the tag. Karl hooks a top
wristlock and shoves Hogan to the mat. Hogan complains of a hair pull
and Rodman gets in a cheap shot to get to the whole tag match idea
for the first time.

Hogan
chokes a lot and slams Malone down before raking the boot over
Malone’s eyes. Rodman comes in with some elbow drops before it’s
back to Hogan for a chinlock. Here’s Rodman again for some double
teaming and a belly to back suplex from Hogan. Hollywood misses an
elbow though and it’s hot tag to Page. DDP comes in with a top rope
clothesline to Hogan but a cheap shot from Rodman lets the NWO take
over again. Hogan chokes away in the corner with his boot followed by
a running clothesline.

Rodman
comes in for a double big boot and more choking before it’s back to
Hogan for right hands in the corner. Page hits a quick elbow but
Rodman breaks up the tag attempt and puts on a front facelock. Malone
plays cheerleader on the apron and we get the unseen and phantom tag
tropes to space the match out even more. The big boot puts Page down
but he avoids the legdrop and it’s hot tag off to Malone.

Clotheslines
all around put the NWO down and they both get slams. There’s a
double noggin knocker followed by Hogan’s head going into the
buckle. A big boot drops Hogan and it’s off to Page for a running
Diamond Cutter (Hogan landed on his hands, making the move look
horrible). Malone Diamond Cuts Rodman but Disciple sneaks in with a
Stunner to Page, giving Hogan the pin and a face pop for some reason.

Rating:
F.
This was about what you knew it was going to be, though it could have
been FAR worse. Malone was clearly taking this seriously which is
more than you can say for most celebrities in matches. Rodman looked
like your usual celebrity wrestler: decent at the one or two really
basic moves he used but pretty worthless otherwise. I’ve read
before that this was originally booked to go nearly an hour, which
makes me shiver in fear. I guess Hogan needed this win as a thank you
for the mainstream attention he brought in?

Malone
gives Disciple and the referee Diamond Cutters (good ones too) and
the NWO celebrates like this is a big deal.

More
Leno footage, this time with a Hogan midget.

Hour
#3 begins, again about 15 minutes late.

Now
it’s time for the Goldberg interview after stringing the TV audience
along for an extra hour. Goldberg has been watching what Hogan has
been trying to do around here. What they did tonight crossed a line,
so he’s going to make Brian Adams an example. This was about 45
seconds long.

Here’s
Arn Anderson for what could be a good interview for a change. Gene
talks about Anderson’s talk with McMichael and Malenko on Thunder a
few weeks back and wants to know why he was so hard on them.
Anderson says the three of them tried very hard to make it personal
with him and it almost worked. Tonight he was going to gauge the
mood to see if the Horsemen had one more run. Then he saw Dean lose
to a man that he’s better than and Mongo have a match with the man
that brought down the Horsemen in the first place, only to get beaten
too. That’s enough for him, so now he’s telling them to drop it.

Sting
vs. Scott Hall

Sting
starts while the ring is still full of smoke from the entrances,
taking Hall down with a bulldog. Scott is sent out to the floor for
a breather before coming back in with a toothpick to the face. Some
right hands set up the fallaway slam for two but Sting shrugs them
off and hits three straight Stinger Splashes. There’s the Death Drop
to set up the Scorpion but here’s Bret Hart to distract Sting. He
doesn’t fight back as Sting beats on him but Hennig and Vincent come
in for the DQ. Too short to rate again but this was angle instead of
wrestling.

Luger
and Nash come out for the save as Bret still hasn’t gotten physical
at all. Nash loads up the Jackknife on Hall but gets hit low. Bret
tries to help Sting up but gets kicked low as well. Bret bails to
the floor to escape the Scorpion. Hart never attacked Sting at all.

We
look at Buff Bagwell suckering Rick Steiner in, only to turn heel
again, wasting some of the most natural sympathy WCW ever had at its
fingertips.

Scott
Steiner shoves Buff down the ramp in a wheelchair and freaks out
because Bagwell is hurt. Buff gets to his feet and dances, annoying
Gene even more. Bagwell talks about how serious his neck injury was
and Scott praises him for the great acting jobs over the last few
weeks. Steiner promises to beat up Rick at Road Wild until JJ comes
out to yell at Bagwell. Steiner gets a piece too, with promises of a
match against Rick. Scott doesn’t seem too scared.

WCW
World Title: Brian Adams vs. Goldberg

Vincent
distracts Goldberg to start, allowing Adams to hit a top rope
shoulder block and a suplex for two. Goldberg hits a belly to belly
suplex, three spears (Adams, Vincent, Adams) and the Jackhammer makes
it 121-0.

Diamond
Dallas Page vs. Hollywood Hogan

This
could have headlined a PPV. We get a music miscue as Hogan’s music
starts before Buffer does his intro in both English and Spanish.
Hogan jumps him at the entrances as Tenay talks about Page hosting a
charity event for school kids in Atlanta. Nothing wrong with that.
Page comes back with right hands and some choking in the corner as
we’re just waiting on the run ins.

Hogan
suplexes Page and pounds away with right hands to the head. A
clothesline gets two on Page but misses an elbow drop. Page tries to
clothesline Hogan to the floor but Hollywood is all like “that’s
WAY too big a spot for me brother.” They fight to the floor and
Page has to fight off Disciple. Back in and Hogan hits the corner
clothesline, setting up the big boot. Page gets up anyway and grabs
the Diamond Cutter, drawing in the NWO for the DQ. Too short to rate
(shocking!) but Page was trying.

All
of the NWO comes out for a big brawl. Goldberg comes to the ring and
beats up the Black and White, only to walk into a chokeslam from
Giant to end the show.

Overall
Rating: D-. And that’s being
generous. This show was three hours and had seven new matches. Of
those seven, ONE was long enough to rate, clocking in at less than
six minutes. They spent about 45 minutes (approximately the amount
of show time in an hour of programming) on a talk show segment and
re-airing a match from PPV. I
feel sorry for the San Antonio crowd tonight as they got ripped off
tonight.

On
top of being really short, how many of these matches meant anything
at all? You had two worthless matches, then a good cruiserweight
match, a match to advance the Horsemen angle, a match to set up a
post match brawl, Goldberg being Goldberg, and a match to set up the
post match brawl. Even Raw is better at using its time than that.

Finally
there’s the Leno stuff. I understand the idea behind bringing in
celebrities, but let’s think about this for a minute. Last month the
celebrities were one of the best linebackers of all time, one of the
craziest athletes ever and an NBA player at the peak of his career.
This month it’s a 48 year old comedian most famous for having a large
chin. It wasn’t unreasonable to think that Malone could be passable
in the ring due to his athletic abilities.

What
else could the Leno match be but bad comedy? It’s bad comedy setting
up bad comedy. Yeah it appeals to the middle aged audience that
loved the Tonight Show, but how many of them are going to pay $30 to
watch Leno do physical comedy? On top of that, we haven’t even had
the match announced yet and next week is the go home show for Road
Wild. Not only is it a bad idea, but it’s being poorly marketed. Just a horrible show all around, leading up to a bad match on PPV.

Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for just $4 at:

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Rants

Rants

Monday Nitro – July 20, 1998

By Scott Keith on 11th December 2013

Monday
Nitro #146

Date:
July 20, 1998

Location:
E-Center, Salt Lake City, Utah

Commentators:
Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

There
isn’t much of a main story at the moment other than the Wolfpack is
done feuding with comedy heels and is going after the Black and White
again. We’re moving closer to Road Wild but the show hasn’t even
been mentioned yet. It would appear that we’ll be getting Hogan vs.
Page and Goldberg vs. Hennig, even though we already saw that match.
Let’s get to it.

We
open with a recap of Hall attacking Nash during the big brawl with
the NWOs.

Opening
sequence.

Nitro
Girls.

Here’s
Hall to get things going. There’s no point for a survey tonight
because Salt Lake City is here to see the NWO. The fans don’t seem
to agree but Hall ignores them and goes into a Gilligan’s Island
metaphor. Apparently Hall is tired of laying on the top bunk and
doing all the work while Skipper Nash lays on his back. Nash can’t
lead the Wolfpack since he isn’t even a man, unlike Hogan. A Too
Sweet takes us out.

Tonight
it’s going to be Hart vs. Page for the vacant US Title, even though
Hart hasn’t exactly beaten anyone of note in WCW.

We
go back to Nitro last week for a look at all the Black and White
drama, from Hogan challenging Hall to the match itself to Page
running in and getting beaten down to the Nash stuff.

Stevie
Ray vs. Johnny Boone

Boone
is a jobber who would become a referee. Stevie doesn’t have the belt
tonight because he left it with Booker and his attorney. Total
squash with Ray kicking Boone around like the jobber that he is. Cue
Chavo Guerrero with his Lone Ranger mask and the TV Title as Stevie
Slap Jacks Boone for the pin.

We
look back at Hogan shoving Bagwell out of the wheelchair last week.

Back
from a break and we get an extended version of Hogan and Bagwell.

Here’s
Rick Steiner to talk about what happened to Bagwell last week. When
Gene says talk about Bagwell, Rick goes into a challenge to Scott
Steiner for Road Wild. Here’s Buff in a wheelchair and Rick
immediately apologizes for what happened last week. Rick apologizes
for Bagwell’s injury and says there was no bad intent at all.

Bagwell
says he was mad at Rick to begin with but the injury has changed him.
He loves every single fan and forgives Rick for what happened. They
hug but here’s Scott Steiner with a chair to Rick’s back. Buff pops
up and takes the chair to blast Rick as well. He takes off the neck
brace and his shirt, revealing a Black and White shirt. Buff is
another guy that could have been a big deal with his look and story
with the injury but they just threw him back into the NWO to get lost
in the shuffle.

Back
from a break with more talking but at least it’s Jericho. He talks
about the mental anguish he’s suffered at Malenko’s hands, such as
being attacked and tormented over the memory of his dead father (who
appeared on Thunder a few weeks before). Jericho offers Dean a title
shot next week, but it’s Malenko’s last shot. If he loses, Dean can
just go back to Harry’s Burgers in Tampa and give up on wrestling.

Hall
pops up at the announce table and throws a toothpick in Larry’s face.
He talks about hanging with Hollywood and learning a lot about the
movies. Hall doesn’t want to see Nash’s performance in the sequel to
Terms of Endearment, referring to the sitdown interview with Tenay
that we saw on Thunder.

We
see a parking spot out back labeled “star of the show” but the
car in front of it is wrecked with with windows all cracked and
shattered.

Steve
McMichael vs. Sick Boy

Hey
look a match. Tony tells us that the wrecked car is a reference to
Jay Leno, who always drives a different car to the Tonight Show.
Tony: “That’s all it could be.” Lodi and Sick Boy jump Mongo on
the floor and a clothesline gets two for Sick Boy. Mongo comes right
back with a three point clothesline and the tombstone for the pin in
about a minute.

We
look back at Arn Anderson telling Malenko to let the Horsemen be over
from Thunder.

Nitro
Party winner.

Time
for Bischoff’s talk show, which is now called NWO Night Cap. The
bandleader intros the show again and at least Liz looks good in a
leather dress. Bischoff has a full set now which looks a lot like
the Tonight Show set. The entrances take nearly two minutes before
Bischoff makes some bad jokes about the heat wave, stomach ailments,
Secret Service testimony, the Monica Lewinsky scandal and chickens.

These
are all accompanied by Eric complimenting himself and the band
laughing hysterically. Tony FREAKS OUT because apparently these
jokes are ripped off from the Tonight Show. Eric makes fun of Leno’s
chin and talks about Leno being a disgrace to bikers. This ate up
seven and a half minutes.

Hour
#2 begins. To recap, WCW used their unopposed hour for three and a
half minutes of wrestling, about ten minutes of recaps, a challenge
for a Cruiserweight Title match, and Bischoff’s talk show.

We
see Nash’s sitdown interview from Thunder. The tape cuts out in the
middle and we cut to the production truck with Hall leaving. Nash
walks up and a fight breaks out. They head outside but the Black and
White comes out of a trailer to beat Nash down. The Wolfpack runs in
to help and the huge brawl is on. Enough of that though as we need
to go back to the announcers.

Hart
shows up at the announcers’ table and wants Page right now. We cut
to the back where Konnan is screaming for help and standing over
Page’s writhing body. The trainer comes to check on Page as Bret
heads to the ring. JJ Dillon comes out as well and says the match
will have to be later.

Yuji
Nagata vs. Saturn

Saturn
takes him over with a quick northern lights suplex for two followed
by a quickly broken armbar. Some kicks in the corner drop Nagata but
he comes right back with a release northern lights suplex. Yuji goes
after the leg, only to get caught in a German suplex. We’ve had a
tag title match made for later: Nash/Sting defending against
Giant/Hall. Nagata misses a running knee in the corner and gets
suplexed down for two. Sonny Onoo gets on the apron as Raven runs in
with the Even Flow to Saturn, allowing Nagata to put on the Nagata
Lock for the pin since Saturn can’t tap out.

Rating:
D. This was just there to
announce the tag match and announce the tag title match. Nagata
continues to be one of the least interesting guys you’ll see in this
company throughout its entire run so thankfully this is his last
appearance with the company. He just never gave us a reason to care
about him in the year or so he was around.

Post
match the Flock comes in to lay out the Flock until Kanyon makes the
save. Kidman gets a sick looking middle rope piledriver. Saturn
gets up and hits a Death Valley Driver on Kanyon for his unwanted
help.

We
look at Bret costing Rick Martel a match last week and attacking
Mysterio and Guerrera on Thunder.

Nitro
Girls.

Heenan
is on commentary now.

Tag
Titles: Giant/Scott Hall vs. Sting/Kevin Nash

Nash
and Sting are defending. The Outsiders get us going as Tony talks
about Jay Leno. Hall backs into the corner and tags in Giant for the
big lockup with Giant sending Nash into the corner for a clothesline.
Nash pounds back on Giant and everything breaks down with the
Wolfpack quickly cleaning house. Back in and Sting clotheslines Hall
down as we take a break.

We
come back to see Giant on the floor before coming in for a tag from
Hall. Giant gets in Sting’s face but gets slapped, enraging him
enough that he misses a charge into the corner. A Stinger Splash
hits a boot though and Giant takes over again. Giant can’t hit a
clothesline but Sting’s cross body literally bounces off the big man.
Back to Hall for some right hands and a two count followed by an
abdominal stretch. The Black and White finally gets caught cheating,
which doesn’t change anything but Sting hiptosses out of the hold
anyway.

A
hot tag brings in Nash to clean house for real and finally get his
hands on Hall. Scott escapes Snake Eyes but gets his head kicked off
as everything breaks down again. Sting hits Giant low and bulldogs
him down before getting the hot tag from Nash. Hall is almost in the
Scorpion but here’s Bret Hart to break it up. The distraction lets
Scott hit the Outsider’s Edge for the pin and the titles.

Rating:
C-. The match was nothing of
note but at least Bret is FINALLY doing something. The bad thing to
come out of this though is we get to deal with the Leno promotion.
It’s going to dominate the next few weeks of commentary but there’s
nothing that can be done about it. Nash and Sting losing the titles
is a good thing though as they never made sense as champions in the
first place.

The
announcers recap the show so far. Tony: “I think Diamond Dallas
Page was attacked by Bret Hart.” Insert your own joke about
stating the obvious. We get a clip of the events from earlier.

Alex
Wright/Disco Inferno vs. Masahiro Chono/Great Muta

Tony
makes up for the obvious statement earlier by calling Wright and
Disco the Dancing Dodos. Wright gets jumped from behind to start but
comes back with a spinwheel kick to take Chono down. Disco comes in
and stomps him in the corner, only to walk into the Mafia Kick. Off
to Muta for some strikes to the face but he gets caught in a swinging
neckbreaker for two. Muta comes right back with the dragon screw leg
whip and a leg bar for the submission on Disco.

Post
match Scott Norton comes out to destroy the dancers even more.

Hour
#3 begins.

The
Nitro Girls dance but the trainer comes out and takes Kimberly away
due to something in the back.

Tokyo
Magnum vs. Ultimo Dragon

Tokyo,
usually the dancing idiot, comes out to traditional slow Japanese
style music. Dragon jumps him to start and takes Magnum into the
corner for the rapid fire kicks. The announcers talk about how the
teacher is beating up the student as he kicks Magnum in the back.
Magnum slams him off the top but dives into a dropkick, setting up a
brainbuster and the Dragon Sleeper. Basically a squash in Dragon’s
last WCW match.

We
look at the ending to the tag title match which shows Bret telling
Sting that the Scorpion is his hold.

Jim
Powers vs. Scott Norton

Norton
drives him into the corner to start and powerslams Jim down for no
cover. He chokes Powers in the corner, misses a charge, catches Jim
in a Samoan drop and powerbombs him down for the pin.

Video
on Hogan’s evil deeds since he joined the NWO.

Here’s
the Black and White en masse with something to say. Hogan brags
about the new tag team champions and asks for a round of applause for
their victory. He also admires the dedication of Scott Steiner and
Buff Bagwell as they help in the NWO conquering wrestling. That
brings him to Goldberg….but first let’s praise Muta and Chono.
Instead of talking about the world title, Hogan talks about Bischoff
being the funniest man in television and how Eric is going to take
over late night. Bret is going to take the US Title tonight and Page
will know how awesome Hogan is and that’s about it.

We
look back at the end of the tag match main event of Thunder where
Hennig and Hall beat DDP and Konnan. Apparently this is supposed to
make us care about the next match.

Eddie
Guerrero vs. Konnan

Konnan
has Antoine Carr of the Utah Jazz with him. Eddie takes him down to
start and the fans think he sucks. Konnan comes right back by
LAUNCHING Eddie into the air for a huge crash. A gorilla press slam
has about the same result so Eddie goes to the floor to yell at Carr.
Back in and they run the ropes a few times until Konnan monkey flips
him into the ropes for two. An X-Factor gets the same on Eddie as
this is one sided so far. Cue Chavo dressed like Konnan and shouting
his catchphrases with the distraction allowing Eddie to suplex Konnan
down. Eddie grabs Chavo’s stick horse and that’s a DQ despite a lack
of contact.

Rating:
D+. This was more of an angle
than a match but Eddie’s insane height on the throws makes up for it.
Chavo vs. Eddie doesn’t seem to have an end in sight and that could
become an issue soon. I’m not sure where they can go with it now but
it’s not a problem yet.

Lex
Luger vs. Curt Hennig

Luger
shoves him into the corner and pops the pecs a bit. Hennig has
already lasted longer than last week so we’re on the right track. A
hip toss sends Hennig out to the floor but he snaps Luger throat
first across the rope to take over. Hennig goes after the ribs to
keep Luger in trouble and snaps the neck for two. Some choking on
the ropes leads to a sleeper on Luger to put Lex down. A belly to
back suplex breaks the hold and Luger hits his atomic drops and
clotheslines. The referee gets bumped in the corner but Rude comes
in and gets a Rack. The distraction lets Curt hit the PerfectPlex
for the pin (with Rude holding the foot).

Rating:
D+. Total paint by numbers
match here which doesn’t really accomplish anything. The Wolfpack
civil war doesn’t do anything for me anymore as it just keeps going
without actually having an end in sight. That’s the mantra for all
of WCW at this point: there’s no idea to this but it fills in time.

US
Title: Bret Hart vs. Diamond Dallas Page

The
title is vacant coming in. There’s no DDP to start though as we’re
running out of time. After a few moments, here’s a very bandaged
Page with no music and a bad limp to try to make this work. Bret
goes right after the bad leg to take Page down before working over
the bad ribs. The Russian legsweep takes Page down and there’s the
Sharpshooter but Page is right next to the rope. A second attempt
goes on and Page gives up to give Hart the title. This wasn’t a
match.

Page
is taken out on a stretcher as the NWO comes to the ring to celebrate
to end the show.

Overall
Rating: D. This show is a good
example of what’s wrong with WCW around this time. Where were
Goldberg and the world title? Who is the next challenger for the
belt? I have no idea, because none of that matters when Hollywood
Hogan has something going on. That’s what happened when Sting won
the title and it’s happening again here. It’s just them going from
one Hogan story to another as he fights celebrity after celebrity.
That might have made them some money in the short term but it’s
speeding towards a cliff in the long term.

Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for just $4 at:

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Rants

Rants

Monday Nitro – July 13, 1998

By Scott Keith on 4th December 2013

Monday
Nitro #145

Date:
July 13, 1998

Location:
MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada

Attendance:
10,765

Commentators:
Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re
past Bash at the Beach and there isn’t much new to report on.
Goldberg retained the title and Hogan/Rodman won the NBA match.
We’re only a few weeks away from Road Wild now and it’s not clear
where we’re going. Hopefully the good midcard stuff gets some more
focus because the main event stuff is getting less and less
interesting every week. Let’s get to it.

We
open with a recap of Goldberg winning the title last week.

Opening
sequence.

The
Nitro Girls do a long showgirl style dance.

Larry
is in a Goldberg shirt but has to thank the crowd before bragging
about the new champion.

We
recap the entirety of Goldberg’s night last week.

Here’s
the Black and White with something to say. Hogan promises that the
Goldberg propaganda ends soon and he’ll prove that Goldberg is just a
flash in the pan. That brings us to NWO business, meaning Hogan has
to prove that he loves some of his brothers. They’re bonded for
eternity, but sometimes you have to take care of a few things. Hogan
blames Hall for the title loss and has been hearing Hall talking
about taking over the NWO when he thinks no one is listening.

Tonight
it’s Hogan vs. Hall so Hollywood can teach him a lesson. Hall says
he’s done everything Hogan told him to do because he needs the money,
but the match is on tonight if Hogan wants it. Hall reminds Hogan
that it was him that got pinned for the belt. Hogan: “So wax up
your ponytail Little Bo Peep because I’m the big bad creep.”
Hollywood gets on Bischoff for chuckling and makes him the referee
tonight. Disciple breaks it up as Hogan threatens Hall but Disciple
takes the mic. He didn’t like that chair shot from Page last night
and wants a match with him tonight.

Stills
from the tag match last night.

Barbarian
vs. Horace

They
trade clubbering in the corner with Barbarian taking over, allowing
Jimmy Hart to get in some choking on the mat. A Lodi distraction
lets Horace get in a shot with the stop sign for two before going
after Jimmy. Barbarian kicks the stop sign into Horace’s face for
the fast pin. That’s a pretty overly booked two minute match.

The
Flock comes in to beat down Barbarian but Meng comes in for the save.
He cleans house but puts Barbarian in the Tongan Death Grip.

Stills
of Goldberg beating Hennig last night.

Here
are Rude and Hennig with something to say. Rude talks about Hennig
having a bad leg from Minnesota because his flight was canceled. He
blames Goldberg and Hennig says he’s figured out Goldberg’s weakness.
Another match has been made for tonight and Hennig says he’ll go it
alone, which is cool with Rude.

Here’s
JJ to bring out the new Cruiserweight Champion Rey Mysterio. Before
anything can be said though here’s Jericho with a rulebook. In
short, since Malenko was suspended and showed up anyway, the match
last night is null and void. JJ, the spineless jellyfish that he is,
agrees and names Jericho champion again. Jericho demands that Ron
Mysterio Jr. give him the belt back and here’s Malenko to say he’ll
get the belt back. Chris laughs this off and says Mysterio can face
Malenko for a title shot down the line. The match is on.

More
Nitro Girls.

Nitro
Party winner video.

We
look at Savage having his knee injured in the cage a few months ago.

Jim
Duggan vs. Rick Fuller

Duggan
gets shoved from behind to start but quickly comes back with those
big right hands of his. A clothesline sends Fuller out to the floor
before Duggan pounds away in the corner. The three point clothesline
and the Old Glory knee drop are enough for the pin on Fuller. WCW’s
battle plan in the Monday Night Wars: win one week with Goldberg,
then a Jim Duggan squash.

Hour
#2 begins so the announcers hit the recap button.

We
look back at Buff Bagwell returning last week and saying how much he
loved his mama.

Here’s
Buff again this week with his doctor. Gene has been hearing from the
people in the hotels and airports and they want to know if Buff is
NWO or WCW. WHAT AIRPORTS DO THESE GUYS GO TO??? Buff says he’s
going to rehabilitate his neck before he goes to see Rick Steiner.
He has to get something off his chest so Rick Steiner needs to come
out here right now.

Here’s
Rick with his arm in a sling but Hogan and the Disciple come out to
say he can’t stand a couple of cripples. Hogan threatens Steiner
with another broken leg (just go with it) before telling Buff to be a
man. We get an actual evil act from Hogan as he shoves the
wheelchair over and walks out.

Stills
from Booker vs. Bret last night. Apparently Booker T has torn a
meniscus and will be out 4-6 weeks.

Fit
Finlay vs. Bret Hart

This
should be interesting. Bret comes out to NWO music now. Finlay
grabs a headlock to start but Bret drives him into the corner for
some right hands. A European uppercut puts Bret down for two and a
clothesline and knee drop do the same. They head outside with Finlay
scoring with another uppercut but being sent into the steps for his
troubles. Bret hits some right hands but gets poked in the eye and
slammed down. We hit the chinlock for a few seconds before Bret
charges into a boot in the corner. Hart comes right back with an
atomic drop and a clothesline to set up the Sharpshooter for the win.

Rating:
D+. This didn’t have the time
to go anywhere. In perhaps the most telling reason why Bret Hart
never caught on in WCW, this was his tenth televised match since
joining the company in November. Of those ten, two were against
Brian Adams and this one was against Fit Finlay. Again, this guy was
WWF Champion nine months ago. How could they screw this up so badly?

Nitro
Girls again.

Stevie
Ray vs. Rick Martel

Stevie
has the TV Title with him for reasons not yet explained. This is
Martel’s return match after being gone since February with a knee
injury. Martel cranks on the arm to start as the announcers talk
about the NWO. Stevie sends him to the floor where Martel grabs his
knee. Someone who might be a trainer comes down the aisle as we take
a break. Back with Martel on the mat but getting two off a sunset
flip. Rick stomps away but keeps leaning on the ropes.

A
dropkick gets two on Ray and Martel puts on an armbar. Back up and
Martel charges into a World’s Strongest Slam but Ray misses an elbow
drop. A back elbow out of the corner staggers Rick and a kick to the
face puts him down. Martel comes right back with a belly to back
suplex and there’s the Quebec Crab. Here’s Bret Hart for no apparent
reason to blast Martel with a chair. Stevie hits the Slap Jack on
the unconscious Martel for the pin.

Rating:
D+. This would be the last
match of Martel’s career as he injured his knee again and called it a
day at 42 years old. Stevie with the TV belt was an interesting idea
that would be better suited on anyone but Stevie Ray. Martel having
to go out this way is kind of a shame as his comeback was very
entertaining.

Ray
says there’s no deal with Bret Hart. Booker has given him power of
attorney to defend the title against anyone that wants a shot.
Documents are promised next week. Allegedly the Martel match was for
the title.

We
get stills of the two minute bonus match from last night with Konnan
beating Disco Inferno thanks to Wolfpack interference.

Barry
Darsow vs. Konnan

Sting
is with Konnan here to ensure this is a squash. Darsow jumps Konnan
to start and chokes on the ropes for awhile. Konnan avoids a charge
in the corner and the rolling lariat sets up a seated dropkick.
Tequila Sunrise ends Darsow a few seconds later.

Here’s
DDP to accept Disciple’s challenge and the match is right now.

Disciple
vs. Diamond Dallas Page

Page
jumps him to start and takes Disciple down with a belly to back
suplex, only to be stopped with a low blow. Disciple slowly punches
a lot and hits a slow motion piledriver for no cover. Rick Rude
comes down to ringside. Page comes back with a clothesline and goes
up, only to be crotched by Rude. Page rams the NWO guys into each
other and pins Disciple off a very sloppy rollup in another short
match.

Hogan
and Vincent jump Page with a chair while he leaves.

The
announcers talk about Goldberg again.

Raven
vs. Kanyon vs. Saturn

This
is before the triple threat became the most overused gimmick match of
all time. Raven jumps Kanyon in the aisle but Saturn jumps both of
them as the bell rings. They get in the ring with Saturn t-bone
suplexing Raven down, only to be caught with a neckbreaker from
Kanyon. Saturn kicks at Kanyon’s head in the corner but some Raven
interference allows Kanyon to catch him in a face first electric
chair drop.

Kanyon’s
fireman’s carry into a pancake puts Raven down and Saturn misses a
charge to put him on the floor. That’s fine with Saturn as he pulls
out a table. Kanyon is pulled to the floor and laid out on the table
for a cool looking top rope splash. Raven tries to suplex Saturn
back inside but gets kicked in the head.

Saturn
goes up but gets crotched by Kanyon but Raven avoids Kanyon’s top
rope splash. He can’t avoid Saturn’s though, giving Perry a two
count. Kanyon goes to the corner but gets caught in a belly to back
superplex from Saturn, who is caught in a belly to back suplex from
Raven at the same time. Raven gets two on both guys but walks into
the Flatliner from Kanyon for two as Saturn saves. The Death Valley
Driver lays out Raven again but this time Kanyon saves. Kanyon and
Saturn fight to the floor and we get a bell for I believe a double
countout, giving Raven the win.

Rating:
B-. Really fun match here with
everyone moving for the entire match. This was before the triple
threat matches became a collection of the same spots in every match,
meaning this was something very unique at the time. I’m curious to
see where this feud goes as everyone is awesome at the moment.

Hour
#3 begins so we recap the Cruiserweight Title situation.

Dean
Malenko vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

Winner
gets a shot at Jericho at some point in the future. Dean works on a
hammerlock to start as the announcers bicker over breaking rules.
Rey fights free and both guys try dropkicks to give us a standoff.
Back to Rey’s arm with Dean taking him to the mat and putting on a
headscissors to supplement the armbar. Rey escapes into a cover for
two and we get another stalemate. Dean sweeps the legs out for two
but gets sent to the outside, setting up a BIG flip dive over the top
from Mysterio.

Back
in and Dean hits the tilt-a-whirl backbreaker but they trade rollups
for two each. Rey charges at Dean and gets launched to the top rope
but slips off, hurting the knee in the process. Mysterio pops back
up with a hurricanrana but gets caught in a powerbomb for two. Rey
loads up the top rope hurricanrana but Dean counters into the super
gutbuster. The referee checks on Rey but Jericho sneaks in with a
belt shot to Dean, giving Mysterio the pin and the title shot.

Rating:
C+. Good stuff here as you
would expect from these two. The Jericho story is still rolling but
eventually he has to get his comeuppance. That’s going to happen
eventually and it’s still entertaining but they’re running the risk
of the story going on too long. Malenko getting screwed over again
is good but something needs to give at the title match.

Kevin
Nash/Lex Luger vs. Disco Inferno/Alex Wright

Disco
goes on a long rhyming rant against the Wolfpack for interfering last
night but gets cut off by the howl. Sting (with REALLY bright teeth)
and Konnan are here as well. Luger starts but the dancers argue over
who has to face him. Lex cranks on the arm to start but gets
armdragged down, setting up dance time. Both dancers are
clotheslined out to the floor and Luger poses. Konnan doesn’t let
Wright and Disco walk out and Sting adds a Stinger Splash to crush
Wright against the barricade. The Jackknife to Disco and the Rack to
Wright get the win. Is this really what the Wolfpack is being used
for?

Mongo
still wants to reform the Horsemen. I believe this is the fourth
time we’ve heard this promo from him. We also see Anderson’s promo
before his match with Flair at Fall Brawl 1995 again.

Eddie
Guerrero vs. Steve McMichael

Eddie
jumps him to start as we hear about Heenan throwing out the first
pitch at an Oakland A’s game. Mongo comes right back with something
like Cena’s spinning belly to back slam but here’s Chavo on the
horse. He says he wants to be a Horseman and the distraction lets
Eddie dropkick Mongo’s knee out. Chavo comes in and that’s a DQ
despite there being no contact.

Eddie
dropkicks Chavo into Mongo so McMichael beats up Chavo.

We
recap Hogan challenging Hall from earlier.

