Thunder
Date: January 22, 1998
Location: Von Braun Center, Huntsville, Alabama
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Lee Marshall

It’s the go home show for Souled Out and things are actually cooking for WCW. We still don’t know anything about the world title situation other than Hall has to fight somebody for the title at SuperBrawl. As for Saturday, it looks like the main event is going to be Hart vs. Flair in a really well built showdown for respect. Tonight we have Giant vs. Hall in the main event which brings two major matches for Saturday together. Let’s get to it.

The announcers tell us that we’ll get an announcement on the world title situation on Saturday as well as an appearance from Roddy Piper.

Scott Steiner vs. Konnan

Scott overpowers him to start and shoves Konnan down to the floor with ease. Back in and Vincent earns his paycheck by tripping Steiner up to give Konnan control. Scott comes right back with a gorilla press and a gorilla press as we’re in squash territory here. The top rope Frankensteiner is loaded up but Buff and Norton hit the ring for the quick DQ.

Rick Steiner and Ray Traylor run out for the save but Scott walks out to pose at Bagwell.

Here’s Nash to say that in 90 minutes, he’s going to be $1.5 million richer. Giant wants Nash more than a lap dance after being at sea for 20 years but Nash isn’t afraid of him at all. Saturday is about the physical torture but tonight is all about the psychological. Good promo here as Nash keeps it simple.

Super Calo/Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Silver King/La Parka

This is Lucha Libre rules, meaning you can change with your partner if you go to the floor. Chavo starts out with Silver King and takes over with a quick headscissors on Silver. Everything quickly breaks down with Calo pounding on La Parka but getting caught in a powerslam. Raven comes through the crowd sans Flock as La Parka dives over the top to land on Calo’s stretched out back.

Back in the ring Silver King powerbombs Calo down for two before La Parka comes in for a double enziguri on Calo. La Parka and King allow Calo to make the tag as everything breaks down again. Chavo dives to the floor to take out La Parka as Super Calo hits a top rope hurricanrana on King for the pin.

Rating: C-. This was an entertaining mess with the emphasis on mess. The match didn’t get anywhere near the excitement that these matches are capable of reaching and none of these guys did anything to set themselves apart from the others. La Parka was the only guy in the match who was a big deal at this point but he was barely in the match at all.

Post match La Parka blasts everyone with the chair until Juventud and Lizmark Jr. run out for the save. Psychosis and El Dandy run in as well and it’s a big brawl. Nearly everyone gets to hit a big dive to make up for the so-so match.

Nick Patrick wants to talk about something but Rick Martel walks in behind him. Kidman comes in to yell at Martel for the fight on Nitro. Saturn runs in and throws Martel through a glass door. It’s as out of nowhere as it sounds.

Dean Malenko vs. Marty Jannetty

They start with an armbar each with Marty actually taking over on the mat. Dean escapes and goes after Marty’s knee, only to be put in a front facelock. The technical exhibition continues with Dean going after Jannetty’s knee again, only to be countered into a catapult into the corner for two. We hit a chinlock on Dean for a few moments before Malenko fights up with a belly to back suplex.

A regular suplex gets two for Malenko but Marty comes back with a clothesline for two of his own. Jannetty goes after the leg….and now the arm a few seconds later. I guess all that cocaine made the limbs look the same. Dean fights up again but gets caught in a faceplant for two. In a rare botch in a Malenko match, Marty loads up a snapmare but Dean falls like a neckbreaker, making it look more like a Stunner. A few seconds later Marty tries the Rocker Dropper but is countered into the tiger bomb and the Cloverleaf for the submission.

Rating: C-. This was slow paced and methodical but it wasn’t bad at all. Jannetty didn’t look as good as he did on Nitro but his WCW run isn’t going badly at all. Malenko has been left out in the cold since Starrcade due to Mysterio and Jericho taking the focus on the Cruiserweight Title.

Goldberg vs. Kendall Windham

Goldberg takes him to the mat with a leg lock but Kendall makes a rope. A clothesline gets two for Windham but it’s spear/Jackhammer for the pin. The reactions are getting louder and louder.

Here’s Hall for his survey with WCW taking the night. Hall is looking forward to Saturday so he can shut Zbyszko up once and for all. Cue Louie Spicolli with Larry’s golf clubs which are rapidly bent and broken. Larry comes out and is ready to fight Hall but Spicolli wants a piece of him instead. Zbyszko immediately takes him down with a guillotine choke but has to avoid an elbow drop from Hall. Larry bails and says he’ll have backup at Souled Out.

We get some clips of Piper on Walker Texas Ranger. When Chuck Norris is the best actor ina scene, you know you’re in trouble.

Cruiserweight Title: Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

Rey has a bad knee. Eddie is challenging and charges right at Rey, only to be taken down by an armdrag. A hurricanrana sends Eddie most of the way to the apron as his leg is caught in the apron on the way down. Back in and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker puts Rey down for two as it’s all Eddie so far. A brainbuster looks to set up the frog splash but Rey gets up top for a superplex to put both guys down. Eddie is dropkicked out to the floor and Rey hits a dive over the top, reinjuring his knee again in the process. With Eddie down on the floor, Jericho runs to attack Rey for the DQ.

Rating: D+. This didn’t have the time to go anywhere but it was angle advancement anyway. Rey’s knee is very banged up thanks to Jericho’s recent attacks and this match didn’t do it any favors. Eddie is in the same spot that Malenko is in at the moment: just floating around waiting on something to do.

Eddie and Jericho stomp Mysterio down but Eddie is mad at Jericho costing him a match. Benoit sneaks in behind Jericho for their upcoming match as Eddie bails. The look on Jericho’s face when he sees Benoit is priceless.

Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho

Benoit sends him into the corner as Dean Malenko and referee Mickie Jay carry Mysterio to the back. Jericho bails to the floor as we take a break. Back with Jericho continuing to run but getting caught by a suicide dive. They head back inside and Jericho hits a quick dropkick to take over. A spinebuster looks to set up the Liontamer but Benoit chops his way out of it. Jericho runs some more but gets caught in a dragon screw leg whip.

Benoit is taken down by a back elbow for the ARROGANT COVER for two. The Lionsault connects but Jericho waits for the fans to cheer him instead of covering. Instead a superplex gets two on Benoit and it’s off to a chinlock. Benoit fights up with a belly to back suplex followed by a German and a whip to send Jericho into the Tree of Woe. There’s the Crossface but Jericho taps out before the hold is even on. That’s a smart move given his title shot in two days.

Rating: C+. These two have a natural chemistry that few other pairs can rival. The ending shows thinking as well which isn’t something you often get in wrestling. It’s also nice to see actual stories develop and intertwine with each other with all people involved being elevated. It’s like the company is planning for the future or something like that.

Here are Hogan and Bischoff with something to say. Hogan says it’s going to be a big party when he gets the title back on Saturday because he never lost it in the first place. Bischoff and Hogan praise each other and Hogan poses to end things.

Rick Martel vs. Perry Saturn

Martel charges at the ring and runs Saturn over as the bell rings. Saturn is sent to the floor and into the steps for good measure. Back in and Martel pounds on Saturn in the corner but the Flock comes out for a distraction. Martel is crotched on the top rope before getting suplexed down for two. The Flock leaves and Martel misses a charge into the post. Saturn puts on an armbar and then a cross armbreaker but Martel counters into a quickly broken STF.