Scott
Hall vs. Hollywood Hogan

Bischoff
is guest referee and we get an old school weapons check. Hall throws
toothpicks in Hogan and Bischoff’s faces so Hogan punches him to
start. Hall bites Hogan’s fingers and drives his shoulder into
Hogan’s. A slap to the face annoys Hogan even more so he
clotheslines Hall down and pounds him in the head. Choking in the
ropes gets no reaction from Bischoff and Hall comes back with right
hands. Disciple gets in a cheap shot and Bischoff still does
nothing.

Hogan
rolls up Hall for two despite Hall being in the ropes the entire
time. Scott comes back with a clothesline in the corner and more
right hands followed by a chokeslam but Bischoff won’t count. Hogan
puts on a choke but Bischoff still does nothing. Hall reverses into
a sleeper which is broken up almost immediately.

A
Hogan low blow gets a “that hurt” response from Eric as Heenan
thinks Bischoff is one sided. Tony to Heenan: “Welcome to Nitro!”
There’s the big boot but here’s Page to beat up Hogan and Diamond
Cut Bischoff. Nash comes in for the save and does Too Sweet with
Hall. Nash loads up the Jackknife but Hall decks him, which we’ll
call a heel turn. Maybe? Hogan and company stand tall.

Rating:
D-. I’m not sure what to say
about this. Hogan is a jerk to Hall, Bischoff treats Hall like an
enemy in the match, Nash saves Hall, but Hall is still loyal to Hogan
and Bischoff. I get that Hall needs the money, but do you have to
make him look like a nitwit along the way? At least give it longer
than ten seconds between Hall seemingly turning face before jumping
Nash. The match was all about the angle of course.

Hogan
hugs Hall to apparently welcome him back into the family.

WCW
World Title: Goldberg vs. Curt Hennig

Hennig
takes forever to get to the ring for some reason. Goldberg gets the
full entrance, complete with police escort. The entrances are nearly
six minutes combined and Hennig bails to the floor. The match on the
other hand is less than a minute and literally is just the spear and
Jackhammer. Given the long entrance and the lack of anything in the
match, I’m thinking Hennig might have been in no condition to perform
here.

Goldberg
poses to end the show.

Overall
Rating: C-. This is another
hard one to grade as there was some good action at times to go with
Hogan being genuinely evil for the first time in forever. That’s
been missing from him for so long and it’s a nice return to form for
him. Other than that though it was your usual time filler show with
stuff like Barbarian vs. Horace and Fuller vs. Duggan wasting our
time. It was entertaining at times though and that’s what WCW needs
right now.

Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for just $4 at:

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Rants

Rants

Monday Nitro – June 29, 1998

By Scott Keith on 20th November 2013

Monday
Nitro #143

Date:
June 29, 1998

Location:
Ice Palace, Tampa, Florida
Attendance: 10,900

Commentators:
Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re
13 days away from Bash at the Beach and of course the major story
tonight is the NBA tag match. Tonight also marks the first
appearance of Karl Malone on the show, meaning Tony will constantly
tell us how nothing has ever been bigger in the history of our sport.
The hype wound up working due to how successful the PPV was but man
alive it’s not easy to sit through week in and week out. Let’s get
to it.

The
Nitro Girls get us going. Not a bad way to start.

The
announcers intro the show and Larry can’t pronounce anticipation.

Gene
brings out Kevin Greene for an opening chat. Greene doesn’t remember
Hennig’s name but he does remember Goldberg, who he calls the best
wrestler in the last 30 years. He plugs the tag match at the PPV and
leaves. This was maybe 45 seconds long.

Kanyon
vs. Horace

Kanyon
starts fast with a Moss Covered Three Handled Family Credenza (starts
like a fisherman’s suplex but into a swinging neckbreaker instead of
a suplex) for two before stomping Horace down into the corner. A
Lodi distraction lets Horace clothesline Kanyon to the floor though
and Horace follows up with a suicide dive. Not a bad one either.

Kanyon
is whipped into the stop sign against the barricade which is legal
because all of the Flock’s matches are under Raven’s Rules. Or the
referee is a dolt. Back inside and Horace superplexes Kanyon down
for two but gets caught in a swinging neckbreaker. Kanyon comes back
with a fireman’s carry into a pancake for no cover as Kanyon has to
go after Lodi. Horace gets two off a big boot but walks into the
Flatliner for the pin.

Rating:
C-. Decent little match here as
Kanyon continues to look great in the ring almost every time. Horace
is a better power guy than he’s given credit for, but that’s what you
have to expect when the guy is Hulk’s nephew. The Kanyon vs. Raven
blowoff match should be solid once we finally get there.

Post
match the Flock hits the ring but Kanyon holds them off. Raven
himself finally comes in and the distraction lets the Flock take
Kanyon down. Raven says Kanyon standing alone is usually honorable
but today it’s foolish. The Evenflow lays Kanyon out.

A
semi-truck is on the way but not even in Florida yet according to
Tony.

Opening
sequence, nearly 20 minutes into the show.

The
announcers talk about the tag match again.

We
get the phone call from Thunder from Page saying he and Malone are
driving a big rig from Salt Lake City to Nitro with a surprise
inside. The surprise: a bunch of chairs. Seriously, he said there
was a surprise inside then said there’s nothing but chairs inside.
I’m guessing that’s another slip of the tongue.

Back
to the helicopter shot of the truck with Tony saying it’s been in
Florida all day, contradicting what he said five minutes ago. He’s
getting better if nothing else.

The
Black and White is arming itself with various metal weapons such as
crowbars and chains.

More
fans think Page and Malone are going to win.

Here’s
Stevie Ray who has demanded TV time tonight. He’s got a problem with
that pipsqueak Chris Benoit and that ex-football player Steve
McMichael. Everybody knows he could beat both of them one on one but
Booker T wants a tag match. Stevie won’t say where Booker is right
now but he’ll be here later for a tag match if the challenge is
accepted.

Little
Dragon vs. Eddie Guerrero

Dragon
is another guy from Dragon Gate who is better known as Dragon Kid.
This is his only WCW appearance, meaning the fans aren’t exactly
thrilled with him. Eddie quickly takes him down by the arm but
Dragon flips out and hits a handspring elbow in the corner. A
tilt-a-whirl backbreaker puts Dragon down again and Eddie hits the
slingshot hilo to his back.

The
fans chant for Chavo so Eddie hits a brainbuster. He looks all over
the place for Chavo before going up for the frog splash. Here’s
Chavo riding a hobby horse named Pepe and telling Eddie (“Little
Trooper”) to keep going. Eddie tries to steal the horse and the
distraction lets Dragon roll Eddie up for the pin.

Rating:
D+. The match wasn’t bad but
was more for the story than the match itself. Chavo is completely
insane by this point and the character is getting over as a result.
Imagine that: a veteran doing a story with a younger guy and the
younger guy getting over. Also notice that Eddie hasn’t lost any of
his heat at all and is getting better reactions from the crowd. Why
is this such a hard concept to grasp?

Chris
Jericho offers Ultimo Dragon a title shot on Thunder if Dragon takes
Malenko out tonight.

More
Nitro Girls.

Nitro
Party winner.

Sumo
Fuji/Judo Suwa vs. Giant

Rude
and Hennig are here with Giant and Rude’s beard is getting out of
control. Wade Boggs is here and Larry is furious for him shaking
hands with the NWO. Neither Japanese guy comes up past Giant’s
chest. Giant kicks Judo in the face and a double chokeslam ends this
in less than 45 seconds.

The
NWO clears the Dragon Gate guys out of the ring and says if Kevin
Greene wants some right now, come get it. Greene comes to the aisle
on his own with Hennig talking a lot of trash about the
“non-athlete”. Goldberg shows up behind Greene and the good guys
clear the ring. The Goldberg chant comes on, despite the crowd shots
showing no one actually chanting.

More
fans think Page and Malone will win.

Here
are Hogan and Bischoff with something to say. Hogan sings (meaning
recites) his theme song’s lyrics on the way to the ring. Tony
describes Hogan as magnificent, which doesn’t sound like something
you say about your hated rival. Eric says Hogan used to want to be a
truck mechanic so he can help if Malone and Page break down. Hogan
talks about beating up truck drivers in Tampa years ago and promises
to make Karl Malone famous tonight.

Hanging
out with a loser like Page isn’t going to help Malone’s legacy and
neither will Hogan turning the truck over on Malone’s back. Malone
will end up shining Hollywood’s shoes because Karl couldn’t lace the
black Jesus’ shoes on the basketball course. Tonight Hogan will take
care of Malone by himself. Somehow this took seven minutes.

The
truck is on the way, complete with a police escort. Also it’s
apparently gone from full daylight to pitch black in about 20
minutes.

Hour
#2 begins.

Sting/Lex
Luger vs. Jim Neidhart/British Bulldog

Non-title
match. Luger is teaming with Sting again, making me wonder why Nash
was given the title in the first place. Neidhart and Luger get us
going by trading shoulder blocks until Luger clotheslines him out to
the floor. Back in and it’s off to Sting and Bulldog which pleases
the fans quite a bit. Sting grabs a headlock and sends Bulldog to
the floor for a breather.

Bulldog
comes back in and wants to face his former Allied Powers teammate.
They pose at each other until it’s off to Anvil for even more posing.
Larry: “Is he flexing his beard?” Sting comes in and runs
Neidhart around the ring before it’s back to Luger who is taken into
the corner. Luger gets double teamed for a few seconds before coming
back with a double clothesline to put both Neidhart and Luger down.
Hot tag to Sting who cleans house and finishes Bulldog with the Death
Drop.

Rating:
D-. This was HORRIBLE with both
teams taking as much time as they could doing as little as they
could. Neidhart and Bulldog just weren’t working in WCW and I think
everyone knew it. They really don’t have characters outside of being
Bret’s relatives which doesn’t work when they’re not allowed to
associate with him. It didn’t help that Bulldog was a shell of
himself at this point and Anvil never was much of note without Bret.

More
fans, same opinions.

Saturn
vs. Reese

The
monster pounds Saturn in the chest to start but Saturn superkicks
Reese down to his knees. Reese grabs Saturn and gorilla presses him
from one knee in an impressive power display. Some knees in the
corner have Saturn in trouble but he kicks Reese in the knee and
takes him down. A missile dropkick drops Reese before the Death
Valley Driver is good for the pin. We can add Saturn to the list of
guys that WCW amazingly managed to screw up.

The
Flock immediately comes in and swarms Saturn. Raven says it’s time
Saturn starts taking responsibility for his life. He talks about
giving Saturn everything but Saturn never gave anything back. An
Evenflow lays Saturn out just like it did Kanyon earlier.

We
recap the NWO beating down Greene las tweek until Goldberg made the
save.

The
motorcade continues.

More
Nitro Girls.

El
Vampiro vs. Brad Armstrong

Vampiro
looks much different without his facepaint. Feeling out process to
start with Armstrong taking him into the corner but Vampiro lands on
his feet off a monkey flip. A clothesline puts Vampiro down but he
comes back with a nice spinning kick to the jaw. Vampiro scores
again with a spinwheel kick to the face and the Nail in the Coffin
(Michinoku Driver) for the pin. Just a squash even though Vampiro
wouldn’t be back until next March.

Promo
for the tag match at Bash at the Beach.

The
NWO Late Night band is warming up. Oh this isn’t going to go well.

Tokyo
Magnum/Shiima Nobunaga vs. Disco Inferno/Alex Wright

Nobunaga
is more famous as Cima. Toyky starts dancing between Wright and
Disco and takes his clothes off at the same time. Disco and Wright
aren’t into the stripping stuff and pounds Tokyo out to the floor.
Nobunaga starts with Alex and we get a rather nice wrestling sequence
with Nobunaga taking over via a flying mare and a dropkick. Wright
runs him over and tags in Disco who is sent chest first into the
buckle and drokicked in the back.

Off
to Magnum who walks into an atomic drop and it’s off to Wright for a
spinwheel kick. Alex tries a slingshot splash but lands on knees to
put him down. Back to Nobunaga for a springboard Swanton Bomb before
it’s back to Tokyo to stomp away in the corner. Tokyo tries
something out of the corner but slips down on the first try. A top
rope hurricanrana brings Disco down but Wright comes in sans tag with
a missile dropkick. Tokyo is knocked into the corner and it’s off to
Nobunaga who gets caught by a neckbreaker from Alex for the pin.

Rating:
C+. This was a much better
match than I was expecting with Nobunaga shining better than anyone
else. Tokyo, who is mostly remembered in WCW as a comedy jobber,
looked much better than I was expecting out there. Wright and Disco
weren’t bad either, making for a nice though short match.

Disco
and Alex argue over which music should play post match.

Tenay
interviews fans about the tag match. Guess who they pick to win.

Ultimo
Dragon vs. Dean Malenko

Fast
start with Dragon cranking on the arm and taking Dean down with a
flying mare. Malenko jumps over a leg sweep and avoids a kick before
both guys try dropkicks to give us a standoff. Dragon grabs the arm
to take over before shifting over the knee instead. We get the
headstand out of the corner but Dean catches him coming out of the
corner in a nasty looking release German suplex.

The
rapid fire kicks have Dean in trouble but he rolls out of the Dragon
Sleeper. Dragon takes him into the corner for the top rope
hurricanrana but gets caught in the super gutbuster instead. This
brings out Jericho to say this is where Dean’s father is buried.
Dean lets go of the Cloverleaf to chase Jericho to the back for a
countout.

Rating:
C. The match was good while it
lasted but just like the Eddie match it wound up being about
storytelling instead of the match. That’s fine a lot of the time,
but at some point there has to be a payoff for Dean. Yeah he won the
title at Slamboree but it was taken away just a few weeks later.
That kind of cheapens the win and a boost for Dean wouldn’t hurt.

Hour
#3 begins.

We
get a clip from Thunder of Arn Anderson saying the Horsemen are over.

Chris
Benoit/Steve McMichael vs. Harlem Heat

Benoit
and Booker get us going which is the best idea for everyone. Stevie
comes in before there’s any contact though and gets stomped down into
the corner with ease. A clothesline out of the same corner takes
Benoit down and it’s off to Booker who gets caught in a dragon screw
leg whip. Tag brings in Mongo to pound on Booker with his generic
power offense until he charges into a boot in the corner.

Back
to Stevie for his own generic power offense as the crowd audibly
dies. Booker comes back in for a spinebuster for two but Benoit has
had enough. Everything breaks down without any tags and here’s Bret
Hart with a chair to blast Booker in the back, giving Mongo (who
didn’t see Bret) a pin.

Rating:
D+. Simple explanation for
this: Booker and Benoit good, Stevie and Mongo bad. That’s as basic
as you can get here and the fans seemed to feel the same. I’m not
even sure why Stevie doesn’t like Benoit in the first place. Is it
just because Benoit offered to help Booker whenever he needed it?
That’s why we’ve in the third week of feuding?

Dean
catches up with Jericho in the locker room and pounds on him until
Ultimo Dragon tries to break it up. Malenko beats on him for a bit,
allowing Jericho to escape.

The
longest motorcade route in history continues.

It’s
time for the Eric Bischoff Show. This is going to suck isn’t it?
Eric (Bandleader: “One heck of a real swell guy!”) and Liz come
out to a talk show set that is nearly identical to the Tonight Show.
The bandleader says this is like the Barney and the motorcycle
episode of Andy Griffith or the first time there were transgender
truck drivers beating each other up on Jerry Springer.

The
bandleader goes on a long rant about hot sauce on barbecue pork rinds
in a trailer. I think this is supposed to be funny but the speech
made me lose focus. The guest tonight is Scott Steiner who says his
usual promo before talking about the tag match. He runs down Malone
for his Rogaine commercials and says calling Malone the Mailman is
fraud since he never delivers. Steiner says he’s got a co-star in
his Hollywood project and promises to have him here next week. This
was so far beyond stupid that it needs to study to get to dumb.

Booker
comes out and says that he doesn’t always agree with Stevie Ray but
that’s another story for another time. This is the second time that
Bret Hart has come out here and hit him in the back of the head with
a chair and Booker wants to know why. Stevie comes out and wants to
know why Booker is challenging Bret, even though he didn’t do that
yet. Booker does challenge Hart and here’s Bret, who says if there’s
a challenge, just go ahead and “ax” him. The challenge is
accepted but Booker better not cry when he loses. The match is on
for the PPV but Stevie wanted Booker to jump Bret right there.

Hogan
and Bischoff want Malone and Page here now. Hollywood has an idea
though.

More
Nitro Girls with the hometown girl Whisper getting a rare solo.

US
Title: Glacier vs. Goldberg

Buffer
does the big intro for what might last two minutes. For some reason
Heenan thinks Glacier’s music is Goldberg’s. The champ’s entrance
takes over two and a half minutes. Page and Malone are officially
pulling up to the arena. Actually scratch that as they’re still a
few blocks away. Goldberg tries his leg lock but Glacier comes back
with kicks to the face. The champion completely no sells them and
hits a kind of powerbomb. The spear and Jackhammer retain the belt.
Typical Goldberg here.

The
announcers talk about the motorcade again.

Here
are Hogan and Bischoff for the big closing segment. Hogan says he
hoped to take care of this really quickly but Malone and Page are
clearly scared. The motorcade is finally arriving with a few minutes
to go in the show. Hogan keeps calling them losers but doesn’t seem
to know they’re here. Hogan: “At Bash at the Beach, I don’t even
want you to tune in.” Nice promotion there dude.

The
rest of the Black and White are shown in the parking lot as Malone
and Page arrive. Both guys come inside while Hogan and Bischoff talk
trash. Page and Malone come in another door and bypass the NWO
entirely, allowing them to sneak up on Hogan and Bischoff, chairs in
hand. Hogan and Bischoff see them in the ring with Bischoff being
thrown to the floor. Malone says bring it and we get an over minute
long standoff. They lock up with Malone slamming Hogan down and
clotheslining him a few times.

The
rest of the NWO comes out with weapons in hand but Page has….a
microphone. He says Hogan got slammed dunked, punk. Page gets all
witty and calls Dennis Rodman Denise before challenging him for next
week. Malone says size does matter at Bash at the Beach. I’d like
to remind you that there are about five NWO guys with crowbars and
chains just standing in the aisle while Page and Malone talk. They
do the Diamond Cutter sign to end the show. I’ll give Malone this:
he looked like he was having a blast out there.

Overall
Rating: C+. This was a very
different show but in a good way. First and foremost, while the
basketball tag match was hyped a lot tonight, they toned it WAY down
from last week. Last time they talked about the match every ten
seconds or so, whereas this time was only every few minutes and for
much shorter stretches of time. On top of that, there were some
solid matches to go with the focus on storytelling. Tonight was
mainly about building up the PPV and that’s something we had been
needing for a good while. Nice show this week, even though things
are going to be turned upside down soon.

Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for just $4 at:

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Rants

Rants

Monday Nitro – June 22, 1998

By Scott Keith on 14th November 2013

Monday Nitro #142

Date: June 22, 1998

Location: Jacksonville
Memorial Coliseum, Jacksonville, Florida

Attendance: 8,749

Commentators: Mike
Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

The main story we’ve
got tonight is the signing of Karl Malone for a match at Bash at the
Beach. WCW’s obsession with celebrities got annoying after awhile
but to be fair, they had far bigger problems than wrestling
basketball players. Other than that we’ll likely get a lot more
about the NWO civil war, which hasn’t been so much of a war as much
as it’s been a lot of talking. Let’s get to it.

We open with promises
of clips from the Karl Malone press conference later.

Opening sequence.

The announcers talk
about the tag match for a bit.

We look at Hogan and
Rodman attacking Page with chairs a few weeks ago.

We get a clip from the
Tonight Show with Hogan and Rodman as guests making fun of Malone for
losing in the NBA Finals.

Here’s DDP with
something to say. This is going to be one of those shows with one
topic of discussion all night isn’t it? Page says he’s jacked to be
in Jacksonville. He talks about how he’s looking forward to the
match at the Bash because it’s personal between him and Hogan. Page
wants a piece of Hogan but not as much as Malone wants a piece of
Rodman.

Disco Inferno vs.
Len Denton

Denton is most famous
for his work in Portland Wrestling as the Grappler. Disco pounds him
down to start and hits his swinging neckbreaker for two. We even get
something resembling a People’s Elbow for a nice reaction from the
crowd. Denton makes a jobber style comeback but gets caught by some
clotheslines and a piledriver gets the pin for Disco.

Here’s NFL player Kevin
Greene to no reaction at all. He talks about the Jacksonville
Jaguars and the Carolina Panthers for several minutes with the fans
dying more and more every second. This brings out Rude and Hennig to
tell him to get out of their ring but Kevin wants a fight. Giant
jumps Greene from behind to finally get a reaction from the crowd.

Post break JJ makes
Giant vs. Greene for tonight. Great, more sports stars dominating
the show.

Tokyo Magnum vs.
Yuji Nagata

The name graphic says
“Tokoyo”. Tokyo dances a lot so Nagata pounds him in the face
and claps a lot. The announcers mention Tokyo being an Ultimo Dragon
student as he comes back with a forearm. Yuji sends him to the floor
so Sonny can get in some kicks to take over. Back in and we
get…..wait for it……wait for it……more kicking!

A leg lock has Tokyo in
trouble as the announcers talk about a bunch of sports stars instead
of wrestling. Various leg locks abound and a standing ax kick puts
Magnum down. Nagata misses a running knee in the corner and Tokyo
scores with a dropkick for two. Not that it matters as a spinwheel
kick to the face sets up the Nagata Lock to make Magnum tap.

Rating:
D-. I’m thoroughly over these kicking matches. They wind up being
nothing but kicking various body parts and leg locks before a big
kick and a big leg lock ends it. Nagata isn’t terrible in the ring
but he has the personality of the tree in my front yard. Nothing to
see here at all.

Raven talks about
Saturn betraying him in his usual style.

We cut to the back
where Stevie Ray has attacked Benoit.

Public Enemy vs.
Sick Boy/Horace

This match actually has
rules for a change. Public Enemy runs them over, knocking the Flock
members to the floor. Back in and it’s Rocco working on Sick Boy’s
arm to start things off. Off to Grunge for a shot to the chest and a
double flapjack before Horace comes in, only to be taken down for a
double elbow drop. The Flock finally gets their act together and
snaps Rocco’s neck across the top rope to take over.

Sick Boy whips him into
the corners a few times, only to get caught in a sunset flip for two.
The bad guys take turns stomping mudholes in Rocco before Horace
gets two off a side slam. Rocco gets clotheslined out to the floor
before coming back inside to avoid a charge in the corner. The
announcers ignore the match to talk about football and basketball
players as Horace accidentally hits Sick Boy with a stop sign. Rocco
comes off the top and drives the sign into Horace for the pin.

Rating: D.
So to clarify it was a match with rules but two shots with a stop
sign are perfectly legal? The match was nothing to see for the most
part but the commentators ruined anything it had going for it by
talking about the sports guys for the majority of the match. Flock
wasn’t terrible here actually.

The Nitro Girls are now
in NWO shirts and no one seems to notice.

Here’s Bret Hart with
something to say. Bret shushes Gene and hopes WCW is happy for
turning one Canadian against another. He remembers Benoit (his
opponent tonight) being a little kid running around in Calgary and
now the Americans have turned him into another punk kid. Nothing
special here but there’s nothing wrong with hyping a match for later
in the show.

We get even more
Tonight Show footage with Page and Malone coming out to face Rodman
and Hogan. A fight nearly broke out and this goes on way too long.
This was before the match was officially announced but the news had
leaked weeks earlier anyway.

Hour #2 begins.

US Title: Goldberg
vs. Rick Fuller

Goldberg takes him down
and grabs the ankle before hitting a botched spear (it looked more
like a tackle/spinebuster with Full taking a few steps back before
going down) and the Jackhammer to retain.

Annoying fans talked
about Rodman earlier today.

The announcers talk
about Kevin Greene again.

More kids talking about
the celebrity match. Good grief we get it already.

Here’s the Wolfpack
with something to say. Everyone hits their catchphrases before Sting
talks to a mannequin which apparently proves that this is Wolfpack
country. Being Nash’s partner makes him a medium sized giant killer
and promises to defend the titles anywhere anytime. Nash says too
sweet….and that’s it. Short promos tonight.

Fans talking about
basketball players again.

Nitro Girls in silver.

Alex Wright vs.
Eddie Guerrero

The announcers are
talking about the basketball players before the bell even rings.
Alex takes him down to start and stomps away before dancing a bit.
Eddie comes back with a jumping back elbow and some chops in the
corner but Alex pokes him in the eye. A backbreaker allows Alex to
dance a bit more and get a delayed two. Eddie dropkicks him down so
Alex bails to the floor for a breather. Back in and a quick suplex
gets two for Wright but he misses a top rope knee drop. Eddie comes
back with the brainbuster as Chavo comes out to cheer. The
distraction lets Wright grab a suplex for the pin.

Rating: D.
This was mainly about waiting on Chavo to show up which is fine for a
story but the match hasn’t been anything to see so far. Wright
continues to be fun to watch and talented in the ring and Eddie is
Eddie, but this match had nothing to it at all. It gets rather dull
waiting thirty seconds between moves you know?

Chavo grabs a mic and
talks about playing Monopoly the night before and landing on Park
Place with three hotels even though he owned the place. Eddie:
“YOU’RE WACKO!” Chavo: “No that’s Chavo. C-h-a-v-o,
C-h-a-v-o, C-h-a-v-o and Chavo is my name-o.” He keeps talking
about Monopoly as we go to a break.

More fans, more Rodman,
more aspirin for me.

Back from a break and
we get MORE fans talking about the tag match.

Konnan vs. Scotty
Riggs

Konnan grabs the arm
and hits the rolling clothesline before pulling on his pants. Riggs
trips him up and scores with a dropkick. After some quick choking he
sends Konnan out to the floor for a decent looking plancha. Back in
and they botch a leapfrog with Konnan landing on Riggs’ back before a
clothesline gets two on Scotty. A rollup gets the same result but a
Lodi distraction lets Riggs get in a cheap shot to take over. Riggs
powerslams him down for two but misses a missile dropkick. The
Tequila Sunrise gets the submission a second later.

Rating: D+.
Riggs is another good example of a guy who was just there. He didn’t
have anything unique or special in his offense and was little more
than a warm body that wouldn’t screw anything up horribly. Konnan
continues to be charismatic but not the best in ring worker to put it
mildly.

The announcers talk
about the basketball match again.

Now we get to see the
freaking press conference announcing the match where the ball players
cut promos on each other.

Hour #3 begins.

Steve McMichael vs.
Stevie Ray

Are they actively
trying to tick the fans off? That’s a serious question. They can’t
think this is the most entertaining thing they could put on right
now. Stevie wins a quick slugout to start and kicks Mongo down as
the announcers talk about how tough Mongo was because of his football
career. Mongo comes back with right hands and some choking as we
take a break. Yes, in THIS match.

Back with Ray kicking
Mongo down again before calling someone in the crowd a sucka. An
elbow drop gets two and Stevie is getting frustrated. We hit the
chinlock to keep the match at its dull pace until Mongo fights up and
kicks to the ribs. The “fight” heads out to the floor with Ray
being sent into the barricade before grabbing a chair. Benoit comes
out and takes it away but Booker takes the chair from Chris. It’s a
four way staredown and the match just ends.

Rating: F.
Let this show end soon before I injure myself.

Here’s the Black and
White with something to say. Bischoff talks about how amazing Hogan
is and makes jokes about breaking Savage’s leg. Hogan says Liz only
stayed with Savage because of the money because Savage clearly wasn’t
much of a man. He talks about the basketball match (it had been a
full five minutes after all) for several minutes while saying nothing
at all. Tony: “What have they done to our sport?” That should
be the title of this episode. Hogan actually gets up close to the
camera and says he’ll be a sixty minute man at Bash at the Beach.
I’ve heard that was actually the plan until sanity sat in.

We look back at Benoit
turning down the win over Booker due to Bret’s interference.

Chris Benoit vs.
Bret Hart

If this is anything
less than perfect, this is in the running for most worthless Nitro
ever. Benoit snaps off a quick armdrag to start before Bret drives
him into the corner for a surprisingly clean break. Benoit takes him
down by the arm again and hooks an armbar as we’re still in first
gear here. Bret fights up and scores with a hard DDT for no cover.
Benoit comes back with some hard forearms to the head but Hart rocks
him with European uppercuts. A middle rope elbow (not the middle
rope elbow) misses Benoit and Chris chops him down.

Benoit is sent out to
the floor and rammed back first into the post. Bret pounds away at
Benoit’s head before heading back inside to pose a bit. A piledriver
(not a tombstone Tony) gets two on Benoit and Bret is getting
frustrated. We take a break with Heenan talking about Kevin Greene
and come back with Bret getting two off something we didn’t see. The
Russian legsweep gets another near fall on Benoit and Bret’s counter
to an O’Connor Roll gets the same.

Bret takes too much
time yelling at the referee and gets caught in two rolling Germans
and a dragon suplex for no cover. A snap suplex looks to set up the
Swan Dive but Bret rolls away. Bret goes up top very slowly and gets
superplexed down for a close two. The fans are finally into
something tonight. A short arm clothesline gets two more for Benoit
so he slaps on the Crossface. Bret can’t make the rope but here’s
Stevie Ray for a distraction, allowing Bret to knock Benoit out cold
with a foreign object. Bret puts on the Sharpshooter for the win
since Benoit is out cold.

Rating: B-.
The match was getting good by the ending but we just needed a
worthless guy with limited talent to screw up the ending. Benoit got
a good rub here and I get why they can’t have Bret do a job, but can
we please get Benoit a win? It doesn’t even have to be anything big.
Just let him submit say….El Dandy. I’d take that at this point.

The announcers recap
the Kevin Greene stuff in case you’ve only been watching for 85
seconds.

Kevin Greene vs.
Giant

Greene is in street
clothes which at least helps with some realism. He pounds away on
Giant in the corner but gets caught by a single elbow to the face. A
low blow slows Giant down and here’s Hennig for the DQ after maybe 75
seconds.

The rest of the Black
and White comes in for the group beatdown until Goldberg (Green’s old
teammate) makes the save. Greene throws out a challenge for a tag
match at Bash at the Beach against Giant/Hennig to end the show.

Overall Rating: D-.
Only Benoit vs. Hart kept this from being a failure but it’s by a
hair. This was TERRIBLE with the basketball and Kevin Greene talk
killing this show right out of the box. I was a huge NBA fan in the
90s but even I was getting sick of hearing about it back then. The
commentary and lack of anything (save for the Canadians) else being
good crippled this show for three very long hours. They can’t
possibly think this is a good show. I almost mean that literally:
they couldn’t look at this show on paper and think it was going to
beat whatever Raw was offering. They couldn’t be that stupid.

Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for just $4 at:

Rants

Rants

Monday Nitro – June 15, 1998

By Scott Keith on 6th November 2013

Monday
Nitro #141

Date:
June 15, 1998

Location:
Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, New York

Commentators:
Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Laryr Zbyszko

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re
past the Great American Bash and the main development is Sting holds
both tag team titles. Seriously, other than that not a ton has
changed. Hogan, Hart, Piper and Savage had their match which changed
absolutely nothing and Booker is the TV Champion again. There’s not
much else to say about the show, which is a good indication of how
important that show was. We’re now four weeks away from Bash at the
Beach so let’s get to it.

Public
Enemy vs. Hugh Morrus/Barbarian

This
opens the show as Public Enemy is on their way to the ring as Tony
welcomes us to the show. It’s a street fight meaning the weapons are
flying as soon as the Public Enemy hits the ring. As usual it’s pure
insanity with everyone hitting everyone else in the head and Grunge
being sent head first into a garbage can. Even Jimmy Hart gets in a
cheap shot with a sheet of medal.

Hugh
backdrops Rocco into a powerbomb from Barbarian and a bunch of
garbage can shots keep Rocco down. Grunge comes back in with some
trashcan lid shots to Barbarian as Morrus loads up a table on the
floor. A frying pan to the crotch slows Morrus down but he’s good
enough to bulldog Rocco. Jimmy tries some more shots to Rocco’s
head, earning him a suplex into the ring. Rocco is eventually
suplexed over the top and through the table, but he lands on
Barbarian for the pin.

Rating:
D-. I can’t stand these
matches. I get the idea of appealing to the ECW fanbase but couldn’t
they come up with something more interesting than just hitting each
other in the head with metal? These matches don’t add anything at
all and when it takes a few seconds to determine who won, there’s
probably a problem.

We
get the opening pyro display and the announcers’ usual recap of the
recent events around these parts.

Earlier
today Mike interviewed some fans to find out if they were ready for
Nitro.

We
recap the Wolfpack recruiting Page from last week.

Opening
sequence.

Nitro
Girls.

Here’s
how to get a Nitro Party!

Here’s
Savage for an interview. He has a message for Piper and that
is….that he wants DDP in the Wolfpack. Savage talks about Wyatt
Earp wanting to help the Wolfpack and goes into a sales pitch to Page
for a spot on the team. He wants Page in a cage match tonight and if
Page can beat him, Page can join the team with Savage’s full
endorsement.

We
get some stills of the tag match last night.

Chris
Benoit vs. Fit Finlay

Tenay
suggests that this is a #1 contenders match for the TV Title but I
don’t think that’s official. Benoit takes him into the corner to
start and this is going to be a physical one. The fans are all over
Finlay from the bell and he seems a bit shaken by it. Finlay takes
him down with a headlock and cranks on the arm a bit before just
kicking Benoit in the face. We hit the chinlock on the Canadian
before Benoit fights up and hits a backbreaker to send Finlay to the
floor.

Finlay
sends him back first into the apron before taking him inside for a
reverse chinlock. Benoit stands up and drops Finlay down onto his
back for two. We come back from a break with Finlay dropping a knee
on Benoit’s face for two. Chris fights up again with some hard boots
to the ribs but gets dropped throat first across the top rope.
Finlay misses a charge into the post and Benoit hits the Rolling
Germans to put both guys down.

Benoit
is up first but the Swan Dive only hits mat and Finlay drops another
knee to the head. These shots are making me cringe more and more
every time. The rolling senton puts Benoit down again but Benoit
goes into beast mode, countering the tombstone into the Crossface for
the win.

Rating:
C+. This took some time to get
going but everything after the break was awesome. These two beat the
crap out of each other, but the shots to the head are hard to sit
through. It’s good to see Benoit get a win after losing the series
though, so maybe there’s hope for him yet. Solid match here for the
most part though.

Post
match Gene comes into the ring to interview Benoit about the series
with Booker. Benoit invites Booker out here to see him face to face
for some business. Here’s Harlem Heat and Benoit stares Booker down,
only to shake and raise his hand. Booker calls Benoit the best man
he’s ever been in the ring with and Benoit says to say the word if
Booker ever needs a good man in his corner.

This
isn’t cool with Stevie who calls Benoit a pipsqueak. Benoit repeats
what he said and Booker offers another handshake but Stevie blasts
Benoit in the face. Cue Mongo (dang it) to pull Stevie off but
Booker breaks it up. Harlem Heat leaves and Benoit says he’s here
for one thing, and he holds up the four fingers.

Post
breaks here’s DDP to answer Savage’s challenge. Well in theory at
least as Page would rather talk about Hogan and Rodman. They’re both
somewhere between a cockroach and that white stuff that accumulates
at the corner of your mouth when you’re really thirsty (direct quote
from the movie Con Air). Apparently there’s a tag match at Bash at
the Beach with Page having a partner to be named. Oh and Savage is
on for the cage match tonight.

We
get a clip of Hogan and Rodman attacking Page with chairs last week.
Apparently there are rumors that NBA superstar Karl Malone might don
the tights and join WCW. I’m guessing that was the major
announcement that wasn’t made on Thunder.

Nitro
Girls.

Gene
is in the ring again and it’s time for Piper’s weekly rambling.
Piper: “GOD BLESS FRANK SINATRA!” Sinatra died a month before
this, so I’m assuming it was a tribute, but that’s a bit late isn’t
it? Anyway, Piper talks about remembering the Statue of Liberty
wearing a kilt (I rescind my thought on it being a tribute and vote
for Piper is nuts) and says he’s tough enough to make Rush Limbaugh
lose weight and put Howard Stern on the Disney Channel. The smark
crowd stops him with a loud RODDY chant but Piper confirms the cage
match for tonight, but with him as the referee for no apparent
reason.

Hiroshi
Tenzan/Masahiro Chono vs. High Voltage

The
Japanese guys are IWGP Tag Team Champions and are in the Black and
White. Robbie Rage gets jumped to start but Kaos comes in off the
top with a clothesline to take down Chono. High Voltage clears the
ring and we take a break. Yes, this match is getting a break. Back
with Rage stomping on Tenzan and putting on a reverse chinlock.
Tenzan fights up as the announcers talk about Goldberg being with his
sick mom tonight.

Chono
comes in off the tag and everything breaks down for a few moments.
Things settle back down with Kaos blocking a Chono suplex until High
Voltage comes in for a double team. Kaos’ top rope clothesline hits
Rage by mistake, allowing Tenzan to drop a top rope headbutt for two.
Not that it matters as the Mafia Kick ends Kaos seconds later.

Rating:
F. I can’t stand these matches
as we’re just supposed to instantly care about people we haven’t seen
in months because they’re wearing NWO shirts. Yeah Chono and Tenzan
are awesome, but we need more than a few matches a year for the fans
to realize that. On top of that the match was horrible with everyone
looking sloppy and the match being a big mess. Given what I’ve seen
from both teams, I blame this pretty much entirely on High Voltage.

Still
shots of Giant vs. Sting last night.

Here’s
the Wolfpack to a BIG reaction. Nash talks about how life is full of
ironies, such as the last man to join the Wolfpack is the first one
to bring home some gold. He brings out Sting for his pick of the
partners but Sting wants to suck up to the crowd first. Sting talks
about how everyone in the group has credentials, ranging from Konnan
coming from a bunch of tough barrios, Luger holding every title there
is to hold and Nash being a living, breathing monster. Savage isn’t
listed as a possibility for some reason. However, he’s going to wait
until the tag title defense tonight to make his announcement.

Kanyon
vs. Sick Boy

Kanyon
charges to the ring and the brawl is quickly on. Sick Boy is stomped
into the corner and punched a lot before Kanyon pulls him down with a
neckbreaker for two. Kanyon heads to the floor where a Lodi (in a
safari hat because he’s odd like that) distraction lets Sick Boy take
over. Back in and Sick Boy goes up but hops down, allowing Kanyon to
hit a great looking forward electric chair for two. A faceplant out
of the corner puts Sick Boy down again before the Flatliner gets the
pin.

Rating:
C-. This didn’t have time to go
anywhere but Kanyon continues to look awesome. His offense was so
different from anyone else and he had a solid look, but for some
reason he never reached that higher level. The feud with the Flock
is working though and I’m curious to see where it goes.

Here
are Rude and Hennig with Curt now in the Black and White like he
should have been all along. Rude talks about how everyone has been
asking why they turned on the Wolfpack and it’s the stereotypical
answer: money. If it had been Hennig in there with Goldberg, the
streak would be over. That’s going to be the case one day because
Hennig has won over 3,000 matches. Hennig brags about swerving
Konnan and promises no swerves with the Black and White, even though
he’s now swerved DDP, Flair and Konnan. He’d never swerve Rude
though.

JJ
Dillon is here to address the Cruiserweight Title issues from last
night. The referee was right to call the match last night so here’s
Jericho, already in celebration mode. He sings about being the
champion and says there’s dancing in the streets. JJ says Jericho is
the champion, but he has to defend against Malenko within 30 days.
Jericho rips into Dean’s dad again, but thankfully Dean was about two
feet from Jericho to jump him immediately. Malenko beats him into
the back and throws Jericho into anything he can find, ranging from
what look to be portable bleachers to a cardboard box. Security
finally breaks it up.

Chris
Adams vs. The Giant

Giant
is smoking again. This actually lasts longer than I expected, going
a full 20 seconds before the chokeslam ends Adams.

We
look at Hogan and Rodman attacking Page again last week.

Here
are Hogan and Bischoff for their weekly (or hourly depending on the
show) chat. Hogan says that God created Hollywood on the seventh
day. Back in the day when he was selling out MSG, the slimy one
(Nash?) was wishing he could be like Hogan one day. As for Page, if
he wants a piece of himself and Rodman, come get some, even if it
means bringing in Karl Malone. Hogan and Rodman have already signed
for Bash at the Beach, so make sure to check the show out to see who
Page and his partner take a beating. This was short and actually
accomplished something. I’m as shocked as you are.

More
Nitro Girls and the Nitro Party video.

Hour
#3 begins.

Here’s
Sting for his decision. He wastes no time and picks Nash. Tony
calls this a curveball, even though it was one of four possible
options. Nash does a survey of which NWO the fans are here to see,
which sums up this company in a nutshell. Lastly, he says Hennig is
the Pack’s newest prey.

Tag
Titles: Sting/Kevin Nash vs. Harlem Heat

Tony
gets the continuity wrong before the bell, saying Sting has been a
tag champion for a long time, even though it was clearly stated the
titles were vacant coming into last night. Booker and Sting get us
going in the best possible pairing for this match. Things start fast
with Sting jumping over Booker before taking him down with a hiptoss.
Booker bails to the floor for a meeting with Stevie before coming
back in with the jumping forearm.

Stevie
yells at Booker so T brings him in to try his own luck. Ray stomps
Sting down but he comes back with some of those odd shots to the face
of his own, allowing for the tag off to Nash. Kev comes in but walks
into a slam, only to have Stevie miss an elbow drop. We take a break
and come back with Booker missing a dropkick on Sting. Back to Nash
for knees in the corner and the big boot to the jaw before the side
slam gets two.

Off
to Sting again who stomps a mudhole on Booker before actually hitting
his jumping elbow drop. A Vader Bomb of all things gets two but a
regular splash hits Booker’s knees. Ash comes in before Booker can
make the tag though, meaning the match slows down again. Nash powers
Booker down but tags back out to Sting before he breaks a sweat. You
have to protect that hair at all costs you see.

The
Wolfpack keeps up the fast tags with Nash coming back in but Booker
escapes Snake Eyes and gets two off a rollup. Booker avoids the
Stinger Splash and finally makes the tag off to Stevie. Sting walks
into a powerslam but Stevie talks trash, only to get caught in the
Death Drop for the pin about 10 seconds after he was tagged in.

Rating:
D+. Not a terrible match here
and at least Stevie did the job instead of Booker. The match was
pretty dull though with Nash seeming to be as bored as you could
imagine him to be and Sting just going through the motions as well.
Harlem Heat was done as a top tag team but they were still good
enough for a spot like this.

The
announcers talk about the cage match.

Remember
that video of Scott Steiner on a movie set with Hogan where they met
Carl Weathers? Well here it is again.

The
cage is already set up but first we get Bischoff talking to Scott
Steiner in a sitdown interview. Scott says it’s nice to be in New
York but it’s nothing compared to Los Angeles. He name drops a bunch
of actors who congratulated him for the snow job he put on his
brother. Just establishing the new character for Steiner, which I
can’t imagine lasts long.

Nitro
Girls.

Randy
Savage vs. Diamond Dallas Page

There’s
a top on the cage and Piper is the referee. Page climbs on top of
the cage to pose before getting inside. We get the bell and Page
goes after Savage’s bad arm, only to have Randy hit him in the bad
ribs. Page goes up top but gets crotched down, only to pop up and go
after Savage’s own injured ribs. A ram into the cage gets two so
Savage sends him into the steel for the same. They ram each other
into the buckle before Savage goes head first into the cage.

Back
up and they hit heads to put both guys on the mat again. We take a
break and come back with Page pounding away and scoring with a
clothesline, only to be taken down by a low blow. Savage goes up for
the big elbow but hurts his knee on the way down, allowing Page to
kick out. Savage and Piper get in a fight over the speed of the
count with Savage laying him out via a piledriver. Page comes back
with the Diamond Cutter to put all three guys down.

The
fans (or the PA system) wants Goldberg as all three guys get back up.
Page punches Piper for trying to pull him off Savage, so Piper sends
Page into the cage three times in a row. Now Piper beats up Savage,
because Heaven forbid a match doesn’t focus on Piper at least once.
Piper rams both of them into the cage….and the cage raises up. Cue
the Black and White to fill the cage which lowers after they get in.
The massive beatdown is on as the match is thrown out.

Rating:
D+. This was more about Piper
than either wrestler and that’s a big problem in WCW at the moment.
Piper is playing WAY too big of a role and I have no idea why WCW
thinks he’s the right man for this spot. The match itself was
nothing special as both guys were banged up and basically going
through the motions out there until Piper did his thing.

The
NWO destroys Savage with Bischoff kicking a chair into his knee. The
Wolfpack comes out to try for a save but they can’t find a way in.
Nash runs (work with me here) to the back and finds the button to
raise the cage and we go off the air.

Overall
Rating: C-. While not great,
this was SO much better than last week as they kept things moving.
Rather than focusing on one story, the show focused on different
stories at different times which made things a lot easier to sit
through. Hogan only having one promo and a run-in at the end is a
great example of this as he had something like nine appearances last
week. The wrestling was passable and the stories were advanced as
well, which is all you can ask for a lot of the time.

Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for just $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Rants

Rants

Monday Nitro – June 8, 1998

By Scott Keith on 30th October 2013

Monday
Nitro #140

Date:
June 8, 1998

Location:
The Palace of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, Michigan

Commentators:
Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re
at the last Nitro before the Great American Bash and we have a new
co-main event for Sunday of Sting vs. Giant for the tag titles. It’s
hard to say what we’re going to get tonight as almost everything is
set, meaning we’ve got a three hour commercial for a show that
doesn’t sound all that interesting in the first place. Let’s get to
it.

We
open with Michael Buffer doing his Are You Ready schtick. Instead of
a big match though, he’s introducing Hogan and Bischoff for the
opening promo. They have a special guest with them though as Dennis
Rodman is back. Bischoff sucks up to Hogan and Hollywood brags about
having Rodzilla back with him. He dares Piper and Savage to come out
here for a fight right now. Rodman gets the mic and says hey a lot
and sucks up to the Detroit fans since he used to play for the
Pistons. Bischoff tells the fans to bite him and Hogan brags about
how awesome the Black and White are. Not much to see here.

We
look at Sting joining the Wolfpack because we haven’t seen it in a
few minutes.

Opening
sequence.

Nitro
Girls.

The
announcers talk about the power struggle for a few minutes as is
their custom.

We
get some interviews Mike conducted with fans on Sting joining the Red
and Black. I don’t think the main event of Starrcade got this much
attention.

Here’s
the Wolfpack with something to say. Nash, the hometown boy, sucks up
to the Detroit crowd before praising Luger to sign Sting up and then
get DDP to team with him on Thunder. Kev talks about being ready to
walk out of the business about five years ago because he couldn’t get
a break, but DDP believed in him. That being said, now DDP needs to
make a decision.

The
Wolfpack has had a vote and it was nearly unanimous (apparently
Savage voted no in a nice bit of continuity): they want him in the
Wolfpack. Two years ago Page decided to not go Black and White and
that was the right call. Tonight though he can make the right call
and join the Dream Team. This brings Nash to Hogan but the mic stops
working. Hogan’s voice comes from the technical area where the Black
and White are watching the show. Rodman is allowed to set off some
pyro and turn off the lights to get rid of the Wolfpack.

Konnan
interviews JJ Dillon in the back and asks him to prevent the Black
and White from doing anything else tonight. JJ says that it’s the
Wolfpack’s problem, not WCW’s.

Yuji
Nagata vs. Jerry Flynn

Flynn
gets in some kicks to the ribs and pounds away in the corner but
misses a running kick, sending him out to the floor in a heap. Back
in and a high collar suplex gets two for Nagata but Jerry comes back
with a snap suplex of his own as the announcers talk about anything
but this match. A leg lock gets Nagata nowhere so Flynn comes back
with a DDT for two. Yuji comes back with a jumping kick to the face
but Flynn hits a kick to Nagata’s head to even it up. Tony talks
about some announcement we’ll get on Thunder as Jerry goes after
Sonny Onoo, allowing Nagata to put on the Nagata Lock for the win.

Rating:
D. I’m really tired of these
karate showdowns because there’s nothing to any of these characters
other than they like to kick people. Neither guy here is interesting
in the slightest and it’s really questionable to have this as the
first match in over half an hour. Is it any wonder why no one stuck
around to watch these shows when Raw came on?

Here’s
Jericho with an envelope and something to say. It’s a registered
letter from Ted Turner himself. The letter says that Jericho has
asked Turner to look at the Cruiserweight Title loss. Turner praises
him for tenacity and thinks Jericho has a lot of the same traits
Turner himself had. After reviewing the tapes from Slamboree, it has
been determined that Dean Malenko should not be the champion.
However, Jericho’s incessant whining has sickened Turner, so the
decision stands. Signed, Uncle Ted Turner.

We
see Luger recruiting Page to the Wolfpack from Thunder.

Reese/Horace
vs. Van Hammer/Juventud Guerrera

Hammer
and Reese get us going but everyone comes in before too long. A
double clothesline puts the Flock members down and Juvy hits a
springboard seated senton to take Reese down. Juvy pounds away with
right hands to send Reese to the floor before hitting a big dive,
only to be caught in midair. Hammer dives on top of both of them to
put Reese down so the good guys can stand tall. Well kind of tall in
Juvy’s case.

We
really get started with Hammer vs. Horace and Hulk’s nephew taking
Hammer down with a Samoan drop. A running clothesline crushes Hammer
in the corner and it’s off to an arm wringer. Horace wraps up the
arm but gets caught in a cobra clutch slam, allowing for the hot tag
off to Guerrera. A slingshot legdrop keeps Horace down but he gets
up a big boot in the corner to put Juvy down.

The
big man beating begins with Horace pounding away before hooking a
reverse chinlock. Juvy fights up again and snaps off a quick
hurricanrana before countering a belly to back superplex into a
crossbody. There’s the real hot tag off to Van Hammer who cleans
house but regular clotheslines don’t do much damage to Reese. A
middle rope clothesline finally takes him down and a Cactus
Clothesline puts Horace to the floor. Not that it matters though as
Reese hits a chokebomb on Guerrera for the pin.

Rating:
D+. Nothing special here but at
least there’s a story going on here. Juvy needs to get the win in
the showdown with Reese but having him lose in a tag match like this
is ok. The match wasn’t all that good but it was a huge step up over
the battle of the karate guys from earlier.

The
Black and White has a party with some good looking women. Hogan
promises a new member of the team soon and talks about how Skinny
Legs Nash isn’t getting away with all those powerbombs Hogan had to
pay for.

Hour
#2 begins with a riveting interview with JJ Dillon. He reiterates
that Luger and DDP aren’t tag champions because Giant had no
authority to pick a partner to defend the titles. Sunday it’s Sting
vs. Giant for both belts and the winner gets to pick his partner.

Eddie
Guerrero vs. Scott Putski

Putski
is a good example of a guy with a great look with almost nothing else
to back it up. Guerrero runs into a hard shoulder to start but takes
Scott down with a drop toehold. An elbow to the face sets up an
abdominal stretch by Eddie as you can feel the ratings battle
slipping away. Putski fights out and hits a scary looking release
German suplex, dropping Eddie down on his shoulder. A short
powerbomb puts Eddie down as Tony shills the big announcement on
Thunder again. Eddie escapes a gorilla press and dropkicks the knee
out but here’s Chavo for the DQ without actually doing anything.

Rating:
D+. Believe it or not this
might have been the match of the night so far. Putski wasn’t doing
anything of note but he was throwing Eddie around pretty nicely. He
would have been a good candidate to throw into a tag team as a silent
enforcer. Eddie was his usual smooth self.

Chavo
punches Scott out as Eddie bails. The nephew shouts at Eddie to come
back because he needs his uncle.

Nash
and Konnan, with the latter in different clothes than he was in
earlier, say they’ve got some money from the 5,000 Wolfpack t-shirts
they sold tonight so they can pay Hogan back now. The money is in a
Swiss bank account down there. Down where you ask? Both guys laugh
before they can answer.

Bischoff
and Giant are at the tech area again because we haven’t heard enough
from the NWO tonight. Apparently Giant hasn’t eaten in four days so
he’ll eat Sting on Sunday like the chicken he is. Somehow this took
two and a half minutes.

Here
are Rude, Hennig and Konnan in his fourth appearance in ninety
minutes. Rude cuts a heel promo on Goldberg but Konnan does his
usual deal to get the crowd back on the Red and Black’s side. Rude
and Hennig just don’t fit with the Wolfpack at all.

Chris
Benoit vs. Booker T

Match
#6 in the best of seven series for the TV Title shot on Sunday with
Booker trailing 3-2. Feeling out process to start until with Booker
taking it to the mat, only to have Benoit take over with a
hammerlock. Booker counters into one of his own before lifting
Benoit into the air into a kind of pumphandle slam. A spinning kick
to the face puts Benoit down again and the Canadian bails to the
floor.

Back
in and Booker hooks another armbar as Heenan talks about Booker
having more video equipment to watch tapes than Bob Crane (star of
Hogan’s Heroes, eventually became a sex addict who made hundreds of
sex tapes). Benoit fights up and hits a knee to the ribs to send
Booker out to the floor. The Canadian gets two off an elbow to the
face and a snap suplex for the same.

A
belly to back suplex gets the same and the Swan Dive connects, but
Benoit might have injured his shoulder and can’t cover. Cue Stevie
Ray to give Booker a pep talk but his comeback is stopped with a
German suplex for two. Booker comes back with a kick to the face and
the sidewalk slam but Benoit fires off kicks in the corner to slow
Booker down again. Not that it matters as Booker hooks a spinning
sunset flip out of the corner for the pin to send up to a seventh
match.

Rating:
C+. This match is another
instance of the same problem this entire series has had: the matches
are still good but they’re running out of things to do to each other.
Still though, I can’t imagine anything on the show topping what they
did here. Thankfully there’s just one match to go in the series
though.

Benoit
kicks Booker’s leg out post match but Stevie runs him off.

Nitro
Girls.

Nitro
Party winner.

Hogan
and Hart are in the sky box again so Hollywood can make gay jokes
about Konnan. We get a pretty awesome Randy Savage impression from
Hogan as he brings in Liz. Apparently she’s a gift to Bret and is no
longer with Savage. Ok then.

We
look at the end of the Booker vs. Benoit movie again with Tony
actually praising Benoit’s heel actions. That’s new at least.

TV
Title: Fit Finlay vs. Norman Smiley

Finlay
grabs a headlock and a cravate to start but Smiley hiptosses him down
and scores with a dropkick. Finlay comes back with a rake to the
eyes and takes Smiley down into a Crippler Crossface. Back up and a
running forearm puts Smiley on the apron for some shots to the chest.
The fans do the wave and the announcers actually call it. Finlay
puts on an armbar for a bit before planting Norman with the tombstone
to retain.

Rating:
D. The announcers spent more
time talking about the wave, the announcement on Thunder, Booker vs.
Benoit, or ANYTHING else they could come up with besides the match.
Could it be because Finlay is clearly just a placeholder for the
winner of the series and Smiley had no chance at all here? I’m sure
this match had fans glued to their sets instead of watching whatever
Austin was doing to McMahon at this point.

Hour
#3 begins.

Here’s
Tony in the ring for something actually interesting: a Sting
interview, which I believe is the first one in over a year. Sting
says Giant is fat and talks about how he beat up big guys like him at
the first Great American Bash. He recommends Giant loses some weight
and take a shower before Sting wins both belts on Sunday. This was
nothing.

Back
from a break with Tony still in the ring for even more talking. This
time it’s Piper who compares himself to Barry Sanders and promises to
hit Hogan and Hart in the head so much that they’ll feel like they
just got out of a Red Wings’ game. Piper makes jokes about Karl
Malone beating Dennis Rodman in the NBA playoffs and says Savage is
from a test tube. This draws out Macho who will fight Piper after
the tag match on Sunday.

Piper
says they’ll fight in Baltimore but Savage wants to do it tonight.
Hart and Hogan (appearance #5 tonight) pop up at the tech area again
and apparently Liz is a present for Eric, who doesn’t need Viagra.
Eric kisses Liz as Bret cracks jokes about Savage and Piper. Savage
says he’s over Liz but not Piper and there’s a right hand to the
Scot. Piper punches Savage back, sending him to the floor. This ran
nearly ten minutes whereas Sting got about three.

The
announcers talk. Again.

We
recap Jericho’s tour of Washington DC last week as well as Jericho
showing the 1934 NWA rule book to Malenko on Thunder.

Cruiserweight
Title: Disco Inferno vs. Dean Malenko

Dean
stomps him down in the corner to start and gets two off a powerslam.
Disco comes back with a clothesline and an elbow drop for two but
Dean puts him back down with a leg lariat. The Cloverleaf retains
the title with ease.

More
Nitro Girls, this time in pink.

The
Black and White, including Hogan (#6) are with the girls in the
lounge again to run down the Wolfpack some more before introducing a
video of Hogan’s newest movie.

Video
of Hogan (#7) and Steiner on a movie set where they run into Carl
Weathers (Apollo Creed from the Rocky movies).

Back
to the lounge for Hogan to talk about how awesome an actor Scott
Steiner is going to be.

Video
on Goldberg.

US
Title: Goldberg vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.

Chavo
requested this match and says “be very very quiet. I’m hunting
Goldbergs.” Chavo dives at Goldberg and is easily sent lying
across the ring. A kind of fallaway slam puts Chavo down again and
there’s a gorilla press into a powerslam for good measure. Eddie is
cheering on the stage as Goldberg hits the two move combo to become
99-0.

Here’s
the Wolfpack (appearance #5 for Konnan tonight) to offer Page a spot
on the team. Page comes to the stage where Tony asks him for his
decision. DDP talks about the talent he sees in the ring and says he
can’t believe what he’s about to do. Before he can say what he’s
going to do, Hogan (appearance #8) and Rodman come up behind and
blast him with chairs. Sting and the Wolfpack chase the NWO off to
end the show.

Overall
Rating: N. As in NWO, because
that’s all this show was about. This was a really good example of
something WCW was horrible about: putting FAR too much of the focus
on one idea instead of spreading the show around. Hogan was on TV in
8 (arguably 9) different segments in about two hours and twenty
minutes of total air time. The guy has reached new levels of
overexposure and we’re to the point that I just don’t care about what
he’s doing at all.

On
top of that, there was barely any wrestling at all on this show and
the only stuff we got was decent at its very best. I mean, Booker
vs. Benoit was a fine match, but it’s literally the sixth time
they’ve done the match in two weeks. Of the other six matches, two
were under three minutes, one was a karate off, one was a squash,
another featured Ivan Putski and the last was a decent match
featuring the Flock B-Team. Is it really any shock that Nitro hasn’t
won a ratings night since April? Absolutely awful show this week
with the NWO just crushing everything in their sight.

Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for just $4 each at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Rants

Rants

Monday Nitro – June 1, 1998

By Scott Keith on 23rd October 2013

Monday
Nitro #139

Date:
June 1, 1998

Location:
MCI Center, Washington D.C.

Commentators:
Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re
less than two weeks to go from the Great American Bash and we really
don’t know much about the card so far. The main event will be
Hart/Hogan vs. Savage/Piper, but the interesting (by comparison)
question is what happens to Sting and the tag titles. Odds are Sting
is going to pick a side soon, but that doesn’t really do much
overall. It’s just more of the same faction wars which have
dominated the company for months now. Let’s get to it.

We
open with a montage of Sting over the years and all of his different
looks.

Opening
sequence.

The
announcers talk about Sting for a few minutes and Tony is sure we’ll
get the decision tonight.

A
white limo with a WCW logo pulls up and it’s JJ Dillon, Diamond
Dallas Page, Booker T and Goldberg.

We
see Luger’s recruitment speech to Sting from Thunder.

The
fireworks display kills even more time after a break.

Nitro
Girls.

Jerry
Flynn vs. Ernest Miller

Miller
starts with a backdrop but can’t hit a few spin kicks to the face.
Off to an armbar on Jerry but Flynn comes back with some kicks in the
corner. Now it’s Flynn with an armbar followed by some kicks to the
arm but Miller comes back with a fireman’s carry powerslam. The
latest version of the Feliner (in this case Kofi Kingston’s Trouble
in Paradise) misses by about eight inches but it’s enough to pin
Jerry.

Rating:
D-. This is the same problem
you always have with the guys in these matches: just because they can
throw kicks doesn’t make them interesting. Jerry Flynn is an
uninteresting of a wrestler as you’ll ever see and Miller was only
starting to become competent in the ring at this point.

A
black limo pulls up, revealing NWO Wolfpack minus Hennig.

Here’s
the Wolfpack with something to say. Hennig is with them on crutches
despite not being in the limo. Nash does a survey about which NWO
the fans are here to see with the red and black winning. Luger gives
another recruitment speech and offers a challenge to Giant and Hogan
to face himself and Nash.

We
see Bret recruiting Sting on Thunder.

Saturn/Raven
vs. Public Enemy

Saturn
pounds Grunge into the corner to start before it’s quickly off to
Raven who walks around but makes no contact before tagging back out.
Public Enemy comes back with a double elbow to the jaw before Rocco
stays in to work over Saturn’s back. Grunge comes in for some
shoulders in the corner before Public Enemy drops Saturn with a
double clothesline again. A modified top rope Demolition
Decapitation gets two for Grunge but Rocco misses a Lionsault press.
Raven makes a blind tag but accidentally blasts Saturn in the back of
the head.

He
and Saturn stare each other down but Grunge clotheslines both of
them. They fall to the floor for a dive from Rocco before going back
inside for a swinging neckbreaker from Grunge to Saturn. The Drive
By (the Quebecers’ old Cannonball) crushes Saturn and Rocco hits a
flip dive over the top and onto Raven on a table but the wood doesn’t
break. Rocco is fine with that and hits the same thing again to
break the table down. Grunge is sent into the chair that Rocco is
holding, sending it into Rock’s face. Saturn hits a quick Death
Valley Driver on Grunge but Raven sneaks in for the pin.

Rating:
D+. This was mainly an angle
instead of a match and there’s nothing wrong with that. What there
is something wrong with is this style of wrestling in front of all
audiences. The people here weren’t digging the hardcore schtick
which is why it shouldn’t be done all the time in a major company
like WCW. That kind of stuff is for a niche audience, not a national
one.

Post
match Raven says he won before throwing in Saturn’s name too. He’s
also rehired the Flock for protection against Kanyon. It’s also
Saturn vs. Kanyon at the PPV.

More
of Luger recruiting Sting from Thunder.

More
Nitro Girls.

The
Nitro Party winner of the week has a sign saying “La Parka Chair
Club For Men.” Ok point for a cute line.

Chavo
Guerrero Jr. vs. Alex Wright

There’s
no Eddie here this time. Alex easily takes Chavo around before
hitting a hiptoss and dancing a lot. Back up and Chavo gets caught
in a backbreaker so he can dance even more. Chavo gets ticked off
and grabs him by the throat for some choking and right hands. Wright
bails to the floor and gets caught by a suicide dive to put both guys
down. They whip each other into the barricade before heading back
inside for Chavo to miss a charge into the corner, allowing Alex to
get an STF for a very fast tap out.

Post
match Eddie comes out and tries to keep the guys from fighting. Alex
leaves so Eddie can tell Chavo he was talking to grandma who has
freed Chavo. Therefore there’s no need for them to have a match at
the Great American Bash. Chavo says oh yes there is a need because
Eddie is trying to hide from him.

We
take a break and we’re supposed to have Randy Savage for a chat but
Piper’s music plays instead. Now it’s the Wolfpack song and here are
Savage and Liz. Randy accuses Tony of wanting to date Piper before
calling out Roddy himself. Roddy thinks Savage needs a psychiatrist
but Savage wants a match with Piper one on one after the tag match.
Piper says it’s on before asking Savage if his parents built him a
swing facing the wall as a kid. Piper doesn’t believe Bret is in the
NWO until he sees him in an NWO shirt, which he somehow ties into
Savage being a Muppet and the Washington Capitals.

MORE
from Thunder with Bret asking where Sting stands.

Hour
#2 begins.

Here’s
JJ with something to say. Tony is doing the interview again instead
of Gene for some reason. JJ says that he thinks Sting is going to
stay in WCW even though it’s not cool and he had trouble when he
stayed with WCW last year.

NWO
Hollywood arrives in another limo.