We take a break and come back with Martel pounding away in the corner but getting caught with a swinging neckbreaker. Saturn gets some quick rollups for two before going to the middle rope. A sunset flip gets two on Rick but he rolls through into the Quebec Crab to make Saturn submit in a hurry.

Rating: C-. Martel has only been back for a few months but I’m starting to buy into him here in WCW. He looks very smooth in the ring and has more than enough experience to back it up. The window stuff from earlier added nothing to this so the fans weren’t caring at all, but they got an ok match out of it.

Post match the Flock runs in but Martel rolls away to let Kidman hit Saturn.

Scott Hall vs. The Giant

Hall gets in Giant’s face and is launched across the ring as he should be. A front chancery gets Hall placed on the top rope and he dives into the bearhug. Giant headbutts Hall down but here are Hogan and Nash to ringside. Nash gets in a cheap shot with some kind of a weapon as Hogan gets in the ring for the DQ in less than two minutes.

Savage tries to intervene but Luger runs out and Racks him. Nash looks at Savage in the Rack down and does nothing about it. Instead Nash comes in and pounds on Giant but Giant doesn’t touch him. Instead Giant goes to the floor, grabs the post, and BREAKS THE RING to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. This was the kind of show Thunder was designed to be: focus on the midcard feuds and have the main event guys do some stuff to close the show. It built up the Souled Out matches that we didn’t get to focus on Monday while giving us some solid action tonight. Good show here and I want to see Souled Out.

Here’s Souled Out if you’re interested:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2013/06/15/souled-out-1998-redo-one-of-wcws-best-shows-ever/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and check out my new book on the History of Starrcade from Amazon for just $4 at:

Monday Nitro #123
Date: January 19, 1998
Location: Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko

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.

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Monday Nitro #39
Date: June 10, 1996
Location: Wheeling Civic Center, Wheeling, West Virginia
Attendance: 3,500
Commentators: Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone, Eric Bischoff, Larry Zbyszko

 

It’s the go home show for the Great American Bash and other than that there isn’t much. The PPV was focused on the football players vs. wrestlers match and the world title was on the side. However, last week the invader (Hall) had promised a BIG surprise for tonight which we’ll get to later. With Sting having confronted him, it was pretty clear that this was going to be a huge angle. Let’s get to it.

 

On the theme song and opening video, there are six shots of people total. Three are Hogan.

 

We get a clip of Hall and Sting last week and them almost going at it.

 

Scott Steiner vs. Booker T

 

This would be huge about four years later. Basic anything you can do I can do greater match to start as I think this is face vs. heel but I’m not sure. Both escape belly to back suplexes but Scott gets a double underhook suplex for no cover. Booker manages to get a boot up in the corner kind of like a superkick to put Scott down. Scissors kick gets two.

 

Off to a front facelock and Booker controls. Spinning cross body off the top gets two. Larry Z giving wrestling advice to Booker is really weird for some reason. Scott gets something like a DDT to break the momentum though and here comes Steiner. We speed things up and Scott gets a belly to belly to put Booker down. Frankensteiner is avoided which gets two for Booker. A top rope splash misses and Scott hits another belly to belly to end it.

 

Rating: B-. Not bad at all here with two guys that were still (kind of) young and motivated and could give you a good match at this point. Also nice to see some young guys out there having some time to show off. Booker wouldn’t mean much of anything for like two years though and Steiner would be about 18 months away, so call this a very early preview.

 

Scott is talking about the match when Debra of all people interrupts him. She wants to talk about her husband and Scott leaves. Nice chick indeed. She talks about how this feud with the Horsemen is her fault. Gene says no it isn’t. She wants to call this off before Sunday and Gene says he’ll try to get something set up with Heenan. It’s not like this mattered because she and Mongo joined the Horsemen on Sunday.

 

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Jim Powers

 

This is for the Battlebowl ring. Naturally we talk about the football thing the entire time because that’s all that matters. To be fair this is going to be a squash so it’s not like it’s as bad as usual. This is Powers’ debut and he’s wearing something similar to leopard print. Page hits a gutwrench gutbuster and stands around a lot. Page’s gum is kicked out and Powers gets some jobber offense in. The crowd does not care in the slightest about him. Powerslam gets two. Not that it matters because there’s the Diamond Cutter and we’re done.

 

Rating: D+. Just a long squash here and by long I mean four minutes. Bagwell faced Page for the ring on Sunday in a match I don’t remember in the slightest. Powers was just a jobber that didn’t mean anything as most jobbers tend to be. Nothing to see here as Page was far from meaning much at this point.

 

Recap of Benoit vs. Sullivan which entails Anderson and paranoia. Anderson said everyone would know where everyone stood on Sunday. The match was great too.

 

Video on Konnan who was pretty different back in the day and in a good way.

 

Konnan, the US Champion at this point, says that he’ll keep the title when he fights El Gato on Sunday. He’s such a legend that no one has ever heard of him.

 

Sting vs. Meng

 

This is more or less just a tune up for Sting for his match with Regal on Sunday. Meng be clubberin to start us off but Sting gets a backdrop to break that up. Meng does his monster that you can’t hurt thing as Sting hits the ropes for a bunch of clotheslines. Face jam puts Meng down but he gets a small package of all things for two. Shoulder breaker puts Sting down so Meng goes up. Sting manages to crotch him and put on the Scorpion for the kind of surprising tap. Not enough to grade but it was exactly what you would expect.

 

Heenan takes Flair to the Horsemen dressing room and shuts the door. Screaming is heard and here they come, beating up a guy named Joe Gomez who is supposed to team with Renegade to face them later.

 

Jim Duggan vs. Dave Taylor

 

Taylor is buddies with Regal. Renegade and Gomez have replacements apparently. The fans like Duggan of course. Oh and those replacements: the world tag team champions Luger and Sting and the titles are on the line. The match of course means little but at least it’s got a point. Taylor cost Duggan a match last week so here you are. After some basic stuff it’s more basic stuff in the form of kicking and punching. There’s the taped fist which is hanging from his hand as the referee counts the pin. Freaking blind idiot. Short and more or less nothing.

 

Video on the Cruiserweight Title which is finally in America. Malenko defends against some guy that is debuting on Sunday. Mysterio I think his name is.

 

We recap Tenta vs. Bubba which is something no one really wanted to see other than them but whatever. Hart says Tenta wasn’t pulling his weight. Bubba says he’ll win and that’s that.

 

Here’s Scott Norton to talk for some reason that no one knows. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him speak. He didn’t like getting chokeslammed last week so he’s coming for revenge tonight.

 

Scott Norton vs. The Giant

 

We get the stupid countdown to the second hour as we wait on Giant’s entrance. Don’t think this is for the title. Norton goes right at him and gets powerslammed for his efforts. Norton comes back and hammers away but we go to the floor and he misses a splash into the post. Chokeslam out there and we’re done. Less than a minute and a half but Norton was impressive here as he took it to Giant. It didn’t work but points for trying at least.

 

Luger comes out post match and Giant massacres him. Luger kicks him low to prevent a chokeslam through the table. A champagne bucket to the head just ticks Giant off and Luger heads to the announce table. He says throw the rules out on Sunday because he’s ready for the big man.

 

Video of the Nasty Boys on some TV show with Dennis Rodman, who is made an official Nasty Boy.

 

Kevin Greene was on the Tonight Show and talked about the match. He picked the name Shallow Grave apparently.

 

Steven Regal vs. Billy Kidman

 

Kidman is a total rookie here. I think this is his WCW debut. Regal kills him for a bit but Kidman gets some stuff in and busts out a 450 (kind of) which misses. Regal puts on the start of a Liontamer but steps on Kidman’s head instead for the tap in less than a minute.

 

Sting comes out for the save post match.

 

Public Enemy vs. Nasty Boys

 

Please….be gentle. Public Enemy runs out during the Nasties’ entrance and the fight is on. There’s the WCW trademark for tag team brawls: split screens where all four guys can be seen on one screen. Knobbs and Grunge are in the ring so we’ll say they’re legal. Middle rope clothesline takes Grunge to the floor as the Nasties are the big faces here. Ok finally into a regular match.

 

Grunge has a broken hand. Sags takes both of them down with a double clothesline and it breaks down into a brawl quickly again. Sags hits a Piledriver as we take a break. Back with Public Enemy in control. Knobbs takes down Grunge but can’t bring Sags back in. There’s Jerry who hits a World’s Strongest Slam on Rocco for two and it breaks down again.

 

Rocco tries to leave as Grunge unbandages his bad hand/arm. Oh ok Rocco left to get a garbage can. Pumphandle slam by Sags looks to set up a middle rope splash from Knobbs but Rocco breaks it up. The trashcan is brought in and the Nasties get caught using it for the DQ. Kind of a stretch given what they had done before that but I can live with it.

 

Rating: D+. Yeah it was bad but it could have been a lot worse. They know how to make brawls decent and they had the right idea here to not make them act like they could work a competent technical match. I wanted to hate this but I really couldn’t do it in good faith. The Public Enemy would actually be tag champions later in the year.

 

Video on Hogan who punches a lot.

 

We recap the coaches being added to the football player match. This is set to a bad country song.

 

Tag Titles: Sting/Lex Luger vs. Ric Flair/Arn Anderson

 

This should be good and there’s a lot of time left. Flair and Luger start us off as the bell rings twice. Luger beats him up and tosses him with ease and does the same to Anderson. Big old gorilla press puts Flair down again. Flair does the Flair Flip in the corner but runs into a right hand from Sting to put him down. Bischoff mentions the concept of Nitro Parties. I never got the appeal of those but they became a big deal.

 

Sting comes in to beat up Anderson for a bit as the champions have dominated the entire time so far. Sting does his double nipup both times he’s pulled down by the hair. Anderson and Flair both get taken down so Flair runs off to grab a chair. The Horsemen chill in the aisle as we take a break.

 

Back with Anderson being pinballed between the champions before Flair comes in to face Sting. Hard to screw this one up. Flair gets a slight advantage and then goes up top. If you don’t know what happens here, go somewhere else. Top rope clothesline gets two for Sting. There’s a superplex for two. Ric goes to the classic thumb to the eye and it’s off to the Enforcer.

 

Spinebuster gets two. Arn does his jump into the air when the other guy is on the mat and Anderson jumps into the legs between his balls for a funny reaction spot. Off to Flair instead who can’t suplex Sting. Sting gets an O’Connor Roll for two and a weird small package for the same. Off to Anderson as we take another break.

 

Back with Flair sending Sting into the guardrail. Back in Sting gets the backslide but Flair makes a blind tag to bring Anderson back in. Sting gets a knee to the nether regions and falls into the tag to Luger. Powerslam gets two on Luger. Luger hits a double clothesline to put both guys on the floor and here’s Giant for the DQ.

 

Rating: B-. Eh it’s Sting/Luger vs. Flair/Anderson for about 18 minutes. This is one of those matches that is going to be good due to just sheer talent in the ring. They know what they’re doing and they’ve fought so many times over the years that they know each other perfectly, which often helps with matches. Flair and Anderson would win at the PPV and the Horsemen would be back.

 

Giant gets beaten up by Sting, Luger and Scott Steiner but just gets mad because of it. Giant says Luger is dead to Gene.

 

Heenan starts to rant about Savage and here’s Hall in black this week. For some reason the screen splits here into two identical images. Bischoff asks where the surprise is and turns around to run into Nash’s chest. He says they’re not here to play (“Look at the adjective: play.  We ain’t here to play.”  Play is a verb, Kev.) and wants WCW’s three guys. Nash blasts the old guys in the company and wants to know where Hogan and Savage are. Bischoff invites them to the Bash and says he’ll try to have their fight there. That would result in Bischoff being powerbombed off the stage.

 

Overall Rating: C+. Well the Bash was a two match show and they built those up quite well. Anything else you get out of it was a bonus and you had a decent main event and a story running through the entire show so this wasn’t too bad really. The Bash wasn’t all that good but considering what happened a month later it’s not like it really mattered. Pretty decent show this week.

 

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Thunder
Date: January 15, 1998
Location: Jenkins Center, Lakeland, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Lee Marshall

It’s the second episode of the show and as of Nitro, the NWO is in shambles again. The main problem seems to stem from Nash and Savage over Savage accidentally hitting Bischoff two weeks ago on Nitro. As luck would have it, the main event tonight is Nash/Savage vs. Diamond Dallas Page/Lex Luger. Let’s get to it.

We open with a video from Nitro of DDP hyping up the tag match tonight.

The announcers talk about the NWO’s problems. It’s strange to not have Schiavone doing commentary on a WCW show.

We get video from Nitro about the $1.5 million bonds put up by WCW and the NWO to ensure Nash vs. Giant actually happens at Souled Out.

Here’s Giant in the ring for a chat with Schiavone. Giant says that he’s a patient man and will be ready for Nash at Souled Out. He’ll be bringing the chokeslam to the PPV but first he has to rip up one of Lodi’s signs. Lodi is pulled into the ring via a chokeslam and the Flock swarms the Giant. The big man swats them all away and literally throws Kidman into the front row. This brings out Nash but Giant isn’t allowed to touch him, even after Nash throws coffee in his face.

Back to Nitro again to look at the issues between Nash and Savage. We get some exclusive footage from after Nitro went off the air of Savage slapping Nash and running off.

Black Cat/Ohara/Gedo vs. Steiner Brothers/Ray Traylor

Tenay tells us that DDP has been mugged in a parking lot and has a knee injury which might keep him out of the main event tonight. Traylor and Ohara start with Ohara firing off kicks to the knee. Ray comes back with some uppercuts before Black Cat comes in to be pounded down by Rick. A series of elbows get two for Rick as the fans chant USA. Back to Traylor as we take a break.

We come back with Rick clotheslining Gedo and Ohara down before ripping away at Gedo’s face. Scott finally tags himself in and explodes on Black Cat with clotheslines and right hands. An overhead suplex sends Ohara flying and Scott puts him in the Tree of Woe for some choking. Rick and Ray have their arms out for tags but Scott isn’t paying any attention to them. A move Tenay calls the Steiner Screwdriver (this was more like a sitout powerslam) is good for the pin on Gedo.

Rating: D+. This was more storytelling than a match which is a good idea. Scott’s slow burn heel turn is going well here as you can see why Rick would get upset and why Scott would think he doesn’t need to tag out. Traylor doesn’t need to be here but what else are they going to do with him?