After
a break here’s the black and white for their interview time.
Bischoff brags about how awesome Hogan is before Hogan talks about
being in Hollywood to make a movie. Apparently Scott Steiner was in
the movie with him or at least was hanging around the set. On the
way to the arena tonight he was watching the show and heard the
challenge. He and Giant are glad to accept to show Sting how awesome
the black and white is. Bret opens his shirt to reveal a Hogan
shirt, proclaiming Hulk to be the greatest of all time. Hogan says a
t-shirt is worth 1000 words and promises to own Savage’s soul.

Heenan
joins commentary as the Nitro Girls dance again.

Konnan
vs. Lenny Lane

Konnan
easily takes him down by the arm to start and gets two off a slick
rollup into a sunset flip. Off to a Boston Crab with Konnan lifting
up Lane by the arms and rocking him back and forth for extra torment.
Lane comes back with a bulldog and stomps away before getting two
off some side rolls. Konnan slams him out of the corner with an
Alabama Slam before the 187 and Tequila Sunrise are good for the pin.
Not terrible actually.

Here
are Hennig and Rude with something to say. Rude says he doesn’t have
to brag about Hennig being a 3 time world champion or his 3000 wins
when Goldberg only has 89 wins in a row. Apparently Hennig has a bad
knee and has to take ten days off. Curt calls out Konnan and asks
him to face Goldberg in his upcoming matches around the country.
Konnan is cool with the idea.

TV
Title: Fit Finlay vs. Eddie Guerrero

Finlay
grabs a quick headlock and runs Eddie over with a shoulder block. A
snapmare puts Eddie down again and it’s off to a chinlock. Eddie
counters into an armbar and rakes his boot over the champion’s eye as
only he can get away with. A top rope hurricanrana attempt is broken
up and Finlay gets two off a belly to back suplex. Back to the
chinlock for a few moments before Finlay rams him face first into the
apron. Finlay counters a sleeper and dropkicks Fit down before
pounding away in the corner. Not that it matters as Chavo comes in
and the match is thrown out before he does anything.

Rating:
C. Not bad here but the ending
made it more of an angle than anything else. I like that Chavo cost
him the match without Eddie losing as it keeps both guys looking
strong at the same time. Finlay is fine as the TV Champion, but I’m
still not sure why he of all people got the belt. At least he isn’t
horrible though.

Chris
Jericho is at the Capitol Building but is thrown out almost
immediately. After the Capitol police throw him out, Jericho claims
to have talked to Clarence Thomas and he’s sure Jericho has a case.
Jericho talks to other people protesting some issue and tells them he
should be Cruiserweight Champion. He isn’t allowed on the White
House lawn so it’s off to the Library of Congress to look for a
section on WCW title belts.

Chris
Jericho vs. Juventud Guerrera

Jericho
calls out JJ to give him the evidence he’s acquired but gets Juvy.
They trade hammerlocks to start until Jericho flips Juvy down. Back
up and Guerrera chops away before going up top for a slightly botched
hurricanrana. Jericho comes right back with a butterfly backbreaker,
good for two. A standing hurricanrana gets two for Juvy and he
botches another move by rolling up Jericho’s body and gently laying
him down instead of snapping off a DDT.

The
Juvy Driver looks to set up the 450 but Jericho crotches him on the
top. Guerrera fights back but another hurricanrana attempt is
countered into the Liontamer, only to have Juvy roll out and send
Jericho to the floor. A slingshot hurricanrana takes Jericho down
again but as the referee is with Chris, Reese comes in and chokebombs
Juvy down, giving Jericho an easy pin.

Rating:
D+. Juvy’s botches really
brought this match down as it looked like half his moves were trying
to make sure Jericho wasn’t hurt at all rather than trying to pin
him. On top of that they were nowhere near as fast as their matches
usually were which was often the highlight of their stuff. Bad match
here and mainly due to Juvy.

Hour
#3 begins.

We
recap the best of 7 series with Benoit leading 2-1 after winning on
Saturday Night.

Booker
T vs. Chris Benoit

Feeling
out process to start with Booker elbowing Benoit down for two as
Finlay watches from the ramp. A powerslam gets two more on the
Canadian and we hit an armbar. Booker goes up for a spinning cross
body to send Benoit out to the floor. That goes nowhere so we head
back inside for a mudhole stomping by Benoit. A snap suplex puts
Booker down and it’s back to Finlay for some trash talk.

Booker
hits a quick elbow to the jaw and it’s off to a chinlock. Back up
and the forearm to the head gets two on Chris and more chinlockery
abounds. Benoit fights up again and hooks a German suplex but can’t
follow up. Some right hands have Booker in trouble but he comes back
with the ax kick for no cover. Benoit is all screw this getting
kicked in the head thing and counters a suplex into the Crossface for
the win and a 3-1 lead.

Rating:
C+. The matches are good but
it’s getting a bit repetitive at this point, given that these guys
have been feuding for weeks beforehand. That being said though, I
could watch Benoit drive people down into the Crossface all day.
Booker isn’t going to be hurt by feuding with Benoit either, but a
match with someone else would be a nice breather.

The
announcers discuss Sting for I think the fifth time, not counting
talking about him during matches of course.

We
get the same video on Sting that opened the show.

Diamond
Dallas Page vs. Riggs

Riggs
sends Page into the corner so DDP shoves him down with ease. Page
stomps him down in the corner before taking out Sick Boy. An over
the shoulder gutbuster sets up a fireman’s carry Diamond Cutter for
the fast win.

Sick
Boy gets a Cutter as well.

US
Title: La Parka vs. Goldberg

La
Parka cracks him in the head with a chair before the bell but
Goldberg no sells it. A spear and Jackhammer are the only moves of
the match.

The
Giant/Hollywood Hogan vs. Lex Luger/Kevin Nash

Bret
is with the black and white again. Luger now wrestles in long black
pants instead of trunks. Hogan and Luger pose at each other to start
before Luger shoves him into the corner and flexes a bit. A cheap
shot gets Hogan out of a test of strength and he goes to the throat
to take over. Off to Nash who fires off knees to the ribs and
follows up with the corner elbows. They trade clotheslines and Hogan
slugs away, only to tag in Giant for the real battle of the big men.

Big
Kev pounds away on Giant in the corner but Giant superkicks him down
in a nice display of athleticism. Giant misses an elbow drop and
it’s off to Luger to pound away. Another clothesline puts Luger down
and it’s back to Hogan again as the slow heel offense begins. Nash
walks into the ring anyway and kicks Giant in the face as everything
breaks down. Hogan hits Nash in the back with a tag title belt for
the DQ.

Rating:
D. There’s not much to say
about this one. This was exactly what you would expect it to be. It
was mainly kicking and punching which is what you expect but that
doesn’t make this any better to sit through. At least it was short,
but that’s not really a plus most of the time.

Post
match here’s Sting from the ceiling with a buttoned up trench coat.
He takes it off to reveal….the black and the white. Hogan and
Giant celebrate but Sting decks Hogan and slams Giant (with ease) and
rips off the shirt, revealing the red and black. Tony sounds
THRILLED with this development to end the show after about three
minutes of Wolfpack celebrating.

Overall
Rating: D. This is a hard one
to grade as it’s all about one idea. They did a decent job of
getting that idea across, but three hours is a LONG time to get to
push one single thing. I did like the false finish as it was obvious
Sting was going to the Wolfpack but at least they teased a swerve.
Just too much focus on the NWO here though, and who does this leave
as WCW’s main guys? Piper and Page? Goldberg is a rising star but
he hasn’t proven himself against big names yet. Wait why am I even
asking? WCW has nothing to do with this show.

Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for just $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Rants

Rants

Monday Nitro – May 25, 1998

By Scott Keith on 16th October 2013

Monday
Nitro #138

Date:
May 25, 1998

Location:
Roberts Memorial Stadium, Evansville, Indiana

Commentators:
Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re
still getting closer to the Great American Bash and the main story is
still which side will Sting pick. In other words, we’re almost in
the same place we were at this time last year expect now Sting can
talk. We’ve also got Hogan/Hart vs. Savage/Piper for the big
showdown tag match which isn’t the most thrilling prospect in the
world. Let’s get to it.

It’s
Memorial Day, meaning this is the two year anniversary of Hall
jumping the guardrail.

We
open with the Nitro Girls as Tony brags about this being three hours
again. Oh freaking joy.

The
main event tonight is Sting/Luger vs. Giant/NWO Sting. This is
supposed to beat Austin vs. Vince/Dude Love mind you.

We
get clips of the end of last week’s show as well as Thunder, showing
that Sting isn’t with the Giant. The NWO Sting came out to fool no
one on Thunder and attack Luger. The announcers act like NWO Sting
is a new idea for reasons of general incompetence.

Opening
sequence.

Here’s
Raven to call out Mortis, promising to send him running for his
mother’s care. This brings him to Saturn, who has been Raven’s
friend since childhood. Raven drove him to school when Saturn was
too poor to afford a car and was there when Sheila broke his heart in
the eleventh grade. Raven is willing to do anything to keep Saturn’s
friendship, including firing the Flock. He fires every one of them
and DDTs Lodi when he protests. Raven gets on his knees and
begs/demands that Saturn come back.

Glacier
says he’s great and wants to fight Saturn over the superkick. He
created the kick and can destroy it. This somehow takes almost a
minute and a half.

More
Nitro Girls.

The
announcers talk about Booker vs. Benoit having a best of seven series
for the TV Title shot at the Bash. This leads to a video of Stevie
Ray returning last week and telling Booker to stand his ground.

TV
Title: Fit Finlay vs. Mike Enos

We’re
only about half an hour into the show for the first match so at least
they’re not wasting time or anything. Finlay forearms him in the
chest to start before taking Enos to the mat in a chinlock about
thirty seconds into the match. A knee to the face gets two for Fit
and he slams Enos’ chest into the apron.

Back
in and Finlay pounds away even more but gets clotheslined down to a
surprising pop. Enos drops him throat first on the top rope for two
but Finlay comes back with the rolling senton. Mike comes back with
a fallaway slam for two but they botch the heck out of a powerslam
with Finlay landing on Enos’ legs. Enos is grabbing his leg so
Finlay hits a quick Tombstone to retain.

Rating:
D+. Enos showed some fire out
there until the horrible blown spot at the end. I’m not sure why the
fans were cheering for him but maybe they’re just sick of Finlay on
TV every week? Anyway this was just your typical TV Title match,
meaning it was nothing worth seeing but filled in five minutes well
enough.

CALL
THE HOTLINE!

Glacier
vs. Saturn

Glacier
kicks away at the ribs and sweeps Saturn’s legs out to give us a
standoff. Saturn takes Glacier’s legs out just as easily so Glacier
comes back with chops to the ribs. A hook kick to the jaw puts
Glacier down and it’s off to a headlock. Glacier comes back with a
big boot to the jaw but Saturn sends him into the corner for rapid
fire kicks.

The
fans are into Saturn here but Glacier kicks him in the face again. A
spinwheel kick puts Chilly McBoring down and here’s Raven at
ringside, drawing a RAVEN SUCKS chant. Saturn’s top rope splash hits
knees and here’s Hammer to beat up Raven. Hammer gets on the apron
but gets kicked down by Glacier, allowing Saturn to hit the Death
Valley Driver for the pin.

Rating:
D. These battles of martial
arts are getting less and less interesting every single time. The
key difference with Saturn though is he used it as part of his
offense while guys like Glacier and Miller used nothing but martial
arts, making them one note characters. Saturn on the other hand
wound up rubbing elbows with Benoit and Guerrero in the WWF while the
other two were barely heard from again.

Raven
DDTs Hammer on the floor.

We
see Savage accepting Piper’s offer to team up at the Bash.

Here
are Vincent, Brian Adams and Vincent with something to say. Giant
does Hall’s Hey Yo and asks the fans to shut up so he can make his
point. He calls Nash a coward and wants to face him right here
tonight, one on one. After being called out about three times,
here’s Nash who doesn’t look intimidated at all. He’s alone tonight
and says he’d love to take care of Hogan’s three fluff boys.

Nash
punches down the lackeys but a stalemate with Giant allows them to
get back up for the beatdown. This brings out Lex Luger along with
the rest of the Wolfpack. Konnan takes off his shirt and throws it
to Luger who puts it on to the biggest pop he’s gotten this year. So
who is left as a top WCW guy? Sting and Piper?

Hour
#2 begins with the first mention of the NWO turning two tonight.

Chris
Jericho vs. El Dandy

Jericho
goes right at Dandy as he gets in the ring and drop toeholds him into
a side roll for two before getting caught in something resembling a
spinebuster. Dandy misses a missile dropkick and gets caught in the
Liontamer for the win in about 60 seconds.

Post
match Jericho demands that the fat JJ Dillon put down the pizza and
come out here to address some concerns. Jericho babbles on for
awhile and demands to be reinstated as Cruiserweight Champion. JJ
talks about contract terms but doesn’t exactly cover what Jericho was
asking about. He’s not going to overrule anything though until
Jericho shows him some kind of a precedent. Jericho freaks out as
usual.

We
look at Luger joining the Wolfpack again.

Konnan
vs. La Parka

La
Parka does his dance so Konnan chops away, only to get clotheslined
down for two. Konnan avoids a dropkick in the corner and drop
toeholds La Parka into the middle buckle. Another clothesline puts
Konnan down on the floor and a big dive from the top is kind of
blocked to put both guys down. Back in and La Parka dives into a
pair of boots to the face and Konnan scores with an X Factor. The
187 sets up the Tequila Sunrise and La Parka taps. Short match and
nothing special.

More
Nitro Girls.

We
get a home video from Mortis who says that Mortis is dead and he’s
now known as Kanyon. He talks about the imitation of Tommy Dreamer’s
chair shot heard round the world at Slamboree and calls it the chair
shot heard round the world. Kanyon says he can get to Raven at
anytime.

Here’s
Roddy Piper for the insane speech of the week. Gene doesn’t think
Piper and Savage can get along as a team but Piper calls Savage a
Village People throwback and says they have to get along. The one
good thing about standing next to Savage: you never look like you’re
having a bad hair day. Piper won’t be singing Y-M-C-A at the Bash so
here are Savage and Liz to protest. They yell at each other a lot
and Savage rants about Piper screwing up at Slamboree, drawing a
RuPaul reference from Piper.

They’re
about to agree to work together when Bret Hart comes out and says
this is a big collusion between himself and Piper. He claims that
Roddy came to him before the PPV and wanted to screw Savage over and
reverse the decision later. Bret says he owes Piper one and leaves
so Savage is ready to fight Piper right now. Piper says let’s fight
and then says that Bret is lying through his teeth. He’ll fight
Savage after the tag match at the PPV but they have to work together
to get through that. Savage seems to agree.

Heenan
joins commentary.

Juventud
Guerrera vs. Kidman

They
slug it out to start and run the ropes with Kidman catching him in a
sitout spinebuster to take over. Kidman charges into some boots in
the corner and gets taken down with a hard clothesline. Juvy rips
off Kidman’s shirt and chops away before snapping off a great looking
headscissors. They head to the floor with Guerrera hitting a sweet
dive to the floor to put both guys down.

They
head back in but Lodi grabs Juvy’s leg, allowing Kidman to hit a
quick X Factor for two. Kidman gets more aggressive than he has in
months and stomps away in the corner. A great looking (there’s a lot
of that going around in this match) dropkick puts Juvy down and we
hit a quick chinlock to give the guys a breather. Back up and Kidman
hits another wicked clothesline to take Guerrera down.

A
slingshot legdrop gets two on Juvy but Kidman yells at the referee,
allowing Juvy to hit a clothesline of his own. Kidman comes back
with an elbow to the jaw for two and a reverse suplex puts Juvy on
the apron but he gets up top for a flying spinwheel kick for a close
two. The fans are WAY into this. Kidman comes back with a powerbomb
into a faceplant for two more and a release German suplex puts Juvy
down again. Kidman goes up but Juvy dropkicks him out of the air,
setting up the Juvy Driver and the 450 for the pin.

Rating:
B. GREAT match here and the
best match Nitro has had in months. These two were beating the tar
out of each other and hitting everything they could in a ten minute
span. This is the kind of stuff that you can put out there and offer
an actual alternative to what Raw was doing at the time. Instead of
having old people talk, have two guys in their early 20s and tear the
house down. That’s senseless though, right?

More
Nitro Girls.

Nitro
Party video.

The
announcers talk about what’s happened so far tonight, focusing on
Luger’s jump.

We
recap Brian Adams attacking Rick Steiner, putting him out for several
months. Apparently Scott Steiner is looking for acting roles in
Hollywood.

Ultimo
Dragon vs. Eddie Guerrero

Chavo
is now Eddie’s willing lapdog, which is what Eddie had been wanting
from the beginning. However now that he has it, Eddie seems almost
scared of his nephew. Chavo gets on the mic and says that this is
his match because that’s how Eddie works. He tells Eddie to slap him
and tries to start an Eddie chant. Eddie finally gives in and lets
Chavo have the match.

Ultimo
Dragon vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.

Chavo
makes sure to fold up the Eddie shirt before we can get going. A
headlock doesn’t get Chavo anywhere so Dragon comes back with the
kicks and the corner headstand. Dragon hooks a stump puller and then
a modified Koji Clutch to torture Chavo a bit and send him out to the
floor.

Back
in and Dragon fires off some kicks to the back but Chavo breaks up
the top rope hurricanrana. Guerrero tries to suplex Dragon back in
but Eddie hooks his nephew’s leg. Dragon can’t get the Dragon
Sleeper so Chavo chokes him on the ropes, bragging to Eddie that he’s
cheating to win. The tornado DDT ends Dragon, giving Chavo his
biggest win ever.

Rating:
C-. This was more angle than
match but it’s one of the best angles WCW has ging right now. Chavo
has grown from a generic cruiserweight guy into an interesting
character who is getting some wins. It’s going to be interesting to
see how Eddie deals with the monster he created, meaning the story is
a good one. It’s very much a Frankenstein story, which has worked
for hundreds of years so why not in WCW?

Post
match JJ comes out and makes Eddie vs. Chavo at the Bash.

Hour
#3 begins.

Cruiserweight
Title: Lenny Lane vs. Dean Malenko

Lane
makes sure to oil up on the way to the ring. He shoves Dean away and
admires his own abs. Very little action in the first minute until
Dean takes over with a headlock. That goes nowhere either so Lane
takes him to the corner and stomps him down a bit. Dean does the
same to Lenny but gets bulldogged down for two. We hit the chinlock
on the champion before Dean fights up and elbows Lane in the face.
Lane tries a sunset flip and is easily countered into the Cloverleaf
to retain the title.

Rating:
D+. This didn’t work for me for
the most part with Dean sleepwalking through the match and Lane not
being able to get them anywhere yet. To be fair though Malenko has
had some great performances for months now so he’s allowed to have an
off night every now and then.

US
Title: Goldberg vs. Johnny Attitude

Attitude
imitates Goldberg on the way to the ring for the only interesting
part of the match. Goldberg is now standing in the pyro for the
entrance to start a trademark. Typical Goldberg match makes him
90-0.

Chris
Benoit vs. Booker T

Match
#1 in the best of seven series for the TV Title shot. Benoit takes
him into the corner but Booker fires off right hands and backdrops
Benoit down. A running forearm puts Benoit on the floor but he
catches Booker coming out after him. Back in and Booker spins out of
a wristlock and kicks Chris in the face for two.

Benoit
comes back by dropping Booker ribs first over the top rope before
stomping away and elbowing Booker down. The snap suplex gets two and
Benoit hits the chinlock. Some knees to the back set up another
chinlock on Booker before Benoit throws him down like a heel would.
Booker gets thrown into the corner and we hit chinlock #3.

Benoit
slams him down but misses the Swan Dive to put both guys down. Cue
Finlay to ringside as Booker flapjacks Benoit down. Chris avoids a
bunch of kicks but can’t get the German suplex. Booker comes back
with the ax kick but misses the Harlem Hangover. Back up and Benoit
snaps on the Crossface to go up 1-0.

Rating:
B-. This took time to get going
but it was rocking by the end. Benoit and Booker trading bombs for
five minutes after spending five minutes on dull chinlocks is fine
with me and if I have to watch seven matches of them so be it.
Really fun match here as Nitro hits an unprecedented two great
matches.

We
get pyro and music for the main event.

The
announcers talk about Luger joining the Wolfpack.

Lex
Luger/Sting vs. NWO Sting/Giant

The
NWO Sting is knocked to the floor before the bell and it’s
Luger/Sting double teaming the Giant. A running clothesline in the
corner and a Stinger Splash send the big man to the floor as this is
one sided so far. NWO Sting goes in to start against the real
version and gets in a single elbow to drop Sting. That’s the extent
of NWO Sting’s offense as Sting pops up and destroys the fake before
bringing in Luger for some clotheslines.

A
cheap shot from Giant lets NWO Sting take over as the fans are all
over Giant here. Off to Giant for a loud chop in the corner and a
head knocker (picture a powerbomb stance but Giant jumps in the air
to crush the back of Luger’s head). Back to NWO Sting who misses a
Stinger Splash, allowing for the hot tag off to Sting. A quick
Stinger Splash and the Death Drop are enough to pin the fake guy.

Rating:
D+. All things considered, this
wasn’t horrible. What else are you going to expect with former tag
team champions in a glorified handicap match? At this point the
match is just a backdrop for the NWO drama with Sting about to pick
one of the NWO’s to join because who hasn’t done that yet?

Post
match here’s the Wolfpack with an extra shirt. Sting bails for a
second before coming back in. He holds up the shirt and looks
intrigued but doesn’t put it on as we go off the air.

Overall
Rating: C+. This is the kind of
show that Nitro needed. We had a nice blend of good wrestling and
drama with a cliffhanger to end the show. It still doesn’t need to
be three hours long, but the balancing of drama and action has been
severely lacking for months now. Granted having two awesome matches
helped things out too.

Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for just $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Rants

Rants

Monday Nitro – May 11, 1998

By Scott Keith on 2nd October 2013

Monday Nitro #136

Date: May 11, 1998

Location: Kemper Arena,
Kansas City, Missouri

Commentators: Mike
Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

It’s the go home show
for Slamboree and we’re back to the three hour shows again tonight
because I haven’t suffered enough so far. The main story continues
to be the NWO civil war since the new world champion is apparently
too busy to defend his newly won title on the pay per view. The card
is mostly set but we might get a few more minor matches announced
tonight. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap
from the end of last week’s show when Bret held back Adams, telling
him to let the Wolfpack and WCW fight.

Opening sequence.

Tony promises us more
on the NWO tonight and shows us the end of last week’s show again.

Gene brings out Bret
for the opening interview. Hart is still in street clothes and not
NWO gear. He calls Savage a big chicken who has been ducking Bret
for years. Bret accuses Savage of coming to WCW to hide from him but
now Randy’s worst nightmare has come true because Bret is in WCW. We
get a clip from last week with Bret putting Savage in the
Sharpshooter, with promises of more to come at Slamboree.

Back from a break with
Gene introducing the Nitro Girls who come out one by one.

Barry Horowitz vs.
Disco Inferno

Barry hits a quick
jawbreaker to take over followed by something resembling a Skull
Crushing Finale for no cover. A backbreaker gets two on Disco but
Inferno comes back with an atomic drop and a swinging
neckbreaker…..for the pin? That came out of nowhere.

Here’s Randy Savage
with something to say. He says if Bret thinks he’s running scared,
just wait for Slamboree to see how far Savage runs away. Tonight
though Savage wants to challenge Hogan for the world title so he can
defend it against Bret on Sunday.

Kidman vs. Juventud
Guerrera

Security takes away a
sign before the guys in the ring speed up to start. A pair of
headscissors puts Kidman down to the floor. Juvy follows out with a
BIG plancha to take Kidman down again before we head back inside. A
slingshot legdrop gets two for Kidman but he pops up and tries a
powerbomb but instead flips Juvy forward to land on his face. That
was odd looking as Juvy appeared to counter into a faceplant but it
was Kidman planting Juvy.

Kidman goes up but
jumps into a dropkick to the ribs and gets taken down by a spinwheel
kick. A springboard cross body gets the same for Guerrera and we get
a pinfall reversal sequence with a string of near falls until
Juventud hits the Juvy Driver for two. Not that it matters though as
Reese sneaks in with the chokebomb, allowing Kidman to hit a quick
Seven Year Itch for the pin.

Rating: C-.
The flying wasn’t bad but the Flock vs. Juvy isn’t doing much for me.
There’s no way Guerrera is going to face the top guys in the group
so there’s almost no interest in these matches. Kidman is the best
choice for Juvy to fight until he gets to have the big David vs.
Goliath match with Reese, who I don’t think has had a match yet.

Reese carries Juvy out
while carrying Kidman on his back.

Here’s Eric Bischoff on
a motorcycle to prove how awesome he is. After assuring us of his
love, he wants to know what Vince McMahon is thinking right now. For
a few weeks now, Vince has been sending his cronies around but he
knows Bischoff won’t be there. If Sean Waltman wants an apology from
Eric Bischoff, he shouldn’t have shown up at WCW offices on a Monday
afternoon. As for the apology, Waltman can bite him.

Bischoff talks about
coming to Vince’s backyard for the PPV Sunday so why don’t they have
a fight live on PPV? Eric guarantees that Vince won’t show up, which
in wrestling is how you guarantee that someone WILL be there. If I
remember right, this led to a big lawsuit between the two companies
with WCW having to pay out a big settlement.

Nitro Girls with Alex
Wright. You know the drill by now.

Yuji Nagata vs.
Scott Norton

Norton runs him over in
the corner and powerslams Nagata down with ease. Nagata comes back
with some kicks and is loudly booed so Norton runs him over, drawing
more boos. Scott no sells a belly to back suplex as we cut to Sonny
Onoo and miss some stuff. Norton’s shoulder breaker ends this quick.

CALL THE HOTLINE!

We recap Hennig joining
the Wolfpack.

Hugh Morrus vs. Jim
Powers

Morrus hits a quick
powerslam and No Laughing Matter ends this in about 20 seconds.

The Wolfpack comes to
the ring as we take a break. Actually scratch the break as the NWO
is more important. It’s just Nash and Konnan this week but maybe
we’ll get a new member tonight. Nash talks about himself and Hall
forming the NWO and Hogan jumping on the train as it was pulling
away. The real NWO is wearing black and red and they’re scaring
Hollywood. Hogan is supposed to be here tonight and he needs to say
that Nash is the real big man. Also stop using their hand signals
because they’re not using them right. The NWO music plays them off
when Nash didn’t seem to be done.

Hour #2 begins.

Ultimo Dragon vs.
Johnny Swinger

Dragon easily leg
sweeps Swinger down to start and there’s the headstand in the corner
as Swinger dances. Johnny slams him down for two and adds a belly to
back suplex for the same. Here’s Chavo Guerrero but before he can do
anything Dragon hooks the top rope hurricanrana and the Dragon
Sleeper ends this.

Chavo shakes Dragon’s
hand but here’s Eddie to shove his nephew away. Chavo shoves Eddie
down and Eddie says hit him in the jaw so Dragon puts Eddie in the
Dragon Sleeper. Eddie goes after Dragon but Chavo pulls him off so
Eddie leaves.

Before they’re even out
of the ring, here’s Dusty Rhodes with something to say. He says
before the night is over and before all the tickets are turned in and
all the money has been countered, Kevin Nash is going to be in
Hogan’s face. Dusty says that Hogan isn’t doing right by everyone in
the NWO by doing stuff like firing Syxx and keeping Hall off TV. A
long time ago Hall offered up his innocent to Dusty but Dusty didn’t
pay him back in scorn. Instead he gave him shelter from the storm
(Dusty said the same thing when Sapphire left him for Ted DiBiase at
Summerslam 1990) and made him a cool guy.

Right now Scott Hall
has a personal problem but he’ll beat that problem and be at
Slamboree this Sunday. Randy Savage needs to stop complaining right
now because the Wolfpack has no pecking order. Before tonight is
over, Nash is going to be in Hogan’s ugly face and that’s that. I
guess this was Dusty joining the Wolfpack?

US Title: Goldberg
vs. Len Denton

Denton is more famous
as the Grappler, which isn’t a name that most people are going to
remember as a lot of his career was in the 70s and 80s. He was
however the man that Jake Roberts had in a front facelock when Jake
slipped and fell backwards, inventing the DDT. Denton hits a
jawbreaker but gets speared and Jackhammered down to make Goldberg
83-0.

We get a clip from MTV
over the weekend with Page jumping Raven in a wrestling ring MTV had
set up for some reason.

Here’s JJ Dillon with
Raven in toe. Apparently Raven has filed a grief against almost
everyone in WCW over them causing an unsafe working environment.
Therefore, JJ has ordered some riot control officers to take care of
Raven while the rest of the company works to make the company safer.

Raven has three main
grievances: an unnamed assailant, Diamond Dallas Page wanting another
match which he’ll get in a Bowery Death Match (last man standing in a
cage) and the strife between Hammer and Saturn. Saturn lost last
week but if he has something to say, come out here and say it.
Saturn comes out and…..is told to lay out Hammer at Raven’s orders.
Jerry Flynn of all people comes out to beat up Saturn and this
appears to be a match.

Saturn vs. Jerry
Flynn

Saturn suplexes him
down and gets a quick pin with the Death Valley Driver.

We see Bischoff’s
challenge to Vince again.

We recap the TV Title
change last week.

TV Title: Fit Finlay
vs. Robbie Rage

Heenan is on commentary
at the halfway point of the show. Rage takes over with a quick
clothesline in the corner before pulling Finlay away from the ropes,
slamming him down the to mat. Finlay grabs the leg to take Rage down
and stays on the knee for a bit. They head to the floor with Finlay
beating up Kaos as well, but the distraction allows Rage to slam him
down in the ring. A top rope splash gets two, sending Rage after the
referee. Booker T comes out to break up the interference from Kaos,
allowing Finlay to tombstone Rage for the pin.

Rating: D.
The match was ok, but it’s almost impossible to care about Finlay
defending the title against a tag team jobber. Somehow we went from
Benoit vs. Booker to this in the span of a few weeks without ever
getting to see Benoit win the title. Much like Denton earlier, it
always makes me wonder what the criteria is for a title shot. When
was the last time Rage even had a singles match, let alone won it?

Benoit comes out and
goes after Booker but security pulls them apart. JJ says their
matches are cancelled and they’re fighting tonight for a shot against
Finlay on Sunday. This would be more shocking if Tony hadn’t told us
this on two different occasions already tonight, including during the
TV Title match.

We see the challenge.
Again.

More Nitro Girls.

Nitro Party winner.

Lenny Lane vs.
Diamond Dallas Page

Feeling out process to
start until Page fires off knees to the ribs and puts Lane down with
a tilt-a-whirl side slam. Lane comes back with some choking and does
the Diamond Cutter sign. He bulldogs Page down for two but Page
fights up and puts Lane on the top rope for the Diamond Cutter to end
it.

Page wants Raven to
come out here right now so he can bang him tonight before he bangs
Raven on Sunday.

Bischoff Challenge Part
4.

Hour #3 begins so here
are Hogan and Bischoff, flanked by the rest of the B-Team (Adams,
Disciple and Vincent) with something to say. First of all Hogan
brags about how awesome he is and how we all need to go see 3 Ninjas
and the new Assault on Devil’s Island movie. Hogan goes on some
tangent about going to wrestling school before accepting Savage’s
challenge for tonight. He calls Nash out here for the big showdown
as this is somehow over five minutes long now.

After some gay jokes
abound, Hogan demands an apology and for Nash to admit that he
poached Hennig away from him. Also Nash has to admit that Mr. Hogan
is the leader and champion and that Nash has to get back on his good
side. Nash says that he won’t apologize and that he’ll go through
all of Hogan’s goons to get to Hogan. Hogan promises a big gun that
Nash can’t handle, so here’s Giant back in the Black and White. Nash
gets destroyed and spray painted. Savage, Konnan and Dusty come out
which gets rid of the NWO for some reason.

Tony and his goon squad
ask about the tag match with Sting/Giant vs. the Outsiders on Sunday.

We recap Jericho
mocking Malenko last week before beating Bore-Us Malenko.

Jericho is in the ring
with something under a sheet. He demands to be called the Lionheart,
the Man of 1004 Holds and the Ayatollah of Rock and Rollah. Jericho
shows off his trophies, including a prosthetic leg to represent Rey’s
knee. However, there’s no one left for Jericho to face so he’s going
to retire the title. This brings out JJ Dillon to announce a
cruiserweight battle royal for Sunday with the winner getting a title
shot later in the night.