Post match Rick, Ray and DiBiase leave Scott to celebrate by himself.

Ernest Miller vs. Yuji Nagata

This is a preview match for a proposed martial arts division held under pro wrestling rules. Miller immediately kicks Yuji down for two but Nagata’s manager kicks Ernest in the back to give Nagata control. Yuji hits a quick suplex and cranks on the arm for a bit before shifting over to a leg lock. Another kick to the chest gets two for Yuji but Ernest hits a spin kick to the face to take over. Nagata chokes in the corner and gets in an argument with the referee, allowing Miller to pull himself to the top for a great looking spin kick to the face for the pin.

Rating: D. That finish looked great but the rest of the match was pretty dull stuff. The idea of a martial arts division under pro wrestling rules adds nothing at all as these guys do little more than kick each other for three minutes anyway. You can only be so interesting as that kind of a character and putting the same kind of guys against each other isn’t going to do them any favors.

JJ is here to talk about Page’s injury but the mic goes out. Page comes out on a crutch and says he’s going to do it. JJ says there are liability issues and Page might sue him. Page says he’ll sign whatever paper he has to and he’ll take WCW off the hook.

Louie Spicolli vs. Scott Hall

Before the match, Hall asks Spicolli who he is and how old he is. Spicolli is 26 but will be 27 next month. This brings out Larry Zbyszko to give Spicolli some advice. Hall challenges Larry to a fight so here comes Zbyszko, but Spicolli jumps Larry from behind. Larry clears the ring with ease.

We recap Jericho snapping again on Nitro and beating up Mysterio before Mysterio’s Cruiserweight Title shot.

Chris Jericho vs. Eddie Guerrero

The winner gets a Cruiserweight Title shot at Souled Out. Before the match, Jericho claims that Mysterio was making disparaging remarks about his family on Nitro to trigger the beatdown. Jericho offers a handshake to start but Eddie clotheslines him down instead. A jumping back elbow puts Chris down again but Jericho blocks an O’Connor roll and throws Eddie throat first onto the top rope.

Eddie backdrops out of a belly to back suplex and dropkicks Jericho’s knee out to keep control. Off to an abdominal stretch with Eddie grabbing the middle rope to cheat. Would you expect anything less of him? Jericho comes back by launching Eddie into the air and letting him crash to the mat.

Eddie rolls through a powerbomb for two before clotheslining Jericho down for two. Off to a chinlock with two knees in Jericho’s back with Jericho bent backwards. Eddie tries an upside down Gory Stretch but drops Jericho on the top of his head in a scary landing. Jericho sends him into the corner with Eddie jumping up to try a hurricanrana, only to have Jericho counter into the Liontamer for the win.

Rating: C+. This could have been something special with another five minutes. The lack of time and Jericho being dropped on his head hurt things though as the match never had the chance to really get going. Jericho is starting to look like a future star though instead of just a talented smiling good guy.

We get the Ric Flair/Jim Neidhart segment from Nitro which led to Flair and Bret brawling.

Somehow that causes the announcers to talk about the world title situation for a bit.

Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Bill Goldberg

Before Goldberg’s entrance, here’s the Disco Inferno to interrupt. I don’t know if it’s my video or something from the broadcast but the audio is way off as it sounds like the announcers are shouting into megaphones. Disco says people are here to see him dance instead of seeing Chavo wrestle. Chavo says Disco can’t dance and that this isn’t even his time. They keep arguing and the video feed cuts out, going to a still shot of the arena with “Lakeland, Florida” written on the bottom. Based on the audio, Disco hits the Chartbuster on Chavo before Goldberg comes out for the spear and Jackhammer on Inferno.

Back from a break with Tenay apologizing for the technical issues. The audio and video are fixed now.

We look at a clip from last week of JJ stripping Sting of the title.

Here are Hogan and Bischoff with something to say….and there go the video and audio again. It’s back to the graphic this time with the audio cutting in and out as well. Bischoff thanks Hogan for putting up the $1.5 million which Hogan says was no big deal. What is however a big deal is the NWO having problems. Hogan talks about taking a palm tree and a hippie in each hand and talking to the big NWOite in the sky.

Apparently they’ve gone to federal court where a judge said Hogan is the world champion. JJ can either give him the belt tonight or on Nitro because Hogan is getting it back one way or another. Hogan brags about being the man that wrestling revolves around and says the NWO is intact. The audio and video kept cutting up every thirty seconds or so during this.

Cruiserweight Title: Rey Mysterio vs. Juventud Guerrera

This is a rematch from Nitro where Guerrera successfully defended the title thanks to a prematch beatdown by Jericho. Mysterio fires off some forearms to start but Juvy backflips out of a German suplex. A headscissors sends the champion to the floor and Rey hits a flip dive to take him down again, possibly injuring his knee in the process. Back in and Juvy rolls through a springboard sunset flip and slingshots Rey back to the floor. A BIG dive….might have hit as the video cut out again.

Juvy is up first and chops away before hitting a slingshot legdrop back inside. Guerrera loads up something similar to a Muscle Buster but drops down onto his knees to drive Rey’s neck into Juvy’s shoulder. A brainbuster gets two for the champion before they head to the apron, only to have Rey launch Juvy over his head and face first into the post. It has next to no effect though as Juvy rams him into the apron and drops a slingshot legdrop to the floor. Back in and a springboard dropkick gets two but Rey sidesteps a regular version a second later. Juvy sends him face first into the middle buckle and flicks his tongue a lot.

They slug it out and Rey hits a Killswitch (called a modified DDT by Tenay) for two. A pinfall reversal sequence gets a pair of two counts each before Rey has to pound his way out of a powerbomb attempt. Juvy counters a top rope rana attempt into a powerbomb and Rey is in trouble. Mysterio avoids the 450 though and hooks a quick rana for the pin and the title.

Rating: B-. This was pretty solid stuff but Juvy didn’t sell much of anything throughout the match. There was a good story of Rey hanging on and trying to hit one quick move to win the title while Juvy was hitting him with everything he had. This is the third title change in about two and a half weeks, which makes me wonder why they didn’t just put the title on Rey the night after Starrcade in the first place and cut out Dragon and Guerrera.

Buy the NWO shirt!

We see the end of Nitro with Liz distracting Luger so Savage could jump him. Page made the save to set up the tag match tonight.

Diamond Dallas Page/Lex Luger vs. Kevin Nash/Randy Savage

The audio and video go out again before the entrances are done. Back from a break and it’s the Lakeland graphic again as Luger’s music is playing. Page is limping on the bad knee during his entrance so Luger volunteers to go it alone. Hogan sneaks up on Page and breaks Page’s crutch over the bad knee. Savage jumps off the top with an ax handle to Luger and beats up the trainer looking at Page’s knee. Nash wants a tag but Savage doesn’t seem all that interested.

Hogan yells at Savage to make him tag, but once Nash comes in he throws Savage to the floor. For some reason this earns Savage more yelling from Hogan as the video cuts out yet again. Nash hits a knee to Luger’s ribs in the corner before going back to Savage and slapping him in the face. Savage goes up top to dive on Nash but Hogan gets in the way. Luger gets back up and hits the forearm on Nash as Hogan comes in for the DQ.