Jericho isn’t pleased
and thinks JJ isn’t being fair to the winner by making him face 14
guys and then get beaten up by the champion. He then pulls the sheet
off, revealing a defaced picture of Dean Malenko, holding a bunch of
celery and saying he’s a Jericho-hollic. This brings out Dean’s
brother Joe to say be nice to Dean, earning a prosthetic leg to the
head.

Glacier claims someone
has stolen the Cryonic Kick.

Glacier vs. Sick Boy

Sick Boy gets jumped
coming back into the ring but Glacier has to stop to pose. A few
punches slow Glacier down but Glacier hits a kick to
the…..shoulder? Either way it knocks Sick Boy into the referee so
the Cryonic Kick (superkick) gets no count. Cue Saturn to kick
Glacier in the face, giving Sick Boy two, even though the bell rang.
Glacier kicks him in the face again for the pin.

Post match Saturn lays
Glacier out again, this time with a Death Valley Driver. They’re
really trying to get their money out of Glacier.

We recap Scott Steiner
pretending to give up on the NWO before turning on Rick again in a
ruse as Adams attacked Rick.

Here’s Lex Luger to say
Rick Steiner is out for 3-4 months due to shoulder surgery, so he
wants either Adams or Scott Steiner at Slamboree.

Chris Benoit vs.
Booker T

The winner gets a TV
Title shot against Finlay on Sunday. Benoit jumps Booker as he comes
into the ring and the attack is on fast. Booker comes back with a
great looking hook kick to the jaw and some forearms to the back. A
nice gorilla press puts Benoit down again but he comes back with
right hands of his own. They slug it out until Benoit snaps off a
German suplex to put both guys down.

A snap suplex gets two
on Booker but he grabs a powerslam of his own to get a breather.
Benoit ducks the side kick to send Booker into the ropes and a belly
to back puts Booker down again. There’s the Swan Dive for two but
Booker elbows him in the face and hits the ax kick. The spinebuster
puts Benoit down but he ducks the side kick. Benoit grabs the
Crossface out of nowhere for the submission and the title shot.

Rating: C+.
These two have chemistry together and hopefully this sets up Benoit’s
long overdue title win. Booker has been booked so well over the last
few months that a win over him actually means something, even though
this is his second loss in a row. Good stuff here which is what this
show has needed.

WCW World Title:
Hollywood Hogan vs. Randy Savage

Unfortunately there’s a
lot of time left. Hogan looks a bit tipsy. Savage jumps Hogan from
behind and takes over before pounding away in the corner. Hogan
comes back with a right hand and chokes away in the corner as well.
Savage has his shoulder sent into the post as we enter the garbage
brawling period.

Back in and Hogan
clotheslines Randy down before choking even more. Right hands have
Savage in trouble in the corner again but the champion gets kicked
low. Not that it matters as Hogan kicks him in the face but misses
the legdrop. Disciple breaks up the elbow and here Hart with a belt
shot on Savage, giving Hogan the pin.

Rating: D.
Do I really need to explain this one? Really? Hogan was incapable
of having a good match at this point if his life depended on it and
Savage was basically nothing but punches, ax handles and the big
elbow. It’s a bad sign when the best thing you can say about a match
is that it was short but that’s all this one has.

Post match here are
Nash and Piper for the save with Roddy saying he doesn’t want to
fight Nash. Instead he names Savage as the winner by DQ which
changes nothing. Piper yells at Hogan and Hart but names himself as
referee for Hart vs. Savage. Giant comes to the ring and Sting is in
the rafters to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+.
As usual here there’s some decent stuff but so much of the show is
spent on worthless matches. Scott Norton vs. Yuji Nagata? Disco
Inferno vs. Barry Horowitz? Glacier vs. Sick Boy? Can you blame
people for going over to Raw in droves? On top of that we have Giant
joining the NWO again as the story is now at two years old and
showing no signs of stopping. Slamboree is in a few days and I can’t
think of a single match on it I’m looking forward to. That’s a
really bad sign.

Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for just $4 at:

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Rants

Rants

Monday Nitro – May 4, 1998

By Scott Keith on 25th September 2013

Monday
Nitro #135

Date:
May 4, 1998

Location:
Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, Indiana

Commentators:
Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Heenan, Mike Tenay

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

It’s
another two hour show this week instead of the usual three hours due
to the NBA Playoffs. My response: God bless the NBA. We’re closing
in on Slamboree and the main story is the NWO civil war. Nash,
Savage and Konnan have officially formed the Wolfpack who will have
their own everything very soon. Let’s get to it.

We
open with a recap of Konnan joining Nash and Savage.

Opening
sequence.

Nitro
Girls.

The
announcers talk about the NWO’s troubles. Brian Adams has officially
sided with Hogan.

Now
for a change of pace, we get a recap of the Wolfpack forming and Nash
wanting a piece of Hart. We also see Konnan joining the team for the
second time in less than six minutes.

Here
are Eddie and Chavo for a match. Before the match, Eddie says he’s
going to be a good example for Chavo. The announcers go nuts on
Eddie as he calls out Scott Norton.

Eddie
Guerrero vs. Scott Norton

Surprisingly
enough, Eddie doesn’t send Chavo in instead immediately. He actually
waits about thirty seconds before “hurting his knee” and sending
Chavo in to face Norton. Norton slugs away on Chavo in the corner
and press slams him down before going after Eddie. Chavo uses the
opening to dropkick Scott’s knee a few times. Norton comes right
back with a powerslam and the shoulder breaker for the pin. Squash.

Ultimo
Dragon comes in to check on Chavo but Eddie tells him to get away.

Scott
Putski vs. Kidman

Tenay
talks about how Putski’s dad, Ivan, was more of a power guy. Larry:
“Let me put it another way. Ivan was stupid.” Putski slams
Kidman down and drops an elbow for two but Kidman hits a running
bulldog out of the corner to take over. Scott comes back with a
sitout spinebuster as the Wolfpack comes through the crowd, complete
with the red and black NWO logo shirts. They storm the ring to take
out Putski for the fast DQ.

Nash
says this is how things are going to be from now on. The Wolfpack is
very hungry, so they’re going to pick Sting and Giant’s bones at
Slamboree. Nash refers to the team as the red and black attack and
says it’s about to be a war between them and Hogan’s crew. Savage
says that Hogan’s new friend Bret Hart won’t get screwed unless
that’s something he wants.

Nash
brings out the newest member of the Wolfpack: Curt Hennig. Bryan
Adams comes out to ask Hennig what he’s doing but Curt blows him off.
Hennig takes off the black and white to reveal the Wolfpack colors.
Konnan challenges Adams for later and Nash wants a piece of Sting, so
why not have Nash vs. Luger to show Sting what he’s in for.

Video
on Raven, talking about being alone. He wasn’t allowed to play ball
with the other kids but they wouldn’t have let him play anyway.

Here’s
Jericho with the picture of Malenko again. We also get a video
featuring Malenko talking about his dad passing away. Jericho says
Dean’s dad Boris must be rolling in his grave over how much of a
failure Dean is. Jericho dedicates his career to someone who is much
better than Dean and knows far more holds: Bore-Us Malenko.

Chris
Jericho vs. Bore-Us Malenko

Malenko
is a tiny guy in Dean’s gear and this is about what you would expect.
Jericho pulls Bore-Us on top of him for two before making a comeback
and taming the Bore-Us lion for the win.

More
Nitro Girls with Alex Wright interrupting them again.

We
get Hogan’s comments from last week which didn’t really say anything.

Hugh
Morrus/Barbarian vs. Public Enemy

This
is a street fight which is probably the best idea all around. Grunge
whips Morrus with a big rope as Rocco blasts Barbarian in the head
with a trashcan. Morrus comes back with a trashcan lid to Johnny’s
head as Barbarian crotches Rocco on the top rope. It’s amazing how
often one guy on a team making a comeback triggers the same comeback
from his partner. Everyone gets inside for the first time, including
Jimmy Hart to get in some stomps of his own. Barbarian misses a dive
through a table but Morrus slams Rocco through one to make up for it.
Hart hits Morrus by mistake and gets splashed by Grunge for the pin.
Ok then.

Bryan
Adams suggests that everyone here have a glass of shut up. Are you
telling me that Rock was ripping off BRYAN FREAKING ADAMS??? After
my mind is blown by that line, Adams tells us all that Hulk Hogan
made wrestling and is the reason we’re here tonight. He’ll fight
Konnan tonight too.

Video
on Chris Benoit vs. Booker T, making it look like a big time rivalry.
Benoit swears he made Booker tap out but Booker says he was reaching
for the rope. The video isn’t conclusive enough to tell either way.
Another match is set for Slamboree.

Heenan
joins commentary.

We
look at the end of last Tuesday’s show with Hart not explaining his
actions.

Hour
#2 begins.

Saturn
vs. Hammer

Kidman
says this is a loser leaves the Flock match. Hammer sends Saturn
into the steps to take over and gets two off something like an
airplane spin. Saturn comes back with a superkick and some chops in
the corner followed by a Cactus Clothesline to take both guys to the
outside. We look at Raven’s dressing room to see the Flock watching
the match. Saturn dives into a powerslam for no cover and a delayed
superplex gets the same lack of cover.

Hammer
goes for the legs but gets kicked into the ropes, setting up a top
rope legdrop from Saturn. Saturn brings in a chair which is legal
here it seems. A springboard dropkick using the chair knocks Hammer
into the corner but a second attempt hits the referee. Saturn hits
something like a Van Daminator and loads up the Death Valley Driver,
only to have Kanyon come in dressed as a beer vendor. One beer case
to the head is enough to knock Saturn out of the Flock.

Rating:
D+. This was better than I
expected and it’s nice to see the Flock have a story outside of
whatever Raven is doing at the moment. Saturn leaving the Flock is
interesting, but he’s always been the rebel of the group. Nice match
here though and it should set the stage for more interesting stuff in
the future.

Raven
is mad and comes to the ring, only to have Page storm into the locker
room with a stop sign and a bullrope around his neck for no apparent
reason. Page drags Raven around the back and into the ring. Pyro
goes off as Page comes down the ramp and scares everyone to death.
The guys are tied by the neck but Raven comes back with a low blow to
drop Page. DDP counters the Even Flow and hangs Raven over the
ropes, drawing in security as we take a break.

More
Nitro Girls as Tony tells us there’s no Thunder again this week.
Well if he insists.

Sick
Boy vs. Juventud Guerrera

Is
this Flock Night or something? Sick Boy jumps Juy in the corner to
start and stomps him down in the corner. An elevated Pedigree gets
two for Boy but Juvy comes back with a spinwheel kick for two. The
ring is soaked from Kanyon’s drinks so they keep slipping out there.
Juvy is sent to the apron for a springboard missile dropkick and
there’s the Juvy Driver. Horace breaks up the 450 and that’s a quick
DQ.

Juvy
gets out of the double team but the seven foot Reese is too much for
him. He isn’t however too much for Goldberg who makes the save and
Jackhammers Reese.

Here’s
Rick Steiner for a chat with Gene. Rick wants his brother to come
out here right now and tell him whether the Steiner Brothers are
getting back together or if one of them will be left laying. If
Scott has any guts, he’ll be out here right now. Scott does come
out, but on crutches.

Scott
says he’s lost friends and their parents aren’t talking to him the
same. Sometimes bad things happen like what happened to Bagwell, but
Scott doesn’t want something like that to get between the Steiners.
Rick says they either fight it out right now or walk to the back
together. Scott denounces Hogan and the NWO, saying he wants to
reform the tag team.

Rick,
somehow the smartest guy in the room, says he can’t trust Scott, even
as he appears to be on the verge of tears. The intelligence is short
lived though as Rick says he’ll give Scotty another chance, but if
Scott stabs him in the back, Rick will hunt him until he dies. They
hug and here’s Adams with a ball bat. Scott is of course fine and
cheers Adams on, confirming his loyalty to Hogan’s camp.

Bryan
Adams vs. Konnan

Konnan
goes right at Adams to start and clotheslines him down. Can we
please get Konnan some fitted pants? All that tugging must get
annoying. Adams comes back with a bad looking piledriver (Tony says
it was the jumping variety despite the complete lack of jumping) and
sends Konnan to the outside. Cue Bret Hart to get a cheap shot on
Konnan and send him back inside. Adams gorilla presses Konnan down
but Nash comes in for the DQ.

Adams
gets jackknifed.

Nitro
Girls again, this time in silver.

We
look at the Nitro Party winner of the week.

TV
Title: Fit Finlay vs. Booker T

Fit
takes him into the corner to start and hits a hard kick to the
champion’s back. Finlay cranks on the leg as Tony is thrilled to
have Nitro back to three hours next week. Booker fights up with a
good looking spin kick to the face before backdropping Finlay to the
floor. Back in and Finlay hits a hard clothesline, only to be taken
down by a running forearm. The ax kick puts Finlay down and the whip
spinebuster does the same. There’s a flapjack from the champion as
Benoit saunters down to the ring. The distraction lets Finlay
tombstone Booker down for the pin and the title.

Rating:
D+. Nothing special here but it
furthers the Booker vs. Benoit feud, which has already had
developments since the last time we saw them. Over the last week,
Booker and Benoit traded the TV Title at some house shows, but
neither of Benoit’s two wins were acknowledged tonight. Instead we
need Finlay to get the title. That’s not a knock on Finlay, but he
hasn’t done anything of note in months and he gets a title?

Kevin
Nash vs. Lex Luger

We
have less than five minutes of air time left during Luger’s entrance.
Luger pounds away in the corner to start but a Konnan distraction
allows Nash to kick him in the face. Nash fires off elbows in the
corner and does the foot choke to really expand the offense. A
running clothesline hits Luger in the corner but a second one runs
into Luger’s boot. Savage and Konnan get taken down but Nash gets in
a cheap shot to take over again as the Wolfpack comes in for the fast
DQ.

Sting
and Giant come out to break up the Jackknife and start a fight.
Adams comes out but Bret stops him from hitting the ring, wisely
saying let them fight to end the show.

Overall
Rating: C-. This is an
interesting case for Nitro. On one hand, this was a story driven
show which did the last thing WCW needed: put even more focus on the
NWO. The silver lining for this show though was the length. It’s
amazing how much easier it is to sit through Nitro when it loses that
third hour. There’s a lot of good stuff in WCW, but the extra time
is always given to pad out the bad stuff, dragging the show down in
the process. Not a bad show here, but the bad is going to take over
in a hurry.

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Rants

Rants

Monday Nitro – April 13, 1998

By Scott Keith on 4th September 2013

Monday
Nitro #135

Date:
April 13, 1998

Location:
Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Commentators:
Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko, Mike Tenay

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

Tonight
is the go home show for Spring Stampede, but much more importantly
than that it’s the night that the WWF won a round in the Monday Night
Wars. Over on Raw there was the first ever Vince McMahon vs. Steve
Austin match, but it should be interesting to see what Nitro was
offering that the fans decided wasn’t good enough. Let’s get to it.

The
Nitro Girls are in white to open things up.

The
announcers talk about the bat match on Sunday.

Scott
Steiner vs. Fit Finlay

Vincent
has the trophy with him again. I’m assuming it’s some kind of a
bodybuilding trophy but WCW hasn’t bothered to explain it yet.
Steiner immediately bails to the floor for encouragement from
Vincent. Back in and Steiner easily takes him to the mat and rides
Finlay over to the ropes.

The
belly to belly gets a face pop for Scott and there’s the elbow into
the push-ups. Steiner goes to the floor to yell at Larry Hennig
(Curt’s dad) before getting caught in an atomic drop from Finlay.
The rolling senton puts Steiner down again but Finlay misses a charge
into the buckle. A falling suplex from the top sets up the Recliner
for the submission from Finlay, making Steiner the WCW Alliteration
Champion.

Rating:
D+. I’m not wild on Finlay
being used for a jobber but it’s better than having big names collide
and having them both come out looking lame. Steiner still isn’t over
as a heel and the stupid trophy isn’t going to make the fans boo him
any more. Nothing match here but Steiner looked pretty dominant.

Bret
Hart talks about getting screwed over again. Does he have ANYTHING
else he can talk about? This seems to be the first of a bunch of
sound bytes from Bret tonight.

Call
the Hotline to hear about….uh….wrestling stuff!

Lenny
Lane vs. Ultimo Dragon

Things
start fast with Dragon taking him over with a headscissors. Dragon
has his head slammed into the mat and the corners for good measure
with Lane in control. A sunset flip gets two for Dragon but Lane
chokes him on the ropes to keep control. We hit the chinlock on
Dragon but Lane lets go to yell at the fans. Dragon comes back with
the headstand in the corner and a kick to Lenny’s back to take over.

Lane
avoids a spinwheel kick and sends Dragon to the floor, only to miss a
plancha to put both guys down. Lenny is up first and slams Dragon on
the floor but doesn’t follow up. Back in and Dragon runs into a
powerslam for two and a bulldog gets the same. Lane tries a suplex
but Dragon slips over his back and hooks the Dragon Sleeper for the
submission.

Rating:
C+. This was much more
entertaining than I was expecting with Lane holding his own against
the Dragon until the end of the match where he got caught. Lane is
one of those guys that was talented but never got a chance to show
off. With more charisma, Dragon could have been a solid midcard guy
in WCW but he was always stuck around the cruiserweights or lower
card.

Bret
wants to be world champion.

The
announcers talk about the bat match again, this time for like two
minutes straight.

Roddy
is in the back and says he’s tired of listening to Hogan and Nash so
tonight they’re fighting each other. After that’s done, he’s coming
after Hogan himself. Hogan and Disciple get tired of listening to
Piper’s rambling and run in to lay him out.

Here’s
Giant with something to say. He knows Piper is going to be fine for
Sunday and lets the NWO know that he hasn’t forgotten a thing Nash
has done to him. Very short here but it got the point across well
enough.

Johnny
Grunge vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.

Chavo
takes him to the corner to start but gets suckered in by a handshake.
Grunge takes over on the arm but Chavo spins out to twist on
Grunge’s arm instead. Off to an armbar but Johnny fights up and hits
a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker to take over. Chavo sends him head first
into the buckle and loads up a sunset flip, only to have Grunge sit
down on it for the big upset. The announcers treat it like what
everyone knew would happen.

Bret
doesn’t like Hogan and Nash.

More
Nitro Girls, this time with bunny ears.

Here’s
Nash with something to say. Apparently Hogan has run out the back
door instead of facing him here tonight. Since Hogan has bailed and
since Savage is nowhere in sight, how about Nash vs. Sting again this
week? This brings out Sting with the bat but no belt. JJ comes out
to hold them back but Sting says Nash can have the title shot.
Dillon says the match has to be in the main event, but Sting wants
the powerbomb reinstated. JJ isn’t sure but eventually gives in.

Glacier
vs. Chris Benoit

Glacier
fires off some kicks to start but Benoit leg whips him down and
stomps Glacier in the corner. Glacier comes back with his kicks as
the announcers talk about Booker vs. Benoit for the TV Title at the
PPV with no time limit. A kick to the back of Benoit’s head gets two
more but Benoit comes back with a hard chop. Benoit takes him down
with a German suplex as Tony compares Glacier’s win/loss record to
Goldberg’s. Glacier sweeps Benoit’s legs out but Chris calmly waits
for him to come over and snaps on the Crossface for the submission.

Rating:
C-. The match was nothing of
note but Benoit looked great out there. The German looked great and
the ending was perfect. Benoit looked like he was toying with
Glacier out there which is what you want going into the title match
on Sunday. The more Nitro I watch I understand Benoit’s fans raging
against WCW for never pushing him. He’s just that good.

Hour
#2 begins so we hit the recap button.

Buff
Bagwell vs. Lex Luger

Before
the match Bagwell and Bischoff have something to say. Buff says the
one thing he can’t do is predict the future. If he could, he would
have challenged Rick Steiner instead of Luger for attacking Bischoff.
Buff makes fun of Luger and Steiner’s poses in a funny bit.
Bischoff says Hogan isn’t here to take care of Rick because he’s on
the Tonight Show. The idea of Hogan associating with Rick Steiner is
rather amusing.

Buff
pounds away to start after a quick posedown, only to have Luger run
him over with a shoulder. A dropkick puts Luger down and it’s time
for more posing. Luger hiptosses and slams Bagwell down, sending
Buff out to the floor. In one of the only times I can ever remember,
Luger actually shows some humor by doing Buff’s strut and pose,
complete with the big grin.

Back
in and Luger pounds away but gets caught by a swinging neckbreaker.
We hit the reverse chinlock with Luger looking more bored than in
pain. Buff lets go of the hold but misses the Blockbuster, allowing
Luger to do his usual sequence for the comeback. There’s the Torture
Rack but Bischoff comes in for the DQ.

Rating:
D+. Of all the matches they
could start the second hour with, they picked this? As in the match
where the whole story is Bagwell has beaten Luger like five times
already? That’s a good way to sum up WCW: yeah we know you’ve seen
this already, but here it is again because we don’t have any new
ideas. Also, why was Buff Bagwell so protected? It’s not as bad as
Norton but he was always losing by DQ or countout instead of pin or
submission, even to much bigger stars like Luger.

Post
match both Steiners run out with Rick and Luger standing tall.

Bret
Hart says Savage should get out of the NWO while he can.

The
Nitro Girls are in black now.

Heenan
is on commentary.

Cruiserweight
Title: Super Calo vs. Chris Jericho

Jericho
thinks Super Calo is Iaukea under a stupid looking mask. Calo denies
it in Spanish but Jericho insists it’s the Prince. The referee
actually goes to check it, giving Jericho the cheap shot for an early
advantage. A big forearm puts Calo down and a suplex gets two for
the champion. Calo comes back with a cradle, only to get punched in
the mask to put him back down.

We
hit the chinlock for a bit before Jericho easily avoids a dropkick.
A gutwrench suplex gets two for Chris and we get a mini fit from
Jericho. Calo jumps over Jericho in the corner and gets two off a
missile dropkick. Jericho misses a charge and falls to the floor for
a BIG plancha from Calo. Back in and Calo misses the top rope
headscissors, allowing Jericho to hook the Liontamer to retain.

Rating:
C-. Jericho looked good in this
glorified squash. That’s one of the problems with Jericho’s reign:
he’s beaten every big name in the division and there’s no one left to
seriously challenge him. The biggest name he hasn’t beaten is Ultimo
Dragon I guess and he’s not even that big of a deal in division
anymore.

Post
match Jericho won’t let go of the hold so Iaukea comes down.
Jericho: “They’re twins!”

Bret
Hart respects a few people but Sting is the highest on the list. If
Sting ever needs him, just say the word.

Saturn
vs. Hammer

Kidman
tries to stop this from happening and is thrown away by both guys.
They slug it out with Hammer taking over with a clothesline. He puts
Saturn on the top for a slam before ramming Saturn’s head into the
mat over and over. Saturn comes back with chops in the corner and
some high kicks to the head for good measure. Hammer escapes an
armbar with a belly to back suplex before lifting Saturn up into a
modified Gory Stretch to block a backslide. Not that it matters as
Saturn suplexes him down and hooks the Rings of Saturn for the
submission. Better match than I was expecting here actually.

Rocco
Rock vs. Goldberg

A
hard shoulder block puts Rocco down and a right hand does the same.
They trade elbows to the face before Goldberg launches him across the
ring. Rocco bails to the floor so Goldberg beats him up out there,
only to punch the post by mistake. Rocco whips him into the steps
and loads up a table in the ring. Goldberg pops back in and spears
him through the table (not a DQ for no apparent reason) and the
Jackhammer makes it 72 in a row.

Saturn
tries to get to Goldberg but Raven stops him. Goldberg beats up Sick
Boy and Kidman for fun. Saturn is next.

Video
on Goldberg.

Hour
#3 begins.

More
Nitro Girls, still in black.

Nitro
Party video.

Curt
Hennig vs. Yuji Nagata

Well
at least it’s not Neidhart. Rude goes to the commentary booth but
says he has guests to take care of at ringside. Apparently Rude’s
father is in the front row along with Larry Hennig. Yuji jumps Curt
while he’s hugging his dad, earning him a Perfect beating. Nagata is
sent to the floor for a beating from Rude. We’re in Minnesota
tonight so the fans are completely behind Rude and Hennig. Nagata
gets in a few kicks but Hennig shrugs them off and chops Yuji down in
the corner. Hennig sends him to the floor so Larry Hennig can reveal
a HENNIG RULES shirt. Back in and the PerfectPlex ends the squash.

Post
match Rude handcuffs Nagata to the ropes so the beating can continue.
Neidhart comes down well after they’ve gone and isn’t even
acknowledged by the announcers.

TV
Title: La Parka vs. Booker T

They
lock up and head to the corner for a clean break. The fans chant
what sounds like Jesse as Booker backdrops La Parka down. Booker
kicks him down and clotheslines him out to the floor. Back in and
they clothesline each other down but Booker is up first with a
spinebuster. Part of La Parka’s match is torn. A flapjack sets up
the side kick and the missile dropkick retains Booker’s title.

Rating:
C-. Again the match wasn’t bad
but there’s nothing on this show that makes me want to keep watching
it. La Parka’s hot streak is over as he’s now just a jobber to the
stars. Booker got a nice win here just like Benoit did earlier which
makes both guys look good going into the title match. Simple idea
yet it’s so rarely done today.

Post
match La Parka loads up the chair but Benoit comes out to stop him.
Booker offers a handshake but Benoit shoves him down instead.

Video
on Raven vs. DDP.

US
Title: Robbie Rage vs. Diamond Dallas Page

Page
runs him over and hits a quick belly to back suplex for no cover.
Rage’s partner Kaos grabs Page’s leg, giving Rage a cheap shot to the
champion’s ribs. A nice looking springboard splash gets two but Page
crotches Rage against the post to stop him cold. Back in and a
running Diamons Cutter retains the title. Another squash.

Post
match Raven and the Flock come down the aisle with Raven yelling
about being stuck in ECW since Page wouldn’t get him a job in WCW.
Page dives over the top to take the Flock out but they stop him from
getting to Raven.

Konnan
vs. Rick Steiner

Vincent
and DiBiase get in a shoving match before the bell which distracts
Rick (like that’s so hard) to give Konnan an early advantage. Rick
comes back with something close to a low blow to send Konnan out to
the floor. Steiner follows and gets double teamed by Vincent and
Konnan, only to have DiBiase beat up Vincent to a big reaction. Back
in and Konnan hits his rolling lariat before putting on an armbar.
Konnan tries to jump over Rick in the corner but gets caught in a
powerslam for two. Rick suplexes him down again and the Steiner
Bulldog gets the pin.

Rating:
C-. Oddly enough Rick looked
pretty good here with his suplexes and throws. At the end of the day
though, it’s really hard to get fired up for Konnan vs. Rick Steiner
in a four minute match. It’s nice to see someone new pushed to fight
the NWO, but Rick Steiner is only going to draw so much interest.

Video
on Savage vs. Nash vs. Hogan.

WCW
World Title: Kevin Nash vs. Sting

The
announcers have spent all night hyping the fact that the powerbomb is
legal. If I know WCW, it probably won’t even be used. Sting pounds
him into the corner to start and rains down right hands, only to try
to jump over Nash and get caught in Snake Eyes. There’s the foot
choke in the corner followed by some knee lifts to the ribs. Nash
continues his slow pace by firing off elbows in the corner. Sting
comes back with some kicks to the ribs but can’t slam Nash.

Off
to a neck crank on the champion before Nash elbows him in the face to
stop a comeback. A gutwrench slam gets two on Sting and Nash finally
calls for the powerbomb. Scratch that as we need a sidewalk slam for
two first. We hit the bearhug as the build to the big move
continues. It’s not something you can say that often in a Nash match
but the psychology is solid here.

Sting
slaps Nash’s ears to break the hold but can’t drop him. Two Stinger
Splashes and a dropkick can’t drop Nash so there’s a third Splash.
Sting puts on the Scorpion but Savage comes in with a cast shot,
giving Nash two. Nash hits the powerbomb but Bret Hart pulls out the
referee for the DQ.

Rating:
C. Screwy ending aside, this
wasn’t all that bad. They did a good job of building up the back
injury for Sting and you could see them setting up the powerbomb.
Sting has always played a good David to someone else’s Goliath so the
result here was a surprisingly entertaining match.

Bret
holds off the NWO single handedly to end the show.

Overall
Rating: D+. I can’t blame the
fans a bit for flipping over to Raw. Let’s look at this for a
second: the first match of the second hour was built around the idea
of they’ve fought six times before, then the main event is a rematch
with another run-in ending. The most competitive match in between
there was Hammer vs. Perry Saturn and the rest were glorified
squashes. Nothing on here was fresh or new and the show felt like it
has for months: uninteresting and focused entirely on the NWO which
has been going on for nearly two years now.

Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for just $4 at:

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Rants

Rants

Monday Nitro – April 6, 1998

By Scott Keith on 28th August 2013

Monday Nitro #134

Date: April 6, 1998

Location: Miami Arena,
Miami, Florida

Commentators: Mike
Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

This is the first time
WCW has gotten together since last week and as usual, the focus is
all on the NWO. In this case it was Nash accidentally kicking Hogan
in the face, ticking Hollywood off as we’re getting closer to Spring
Stampede where they’re teaming up together. In other words, as
usual, the NWO drama overshadows everything else on the show despite
the fans getting bored with it. Let’s get to it.

We open with, you
guessed it, NWO DRAMA! Savage is down outside the arena and about to
be loaded into an ambulance. We go to the arena to hear from the
announcers a bit before going back to see Savage still down.

Psychosis/El
Dandy/La Parka vs. Judo Suwa/Shiima Nobunaga/Tokyo Magnum

Tokyo starts with
Psychosis and a quick distraction allows for triple teaming on
Magnum. They all drop elbows on Tokyo for two before Nobunaga comes
in for a save. He gets triple teamed as well but Suwa makes the
save. Psychosis hits a missile dropkick to an elevated Suwa for two
before it’s back to La Parka vs. Tokyo. Magnum finally takes over
and side steps a low blow from Psychosis, sending the boot into La
Parka’s groin instead.

A top rope hurricanrana
gets two on La Parka before it’s off to Nobunaga to catch Dandy in
the jaw with an elbow. Suwa sends La Parka to the floor and everyone
launches dives to the floor. Shiima gets two off a top rope
spinwheel kick to Psychosis, only to miss a dropkick, allowing
Psychosis to drop the guillotine legdrop for the pin.

Rating: C+.
Very fun opener here which is exactly what an opening match is
supposed to be. As usual the formula of take six guys and let them
fly around the ring for five minutes works like a charm with Miami
eating it up. You indy fans might know Nobunaga better as Dragon
Gate USA star Cima.

More of Savage being
looked at in the back.

Opening sequence.

TV Title: Disco
Inferno vs. Booker T

Booker beat Disco to
win his first title I believe. Disco turns his back on the champion
to start and is promptly drilled in the back. A forearm to the head
gets two for Booker and we hit the armbar. Back up and a hiptoss
puts Inferno on the floor but he comes back with a belly to back
suplex. Disco stomps Booker down in the corner and gets two off a
running clothesline. We hit the chinlock for a bit before they trade
near falls, leading right back into the chinlock. A middle rope fist
misses Booker entirely and the champion comes back with a flapjack.
Booker’s two kicks set up a snap spinebuster and the missile dropkick
to retain.

Rating: C-.
Disco continues to be perfectly acceptable out there which isn’t how
many people remember him at all. Booker was his usual smooth self
and the ending made him look dominant after two straight draws
against Benoit. It’s very nice to see a perfectly decent match to
fill in the gaps between the Savage drama.

The Nitro Girls dance
with a Latin theme.

Video on Hogan vs.
Savage vs. Nash.

Lenny Lane vs.
Kidman

Kidman takes over with
a quick dropkick and a clothesline to take over. A slam sets up a
slingshot legdrop followed by a jawbreaker for two on Lane. Kidman
sets up a bulldog, only to be crotched on the top to stop him cold.
Lane hits a snap powerslam for two before launching Kidman into the
air for a nice crash. Lenny goes up top for a slow motion Whisper in
the Wind for two more but he walks into a sitout spinebuster followed
by the Seven Year Itch (shooting star) for the pin by Kidman.

Rating: D+.
This was a spot fest but not a very entertaining one. Kidman had to
slow down his offense so much for his gimmick that it makes his
matches less interesting than they should be. Lane was just a jobber
at this point so no one cared about him due to having no real reason
to yet.

JJ Dillon (loudly
booed) says there’s tape of the Savage attack but we can’t see it yet
because it’s an ongoing investigation. He doesn’t know anything
about Spring Stampede yet but promises to keep us updated. Well this
was totally pointless. Yeah there’s a tape apparently, but either
give us a time frame on when we’ll see it or don’t mention it yet.
The fans groaned when JJ said we weren’t seeing it, which could have
been avoided if they didn’t mention it. Then again that might make
too much sense.

Norman Smiley vs.
Konnan

Konnan grabs the arm to
start but gets flipped over in a nice leverage move. Another armdrag
sends Konnan to the floor for a conference with Vincent. Back in and
Konnan stomps on his foot to take Norman down, allowing for a choke
from Vinny Bald. Tony is told about Sting vs. Nash for the title
tonight, meaning it’s time to ignore the match in the ring. Konnan
ducks his head and gets kicked in the jaw, followed by an abdominal
stretch. Norman misses a dropkick and gets caught in a half crab
even lamer than the Tequila Sunrise. Back up the Konnan hits the 187
and the Tequila Sunrise for the submission.

Rating: D.
Nothing match here to give the announcers a reason to talk about the
main event. Smiley was very smooth in the ring and could have decent
matches when given the chance. Naturally the idea was to push him as
something that didn’t showcase those talents whatsoever. Konnan was
his usual self here but very over with the Miami fans.

Apparently Savage has
just been put on the stretcher.

More Nitro Girls.

US Title: Buff
Bagwell vs. Diamond Dallas Page

Bagwell quickly takes
him down with an armdrag and poses, only to be taken down via a
shoulder block. Buff’s low elevation dropkick is practically no sold
and Page scores with a neckbreaker. Page pounds away in the corner
but Buff sneaks in a low blow to take over. Buff hits some really
basic shots to the back for two and we hit the chinlock. Back up and
Page tries a quick powerbomb, only to have Bagwell land on his feet
and hit something resembling a neckbreaker for two. Page comes back
with right hands and the Pancake for two. Here’s Raven in the
audience with the belt, drawing Page out for the countout.

Rating: D.
Bagwell isn’t very good and that’s as simple as I can put it. He
can’t do anything above bare bones and screwed up something as simple
as a swinging neckbreaker. Also, we can’t even have an NWO guy do a
job for the US Champion? They really have to be protected that much?

Bagwell demands to be
called the new champion but turns around into a Diamond Cutter.
Again, Page can knock the guy out cold with one move but Bagwell
can’t job for some reason.

Hour #2 begins.

Here’s some of the
Savage footage. It’s a red Viper speeding away with Vincent and
Disciple saying this is NWO business and Disciple saying “he’s not
so Macho now is he?” Again, why not mention this was coming to
start the second hour instead of saying “well we can’t show it now
and we won’t say when we’re showing it.” If nothing else say
you’re airing it at some point tonight and give the fans an extra
reason to stick around.

Here’s the NWO with
something to say. Hogan says there’s no survey tonight because he
was caught in traffic on his way to the show. Ok then. Anyway he’s
here now and talks about how he and Nash will dominate Giant and
Piper at the PPV. Tonight however Nash is going to win the title and
bring it back to Hollywood and the NWO. At the pay per view (Hogan
won’t say Spring Stampede for some reason) though, they’re going to
kill Giant and Piper with one stone. Isn’t it with one bat?

Buy the Macho Man caged
madness shirt. I always liked that one.

Video on Goldberg.

Hammer vs. Goldberg

Nothing out of the
ordinary here other than Goldberg hitting an Attitude Adjustment on
Hammer. The spear and Jackhammer end this in about a minute and
fifteen seconds.

Post match Goldberg
scares off the Flock so Saturn puts the Rings of Saturn on Hammerl.
Kidman tries to break it up and gets shoved down.

Heenan is on commentary
and drooling over the Nitro Girls and the future Mrs. HBK in
particular.

Here’s Roddy Piper with
something to say. Piper talks about swinging a bat here in the home
of the World Series champions before talking about being in a bat
match with three giants. He’s in full on ramble mode tonight. Piper
mentions beating up a transvestite named Goldust and talks about
beating up Hogan with a bat. He’s coming after Hogan with a bat
tonight and next week in Minneapolis because there isn’t enough room
in the sport for both of them. Hogan will be auditioning for Rupaul
after Piper gets his hands on him. When Piper gets off track it can
be one heck of a train wreck.

Eddie Guerrero vs.
Ultimo Dragon

Before the match, Eddie
yells at Chavo for being such a failure that he’s gotten Grandma’s
menudo thrown out of a cooking competition. Therefore, Chavo is
taking Eddie’s place.

Chavo Guerrero Jr.
vs. Ultimo Dragon

Chavo blocks a quick
rollup to start and hits a quick belly to back suplex for one. Off
to an early chinlock from Chavo followed by an abdominal stretch. A
pumphandle backbreaker gets two for Guerrero and it’s right back to
the chinlock. Back up and Dragon flips over Chavo into a rollup for
two with Chavo countering into one of his own for the same. Eddie
has a towel over his head and his back to the ring. Dragon escapes
the tornado DDT but Chavo escapes La Majistral, only to get caught in
the Dragon Sleeper for the submission.

Rating: C.
Nice match here and I’m digging this Guerrero story. If nothing else
it’s hilarious every time Eddie talks about Grandma. Chavo is
rapidly maturing through this story and it’s bringing him up to a new
level. Imagine that: a veteran helping out a young guy instead of
holding him down.

More Nitro Girls, in
the same outfits and doing pretty much the same routine they did the
last time.

We look back at Malenko
losing to Jericho at Uncensored and Gene brow beating him down.
Gene: “You didn’t win at Starrcade, Super Brawl or Souled Out.”
Two things: he only wrestled at one of those shows and man WCW
started a lot of shows with the letter S.

Barry Darsow vs. Lex
Luger

Sign in the crowd:
Gordon Solie Rules. Amen brother. Luger shoves Darsow into the
corner as Tony hypes up some Flair interview on Thursday. Darsow
comes back with a belly to back suplex and clubbing forearms to the
back. Barry works on the arm for a bit and punches Luger in the face
for good measure. Luger backdrops out of a piledriver and hits his
usual stuff to set up the Rack for the submission.

Rating: D.
Typical Luger match, Darsow was his usual self and there’s nothing
else to say here at all.

Hour #3 begins.

We recap the
Bulldog/Neidhart vs. Hennig/Rude feud.

Curt Hennig/Bryan
Adams vs. British Bulldog/Jim Neidhart

Rude joins commentary
again. It’s a brawl to start with the NWO quickly being dispatched
to the floor. We start with Neidhart vs. Hennig and the fans are all
over Rude. Jim slams him down by the hair and brings in Bulldog to
face Adams. Bulldog suplexes Adams down as Heenan sucks up to Rude.
A middle rope shoulder from Neidhart takes Adams down and we hit the
chinlock. Neidhart lets him up and gets caught in the heel corner
with the NWO taking over. Adams ducks his head as Rude leaves to
watch at ringside.

We take a break (yes,
in this match) and come back with Adams working on Bulldog’s ribs.
Adams lifts him up for a three rep gorilla press before it’s back to
Curt for a spinning toe hold. The fans get distracted by something
in the crowd so Adams puts on a front facelock. Now the fans are
bored as Neidhart gets the ice cold tag. Everything breaks down and
Rude knees Neidhart in the back, setting up the PerfectPlex for the
pin.

Rating: D-.
From a quality standpoint it was passable at best, but there’s just
no interest in this feud at all. It’s clearly there to tie in to
Hart’s feud with the NWO (which barely exists anyway) but Neidhart
and Bulldog aren’t interesting at all. The fans clearly don’t care
but this feud just keeps going due to a lack of anything better to do
with them.

Bret finally comes out
for the save and says, again, that he’s not letting the NWO screw
people.

Cruiserweight Title:
Chris Jericho vs. Juventud Guerrera

Jericho dedicates this
episode of Monday Night Jericho to Dean Malenko. He begs Dean, the
second greatest wrestler in the world today, to come back. Jericho
asks why Prince Nakamaki is getting the title shot at the PPV when he
doesn’t even own a pair of boots. Juvy takes over with some hard
chops to start before blocking some tiger suplex attempts. A suplex
puts Jericho down for two and we hit the chinlock.

Chris comes back with
an elbow to the face and the fans are all over him. A hard
clothesline sets up the arrogant cover for two followed by three
straight backbreakers. Jericho stops to pose before covering for two
and Juvy comes back with a victory roll for the same.

Chris comes back with
an elbow and gets two off a middle rope splash, only to be dropkicked
down for two as well. A Jericho powerbomb is countered into a DDT
for a VERY close two. The Juvy Driver looks to set up the 450 but
Jericho crotches him on top. Jericho catches a cross body and
counters a hurricanrana into the Liontamer with Prince Iaukea coming
down to throw in the towel for the submission.

Rating: C.
I get the idea they were going for with the ending but Juvy has a
legitimate complaint with Prince here. He was crawling towards the
rope when Iaukea threw in the towel so the match wasn’t over yet.
Why the title match at the PPV isn’t Juvy challenging for the belt is
beyond me as I don’t think anyone cared that Iaukea was getting a
shot.

We look at the Savage
footage again.

Scott Steiner vs.
Sick Boy

They had said Steiner
was facing Giant later tonight. Vincent brings in a trophy for some
reason. Steiner takes Sick Boy down with ease and chokes on the
ropes a bit. Sick Boy is caught in the Tree of Woe for more choking
followed by the elbow drop into the pushups. The Recliner ends this
squash.

WCW World Title:
Kevin Nash vs. Sting

Nash comes to the ring
in a Savage t-shirt to further stir the pot. He says he heard
Hogan’s view of what was going on around here but now it’s time for
his view. Nash says that Viper that sped away earlier was red and
yellow, which is why he’s wearing a Savage shirt tonight. He gets in
a jab about Syxx’s firing by saying if he wears this shirt too long,
Savage will get fired. If Nash wins the belt tonight, it’s going
around around his waist and not into Hollywood’s hands. Also, if
Hogan keeps it up, Nash will be him up with the bat along with Giant
and Piper.

After a lot of walking
around, Nash shoves Sting into the corner and fires off some knee
lifts and right hands. Some elbows to the head stagger Sting but the
champion scores with some clotheslines. A middle rope clothesline
drops the big man and a dropkick sends Nash to the floor. Sting goes
out to get him but gets caught by a beating from Konnan. Nash and
Konnan take turns choking and it’s time to work on the champ’s back.

A backbreaker sets up a
chinlock with the knee in the back. Sting fights up but walks into a
knee to the ribs to slow him down again. Kevin chokes with the boot
but misses a kick in the corner, giving Sting a target to go after.
There’s the Scorpion but Konnan helps pull Nash to the ropes. Nash’s
leg is of course fine enough to hit the side slam for two and an
elbow drop gets the same. Kevin pounds away and it’s back to the
neck crank.

Sting fights up for his
second comeback as Konnan comes in for no DQ. Sting hits three
straight Splashes in the corner but Nash shrugs them off and loads up
the Jackknife (wouldn’t that be a DQ?) but his back gives out. Not
that it matters as Hogan comes in to attack Sting for the DQ.

Rating: D+.
The match had some decent action but there’s only so much Sting can
do when Nash won’t sell anything. This didn’t do much to help a
world champion who has already had his wings clipped. I’ve seen
worse matches but this felt like we were waiting on the interference
ending, making it like every other Nitro main event for about two
years.

The NWO comes in for
the beatdown but Piper and Giant make the save to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-.
This was very much like last week’s show: good stuff from the guys in
the middle of the card and nothing interesting from the top guys.
Savage’s title shot at the PPV was glanced at but nothing more while
the bat match got three promos and the closing spot on the show.
Then there’s the issue of Roddy Piper. Someone in the comments
mentioned how bad he was on these shows and it’s absolutely right.
There’s no real reason for him to be involved in this but he’s
getting a lot of TV time anyway. Throw Luger in there to give him
something to do and you eliminate the horrible promos we have to sit
through.

Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for just $4 at:

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Rants

Rants

Monday Nitro – March 30, 1998

By Scott Keith on 21st August 2013

Monday
Nitro #133

Date:
March 30, 1998

Location:
United Center, Chicago, Illinois

Commentators:
Mike Tenay, Larry Zbyszko, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

The
NWO continues to dominate the stories in this company as we’re
rolling towards Spring Stampede. On Thunder the NWO got into another
argument with Hogan and Nash yelling at each other this time. There
isn’t much else going on in WCW at the moment other than the title
feuds. WCW needs to step things up as last night, Steve Austin won
the WWF Title, meaning the heat is on. Let’s get to it.

The
Nitro Girls open us up. I’ve heard of worse ideas.

We
look at the brawl at the end of Thunder.

Wayne
Bloom/Mike Enos vs. High Voltage

Enos
starts with Rage but High Voltage is quickly double teaming to take
over. Mike is beaten down but Bloom comes in off the top to take
over. Bloom comes in legally and suplexes Rage down for two before
it’s back to Enos. Something like a fallaway slam off the middle
rope gets two on Rage and here’s the Giant with chokeslams all around
for the DQ.

Rating:
D. This was long enough to rate
but there’s nothing to talk about here. Neither team was anything of
note and the fans didn’t care about them due to how low they were on
the card. At least the fans popped when the Giant came out there as
they were almost silent for the match.

Everyone
is laid out so Giant grabs the mic and says if Piper wants mean,
that’s what he’s getting.

Here
are Piper and Giant with something to say. Piper is in a Cubs hat
for an odd visual. He talks about having Giant dating Sweaty Betty
and eating villagers. Piper says that Hogan and Nash are lovers but
tonight they can’t team together. It’s going to be Nash/a partner of
his choice vs. Sting/Luger but the partner can’t be Hogan. Now it’s
time to focus on Hogan and Disciple. Piper says Disciple used to be
Brutus Beefcake and the fans sound surprised. He says Disciple’s
real name is E. Harrison Leslie and tonight it’s Piper vs. Hogan in
the main event. Oh yeah they’re feeling the pressure from Raw all
right.

Perry
Saturn vs. Fit Finlay

This
could be interesting. Saturn is flanked by the entire Flock. Saturn
chops him in the chest to start but Finlay takes him straight to the
mat and puts on a hard chinlock. Back up and Saturn fires off kicks
in the corner but charges into a boot. This is more hard hitting
than any match in months already.

Finlay
drives in knees in the corner and works on Saturn’s knee on the mat.
Back up and Saturn grabs a quick suplex for two but Finlay hits
another hard clothesline to take over. I’m saying hard a lot because
it’s the only way to describe most of these shots. A rolling senton
gets two for Finlay but he gets caught in a head and arms suplex and
the Rings of Saturn are good for the submission.

Rating:
C. This was short but they beat
the tar out of each other out there. Finlay is the kind of guy that
can work well with almost anyone which makes him an interesting guy
to watch. It’s rare to see heels going at it but it made for a good
match. That’s something WWE should do more often: mix things up a
bit instead of doing the same stuff over and over again.

CALL
THE HOTLINE!

Here’s
the NWO led by Hogan and Bischoff. Hogan talks about being 4 Life
and if Piper wants a fight he can come get one right now. The fans
say he sucks but Hogan says that just means they worship him. He
calls the Disciple up and names him as the leader of his worshippers.
That brings him to the family business and the only thing people
remember right now is Nash’s big foot going into Hogan’s face.

If
Nash wants to get a partner tonight, the NWO wants to see what he’s
made of because none of this is allowed to team up with him. Cue
Nash to a face pop. He quotes Savage by saying there could be more
than one person ready to stab him in the back. Hogan says at Spring
Stampede they can watch each others’ backs and then deal with their
own issues. Nash says he has a partner but won’t say who it
is……brother. To clarify, the story of this show is who will be
the partner of one half of the World Tag Team Champions.

More
Nitro Girls.

There
is no Thunder this weekend as there’s going to be an internet Pay Per
Listen called Malice in the Palace.

Cruiserweight
Title: Chris Jericho vs. Marty Jannetty

Jericho
dedicates the match to the memory of Dean Malenko who has quit
because he can’t handle the heat. He quotes Hanson to say that in an
MMMBop, Dean’s career is gone. Only Jericho could make that line
work. Marty gets a quick clothesline to take over and a powerslam is
good for two. A faceplant puts Jericho down but the Rocker Dropper
is countered into a belly to back suplex and the Liontamer retains
the title.

Post
match Jericho grabs a cup of water and a bunch of papers. See, Dean
claims to be the man of 1000 holds but Jericho has only counted about
60. Jericho however knows 1004 and is going to list them off for us.

1. Armdrag
2. Armbar
3. Moss
   Covered Three Handled Gradunzel (Jericho’s pronunciation)
4. Armbar
5. Saskatchewan
   Spinning Nerve Hold
6. Armbar

9.
Shooting Star Staple Press

10.
Right handed punch

We
take a break.

712.
Armbar

713.
Gibberish

714.
Canadian….something

Hour
#2 begins.

723.
Jericho Screwdriver

As
Jericho talks about a Whizzer, Prince Iaukea cuts him off. Dean’s
dad trained the Prince as well and he’s not going to stand for this
disrespect. This holds up incredibly well and Jericho is still
hilarious to this day.

Prince
Iaukea vs. Glacier

Glacier
runs him over to start and hits a quick belly to back suplex. He
poses on the ropes instead of following up though and Prince comes
back with a fallaway slam. A pair of dropkicks sets up a Samoan Drop
for two but Glacier comes back with a powerslam. Glacier goes up but
jumps into a northern lights suplex for the pin. Nothing to see
here.

Some
high school students win the Nitro Party Pack. Good to know.

Juventud
Guerrera vs. El Dandy

Dandy
hits a hard knee to the chest to start but gets caught in a
hurricanrana to take him down. Juvy tries a baseball slide to the
floor but Dandy slides back in at the same time. Dandy drops him on
the top rope but Juvy comes right back with a rollup for two. Juvy
is slammed down but slips out of an attempt at a second slam before
hooking a Juvy Driver for a quick pin.

We
get a clip of the new movie Lost In Space.

Chavo
Guerrero Jr. vs. Kaz Hayashi

Heenan
has joined commentary. Chavo is in a professionally made Eddie
Guerrero is My Favorite Wrestler shirt. Feeling out process to start
with Guerrero charging into an armdrag and armbar. I guess Hayashi
is a Chris Jericho fan. Back up and Chavo gets two off a quick
dropkick before stomping on Kaz.

A
belly to back suplex sets up a chinlock from Guerrero as a guy with a
huge backpack walks through the front row. They botch a spot where
Chavo tries to powerbomb out of a hurricanrana but falls down,
basically turning it into a running seated senton. A missile
dropkick puts Chavo down and a German suplex gets two, but Chavo pops
up and hits the tornado DDT for the pin.

Rating:
C-. This was short but it was
decent while it lasted. Kaz never really did much in WCW though they
did say Ultimo Dragon had taken him under his wing so maybe he’s in
for a small push. Botch aside, Chavo continues to look smooth in the
ring most of the time and the story is what he’s been missing to get
things going.

Post
match Chavo helps Kaz up.

Before
his match Raven says he’ll dumb this down for us. He talks about
hating his father and being unpopular in high school. It was Page
who picked Raven up from the hospital when he got out of rehab. Four
years ago when Page was released it was Raven who gave him a shoulder
to cry on. Now Page is the US Champion and Raven had to spend three
years in Barbed Wire City. Why didn’t Page call in a favor and get
him a job years ago? The Snake told him that Page wasn’t a true
friend and he was right. Quoth the US Champion forevermore.

Buff
Bagwell vs. Raven

The
announcers hope they beat each other into the hospital. Why would
WCW announcers not like the Flock? Bagwell laughs at Raven to start
before hiptossing him down. Raven charges into a boot in the corner
and Bagwell runs him down. Posing ensues but here’s DDP so Raven
grabs the US Title and bails for the countout.

Page
comes up to commentary and says he wants to put this in context. Yes
he and Raven knew each other before, but Raven has selective memory.
Poor little Scotty. Poor little us as he now joins Norton, Hall,
Steiner and Riggs as Scottys in this company. Page talks about Raven
being born with a silver spoon in his mouth and having a very
privileged childhood.

On
the other hand there’s Page who came from a broken home but turned
out just fine. It wasn’t Page who caused all of Raven’s hardships
because Raven doesn’t know what hardships are. Page goes into
something resembling Hard Times before saying Raven has nothing to
complain about.

The
announcers recap the NWO events. This is in addition to constantly
talking about them during the matches.

Disco
Inferno vs. Billy Kidman

Disco
throws him into the air and gets two off a clothesline to start. He
stomps a mudhole in Kidman in the corner and throws him out tot he
floor. Kidman comes back in with a slingshot headscissors and the
announcers finally stop talking about how awesome Randy Savage is and
wondering who Nash’s partner will be.

A
slingshot legdrop gets two for Kidman and Disco gets a near fall of
his own off a sunset flip. Kidman dropkicks him down and hits a
quick backbreaker, only to miss a top rope splash. Disco gets two
off an elbow drop and a neckbreaker but charges into a sitout
spinebuster for two. Kidman makes the mistake of lowering his head
though and Disco hits a great piledriver for the pin.

Rating:
C+. Much better match than I
was expecting here with Disco actually going move for move with
Kidman. I don’t remember him using the piledriver that often but
it’s a good finishing move for him, especially if the Chartbuster is
being taken by Disciple. Really nice match here with both guys
looking good.

Hour
#3 begins.

Curt
Hennig vs. Jim Neidhart

Can
this feud just end already? Rude jumps in on commentary and dodges a
question about being Nash’s partner tonight. Neidhart quickly pulls
him to the floor and sends Hennig into the barricade before going
back inside. Jim keeps asking Rude to come down to the ring for a
beating but pounds Hennig down with ease. Hennig gets in some shots
but Neidhart rakes him in the eyes to put him down. Off to a bearhug
on Curt and Rude runs in for the DQ, only to get caught in a quick
bearhug as well.

Neidhart
gets beaten down and handcuffed to the rope. Bulldog comes in for
the save but Bryan Adams hits the ring for a piledriver on Davey.
Rude takes off his belt and chokes Neidhart, making Anvil’s eyes bug
out in an unintentionally funny bit. Bret comes out for the real
save, again calling the no association rule into question. Hart says
this isn’t happening anymore and he’s tearing the NWO down brick by
brick until he gets to Hogan.

TV
Title: Chris Benoit vs. Booker T

Booker
is defending in this rematch of a draw from last week. During the
entrances we’re told Iaukea vs. Jericho for the Cruiserweight Title
is set for the PPV. They fight over a lockup to start with neither
guy able to gain an advantage. Benoit pulls him down to the mat but
Booker does half a Spinarooni to get up before anything else can be
done. Booker gets spun over into a sunset flip for two and we have a
standoff. A HARD chop sends Booker into the ropes as we’re told it’s
Bulldog vs. Hennig at Spring Stampede. Dang how will the cable
company handle all the people wanting to buy the show now?

Benoit
stomps him down in the corner but gets caught in a spinebuster for a
close two. A hard elbow to the face puts Benoit down again and the
champion stomps away a bit. Benoit is quickly back up and snaps off
a release German suplex to put both guys down. The Canadian gets two
off a snap suplex as we get news that Nash has switched dressing
rooms. So much for talking about the title match. Booker gets a
boot up in the corner but walks into a drop toehold for two.

A
backbreaker gets two for Benoit and it’s off to surfboard hold with a
knee in Booker’s back. Chris suplexes him down for two and it’s time
to roll some Germans. Booker fights out of the third and hits the
ropes but both guys try cross bodies to put them both down. Booker
spins up and hits the side kick but gets crotched on top. Benoit is
knocked away but still sidesteps the missile dropkick. The
Crossface is quickly broken up as Booker grabs the rope. Back up and
they slug it out as the bell rings for the time limit.

Rating:
B-. Another good match here
with both guys looking great. The idea of having Benoit hang with
Booker is a good idea but it would help if he’d actually win the
title. It’s the same thing that happened to him in the US Title
feud: the good matches are getting Benoit more noticed, but a title
win would mean so much more.

More
Nitro Girls.

Psychosis
vs. Ultimo Dragon

Dragon
has the awesome red white and green attire on tonight. Psychosis
takes him down before catching the handspring elbow in a takedown. A
quick rollup gets two on Dragon and Psychosis goes up, only to have
to block the spinning hurricanrana. Dragon is sent to the floor by a
spinwheel kick and Psychosis hits a big dive over the top to take him
down. While on the floor the Flock attacks Psychosis for recently
injuring Lodi.

Dragon
helps Psychosis fight off the Flock. Luchadores vs. Flock could be
an interesting story.

Goldberg
vs. Ray Traylor

The
fans go NUTS for Goldberg and Traylor is taken aback by them.
Goldberg runs him over and they slug it out with no one getting an
advantage. They ram shoulders and no one moves so Traylor offers to
let Goldberg hit the ropes for another try. Goldberg heads towards
the ropes but snaps back with a clothesline to take Traylor down in a
nice move. A leg trip puts Ray down again but Goldberg walks into a
big spinebuster. He’s on his feet before Traylor though and it’s
spear/Jackhammer to make him 67-0.

Saturn
jumps the barricade but the Flock holds him back.

Kevin
Nash/??? vs. Lex Luger/Sting

To
the shock of no one with a brain, Randy Savage is the mystery partner
as he jumps Sting from behind during the entrances. A piledriver
(popular move tonight) lays Sting out on the floor and we start with
Savage vs. Luger. Savage kicks Sting to the floor as Nash comes in
to beat up Luger. Sting is laid out in the aisle as Savage comes
back in to choke Luger. Nash is back in again as Savage goes out to
beat on the champion again. Sting finally gets his coat off but
Savage posts him. Now it’s a chair to Sting’s ribs.

This
has been going almost five minutes and we’ve seen about 20 seconds of
the in ring portion. Nash goes to the floor to beat on Sting as
Luger misses a charge into the corner. Sting finally makes a
comeback as whatever part of this was a match breaks down. Sting
backdrops Savage to the floor and Luger clotheslines Nash down.
Hogan hits the floor to go after Sting but gets posted as well.
Luger Racks Nash but Disciple comes in behind the referee’s back to
Stun Luger, giving Nash the pin.

Rating:
C. This is a hard one to grade
as it wasn’t supposed to be a normal wrestling match. It was
designed to get us to the main event and continue the chaos of the
NWO which it did, but at the same time it was just a wild brawl.
That being said, it was entertaining and did its job so I’ll go right
in the middle instead of taking a side on it.

Post
match Piper comes out to drag Hogan back to the ring but Disciple
gets in a cheap shot to start the double teaming. They fight to the
back and we go to a break before the match actually started.

Hollywood
Hogan vs. Roddy Piper

Back
from a break and Hogan’s music plays for a bit but there’s no one in
sight. Piper and Hogan show up at the entrance with Piper punching
him down the aisle. Disciple follows them out but gets beaten up as
well. They get in the ring and slug it out though I never heard a
bell. Piper pounds away and pokes him in the eyes before they head
outside again so Hogan can be sent into Disciple.

Back
in and Piper pounds away in the corner with his 1984 offense. Hogan
gets in a low blow but Piper hits one of his own. They slug it out
from their knees with Hogan choking away. Back up and they slug it
out again until Disciple pulls Piper to the floor. Piper gets back
in and ducks a clothesline to put on a sleeper but Disciple comes in
for the DQ. After everything else that happened, that’s the DQ?

Rating:
D. Unlike the previous brawl
disguised as a match, this one didn’t have nearly the action or fun
involved included. This was the usual dull stuff when these two get
in the ring but they’re the draws so it’s ok or something. You know
you’re in trouble when the best thing you can say about a match is
it’s short.

Post
match Nash comes out and holds up Piper but Hogan hits Nash by
mistake. This brings out Giant to clear the ring. Hogan tells Nash
to be ready for the PPV but Disciple holds him back to end the show.

Remember
no Thunder this week.

Overall
Rating: D+. They were trying
here but the NWO stuff dragged it down. It’s becoming more and more
like the Alliance every day: meaningless matches with no real end
goal in sight. Savage has his first world title shot in over a year
and it’s a subplot in the three way battle for control of the NWO.
The rest of the show had its moments but there’s too much dullness on
here dragging it down. Make sure you check out Jericho’s 1004 holds
bit though in case you’ve somehow never seen it.

Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for just $4 at:

Rants

Rants

Monday Nitro – March 16, 1998

By Scott Keith on 7th August 2013

Monday
Nitro #131

Date:
March 16, 1998

Location:
Club La Vela, Panama City, Florida

Commentators:
Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re
past Uncensored and not a lot has changed other than Savage turning
on Sting while still hating Hogan, making him a loner. Tonight is a
different kind of show as it’s the Spring Break Out, being held at a
nightclub in Florida with pools all around and under the ring. We’ve
got four weeks before Spring Stampede and we might get some matches
announced tonight. Let’s get to it.

We
get some stills from the cage match last night with Tony and Mike
narrating what happened.

Here’s
the NWO en masse (no Savage of course) to open the show. Bischoff
praises Hogan for saving the NWO from a split. Hogan talks about how
Nash proved he was the real giant last night and everyone bows to
Nash. This brings Hogan to Macho Man, whom Hogan loves more than
anyone he’s loved in his entire life. They like Savage being crazy
and since Savage is NWO, he’s NWO for life. Therefore, tonight it’s
Hogan/Savage vs. Sting/Luger. Bischoff thinks Sting won’t be here
because there aren’t any rafters.

Nitro
Girls in St. Patrick’s Day attire.

Goldberg
vs. Lodi

Lodi
has an RF Video sign. Press slam, spear, Jackhammer, moving on.

The
Flock tries to come in post match but the destruction continues.
Saturn starts to come in but we look at almost the entire match again
instead.

Gene
tells us that one of the all time greats has retired. CALL THE
HOTLINE!

Ultimo
Dragon vs. Fit Finlay

This
should be interesting. Finlay shoves him into the corner to start
but misses a charge, allowing Dragon to snap off his kicks. You know
Finlay takes those kicks with a smile. A nerve hold puts the Dragon
down and a simple rake of the eyes stops his comeback attempt.
Finlay takes him to the apron and rams him face first into the side
of the ring before they come back in for a slugout. A single chop
stings Finlay so he casually pokes Dragon in the eye to stop him
cold.

Dragon
fires off a dropkick but misses a dropkick. A nipup fails and Finlay
goes to the floor where he steps aside to avoid a dive. I love that
counter but not many people do it other than Finlay and Samoa Joe.
The rolling senton gets two for Finlay but Dragon ducks a European
uppercut to put on the Dragon Sleeper. To my surprise Finlay
actually gives up which I don’t remember seeing before.

Rating:
C+. This is a good example of
what WCW could do better than anyone else. They had these guys that
had totally different styles but were both highly skilled in the
ring, so why not throw them together and see what happens? It came
out quite well with a fun little five minute match.

The
Nitro Girls are in DX colors tonight.

Scott
Norton vs. Chris Adams

Adams
bounces off Norton when he tries some shoulder blocks before missing
a charge and landing in the ropes. Norton throws him over the top to
the floor before choking on the ropes. Back in and Norton chokes
even more, only to miss a charge in the corner. Norton no sells a
flying superkick and ends Adams with the shoulder breaker.

Rating:
D. The same complaints as usual
about Norton here: the guy just isn’t that good. He looked good but
he was almost never allowed to lose, even to bigger stars. I’ve seen
some of his Japan stuff and it’s still nothing special, but the guy
apparently had enough connections to be protected in America. It was
just a squash here.

Highlights
of WCW at Spring Break in Florida. It’s a lot of women in swimsuits
which isn’t a bad thing at all. There was Miss Nitro contest and
the winner is here.

Mike
Enos/Wayne Bloom vs. Jim Neidhart/British Bulldog

Neidhart
stats out with Enos and it’s Anvil throwing him around by the hair.
Off to Bulldog who gets caught in a neckbreaker and it’s off to
Bloom. Bulldog comes right back with a suplex for two but Enos
cheats from the apron on the now legal Neidhart. A spike piledriver
crushes Anvil but only gets two.