Rating: N/A. The match was only about three and a half minutes long and about a minute of that was spent looking at a graphic of the arena so it’s not fair to rate the little I saw. This was all about drama as Page was on the floor for the entire match and a lot of the “action” was spent on Nash and Savage’s problems.

Post match Luger puts Hogan and Nash in the Rack but Savage makes the save (it’s not clear if he was aiming for Luger or Nash). Savage holds Luger for a shot from Hogan but Hollywood kicks savage in the ribs instead. They go nose to nose as Giant comes out to chokeslam Hogan (in theory as the video went out again) before getting in Nash’s face. The NWO comes out for the beatdown but Sting and Luger clean house to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. Really annoying technical difficulties aside, this did a good job of advancing the NWO stories leading up to Souled Out. Also unlike last week, this show actually built on what we saw on Nitro rather than starting something new. There’s decent wrestling and good angle advancement here so there isn’t much to complain about on the second episode.

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Monday Nitro #122
Date: January 12, 1998
Location: Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum, Jacksonville, Florida
Attendance: 8,718
Commentators: Larry Zbyszko, Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan

A lot has changed in just a week as Sting is no longer the world champion. The title was stripped on Thursday and is being held up, pending action by the WCW board of directors. We’ll likely hear more on that tonight as we move closer to Souled Out. As for the wrestling on tonight’s show, the main event is the Steiner Brothers defending the tag titles against the Outsiders. Let’s get to it.

We open with a clip from Thunder of Sting throwing the title down and telling Hogan that he’s a dead man.

The show is still two hours at this point. The three hour episodes begin after Souled Out.

Larry talks about history repeating itself and empires crumbling.

We look at the end of last week’s show with the NWO seemingly imploding, only to be perfectly fine on Thunder.

Gene is in the parking lot waiting for the NWO to arrive. The limo pulls up and Nash says that he was putting out a fire last week when he punched Savage. Nash says that Savage doesn’t want a part of them. Why did Gene have two microphones for that segment?

Goldberg vs. Jerry Flynn

Flynn fires off kicks to start but Goldberg easily takes him down into a leg lock. Jerry tries an armbreaker but is easily lifted up into a powerbomb to break the hold. Spear and Jackhammer and we’re done in like 80 seconds. BIG pop for Goldberg on the win.

Nitro Girls time, including a new one named Whisper. She would later be known as Mrs. Shawn Michaels.

Black Cat vs. Marty Jannetty

Jannetty has generic rock music which be used later for Van Hammer during his singles heel push. Black Cat is a Mexican wrestler apparently most famous for his time in Japan. Tenay claims he trained Great Muta, Masahiro Chono and Jushin Thunder Liger. I can’t find anything to back that up but it’s very impressive if true. Tony calls this a tag team match as Jannetty drops Cat with a single right hand.

A flapjack puts Marty down as Tony claims that Sting is still the world champion. Jannetty hits a superkick followed by some forearms, only to have his backdrop countered into an implant DDT for two. Marty comes right back with a spinebuster and the Rocker Dropper (called the Showstopper here) is good for the pin.

Rating: D. This didn’t work at all. There was no chemistry whatsoever and neither guy seemed interested in selling the others’ moves. You could call this a total contrast of styles for lack of a better term. At the same time though, this is WCW’s strong suit: having such a big roster that they could throw a random pairing out there like these guys to draw in a few extra fans. That’s smart business.

Hall, Savage, Liz and Tenzan arrive in another limo. Savage says there are no problems in the NWO and wants to know what Nash said.

Dean Malenko vs. Chris Benoit

Dean cranks on the wrist to start as the Flock is watching in the crowd. A rollup gets two for Dean and it’s a standoff. Benoit runs him over with a shoulder block and fires off some chops in the corner to take over. Dean comes back with a clothesline and a chinlock, only to have Benoit drop him with a jawbreaker. Benoit gets two off a clothesline and chinlock of his own in a nice mirroring sequence. Dean fights up and hiptosses Benoit down before hooking a short arm scissors.

Benoit fights up with the power counter ala Backlund or Davey Boy Smith depending on which generation you’re from and drops Dean down on his back for two. They trade reverse suplex attempts until Dean takes him down with a German suplex. Benoit counters the Cloverleaf into a small package for two and Dean escapes the Crossface. A sunset flip gets two for Dean and the counter rollup gets the same for Benoit. Dean tries a victory roll but gets dropped on his face, allowing Benoit to hook the Crossface for the tap out.

Rating: B+. This was one of the better TV matches WCW had in awhile. You had two guys in there working hard and moving very smoothly out there with both guys countering everything the other guy could throw at each other. Malenko was on Benoit’s level here and it’s clear that Benoit is ready for a war with Raven in a few weeks.

The Flock hits the ring before Malenko is even done tapping and lays out Benoit. Malenko and Raven have a staredown but Saturn jumps Dean to protect his leader.

Here’s JJ Dillon to look at Savage jumping Bischoff to end the show last week. JJ talks about enforcing the fine on Lex Luger on Thunder and fines Savage $5000 for attacking Bischoff, who is still a WCW official. Savage runs out and grabs JJ by the shirt. Bischoff comes out to play peacekeeper and offers to pay the money. Savage says it’s the principal of the thing and still wants to know what Nash said.

More Nitro Girls.

Here’s DDP for a chat. Page says he’s jacked in Jacksonville because this Thursday on Thunder, it’s Page/Luger vs. Nash/Savage. Apparently the NWO isn’t for life, but neither were Liz and Randy. Page’s words, not mine. Page says on Thursday, Savage and Nash will hear the crackle from the Rack and then feel the bang.

TV Title: Perry Saturn vs. Booker T

Tony screws up again by saying that Raven is challenging here instead of Saturn. Saturn pounds away on the champion to start but a side kick sends Perry out to the floor. Back in and Booker hits a forearm to the head for two followed by a superkick to send Saturn out to the floor. Booker counters a German suplex into a victory roll for two but Saturn ducks a spin kick and suplexes Booker down for two. Booker comes back with some forearms but charges into a boot in the corner. Saturn trips him down and puts his feet on the ropes for the pin and the title in a cheap win.

Rating: D+. Energetic match here but the ending stopped it cold. Booker is on a pretty good roll at this point too so I’m not sure why they would put the title on Saturn out of nowhere like this. You would think if they were going to put the title in the Flock they would have given it to Raven instead of his chief lackey. The match was decent but they didn’t have time to get anywhere.

Actually hang on a second as Rick Martel comes out to tell the referee about the cheating. The match is restarted and Booker hits a quick ax kick and the Harlem Hangover to retain the title.

Post match Booker says he owes Rick one for the help so Martel asks for a title shot. Booker says anytime.

Here are WCW executive Nick Lambros and the Giant with something to say. Nick hasn’t heard a good reason as to why Nash didn’t show up at Starrcade, so Nash is going to have to put up a $1.5 million performance bond for him to show up at Souled Out. If he doesn’t put up the money, Nash is suspended for one year. Also, Eric Bischoff is cut off from Turner money starting tonight. Giant yells about getting Nash to show up but here’s the NWO looking very smug.