Off
to Enos again but another piledriver is countered with a backdrop.
Bloom breaks up a tag to Bulldog and drops a leg on Neidhart. Enos
comes in with a bearhug as the fans chant boring. Mike misses a
middle rope splash and there’s the tag to Bulldog. House is cleaned
and everything breaks down until Bulldog powerslams Bloom for the
pin.

Rating:
D. This had no business going
six minutes. I have to feel sorry for Bulldog and Neidhart as
they’re here because there’s nothing else for them to do and no one
is interested in hem without Bret. The match was really dull and the
fans weren’t pleased with having to sit through a long match like
this.

Hour
#2 begins with the Nitro Girls in bikini tops and shorts.

Larry
compares Hogan to Julius Caesar.

Here
are Savage with Bischoff and Liz, apparently reunited. Bischoff says
there was iron in Hogan’s words because the NWO is united again. The
important thing is that Savage saw the light and is back. Eric goes
to hug him but Savage will have none of that. Savage says he isn’t
back in the NWO because he never left. He didn’t do what he did last
night for anyone but himself. The future is Savage controlling the
NWO and the NWO controlling the world so that Hogan can feel what
it’s like to be at the bottom. In other words, screw everything
else, you’re getting WAY more NWO stuff in the coming weeks.

Raven
gives the Flock some instructions before the next match.

Chris
Benoit vs. Raven

Raven
blames Benoit for costing him the US Title last night and the fans
think he sucks. Benoit stabbed him in the back last night and now
it’s time to feel the Even Flow. Benoit pounds him into the corner
and catches him in a German suplex. Raven bails to the floor and
gets caught by a baseball slide. They head away from the entrance
and across a little bridge over the pool. We’re just waiting on
someone to go into the water.

Back
to the ring after doing nothing on the floor with Benoit stomping him
in the corner. A back elbow to the face gets two and Benoit stomps
him in the head as we take a break. Back with the fight up by the
entrance and Raven being sent into the big metal WCW letters. They
get back in the ring with Benoit firing off knees to the head to take
Raven down again. Raven loses his shirt so Benoit can fire off some
loud chops. Benoit pounds him down into the corner as this has been
completely one sided so far.

Benoit
stands over Raven and slaps him in the face while shouting COME ON.
Another chop puts Raven down and a backdrop gets two. Benoit rolls
some snap suplexes but takes forever to load up the flying headbutt,
allowing Raven to roll away. Raven throws in a chair and bulldogs
Benoit face first into the steel. Benoit tries the Crossface but
rams his own head into the chair on the way down. The Even Flow onto
the chair is good for the pin, apparently earning Raven a US Title
shot at Spring Stampede.

Rating:
C. This was nowhere near their
Souled Out match but it certainly wasn’t bad. The booking of the
match was a little weird though as Raven had nothing at all for the
first six or seven minutes and then hit two or three things to win.
These two have a solid chemistry together though and the match was
pretty entertaining stuff.

The
Nitro Girls are in the crowd dancing.

Heenan
gives his take on the NWO issues.

Yuji
Nagata vs. Ernest Miller

They
lock up to start with Nagata getting in a shot to the head to take
over. A nice jumping kick to the face puts Nagata down but a cross
armbreaker is quickly escaped. Nagata catches a kick and suplexes
Miller down for two before stomping away. We hit the chinlock and
the fans think this is boring. Back up and Nagata fires off forearms
in the corner but gets caught with a spinning kick to the face. They
botch a leapfrog with Nagata landing on Miller to send him down but
Ernest’s top rope roundhouse kick gets the pin.

Rating:
D-. Can we please stop these
martial arts matches already? They’re not interesting at all and
I’ve yet to see a crowd that was actually impressed by one of them.
Nagata continues to be a boring guy and putting him in there with a
guy even more one dimensional than him isn’t the best idea in the
world.

More
Nitro Girls.

Scott
Steiner vs. Ray Traylor

Steiner
bails to the corner to start but pokes Traylor in the eye to take
over. A suplex puts Traylor down and a kick to the head does the
same. There’s a bearhug from Steiner but Traylor bites his way to
freedom. Steiner literally kicks him to the floor and sends him into
the steps as we take a break. Back with Traylor making a comeback
and pounding away before crotching Steiner against the post.

A
big clothesline sends Steiner over the barricade and we finally get
someone in the pool. Back in and Traylor hits a big forearm to the
jaw and pounds down right hands in the corner. Traylor actually goes
up top and hits a decent clothesline for two, making Steiner call for
time out. Ray goes up again but Buff comes out to crotch him,
allowing the Frankensteiner from the top to set up the Recliner for
the win.

Rating:
C-. The match wasn’t great but
it was some entertaining stuff which is all you can ask for in a lot
of matches. The pool spot was cute and Traylor’s top rope
clothesline looked pretty devastating. I’m still not sure why
Traylor wasn’t allowed to beat some low level NWO guys over the
months. It wouldn’t have hurt to have a guy beating guys like
Vincent and Adams but falling short against names like Steiner or
Konnan.

We
get stills of Giant vs. Nash with Nash still not doing the job.

Tony
recaps the NWO drama.

Nitro
Girls again.

Eddie
Guerrero gives Chavo a “My Favorite Wrestler Is Eddie Guerrero”
shirt (“Cheat To Win” on the back) and Chavo has to listen to
Eddie, who says wear it.

TV
Title: Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Booker T

Chavo
shoves him away for making fun of the shirt so Booker clotheslines
his head off. A hook kick to the face puts Chavo down again and a
powerslam puts him on the floor. Chavo is in first and gets in a
cheap shot on Booker to take over. Guerrero stomps away a lot but
keeps stopping to look at the shirt. Booker’s knee is kicked out and
we hit the chinlock for a bit. Back to the chinlock for a bit but
Booker quickly fights up and kicks Chavo down. The ax kick sets up a
sidewalk slam for two and the missile dropkick retains the title.

Rating:
D+. It was clear that Chavo
wasn’t ready for a singles push like this. Now that being said, the
angle with Eddie was a great way to get him noticed. The T-shirt was
a good way to get on his nerves and keep the story going during the
match. It’s amazing what can happen when you use an established guy
to bring up younger guys rather than using the younger guys to give
the veterans wins.

More
spring break festivities.

Nitro
Girls part 9 or so.

US
Title: Reese vs. Diamond Dallas Page

The
fans are WAY behind Page here. Reese lumbers around a lot and Page
pounds away, only to be thrown into the corner for knees to the ribs.
Something similar to Cena’s ProtoBomb puts Page down and a gorilla
press drop does the same. Reese sends him into the ropes but Page
spins around the shoulders into the Diamond Cutter to retain. Usual
Page match here.

Cruiserweight
Title: Juventud Guerrera vs. Chris Jericho

Jericho
is defending. Juvy is now wearing cheesy looking sunglasses.
Jericho has on sunglasses of his own but of a less cheesy variety.
Before the match the champion goes over all the trophies he’s won
recently, from Rey’s knee to Juvy’s mask to Malenko’s dignity. He’s
wearing the sunglasses because his future is so bright. The Jericho
Mapleleaf will be his 1005th hold daddy!

They
run the ropes to start with Jericho having his head kicked off,
sending him into the corner. Jericho backdrops him to the ropes but
catches a springboard crossbody in a slam for two. Jericho pulls him
back in off the apron and gets two off the arrogant cover. A belly
to back suplex gets the same for the champion and Jericho bends
Juvy’s back over his knee.

Chris
has to tell the fans to cool it with the booing and Juvy backflips
out of a German suplex. A standing hurricanrana gets two on Jericho
and a modified Juvy Driver looks to set up the 450. Guerrera’s ribs
are too banged up though, allowing Jericho to get to his feet.
Instead it’s a top rope flying hip attack and a DDT for two. Jericho
goes over to the corner and hits Juvy with the belt for the DQ.

Rating:
C. This was getting good by the
end but the ending hut it. Guerrera was solid in the ring and could
keep up with anyone they threw at him. Taking the mask off was a
good way to give him some more character and his push is working well
here. Jericho’s trophy case gimmick is awesome as well and could
easily be brought back by someone today.

Post
match Jericho puts him in the Cloverleaf.

The
Nitro Girls dance on some rocks.

Here
are the Outsiders in hula shirts with something to say. Hall is
BOMBED but still does the survey with the NWO winning. Nash says be
nice to the fat girls over spring break. He talks about knocking
Giant out with the ball bat last night and wants to know why Giant
isn’t here tonight. Nash thinks Giant doesn’t have the guts to show
up but here’s the other big man, sans neck brace. Giant stalks Nash
so Kevin CANNONBALLS INTO THE POOL! Hall tries to get away but gets
thrown in as well. That had to happen at some point tonight.

Sting/Lex
Luger vs. Hollywood Hogan/Randy Savage

Savage
on the mic: “OOOOH YEAH!” Hogan on the mic: “OOOOH NO!” Why
did no one think of that before? Sting’s music hits but we only have
Luger. Buffer does the entrance but there’s no Sting. Bischoff
takes the mic and says Luger is on his own because there’s no Sting.
The camera pans up to show a helicopter (blowing the ring skirts and
mats around) with Sting REPELING INTO THE RING!

Hogan
blames Savage for this so Savage goes to leave, only to be stopped by
the Disciple. Hogan jumps Randy from behind as Hogan and Sting look
on from the ring. Savage is thrown inside and gets beaten up by
Sting with the fans trying to recover from the entrance. A top rope
splash gets two for Sting and he shouts at Savage to get up. Sting
pops Hogan with a right hand and brings in Luger to work on Savage
even more.

Luger
suplexes Savage down for no cover and drops him again with a gorilla
press. Back to the world champion for an atomic drop before Luger
comes in for the running forearm. Hogan isn’t even paying attention
to the ring. Savage gets up and slaps Hogan on the back but Hogan
says he doesn’t think so and bails.

Randy
throws Hogan back inside before getting in a fight with Disciple.
Hogan chokes Luger down but Lex avoids the legdrop and tags in Sting.
There are a pair of Stinger Splashes for Hollywood and a right hand
for Bischoff. Savage is rolled in by the Disciple and everything
breaks down, drawing in the Disciple for the DQ.

Rating:
D. This wasn’t a match as much
as a massive angle. Hogan and Savage already had a bad match last
night and it looks like we’re gearing up for another one in the
future. Luger continues to be a man with no direction at all as he’s
just thrown into random matches to fight for WCW because that’s all
he does. Bad match here but the entrance was awesome.

The
rest of the NWO comes in but Sting and Luger run them off to end the
show.

Overall
Rating: D+. They were trying
here but the show was running with an anchor. Yet again we’re all
about the NWO because that’s what this company has become. The
problem with that angle is Sting is an accessory to the real story of
Hogan vs. Savage, which isn’t what people want to see. Every week
that goes by makes Starrcade and SuperBrawl look like bumps in the
road as we continue towards some ending that doesn’t seem to be
coming. The NWO is coming up on two years old now and they’re still
the dominant story in the company. People are going to start getting
bored with it and it’s going to happen in a hurry.

The
rest of the show was hit or miss throughout the night. Part of
what’s so frustrating with the NWO is a lot of the other stories show
promise. The three way feud with Raven vs. Benoit vs. Page is good
stuff and Booker is making the TV Title mean something. Jericho is
doing a great job with the Cruiserweight Title and the trophy case
gimmick. Then you have the tag titles and I don’t remember the last
time they Outsiders were even shown with the belts.

One
last thing: the set being different here was a very nice touch.
Instead of the same stuff over and over, WCW was good about mixing
things up every now and then. Whether it was a show in a nightclub
like this or Road Wild being outside or the cool themed sets at PPVs,
the look was changed up just often enough to keep things from getting
boring. WWE completely fails in this area outside of Wrestlemania
anymore. Watchable show overall but the NWO brings it down, as
usual.

Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books as low as $4 at:

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Rants

Rants

Monday Nitro – February 23, 1998

By Scott Keith on 18th July 2013

Monday
Nitro #128

Date:
February 23, 1998

Location:
ARCO Arena, Sacramento, California

Commentators:
Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re
finally past SuperBrawl and Sting is the undisputed world champion.
We also have a new member of the NWO in the form of Scott Steiner who
finally turned on his brother last night to give the Outsiders the
tag titles. Things are interesting in WCW at this point as we’re
heading into Uncensored in a few weeks. Let’s get to it.

We
open with DDP, Booker T, Flair and Hart all talking about Scott
Steiner turning.

Gene
Okerlund asks Rick Steiner about his brother turning but Rick has
nothing to say.

Here’s
Luger with a mic in hand. He congratulates Sting for winning the
title but says there’s a black cloud over WCW in the form of the NWO.
Rick Steiner must be hurting because he lost a brother last night.
Luger wants to beat some sense into Scott but gets Curt Hennig
instead, starting a match.

Curt
Hennig vs. Lex Luger

Luger
throws him around a bit and armdrags Hennig down to the floor. Luger
pulls him back in but here’s the now blonde Scott Steiner for the DQ.

Steiner
lays out Luger with a belly to belly and chokes him a bit while
posing. Luger comes back with the forearm but Buff runs in while
Hennig is just watching. Rick Steiner runs out and beats up Buff
which sends Scott running away. The NWO B team comes in to beat down
the good guys until Sting repels down to make the real save. A bunch
of WCW jobbers plus Booker and Benoit come out to check on Rick and
Lex.

Diamond
Dallas Page vs. Hammer

I’m
assuming this is non-title. Page is taken down by a quick headlock
takeover as the fans are all over Lodi. Back up and Page hits his
knee lift/swinging neckbreaker combo for two but a Diamond Cutter is
easily countered. A middle rope clothesline puts Page down but
Hammer stops to pose. Page fires off rights and lefts in the corner
but gets thrown off the middle rope. The discus lariat takes Hammer
down again and a middle rope Diamond Cutter is good for the pin.

Rating:
D+. There wasn’t much to this
one but the fans are white hot tonight. Page is one of the few
people that figured out you only need one big move to get over and he
milked that idea for years on end. Hammer is the perfect kind of guy
for Page to beat in a quick match and is yet another example of a
random opponent being better than being repetitive.

Hogan
and Bischoff talk to someone in a limo before coming out to the
arena. Hollywood yells about how he had Sting beat last night and
how he paid off Nick Patrick but Patrick did his job anyway. Sting
is nothing special and Hogan will prove that tonight by letting Hall
have a shot at the title so Hall can give it back to Hogan where it
belongs.

Now
on to Savage who knocked Hogan out with “a ten pound crowbar”
last night, so Hollywood wants a cage match at Uncensored so he can
kick Savage out of the NWO once and for all. Savage pops up in the
crowd and a few catchphrases later we have a match, but it’s going to
be Hogan kicked out of the NWO once and for all.

Ultimo
Dragon vs. Kaz Hayashi

This
is Hayashi’s debut. Feeling out process with Kaz taking over via a
quick headscissors and an armdrag to send Dragon to the corner. The
Dragon headstand sets up a dropkick out of the corner and Dragon
fires off the kicks to the back and chest. Kaz dropkicks him to the
floor and hits a corkscrew dive to take Dragon out again.

Back
in and a good looking moonsault gets two on Dragon and a standing
rana gets the same. Dragon can’t hook a German suplex so he goes
with La Majistral into a leg bar but Kaz is in the ropes. A dragon
suplex gets two for Kaz but he gets crotched on the top. Dragon’s
super hurricanrana and the Dragon Sleeper are good for the
submission.

Rating:
C+. I love going back through
these old shows and seeing fun random matches like this one. Hayashi
looked very good here and gave Dragon a run for his money. Kaz would
eventually fall through the cracks in the cruiserweight division and
become pretty worthless but at least he had a good debut.

Call
the Hotline to hear an interview with Sting!

Nitro
Girls.

Nitro
Party winner.

Chris
Benoit vs. Raven

Benoit
stalks him to the ring in a callback to their match on Thunder a few
weeks ago and the brawl starts in the aisle. Chris takes over and
whips Raven so hard into the barricade that you can see it bend.
Benoit chokes him with Raven’s own jacket and whips him across the
ring but Raven avoids the Swan Dive, giving Raven two. Raven
bulldogs Benoit onto a chair for two before baseball sliding the
chair into Benoit’s head.

The
fans are all over Raven here and he takes too much time going up,
allowing Benoit to smack the chair back into Raven’s face. Raven is
tied up in the corner after being whipped into the chair so Benoit
rolls some Germans for two as Kidman runs in for the bell. I say
bell because it can’t be a DQ under Raven’s Rules and the chair was
used for over half the match. Then again I doube WCW thought it that
far through.

Rating:
C. The usual physical brawl
here with an ending that doesn’t make a lot of sense. Questionable
DQ aside though, the chair shots were good here as yet again the
weapons don’t overshadow the intensity between the two guys which
makes for a much better match. The problem these two have is their
first match is never going to be topped so even the decent matches
like this one look a little weaker.

The
whole Flock comes in but Page comes out, leading to a threeway brawl.
Raven is sent to the floor and the other two want to fight but keep
having to take out the Flock.

Hour
#2 begins.

Cruiserweight
Title: Chris Jericho vs. Lenny Lane

Jericho
comes to the ring in Juvy’s mask but has to take it off for the fans
to see his gorgeous face. He knows the people want this to be Monday
Jericho and JJ is 84% of the way to making the change. The fans are
all over Jericho from the bell and the champion isn’t pleased with
it. Lane dropkicks him into the ropes and kicks him in the back for
good measure, freaking Jericho out even more.

A
quick suplex gets two for Jericho but Lenny is right back with a
clothesline to send him to the floor. Jericho gets back in and
celebrates, only to be clotheslined out again. Lane dives on him
this time before pounding away back in the corner. A Downward Spiral
gets two on Jericho but Chris throws him right into the Liontamer to
retain. Short and not much to see but Lane looked good.

The
announcers recap the night and we get a clip of Scott Steiner from
earlier.

Rick
Steiner vs. Vincent

Rick
is all over him from the bell, pounding away with kicks and punches.
He throws Vincent to the corner and bites him a bit before finishing
him off with the Steiner Bulldog. This barely lasted a minute, as
should have been the case.

Yuji
Nagata vs. Saturn

Feeling
out process to start with both guys taking it to the mat. Nagata
takes over with his kicks but Saturn comes back with a release dragon
suplex. Yuji goes after the leg to set up the Nagata Lock but
starting with a spinning toehold. Back up and Nagata is clotheslined
down while looking at the crowd but he kicks Saturn’s bad leg from
the mat.

Off
to a leg lock from Yuji as this has been one sided so far. A quick
overhead belly to belly gets two on Saturn but he comes back with a
head and arm suplex of his own. Nagata hits a Saito suplex but
Saturn gets a rope to escape the Nagata Lock. Saturn easily takes
him down and the Rings of Saturn are good for the submission.

Rating:
C-. This was an odd match with
Nagata dominating for over five minutes before Saturn just tripped
him down and made him submit. It’s like Saturn wasn’t even trying
and then turned it on for the win. Nagata was similar to Alberto Del
Rio here as he only focused on one body part to set up his finisher.
It makes sense but it doesn’t make the match very interesting.

TV
Title: Booker T vs. Renegade

Renegade
still has a job? He hasn’t been on Nitro in nearly a year and I
can’t believe I’m seeing him in 1998. Renegade shoves him into the
corner but the champion comes back with some forearms and a spin kick
to take Renegade down. A spinebuster gets two for Booker but
Renegade clotheslines him into the ropes and chokes a lot.

Renegade
puts Booker on his knee after a pumphandle backbreaker before
throwing him to the mat like trash. Booker blocks a superplex and
comes back with a missile dropkick and the ax kick for two each.
Booker is crushed in the corner but blocks a handspring elbow with a
Harlem sidekick (missed by about four inches) for two. Another side
kick is good for the pin to retain.

Rating:
D+. Renegade is just not very
good and there’s no other way to put it. At least they aren’t trying
to make him into the Warrior and having him beat far more talented
people anymore. The match was nothing to see but given that it’s
Booker’s third match in 24 hours it’s easy to excuse him being
sluggish.

Konnan
vs. Lizmark Jr.

They
trade quick rollups to start until Konnan stomps Lizmark down in the
corner to a big pop. The referee drags Konnan off of Lizmark,
allowing Lizmark to get up top, only to jump into a kick to the ribs.
Konnan spends too much time shouting though and Lizmark is able to
kick him to the floor. A springboard missile dropkick to the floor
takes Konnan down again and the fans are into Lizmark. He gets two
off a few rollups but gets caught in the cradle DDT and the Tequila
Sunrise gives Konnan the win.

Rating:
D+. This was the same formula as the Nagata match with the underdog
dominating but losing to a big move in the end. Konnan continues to
be over with the crowd but these squash matches tonight are getting a
little tiresome. We’re at 9 matches and it’s not even the third hour
yet.

The
Nitro Girls dance at the announcers’ desk.

Vicious
and Delicious vs. High Voltage

Bagwell
starts with Rage (High Voltage is Robbie Rage and Kenny Kaos) and
takes him to the mat with a wristlock. A hip toss puts Rage down
again and it’s time to strike a pose. Rage comes back with a
shoulder and a dropkick before gorilla pressing Bagwell down. Buff
slaps him in the face and it’s off to Kaos vs. Norton. Norton runs
over Kaos for a bit but gets caught in some double teaming by the
electric guys.

A
backbreaker/legdrop combo gets one on Norton so it’s off to Kaos to
pound away in the corner. Norton misses a charge into the post but
Buff shoves Kaos off the top. Kaos gets double teamed in the corner
and Norton sends him into the barricade. Back in and Kaos gets two
off a sunset flip and makes the tag to Robbie. He cleans house for a
bit and gets two off a belly to belly on Bagwell, but Norton counters
a double suplex into an ugly looking botch, nearly breaking Kaos in
half. A Doomsday Blockbuster is enough to pin Robbie.

Rating:
D+. These matches haven’t been
that bad but there’s nothing to them at all. It’s like watching a
long Superstars from the 80s but without the promos to carry the show
in between. High Voltage didn’t look terrible but it’s not easy to
get into a Norton/Bagwell match. Nothing to see here other than some
decent high spots from the losers.

Eddie
Guerrero vs. Disco Inferno

Disco
dances to start so Eddie lays on the top rope ala Shawn Michaels.
Eddie mocks the dancing and the fans are all over him already. Say
what you want about his gimmick but Disco is getting over through a
lot of hard work. Eddie takes him down by the arm and dances a bit
more before atomic dropping his way out of a full nelson.

They
slug it out with Disco taking over and getting two off a suplex.
Eddie takes out the knee and works it over a bit before heading up
for the Frog Splash. Disco pops up and slams him down before getting
two each off a front suplex and a swinging neckbreaker. Eddie goes
right back to the knee and crushes it even more with a slingshot
hilo. A missile dropkick sets up the Frog Splash for the pin.

Rating:
C-. This was an improvement
because of the dancing stuff but it still wasn’t much of a match.
Disco continues to impress despite having one of the most ridiculous
gimmicks of all time. Eddie didn’t seem all that interested out
there but Disco was working hard enough to make it watchable.

JJ
Dillon brings out Nick Patrick to congratulate him on a well
officiated title match. Was he not listening when he said Patrick
took Hogan’s money? The guy is on the take but gets approval from
the boss?

Ric
Flair vs. Brad Armstrong

Friday
is going to be Ric Flair Day in Minnesota which is a pretty big
honor. Brad takes over with a quick headlock and shoulder block
before trying a figure four. Flair easily kicks off but gets caught
in another headlock. Flair takes him into the corner and unleashes
the chops followed by the strut. Armstrong can’t get an O’Connor
Roll but takes Flair down with his Russian legsweep finisher. A
missile dropkick puts Flair down again but Brad misses a high cross
body. Ric asks the referee for the time, kicks Brad low and NOW we
go to school for the submission.

Rating:
C. This is the same thing we’ve
seen all night but Flair’s charisma makes it work. Armstrong didn’t
need Flair to make him look good and the match was a decent way to
spend four minutes. It’s also nice to see Flair in the ring again in
his first match on Nitro since Souled Out.

We
see Nash’s powerbomb on Giant from Souled Out.

Here’s
Giant for the first time in over a month in a neck brace. He says
that he’s always thinking about Nash every time his neck hurts.
Giant is going to be back in the ring someday and the ban on the
powerbomb doesn’t mean a thing to him. Nash will pay and that’s all
there is to it. Good solid revenge promo here.

After
a break Gene calls out Brian Adams. Tony is already talking about
what an historic moment the opening segment was. Adams cuts Gene off
and talks about being here to join the most elite group in wrestling
today. Bret Hart isn’t worth getting out of your chair for but the
fans get out of their chairs as he comes walking down the aisle,
unbuttoning his shirt as he comes.

Hart
doesn’t know what Adams’ problem is but there’s no need to jump him
from behind. Instead Adams jumps Bret from the front and a fight
breaks out with Bret getting the better of it. He puts on the
Sharpshooter but Hennig comes in for the save. Bret takes him down
as well but here’s Rick Rude to make it 3-1.

Flair
comes out and the NWO is chased away to a ROAR. Flair says that he
respects Bret after Bret respected him and he’s tired of Hogan and
Nash running this place. If Bret ever needs his help, Flair is there
for him just like he was Arn Anderson. Bret wants to take out the
NWO and is starting with Hennig at Uncensored. Flair thrusts his
hips at some NWO fan in the front row as only he could do.

WCW
World Title: Sting vs. Scott Hall

We
get the entire NWO but there’s no Scott Hall. Eric says that they’ll
leave if Sting will come out on his own and show that he has no
backup. Sting walks out (no belt) and the NWO leaves Hogan alone in
the ring. Sting is still in the aisle as another Sting comes up
behind him. The NWO jumps Sting and lays him out with fake Sting
being revealed as Scott Hall. Sting gets the spray paint as Savage
runs out, only to be beaten down as well. The debuting Disciple is
in the ring with the NWO. To this day I still have to look close at
him to realize it’s Beefcake. Luger makes the save with a chair to
end the show.

Overall
Rating: D+. This was a pretty
bad show coming off last night’s good PPV. I don’t even know where
to begin with that ending segment. Not only does Sting not bring the
belt with him, but the new champion gets destroyed yet again? The
wrestling was nothing special either with a bunch of midcard guys vs.
lower card guys which is hard to sit through for this many hours. I
hope this isn’t a sign of things to come because WCW had been on a
roll for weeks now and this stopped it hard.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com

Rants

Rants

Monday Nitro – February 9, 1998

By Scott Keith on 4th July 2013

Monday
Nitro #126

Date:
February 9, 1998

Location:
Haskins Center, El Paso, Texas

Commentators:
Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re
inching closer to Souled Out with the core of the card already set.
As for tonight we’ve got the Outsiders vs. the Steiners for the tag
titles for the 87th time along with Hogan vs. Savage for
the 870th time. That’s a very stacked show for a Nitro in
early February. Let’s get to it.

We
open with a recap of Savage vs. Hogan.

There’s
no Larry Zbyszko and Tony doesn’t know where he is.

Here
are Hogan and Bischoff to open things up. The fans want Sting but
get to hear Bischoff saying he won the war against WCW by following
the rules. Not Turner’s rules or WCW’s rules, but Hollywood’s rules.
Hogan says he’s tired of fans talking about the NWO falling apart
but he’s even more tired about hearing Savage is taking over the
team. Tonight is about family business and he’s going to teach
Savage a lesson in the ring tonight. Savage is up in the crowd and
accepts the challenge, saying he’ll take Hogan’s spot at SuperBrawl.

Nitro
Girls.

We
get a quick video recapping Mongo vs. Bulldog.

Glacier
vs. Steve McMichael

Louie
Spicolli has jumped into the commentary booth and is carrying bags he
says belongs to “his friend” Larry. Still no word on where Larry
is. Glacier tries to jump the Texan from behind but gets slugged
down to the floor with ease. Back in and Glacier pounds away, only
to send Mongo right back to the floor. They head back in again for
Glacier to fire off his basic karate stuff followed by a snap suplex.
Glacier jumps into an elbow, gets forearmed in the head a few times
and the Mongo Spike (tombstone) ends this very quick.

Post
match Mortis runs in to attack Glacier because this feud can’t die.
Mongo makes the save for no apparent reason and says Bulldog is next.

Norman
Smiley vs. Konnan

Technical
sequence to start with Konnan rolling out of a full nelson but
getting dropkicked out to the floor. Back in and Norman stomps
Konnan down before cranking on the leg in one of those holds that
only old school wrestlers like Smiley know about. After a rope is
grabbed, Konnan finally comes back with a clothesline and the low
dropkick as the announcers ignore the match to talk about the main
events.

A
DDT puts Norman down again and the fans are WAY into Konnan in a rare
sight. Konnan charges into a knee in the corner and Norman gets two
off a PerfecPlex. For a jobber who hardly ever did anything, Norman
could go in the ring. Back up and Smiley charges into the 187
(cradle DDT) and the Tequila Sunrise is good for the tap out.

Rating:
D+. Not a great match or
anything but it was a smart idea to have Konnan get the one good
crowd reaction he’s likely to get this year. Smiley is another in
the long line of jobbers that WCW could throw out there and get a
decent match out of at a moment’s notice. The 187 looked good too
and I’ve always been a fan of that move.

Mike
Tenay interviews a guy from WCW Motorsports. As always, the fans
don’t care.

Nitro
Girls again.

Nick
Patrick is out to referee the next match but JJ says not so fast my
friend. Nick: “I’m not guilty!” JJ: “Don’t care!” Nick:
“Lawsuits!” JJ: “Security!” This story continues to thrill
no one.

Yuji
Nagata vs. Disco Inferno

Nagata
immediately jumps Disco in the corner before taking him to the mat
for some kicking. A swinging neckbreaker puts Nagata down but Disco
gets smacked in the face to stagger him back again. Nagata pounds
away even more but runs into an elbow in the corner. Disco goes up
but jumps into a right hand to the ribs to keep any momentum from
starting. A German suplex looks to set up a top rope elbow by Nagata
but it only hits mat, allowing Disco to hit the Chartbuster for the
win.

Rating:
C-. This was certainly fast
paced and exciting considering who was in there. Disco’s push
continues but there’s only so much you can do against a black hole
like Nagata. Again, I know the guy is talented, but he isn’t doing
anything in WCW and his matches are usually dull to watch. The
problem is there’s no reason to care about him. He’s just Yuji
Nagata: Japanese heel.

Post
match Nagata comes out and lays out both guys with the chair before
doing THE LA PARKA DANCE!

Luger
says Hogan should be planning for Sting and Savage is crazy for
wanting a No DQ match against him at SuperBrawl. Spicolli leaves to
find who attacked Zbyszko.

Eddie
Guerrero/Chris Jericho vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr./Dean Malenko

Eddie
jumps Chavo to start (that’s a very common practice in WCW anymore)
but Chavo sends him into the barricade after Eddie takes it to the
floor. Back in and Chavo rolls out of a tilt-a-whirl and drops Eddie
with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker of his own. Off to Jericho who is
forced to take off the Cruiserweight Title before he can come in.
Jericho runs Chavo over and the fans are all over the Canadian.
Chavo comes back with a springboard bulldog and it’s off to Malenko
who is VERY popular here in Texas.

Malenko
cleans house on Jericho and they slug it out in the corner. Dean
counters a middle rope dropkick into the Cloverleaf but Eddie comes
in with a missile dropkick to break it up. The fans might like Dean
but the EDDIE chants begin once he gets the tag. Eddie hooks an
abdominal stretch with extra leverage from Jericho but the fans cheer
for him anyway. Off to Jericho for a quick suplex and the arrogant
cover (someone needs to bring that back) for two. Eddie comes back
in with the slingshot hilo and Jericho adds a slingshot splash for
two.

Chris
and Eddie each snap one of Malenko’s legs back at the same time but
Eddie brags a bit too much, allowing Dean to throw him into a hot
shot. A belly to back suplex puts Eddie down but Jericho breaks up
the hot tag attempt. The double underhook backbreaker gets two for
Chris but the Lionsault only hits mat and it’s hot tag Chavo. Eddie
and Jericho double team Chavo down but Eddie talks too much, allowing
Dean to pull him to the apron. Chavo hits a German suplex on Jericho
but Eddie shoves Chavo off the top, sending him into the Liontamer
for the tap out.