Bischoff, Hogan and Nash show up with Hollywood attorney Henry Holmes. Holmes says that he’s spoken with his new client Kevin Nash and they’ll put up the $1.5 million for Souled Out. However, WCW has to put up the same amount and if Giant touches Nash before the PPV, Nash gets the money. Giant says he accepts and Nash gets right in his face to talk some trash. I still love that the sales pitch for this match is “Nash will actually show up this time!”

Video on Savage vs. Luger for Souled Out.

Hour #2 begins.

Hugh Morrus vs. Lex Luger

Tony talks about the Super Bowl as Hugh hits a spinwheel kick to take Lex down. Luger comes back with a powerslam while the announcers talk about Nash vs. Giant. Neither guy can hit a hiptoss and Morrus misses a charge into the buckle. Luger hits some forearms but Morrus runs up the corner for a spinning clothesline off the middle rope. Morrus misses a top rope splash and the Torture Rack ends this quick.

Post match Liz comes out to distract Luger for a surprise attack by Savage. DDP comes out to chase Savage off.

Nitro Girls Part III.

The announcers talk about the problems between the Steiners with Scott being selfish lately. We get a clip from Thunder where Scott left Rick hanging instead of hitting the Steiner Bulldog.

Chris Jericho vs. Steve McMichael

Jericho is looking very condescending as he waves to the fans on the way to the ring. Mongo shoves Jericho into the corner to start. Jericho fires off some forearms but runs into a shoulder block. Mongo pounds away in the corner but runs into a kick in the corner. A missile dropkick puts Mongo down but he pops up for a side slam. Mongo stops to pose on the ropes and gets caught in a middle rope Frankensteiner for two. Steve comes back with a chopblock and a belly to back suplex for no cover again. Jericho is whipped into the corner and tries to jump over Mongo, only to get caught in the tombstone for the pin.

Rating: D. This was angle advancement instead of a match as Jericho’s frustrations continue. Thankfully it seems that Mongo is officially just a guy now instead of having any kind of prominent storyline involvement. The match wasn’t much at all but Jericho is already nailing the heel mannerisms that would make him a bigger star.

Post break Jericho is ranting against the fans for booing him after a loss. He loves being a role model and even though he lost to an inferior opponent, he’s proven he can lose with class. There will never be another outburst like that again. Mysterio’s music cuts Jericho’s talking off.

Cruiserweight Title: Rey Mysterio vs. Juventud Guerrera

Juvy won the title on Thursday at Thunder. Rey gets to the ring and Jericho wants to know why he’s here. Jericho yells at Mysterio for interrupting him but shakes Rey’s hand….before laying him out with a pair of backbreakers and the Liontamer. Juventud comes out to chase Jericho off but then dropkicks Rey to keep his advantage as the match starts. Rey gets a quick rana to buy himself some time but walks into a tombstone. The 450 retains the title in about a minute.

We get the footage from Thunder of JJ stripping Sting of the title.

Here are Hogan and Bischoff with something to say. Bischoff quotes Hogan’s theme song and Hogan talks about Henry Holmes being here to cover the entire NWO. Hollywood brags about being the real champion because everyone says he is, and Holmes is going to prove that Hogan is champion in federal court. Well it’s better there than a wrestling ring I suppose.

Video on Bret Hart arriving in WCW and screwing over the NWO at Starrcade. He and Flair have a match at Starrcade to decide who the best is.

Gene brings out Jim Neidhart who can’t believe Flair’s statements about Bret Hart. This brings out Flair who respects Neidhart but won’t stand for Neidhart saying that Bret is a better wrestler than he is. Neidhart says it again and Flair says that he’s the Davy Crockett of this new wild frontier. Both guys take their jackets off but Flair goes to the back to get his gear while Neidhart goes to the ring.

Flair comes back and there’s a referee in the ring as well. Neidhart charges into a right hand which appears to have brass knuckles on it. The referee is decked as well and there’s a Figure Four around the post on Neidhart. Bret runs out for the save and a quick brawl with Flair. This wasn’t a match but the angle advancement is a good idea.

Souled Out ad.

Nitro Girls the fourth.

Video of a fan’s Nitro Party.

Tag Titles: Outsiders vs. Steiner Brothers

This is billed as a unification match but the NWO Tag Titles were never official, meaning the Steiners are the only champions coming in. As a side note: why are there so many people named Scott in this company? Scott Norton, Scott Steiner, Scott Hall, Scotty Riggs, and they’re always in tag matches against each other around this time. Hogan comes out with the Outsiders. The fans seem to be on WCW’s side in the survey.

The Scotts start things off as we hear that Flair has been fined for the attack on Neidhart a few moments ago. Scott Steiner throws Hall’s toothpick back at him and shoves Hall down with pure power. Hall drives some shoulders into the other Scott but gets shoved into the Steiner corner and ping ponged back and forth with right hands. Hall gets powerbombed down and Nash is caught in a double suplex to send the challengers retreating. Randy Savage is at ringside as well.

The fans want Sting but get an an intense talk between Savage and Hogan instead. Back in and it’s Rick vs. Hall with both guys pounding away in the corner. Off to Nash for the first time to drive knees into Rick’s ribs. Rick gets a boot up in the corner and a middle rope clothesline gets two. Back to Scott Steiner who gets clotheslined down before it’s back to Hall. A chokeslam puts Scott Steiner down but he comes back with a quick belly to belly suplex for two on Hall.

Back to Rick who cranks on a leg lock before shifting to a half crab. Hall fights up and brings Nash back in, only to have him caught in a leg crank of his own. Nash comes right back for Snake Eyes (not bad a mere three weeks after missing the biggest show of the year because of a knee injury) but Rick slips down his back. Rick loads up the Steiner Bulldog but Hogan crotches him before Rick can jump. Scott Steiner goes after Hogan as Hall hits the fallaway slam for two on Rick.

Things settle down and Nash gets two off the side slam. Rick fights back against Hall but Nash knees him in the back. Scott Steiner argues with the referee and Rick bumps into said referee as everything breaks down. Nash covers Rick but Savage goes up for the elbow on Kevin, but the big man moves and the elbow hits Rick, giving the Outsiders the pin and the titles back.

Rating: C. The match was decent enough, likely due to these teams fighting each other so many times over the years. With all the NWO big shots at ringside it was hard to imagine the Outsiders not taking the belts back but it’s nice to see Hogan slumming it with the tag titles. The fans make a good point though: where was Sting? Their big hero and savior can’t even come out for a save here or at least come out an even the odds a bit?

Hogan and Nash yell at Savage to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. In an unusual case for Nitro, the main event stuff was one of the better parts of the show. Souled Out is looking better and better on paper every week with Flair vs. Hart having one of the best builds I can remember in a long time. On top of that you get a very good match from Benoit and Malenko and you have a solid half of the show.

Unfortunately the other half had to be here too and it brought things down. The rest of the show was either too short to mean much or a lot of stupid talking. Do we really need to bring in some big name lawyer to decide Giant vs. Nash and spent ten minutes talking about performance bonds? Wait it’s WCW so of course we do, and we have to have real businessmen and attorneys doing the talking instead of actors/people that know how to talk. It’s a decent show for the most part and it went by very fast this week.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Starrcade from Amazon for just $4 at:

Clash of the Champions 2: Miami Mayhem
Date: June 8, 1988
Location: James L. Knight Center, Miami, Florida
Attendance: 2,400
Commentators: Bob Caudle, Tony Schiavone

It’s the second show in this series and the main event, while still a big match, isn’t quite Sting vs. Flair for the title. Instead Sting and Dusty are teaming up to take on Arn and Tully for the tag titles. They really didn’t know what they were doing yet with this stuff so it’s kind of hard to know what to expect. We’re building to Bash 88 here so there’s that to look forward to. Let’s get to it.

Various people are here, namely being “celebrities” that aren’t really celebrities.

Ah let’s make sure to talk about the NWA promoters because the NWA actually thinks that either they mean something or that anyone other than them cares.

It’s going to be really hard to take Tony seriously with that mustache. He and Bob run down the card.

US Title: Barry Windham vs. Brad Armstrong

Barry is champion here of course and would hold the title for about 9 months and is a Horseman here. Feeling out process to start as we look at a random sign in the audience instead of an armdrag by Brad. Now let’s look at Dillon in the middle of a move. Are these guys following the TNA playbook for camera cuts? Brad gets a slam and Barry chills on the floor a bit.

Headlock takeover by Brad as we hit the mat. After a solid sequence on the mat, Barry heads into the corner to hide as this is taking its sweet time. Windham starts using his power but can’t hit a big elbow. Crowd is red hot here. Off to the headlock to waste some time and QUIT CUTTING TO THE FREAKING CROWD!!! It’s like this show has ADD or something.

Big slam hits as this is almost all Armstrong. Off to another chinlock as they keep getting going and then stopping which is rather annoying. Windham gets out of the way and the Horseman takes over. Powerslam gets two. Figure four goes on because when you have a monster like Windham, the right thing is to have him use a submission hold on a body part he hasn’t touched all match. This is what we mean by bad psychology.

You know Teddy, if you actually watched the wrestlers you might see something happen. I guess he looks at Dillon’s hair and gets jealous or something. This hold goes on longer than should be humanly possible but that’s wrestling for you I guess. This hold has been on for over two minutes now. Windham is either really bad at this hold or Armstrong has legs of steel.

JJ tries to cheat for about the tenth time so the referee finally breaks it. Slam sets up Barry to go up top, only to miss a big elbow. Brad fires off and the fans are loving this. Top rope cross body gets two. Brad tries a second one but Barry rolls through it and grabs the Claw, his EVIL finisher, for the pin. That was a pretty sweet ending actually.

Rating: C+. Not bad here overall with the fans making this a lot better. The figure four in the middle kills it but the times where they were moving out there were really good. The ending helped it a lot as they needed a good ending to carry it through. Not a great match or anything but Armstrong rarely was bad and this was no exception.

Now it’s time for the show to grind to a screeching halt as we plug a sitcom about wrestling with a football player that will air this fall. It’s called Learning the Ropes which is about a teacher that moonlights as a wrestler and the NWA guys were on the show also. Now here are some of the issues: first of all the football player playing the main character stood about 6’7 and had a dark complexion (white, but with darker skin). He was played by the nearly pale and 6’1 Dr. Death Steve Williams for his matches as he wrestled in a mask as a jobber to the stars. Somehow, this lasted a whole season. The 80s never stop amazing me.

Anyway we’re told that the wrestlers are great athletes and how some of them are better athletes than the football players. We get a clip of the show which is more like a promo for it than a clip. This couldn’t be more 80s if they tried. Naturally this needs to be shown for so much time on Clash of the Champions right?

The Rock N Roll Express return to the company and will be at the Bash. They say they’re awesome.

We see Luger and Flair signing their contract for the title match on a yacht. There are a bunch of NWA guys in there and a bunch of business people that own the Chicago Blackhawks apparently. The NWA never quite got the idea of TV did they? The signing is nothing and they both say nothing of note. Total waste of time here.

The Horsemen arrive, 40 minutes into the show. Granted we’re just told this because we don’t need to see it right?

Back and the Horsemen haven’t arrived yet. Oh ok the Horsemen are but Flair is just getting here. THEN WHY ARE THEY ALL IN FLAIR’S LIMO??? Geez people figure out the basic stuff here. Flair says the Horsemen will keep the titles tonight.

US Tag Titles: Sheepherders vs. Fantastics

The Fantastics are champions here and are Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers. The Sheepherders would soon jump to the WWF and change their names to the Bushwhackers. Here though they’re insane heels and rather brutal. They have a flag bearer named Rip Morgan. Luger is just getting here so let’s cut to that before the match starts. The Horsemen jump him and annihilate him, ramming his head into the car and busting him open, which would play a big role in their title match.

Oh hey it’s time for the match. So were the wrestlers just chilling there? I’d bet on a tiddlywinks tournament. Rogers and Butch start us off. Off to Luke almost immediately who gets cross bodied for two. Off to Fulton and the beating begins. We get a weird moment where the Sheepherders can’t figure out who is legal so Fulton just stands there. Out to the floor and everything breaks down. Morgan gets a flag shot in so Fulton drills him.

Fulton vs. Luke in the ring now and Luke takes him down. In theory that is because the camera cut to the crowd to show us that there are in fact people still in the building. Rogers and Luke botch something completely and make what I think was supposed to be a crucifix almost a rollup. Rogers flips through a backdrop and lands on his feet. Everything breaks down again and the Fantastics clear the ring.

Butch vs. Rogers now with Butch taking over. It’s so weird to see him as an evil guy. Off to the chinlock which doesn’t last long. We hit an abdominal stretch as the Sheepherders cheat a lot. Rogers runs into a knee for two. The official time is all over the place as they go from start to five minutes in about four and from five to ten in about three. Fulton comes in and gets stomped down IMMEDIATELY.

Luke hammers away on Fulton as this has been one extreme to the other which is kind of a weird thing to see. Fulton fires back and takes Luke down a few times and knocks Butch down as well but it’s not enough for a tag yet. Here’s another weird part of the match as Fulton takes both Sheepherders down with a cross body and covers both guys. Rogers comes back in and covers both at once again with the referee seeming all cool with it. Both of the Fantastics keep covering both Sheepherders and everyone is cool with this. Weird indeed.

The Sheepherders bail for a bit as this has been more or less a mess. We get an actual tag by the Fantastics and Rogers works on Luke’s arm. Rogers gets knocked to the floor and might have hit his head. Butch throws him into the railing and Tommy takes a belt shot to the back. Where in the world is the referee during all this? After about 12 minutes of wrestling we’re told we’re 15 minutes in.

Chair to the back of Rogers with the referee like a foot away is missed as Rogers has been on the floor for like two minutes now. Back in and there’s STILL no referee for the cover. Heel miscommunication sees Butch hit Luke with a middle rope double axe handle. That goes nowhere because the Sheepherders won’t sell anything. Rogers gets a clothesline and that gets him nowhere at all AGAIN. Rogers rams their heads together and it’s off to Fulton. A rollup to Luke gets the pin that Butch probably broke it up anyway because they needed to end this I guess.

Rating: D. This was weird to say the least. They seemed rather confused out there and the Sheepherders wouldn’t sell a single thing. This would have been far better if they cut this down by about ten minutes but they have to have about 15 minutes a match in the NWA in this era. Not a good match at all which is rare for the Fantastics who I’m a fan of.

Dr. Death sits in on commentary for the next match. He rambles about Luger being awesome and sounds drunk.