Rating:
B. The more I see of these guys
the more amazing it is that WCW did things the way they did. This
was an excellent match with the crowd going reacting to everyone out
there. All four guys looked crisp and on point and the entire match
was at a fast pace. Why these guys never got a shot anywhere near
the top I’ll never know.

Video
on the Steiners’ troubles.

El
Dandy vs. Juventud Guerrera

Dandy
takes the arm to start buy Juvy snaps off a quick hurricanrana to
take Dandy down. They head to the apron where Dandy is backdroped up
and over the post and down to the floor. Juvy hits a big dive off
the top to take him out again as the crowd is loving this lucha
stuff. Dandy is sent into the post but comes back with chops in the
ring. A sunset flip gets two for Guerrera but he misses a charge in
the corner. Dandy misses a cross body and walks into the Juvy
Driver, setting up the 450 for the pin by Juvy.

Rating:
C. Dandy wasn’t much but Juvy’s
high spots were more than enough to carry the match. It’s very
interesting to see a crowd that knows their lucha history and cheers
even louder than the average crowd would for a match like this.
Guerrera continues to be one of the better cruiserweights on the
roster and he should be moving into the title scene soon.

Post
match Jericho runs out and jumps Juvy but gets dropkicked out to the
floor. Jericho wants to know what that was for but Juvy yells at him
in Spanish. He wants a title shot but Jericho wants to know what
Juvy will put up. “What do you have besides a rusted out 68
Camaro? Juvy speaks Spanish and offers to put up his mask which is
fine with Jericho.

Steven
Regal vs. Goldberg

Here’s
a somewhat famous match. Regal takes him to the mat with a cravate
and kicks Goldberg in the back a few times before grabbing the arm.
Goldberg takes him down by the leg but Regal is quickly in the ropes.
They trade arm wringers again before Regal kicks him in the face.
Regal powers out of a headscissors and fires off knees to the head
before Goldberg shoves him into the corner. Goldberg cranks him down
by the arm and hits a belly to back suplex for no cover.

Goldberg
looks for the spear but Regal headbutts him in the ribs instead and
takes out the leg instead. Regal fires off knees and punches to the
face but Goldberg comes back with a botched swinging neckbreaker. A
shoulder block only kind of hits Regal and he blocks some strikes in
the corner to make Goldberg look even more out of it. Goldberg
finally hits the spear (more like a double leg takedown here) and a
Jackhammer with no delay or snap to it at all finally ends Regal.

Rating:
C. This was definitely more
interesting than a usual Goldberg match but for all the wrong
reasons. Allegedly (Regal has denied this) Regal was shooting on
Goldberg here and most of the match wasn’t planned. It resulted in
Regal being fired almost immediately and eventually becoming A REAL
MAN’S MAN in the WWF. Goldberg looked confused in the match and
Regal easily blocking a lot of his stuff made Goldberg look less
effective than he ever had before.

More
Nitro Girls.

We
see the Nitro Party winner of the week.

Louie
Spicolli vs. Chris Adams

Spicolli
has a metal briefcase which presumably is Zbyszko’s bag that he
referenced earlier. Louie hits a quick dropkick to start and pounds
on Adams in the corner, only to be caught in a belly to back suplex.
The Flock arrives at a much later time than usual for them. A belly
to belly suplex and a backdrop put Louie down again and the superkick
looks to finish but Louie gets in a shot with the briefcase for the
fast DQ.

Larry
Zbyszko comes out post match and chases Louie off before shouting
that the NWO is dying.

For
those of you who don’t know, Louie Spicolli died six days after this
at the age of 27 due to a drug overdose/choking on his own vomit in
his sleep.

Perry
Saturn vs. Ultimo Dragon

Dragon
has the awesome black/gold attire tonight. He starts firing off the
kicks to Saturn’s back and chest but Perry pulls him down into an STF
to stop Dragon cold. An overhead belly to belly puts Dragon down and
Saturn hits some high kicks to the head. Dragon comes back with a
quick headscissors but Saturn counters a sunset flip into a Tazzplex.
Off to a cross armbreaker on Dragon before Saturn just crushes
Dragon’s head with a boot in the corner.

Back
to another armbar on Dragon before Saturn turns it into a Fujiwara
armbar. Dragon fights up and hits a quick spin kick to the jaw to
take over. They both fight out of German suplex attempts until
Dragon connects with another kick. The super rana puts Saturn down
but he gets to the ropes before the Dragon Sleeper can go on. An
Asai Moonsault press gets two and a Frankensteiner puts Saturn down.
Dragon reverses a suplex into the Dragon Sleeper but Saturn snapmares
him forward into a small package for the pin.

Rating:
C+. There is some solid
wrestling on this show and this was another good example of it. This
was one of WCW’s strengths as they could take any two guys and throw
them together for a match like this. It’s much better than the WWE
formula of having the same guys fight each other seven times in three
months.

Hour
#3 begins.

We
recap Raven laying out Benoit on Thunder.

TV
Title: Booker T vs. Raven

Before
the match Raven says that Benoit isn’t here because of the DDT on
Thursday. Booker is holding Flock property, in particular to Saturn.
The Flock jumps Booker but he fights them all off until Raven gets
into it. Booker takes them down as well but Raven finally catches
him in the Even Flow. Saturn comes out for the Rings of Saturn on
Booker as Raven shouts to feel their pain.

Hollywood
Hogan vs. Randy Savage

Savage
jumps Hogan on his way to the ring and lays out Bischoff as well.
They get inside and Hogan is already begging off so Savage chokes him
with the t-shirt. Hogan keeps crawling away as the fans are
completely behind Savage. Hollywood gets in a thumb to the eye and
pounds away in the corner before biting Savage’s forehead. More
shots to the throat keep Savage in trouble as the fans want Sting.
An elbow drop gets two for Hogan but Savage goes low to get us back
to even.

Back
up and Hogan hits Savage low before putting him down with a belly to
back suplex. Hogan throws Savage to the floor and seems to be
walking in slow motion. Savage sends him into the barricade but the
ax handle from the top hits the steel. Hogan loads up a chair shot
but Liz pulls it out of his hands, allowing Savage to get in a chair
shot of his own. The big elbow connects but here’s the NWO to save
Hogan.

Rating:
C-. It was a fight instead of a
match, but it’s hard to not smile at a Hogan vs. Savage match if
you’re a child of the 80s. The NWO split is coming to a head at this
point and this was a sign that things are really starting to change.
This match was more feeling than actual substance but it was
entertaining through nostalgia and a big fight feel.

Savage
is beaten down post match and Hogan attacks him with a chair. The
NWO walks away but Savage gets up and goes after Hogan as we go to a
break.

Here’s
Luger to call out Savage but gets Liz instead. Liz begs him not go
go after Savage but Luger says he’s not falling for it this time.
Here’s Savage and the fight is on but Sting makes the save. There’s
the Death Drop on Savage as the NWO comes out…..and a net drops
onto Sting and Luger, allowing the NWO to beat them down. There are
so many questions here, I don’t even know where to start.

We
get a clip of the Steiners vs. Hall/Bagwell last week.

Here
are the Outsiders for the main event and the survey. We’re in NWO
country tonight and Hall is glad that the band is back together after
a long time apart. They mention Syxx for the first time in months
and say their catchphrases.

Tag
Titles: Steiner Brothers vs. Outsiders

The
Outsiders are defending. For the sake of simplicity, Scott Steiner
will be referred to as Scott and Scott Hall will be referred to as
Hall. Tony says Sting may be injured after that attack. Rick starts
with Hall and the challengers take over early on. It’s off to Scott
but Hall blocks a belly to belly suplex and hooks a chokeslam. Scott
pops back up and hits an overhead belly to belly to take Hall down.
Scott has to go after Nash and Hall takes his head off with a
clothesline.

Nash
gets the tag and fires off the big knee lifts in the corner to keep
Scott in trouble. There’s the choke with the foot and it’s back to
Hall for the fallaway slam. Back to Nash for some posing and a big
boot to the face for no cover. Hall hooks the abdominal stretch
before slapping the back of Scott’s head. Nash comes back in and
teases the Jackknife but elbows Scott in the head instead. Back to
Hall who walks into a side slam but leverages Scott into Rick,
knocking the legal Rick to the floor. Hall loads up the Edge on
Scott but Rick comes in with the top rope bulldog for the pin and the
titles.

Rating:
C. The match was a standard
formula tag match but the ending felt very rushed. It was
interesting to see Scott take the long beating instead of Rick for a
change and the match was at least different than the usual encounters
between these teams. At the same time though, can we PLEASE get
another team to hold the titles? It’s been a year and a half and one
other team has held the titles, with a reign of less than a day.

Scott
teases turning on Rick due to not getting the pin but celebrates to
end the show.

Overall
Rating: B-. You can use a lot
of words to describe this show but the first one on my list is LONG.
If this was just a two hour edition it would have been one of the
best shows they ever produced with some big matches, some excellent
action and some good build for SuperBrawl. The problem though is we
had stuff like Mongo vs. Glacier and Disco vs. Nagata doing nothing
more than filling in time. Things are looking good for WCW at the
moment, but where are Hart and Flair? They haven’t been on TV since
the PPV three weeks ago. Anyway good show tonight.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com

Rants

Rants

Monday Nitro – January 19, 1998

By Scott Keith on 12th June 2013

Monday
Nitro #123

Date:
January 19, 1998

Location:
Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana

Commentators:
Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

This
is the final Nitro before Souled Out and the main matches are already
set. The world title situation hasn’t been addressed at all since
the first episode of Thunder so it doesn’t look like we’re getting
Sting vs. Hogan II at the PPV. We are however getting Bret vs. Flair
in what has been a very well built up feud. The main event tonight
is Hogan vs. Giant, hopefully without Robin Hood. Let’s get to it.

The
Nitro Girls dance to open the show.

Eddie
Guerrero vs. Rick Martel

Eddie
jumps Martel before the bell but Rick rams him into the buckle to
take over. A middle rope clothesline sets up a gorilla press on
Eddie to send him out to the floor. Back in and Martel snaps off
some quick armdrags and Eddie is getting frustrated. Guerrero goes
after the knee to take Martel down and puts on a quick side leg lock.
The slingshot hilo hits Martel’s leg and a belly to back suplex gets
two. Eddie spends too much time bragging and gets caught in a
spinebuster and the Quebec Crab for the tap out.

Rating:
C-. This was really quick but
it was nice while it lasted. There was a nice little story here as
Eddie took out the leg but got too cocky and got caught. For a three
minute match, that’s about as effective as you can get. Martel
continues to look like he hasn’t lost a step despite not being a
regular competitor for years now while Eddie was smooth as always.

We
see the end of Thunder with the NWO imploding again as Nash and
Savage are on the verge of completely disintegrating. They slapped
each other during the match and Hogan had to play peacekeeper. Post
match Hogan accidentally hit Savage to make the problems even worse.
Giant and Sting ran out for the save and stood tall to end the show.

Here
are Hogan and Bischoff with something to say. Eric has Sting’s bat
for some reason and presents it to Hogan as a trophy. Hogan says
that the NWO has a pecking order and everyone is going to fall in
line as they’re supposed to. If anyone steps over the line, they’ll
have to answer to Hogan and the bat. He knows everyone is praying to
God to rectify the situation with the world title and put the belt
back where it belongs. As for Giant, Hogan is proving he’s a
fighting champion by beating him tonight before moving on to Sting
and for Hogan’s world title.

Chris
Benoit vs. Marty Jannetty

The
announcers say that this is a match Benoit has been wanting for
awhile. Benoit starts pounding away on Jannetty but gets caught in a
headscissors to give Marty a breather. A superkick puts Benoit down
followed by the jumping fist drop for no cover. Benoit gets a boot
up in the corner and takes Jannetty’s head off with a back elbow.
Marty actually wins a slugout in the corner and gets two off a knee
lift.

Benoit
blocks a suplex into a snap suplex of his own for one before throwing
Marty to the outside. Jannetty slides through the legs to get back
in before slamming Benoit face first into the mat. Here’s the Flock
in the aisle but Benoit takes Jannetty down into the Crossface for
the fast submission.

Rating:
C. This was better than I was
expecting. Jannetty really was better than people gave him credit
for and he’s been showing that a bit in WCW. He more than held his
own against Benoit and didn’t look bad in his other matches so far.
Benoit looked good as well here in his tuneup match for Raven on
Saturday and the Crossface came out of nowhere for the finish.

Post
match the Flock storms the ring but Benoit fights them off and stares
Raven down. The distraction lets Saturn get in a cheap shot but
Jannetty comes up to make the save. Marty dives onto most of the
Flock so Benoit can swan dive onto Lodi.

Jerry
Flynn vs. The Cat

It’s
Ernest Miller in his more famous persona. Flynn kicks him in the
chest to start before countering a kick into a quick ankle lock. Cat
makes the ropes and puts on a cross armbreaker which is broken just
as quickly. Flynn comes back with a clothesline and a chop but
Miller hits an enziguri as the martial arts begin. Cat hits his top
rope spin kick for the fast pin. Short match here but it’s clear
that UFC is starting to become an influence on professional
wrestling.

Here’s
Scott Hall with something to say. After the NWO wins, Hall says that
he isn’t worried about Zbyszko because he gets the title shot at
SuperBrawl no matter what. Hall calls out Larry for only being AWA
World Champion (mentioned by name for the first time here) because
his father in law was world champion and for the company going under
with Larry on top. Hall says Dusty is a better wrestler turned
announcer and Larry doesn’t want any of Hall. Larry says he wants
him on Saturday and heads to the ring as we take a break.

Buff
Bagwell/Konnan vs. Steiner Brothers

Scott
starts with Buff and it’s time for a pose down. Buff hiptosses him
down and takes Scott into the corner, only to be pounded down with
forearms to the back. A belly to back puts Buff into the ropes and
it’s off to Konnan. Scott speeds things up and leapfrogs over Konnan
before nailing him with a clothesline. A running gorilla press sends
Konnan rolling to the floor as it’s all Scott so far. DiBiase yells
at him to tag but Scott doesn’t seem interested.

Back
to Buff who is powerslammed into the Tree of Woe in the corner so
Scott can choke away. He shoves the referee before being whipped
into Konnan’s knee, allowing Buff to clothesline Scott to the floor.
Rick finally comes over to make the save for his first action at all
in the match. Konnan and Buff take turns pounding away as Scott
isn’t interested in tagging. Scott clotheslines both NWO guys down
and knocks Buff to the floor. The Steiner Screwdriver (now just an
over the shoulder tombstone for safety’s sake) hits Konnan for the
pin. Rick did nothing other than the save on the floor.

Rating:
C-. Scott’s heel turn is
working well so far but we’re still in the early stages. At this
point the team is winning most of their matches and Scott is looking
more and more dominant every time he’s out there. Rick and Ted can’t
get through to him but the team is winning so they don’t have much to
complain about.

Scott
and Buff pose at each other post match with Buff running from a
showdown. Rick stares at Scott but Scott walks away and celebrates
on his own.

Hour
#2 begins so the announcers recap the events of the first hour.

Here’s
Giant with something to say. While he can’t touch Kevin Nash, he’s
got the chokeslam for Hogan tonight. This brings out Nash with a cup
of coffee and Hogan with the ball bat. Nash gets in Giant’s face but
here’s Savage to go after Nash. Hogan calls him off but Savage comes
in and knees Hogan into Nash, sending Nash into Giant. Nash throws
the coffee into a ticked off Giant’s face but Hogan hits Giant with
the bad. Sting runs out and gives Hogan the Death Drop to take his
bat back. Giant is on his feet again about twenty seconds after Hulk
Hogan hit him in the back with a bat. That’s an impressive recovery.

Nitro
Girls.

TV
Title: Mortis vs. Booker T

They
slug it out to start as the announcers talk about Nitro going to
three hours next week. Booker hits a quick ax kick and cranks on an
armbar for a bit. Mortis avoids an elbow drop but Booker Spinaroonis
up and hits a side kick to knock Mortis to the floor. Back in and
Booker slingshots into a northern lights suplex by Mortis for two.
Mortis loads up a top rope frankensteiner but Booker counters into a
scary looking powerbomb off the top. Mortis is dead and the Harlem
Hangover is good for the pin to retain.

Rating:
C-. This wasn’t much to see but
the slingshot into the northern lights suplex looked great. The
match was just a quick win for Booker which is fine as it allows him
to get on TV and showcase what he can do for a few minutes. It’s
also a good sign that WCW can throw different people out there to
challenge for the title instead of having the same few guys challenge
over and over again.

Post
match Wrath comes out to lay Booker out but Rick Martel makes the
save. He asks for a title shot at the PPV and Booker says if it’s ok
with the company it’s ok with him.

Here’s
Flair for the hard sell for the match with Hart. Flair immediately
takes the jacket off and says he’s here to wake the dead and make
little girls talk out of their head. He takes the mic and lays on
the mat, telling Bret to Scorpion this. Cue Bret as Flair gets on
the apron. Hart praises Flair as one of the greatest wrestlers of
all time but Bret has been waiting for this moment his entire life.

It’s
like he’s starting his career over again against Ric Flair, and Bret
is going to run over Flair on Saturday. Flair can compare their
histories, but on Sunday morning Flair is going to wake up and feel
that Bret is the best there is, was and ever will be. Flair says
that he respects Bret’s family and he’s giving Bret one more chance
to say that Ric is the best ever. Bret smiles at him and says that
Flair will know who the best is on Sunday morning.

We
look at Jericho attacking Mysterio last week on Nitro and costing him
the Cruiserweight Title match. The announcers also talk about
Mysterio winning the title on Thursday, setting up a title defense
against Jericho on Saturday.

Chris
Jericho vs. Juventud Guerrera

Juvy
gets a quick sunset flip for two and monkey flips Jericho into the
ropes to frustrate Jericho again. Jericho offers a handshake but
clotheslines Juvy down to take over. Guerrera seems to be a face
here despite being a heel against Mysterio last week. Jericho can’t
hit a tornado DDT and gets rolled up for two. Juvy hits a top rope
spinwheel kick for two more but misses a charge and falls out to the
floor to stop his momentum cold. Jericho holds the ropes open and
kicks Guerrera as he comes back in, setting up the Liontamer for the
submission.

Rating:
C-. This was just a quick match
to give Jericho more momentum leading into his title shot against
Mysterio at the PPV. Jericho’s turn has been well built up to this
point and it’s really easy to hate him given his actions. You put
that against a natural hero in Rey and you get a good match as a
result. It’s basic booking but very effective.

Jericho
takes his time to let the hold go and says it’s because Juvy didn’t
make it clear that he gave up. Chris jumps Juvy but Rey runs out for
the save, setting up a double team on Jericho.

Scott
Hall vs. Lex Luger

Hall
throws his toothpick at Luger so Lex slaps him in the face. They
fight over a lockup until Luger shoves Hall into the corner and
flexes a lot. Hall wants a test of strength but suckers Luger into a
double arm crank instead of trying his luck. The fans are distracted
by something in the crowd so the hold stays on for a good while.
Luger finally counters into the same hold on Hall but Scott kicks him
low to escape.

Hall
stomps away and puts on a sleeper, only to have Luger counter into
one of his own. As is always the custom with this counter to Hall’s
sleeper, Scott quickly breaks the hold but gets punched down. Luger
fires off the atomic drops and clotheslines but Savage runs in for
the DQ before the Rack goes on.

Rating:
D. The arm hold screwed a lot
of this up but it wasn’t much of a match either way. Luger and
Savage are fighting again at the PPV in a match that really doesn’t
have much of a story other than WCW vs. NWO, which isn’t much to base
a major match on. There was no mention of Zbyszko vs. Hall during
the entire match either.

Hall
and Savage stomp Luger down until Zbyszko runs out and is beaten down
as well. Lex makes the save with a chair.

The
Giant vs. Hollywood Hogan

Hogan
comes to the ring in a neck brace, talking about how Giant caused his
injuries. Bischoff says that Hogan can’t fight tonight so Giant
lifts him off the floor and suplexes him into the ring as the bell
sounds. There goes the neck brace and Giant hits a quick running
clothesline in the corner. Nash has come out to ringside as Giant
chokes in the corner with his boot ala Big Kev.

They
head to the floor with Hogan being rammed into the barricade. In a
really impressive power display, Giant presses Hogan over his head
and back inside over the top rope. Nash distracts Giant and Hogan
FINALLY gets in a shot to the back to take over. Hollywood pounds
away in the corner and chokes Giant down before hitting the big boot
to the chest. Just like the old days, Hogan slams him down and drops
the leg but Savage comes out to distract Hogan. Giant pops up and
the chokeslam ends the match.

Rating:
C-. It’s really hard to
complain about seeing Hogan wrestle for free on Nitro against a big
named guy. The match was really just a backdrop for the NWO drama
but it was still entertaining stuff. Hogan’s abilities when he’s in
his comfort zone are often forgotten because of how bad he can be at
times, but almost any time you get to see him against a monster you
get an entertaining match.

Post
match Giant goes after Savage, Nash goes after Savage, Luger runs out
to go after Savage, and the NWO comes in for the save. Sting repels
from the ceiling into the crowd (after running to the ring earlier)
and finally clears the ring of the NWO. WCW stands tall to end the
show.

Overall
Rating: B-. With only one bad
match and some great buildup for Souled Out, it’s hard to find much
to complain about here. It’s really interesting to see how well WCW
was clicking at this point given how bad things fell apart just a few
months later. This was an entertaining show and it made me want to
watch Souled Out so the show is a success.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com

Rants

Rants

Monday Nitro – November 24, 1997

By Scott Keith on 17th April 2013

Monday Nitro #115

Date: November 24, 1997

Location: Wendler
Arena, Saginaw, Michigan

Attendance: 5,879

Commentators: Mike
Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

With World War 3 out of
the way, we’re down to five Nitros left before Starrcade. Scott Hall
won the battle royal last night after there was yet another fake
Sting sighting. That sets Hall up as #1 contender for Souled Out in
January, which would be like winning the Rumble for a shot at Extreme
Rules today. Anyway, all eyes are on Sting vs. Hogan now which means
the drama is going to be cranking up. Let’s get to it.

Here’s the NWO to open
things up. Bischoff does the usual gloating while smoking a cigar.
Hogan brags about how awesome the team is and offers anyone
interested a title shot tonight. This brings out Giant who accepts
the challenge but JJ Dillon comes out and says Giant has to sign a
waiver because of his bad hand. You know, because we need to bring
in the legal department to make sure an interesting match is ok.

Tag Titles: Steiners
vs. Disorderly Conduct

That would be Mean Mark
and Tough Tom who jump the Steiners before the bell. This goes about
as well as you would expect it to for them with the champions
clearing the ring and throwing I think Tom to the floor after a belly
to belly from Scott. Off to Rick who walks into a side slam from
Mark and a forearm drop gets two. Rick easily shrugs it off and
brings in Scott to clean house with forearms to the back and a belly
to belly to Tom. Everything breaks down and it’s the Steiner Bulldog
(after about three tries by Scott to get the wide load up) to Mark
for the retaining pin.

Rating: D+.
Again, what did you expect here? Disorderly Conduct were your
standard brawling jobber tag team who were there to make the Steiners
look good. Granted that didn’t really happen but at least the
Steiners get to defend the titles for once. These would be the WCW
Tag Titles mind you and not the NWO ones that the Outsiders have at
the moment.

Nitro Girls.

Booker T vs. Meng

Meng powers him down to
start but Booker speeds things up and hits a quick forearm. A
backdrop puts Meng on the floor, which only ticks the monster off.
The announcers ignore the match and talk about Giant vs. Hogan as
Booker is backdropped down, only to spin back up. That lasts about a
second as Meng catches the side kick in the air and slams Booker down
for two. Meng goes to clubberin in the corner and pounds Booker down
with a shot to the back. Booker dodges a charge and rolls through a
powerbomb for a very fast pin. This would be an upset still at this
point.

Post match Meng puts
Booker in the Tongan Death Grip but Stevie Ray blasts the monster
with a (wooden) chair. Barbarian comes out and it’s a beatdown of
Harlem Heat.

Nitro is the official
spokesman for Alien Resurrection. Ok then.

We recap JJ Dillon
trying to sign Raven.

JJ and Gene go up to
Raven after delivering him an ultimatum last night. Apparently Raven
signed earlier today but with some clauses, including that every
match is under his rules and he only has to wrestle when and against
whom he wants. Riggs is officially with Raven and the Flock now.

Chris Benoit vs.
Raven

Actually scratch that
as Raven throws in Sick Boy to fight in his place.

Chris Benoit vs.
Sick Boy

Benoit is fine with
beating up Sick Boy instead but gets caught by a springboard back
elbow from Sick Boy. Benoit drops him over the top rope to take over
but Diseased Man comes back with a missile dropkick and some choking.
Benoit fires off some chops in the corner but stops to glare at
Raven, allowing Sick Boy to take it to the floor. Now the newly
debuted Lodi distracts Benoit and lets Sick Boy to get in some more
shots to take over again. A springboard guillotine legdrop misses
Benoit though and the Swan Dive connects, only to bring in the Flock.
Benoit fights them off and the Crossface gets the submission on Sick
Boy.

Rating: B-.
I don’t remember much about Sick Boy but this was a VERY impressive
performance. He was flying all over the place and hitting some very
crisp moves which had Benoit in trouble. Why didn’t we ever get to
see more of this guy? I don’t think I ever remember a Sick Boy match
and apparently that’s kind of a shame.

Post match Benoit gets
beaten down by the Flock and put in the Rings of Saturn.

We get a video from the
NWO about Hall tormenting Zbyszko. Larry is ticked off about it and
goes to the ring to call out Hall….again…..as papers fall from
the ceiling. They have a shot of Hall’s foot on Larry’s chest from I
think Halloween Havoc. Good thing they had these ready in case Larry
decided to storm the ring. Eric comes out and after babbling about
how Hall is too busy to fight Larry, he talks about how he’s beaten
Larry twice now. A challenge is made for a third fight and Larry
accepts, or at least it seems like he does.

Prince Iaukea vs.
Alex Wright

Can Iaukea just fall in
a hole already? A quick headlock puts the Prince on the mat and it’s
time to dance again. Wright misses a charge into the corner and gets
backdropped into a chinlock by the Prince. Alex fights up but has to
stop to argue with Debra. A shoulder puts Prince down and there’s
more arguing with the blonde. Debra gets up on the apron and gets
her dress caught on the buckle so she can’t get down. The
distraction lets Iaukea hit a top rope cross body for the pin.

Rating: D.
Nothing to see here as it was more of an angle than a match with the
focus being on Debra. I’m pretty sure this would be it for her
though as she would be in the WWF by January at the latest. Iaukea
continues to be one of the most bland guys in the history of the
company, yet he keeps winning matches like this.

Wright fires Debra post
match.

Video on Sting vs.
Hogan.

Disco Inferno vs.
Randy Savage

Savage armdrags Disco
down and Liz Disco up for good measure. They head to the floor and
Liz shoves him into the post in the most physical move you’ll ever
see from her. Back in and Savage slams him down before ending Disco
with a pair of elbows.

Post match Savage drops
a third elbow but the referee breaks up a fourth. Savage lays out
the referee and spray paints Disco. Now the fourth elbow hits.

Dean Malenko vs.
Brad Armstrong

Malenko takes it into
the corner to start before they head to the mat. Armstrong is one of
the few people who can actually hang with Dean down there so he goes
after Malenko’s legs. That gets him nowhere so instead Brad suplexes
him down for no cover. Armstrong pounds away some more for a quick
two but Dean dropkicks him down and cranks on Brad’s arms to take
over.

The fans chant boring
as this isn’t your usual cruiserweight match with everyone flying all
over the place. They trade some quick near falls off backslides and
rollups until Brad slams him down for two. Back up and Dean sends
him into the corner, only to charge into a boot. Being the wrestler
that he is though, Dean pulls the leg down and locks on the
Cloverleaf for the win.

Rating: C.
Armstrong wasn’t quite the same guy that he was back in the early 90s
but he could still move pretty well out there. Also he’s the kind of
guy you can throw out there for a decent match and make Dean look
good in the process. I mean, you can’t just have Malenko vs.
Guerrero and Mysterio every week without it getting boring.

Mongo brags about
knocking out Goldberg when Debra comes up to try to rekindle their
relationship. He thinks about it then yells at her to leave, thank
goodness.

The Nitro Girls do
their thing.

Buff Bagwell vs.
Chris Jericho

In an amusing bit,
Jericho fakes a heart attack ala Sanford and Son from his pyro going
off. We get Buff’s usual start to a match as he takes Jericho down
with a pair of armdrags and poses a lot. Jericho comes right back
with a spinwheel kick and a clothesline to send Buff out to the
floor. A Canadian plancha takes Bagwell down again and Jericho sends
him into the steps for good measure. Back in and the Lionsault gets
two. Even back in the 90s that move was barely a finisher.

Buff sends him into the
corner and pounds Jericho down before hitting a forearm off the
ropes. A cover with a single knee and Buff posing gets two and
Jericho is mad. Bagwell puts him right back down with a clothesline
and it’s off to a chinlock. After a quick argument with the referee
allows Jericho to get a two count, Buff loads up the Blockbuster but
gets crotched down. A top rope rana gets two for Jericho as does a
spinwheel kick, but he walks into a boot in the corner and the
Blockbuster ends our Canadian hero.

Rating: C+.
Not bad here as Jericho was really starting to come into his own in
the ring. Bagwell was Bagwell, which is to say he was almost all
character and next to nothing in the ring. The Blockbuster looked
good but other than that, Buff’s offense is almost all slow paced and
basic, which doesn’t make for an entertaining match.

US Title: Ray
Traylor vs. Curt Hennig

As Hennig comes to the
ring, we hear about Tenay making a documentary about the late Brian
Pillman with the profits going to Pillman’s family. Cool idea.
Hennig immediately bails to the floor but Traylor goes to the floor
for an uppercut. Back in and Traylor pounds away in the corner and a
splash sends the champion to the floor. They go inside again where
Ray misses a charge and Heenan sounds like he wants to join the NWO.

Hennig hooks a reverse
chinlock but Traylor comes back and goes after Curt’s knee. Curt
slams his other leg into Ray’s head to escape and it’s back to the
chinlock. Traylor powers out and rams Hennig’s head into all three
of the buckles in a corner to take over again. The reverse crotch on
the post slows Hennig down again and there’s the Boss Man Slam for
two, because Hall was late running in for the DQ.

Rating: C-.
Not bad but by this point it’s obvious what’s coming no matter how
the match goes. That’s a problem that WCW needed to address but they
never found a way around it and the reactions eventually stopped
happening at all. Also, Traylor’s character is done now as there’s
no reason to buy him as a threat to anyone anymore.

The NWO beats and
paints Traylor post match.

WCW World Title: The
Giant vs. Hollywood Hogan

A Vincent distraction
lets Hogan get in a few shots from behind as Rude and Bischoff take
over the announcers’ desk, complete with Eric slapping Tony across
the face. Back to the match as Hogan clotheslines Giant to the floor
and works on the broken hand for a bit. They head back inside for an
elbow drop from Hogan but Giant shrugs it off and pounds at Hogan’s
ribs and head. There’s a quick chokeslam but Giant hurts his hand in
the process. Cue Sting, who is now about 7′ tall with long brown
hair, to blast Giant in the hand with the bat for the DQ.

Rating: D.
This was more of the same from the US Title match: we were just
waiting on the run-in to end the match which doesn’t make for the
most interesting five minutes in the world. Thankfully the
announcers were NWO so we didn’t have to listen to them thinking that
was really Sting. Anyway nothing to see here, as usual.

The rest of the NWO
comes in for a beatdown and here’s Sting….who falls through the mat
and is another mannequin. Nash and Hogan beat on him with the bat as
the fans chant for Sting to end the show.

Overall Rating: C.
This wasn’t bad. They furthered a lot of stories and we even had a
good match in Sick Boy vs. Benoit. On top of that we’re inching
closer to Starrcade which means Bret should be here soon, along with
the final push towards Hogan vs. Sting. The wrestling continues to
be just ok at best for the most part and the constant DQ’s are really
getting old, but at least we’re getting to the good drama part.

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