Ronnie Garvin/Jimmy Garvin vs. Mike Rotundo/Rick Steiner

It’s Varsity Club time and the Gamesmaster Kevin Sullivan will be in a cage at ringside. There’s a big ordeal going on with the Garvin’s manager Precious and Sullivan which was never really resolved but was getting rather weird indeed. Just a grudge match here. Oh and Rotundo/a is the TV Champion. Steiner is the Florida champion which means nothing. He’s also a clueless putz.

Once again before the match we stop to talk about Luger and cut to Ross because that’s the guy we go to for a big moment I guess. And let’s just reair the thing because no one wants to see this tag match right? Back from a break and it’s a huge brawl. The Garvins hit a double sleeper on both guys before they get sent to the floor. The Varsity guys that is. Sullivan keeps looking at Precious and has something in his coat for her. They’re papers apparently. From what I understand this was supposed to result in an abortion storyline and that was WAY too hardcore for the 80s so it was dropped.

Ronnie gets two on Rick in the ring. Jimmy gets a hammerlock on Rick as we talk about Luger even more. There’s talk of the Tower of Doom which was one of if not the biggest mess you’ll ever see. Sullivan keeps pulling out papers that he wants to show Precious who keeps staring her down and she agrees to something or other. Oh and there’s a tag match going on too.

She has the key to the cage apparently. Rotundo works on Ronnie’s arm as Williams says he’s going to wrestle Rotundo later. Jimmy keeps running off to fight Sullivan even though he’s in a cage. The Varsity guys keep working on Ronnie’s arm as the match means nothing at all. Jimmy finally comes in and beats on Rick for a bit but that might be too interesting so let’s go with a front facelock for awhile.

This is an incredibly boring match as just like almost every match so far tonight they’ve been given way too much time. This is a two hour show and there are five matches. Since there are very few entrances and more or less no long term promos, there’s way too much time in these matches. Ronnie rolls up Rick for two. Off to Rotundo and since Garvin is the worst former world champion ever, Rotundo takes over with relative ease.

The Varsity Club works over Ron as we see Sullivan with the paper again. This needs to end and it needs to end very soon. The tag rope is used to choke Ron and he gets sent to the floor. Everything breaks down again and it’s Rick vs. Jimmy in the ring. Precious goes over to Sullivan who steals the key. Jimmy hits a brainbuster to win over Rick and Precious goes for the papers. Sullivan goes after her and Steve Williams makes the save.

Rating: D. Another match that is boring and way too long, although to be fair with the story being Precious and Sullivan there’s only so much that they can do. Not an interesting match as if you’re going to have a match as a backdrop for a story, don’t have the match be nearly 15 minutes long. Didn’t work at all.

Post match Precious pushes Jimmy away and leaves on her own. To say this was a mess was an understatement.

Road Warriors vs. Powers of Pain in a scaffold match is announced. This would never happen as the Powers jumped to the WWF because they didn’t want to have a scaffold match due to fear of that pesky death thing.

We talk about the Tower of Doom now because we need to waste more time I guess.

Al Perez vs. Nikita Koloff

Koloff you’ve probably heard of. Perez is a heel that is of no consequence for the most part. This is a challenge/grudge match or something like that. They stare each other down for awhile and Nikita shoves him around a lot. Nikita dominates here in one of the least interesting matches I’ve ever seen. The announcers just talk about the Horsemen to fill in time.

Gary Hart, Perez’s manager, interferes and Perez takes over for a bit. This is one of those matches that just keeps going and going with no one caring in the slightest. Hart interferes again and this keeps staying in first gear at best. After Nikita stays on the floor for a bit we hit the chinlock back in the ring. Camel clutch goes on and Koloff gets an electric chair drop to escape.

Koloff is knocked to the floor again because we haven’t been out there long enough in this never ending match yet right? Perez can’t suplex him so Nikita gets one of his own. Nikita makes his comeback and hammers away in the corner before he sends Perez to the floor. And here’s Larry Zbyszko to run in for the DQ and triple beatdown.

Rating: F. End this show already. Another boring match here with a stupid ending that was given about 8 minutes too long which makes the wrestling really boring in the process. This feud of course went nowhere and no one cared, but that’s the NWA for you. No wonder they went out of business.

World Tag Titles: Tully Blanchard/Arn Anderson vs. Sting/Dusty Rhodes

No entrance for the champions. Sting and Arn to start with Sting frustrating him badly. Sting works on the arm as we praise Dusty for no apparent reason. Off to Tully and Sting abuses him a bit too. Dusty, the STAR here I guess, comes in and beats on Tully a bit also. Tully does his usual great selling and it’s time for a figure four by Dusty who of course butchers the thing.

Arn gets a shot in and the Horsemen take over. Clothesline takes Tully down. Oh wait he’s from Texas so it’s a lariat. Off to Sting who cleans a few rooms. He tries the Scorpion on Blanchard but the Horsemen fight him off and send him into the post on the floor. Arn misses a Vader Bomb but Tully stops the tag.

Time to work on the arm which is pure Horsemen to put it mildly. Arn DDTs him on the floor which should kill Sting but JJ throws him back in. Nice guy that JJ. In an unintentionally funny spot, a DDT on the floor gets a one count. That’s just amusing. Backslide gets two for Sting and it’s a collision with him and Tully. Tag off to Dusty and everything breaks down. Dusty shoves the referee and the whole thing is thrown out as Windham, Rhodes’ future opponent, runs in to put the Claw on Dusty. The Horsemen beat down everyone and stand tall to end the show.

Rating: D+. This was just there and another thrown out ending makes my eyes roll a lot. Sting wouldn’t do much for the rest of the year and Dusty would of course get a title somehow. Flair would hold the title forever and this whole feud with Luger would drag on for years with Luger never getting the pin over Flair. Almost a token main event here which isn’t a good thing at all.

Overall Rating: D-. Oh jeez this got bad in a hurry. The last hour is just mind numbingly uninteresting. Nothing really happens here and there are no long term implications of anything really. The Bash had nothing of note happening on it either as the champions were all the same by Starrcade. Weak show and a bad followup to the great first edition of this. The same problem runs through this whole show: WAY too long matches because the NWA thought long meant good, which was rarely the case.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Starrcade from Amazon at:

Thunder
Date: January 8, 1998
Location: Ocean Center, Daytona Beach, Florida
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Lee Marshall, Bobby Heenan

Due to the success of 1997, WCW decided to add another show to it’s TV schedule so here’s their new idea. Tonight is a souped up show as debuts often are, as we have a Cruiserweight Title match, an update on the world title situation after the debacle at Starrcade, and the Larry Zbyszko vs. Eric Bischoff match from Starrcade in full, which I’m sure wouldn’t get on the nerves of the fans who paid for the show. Let’s get to it.

The announcers talk about how they’re sure Sting is the world champion.

Randy Savage is supposed to be in the opening match but he isn’t here yet. Instead, here’s a clip from Nitro of the NWO arriving in two different limos. We also get Bischoff saying there are no problems.

Tony shows us a clip of the attorney from Nitro (a week ago according to him, which is Tony speak for three days ago) saying that anyone, either WCW or NWO, who violates a WCW policy will be fined and/or suspended. Nick Patrick was suspended at least until tonight to show us that WCW was serious.

Now we see the end of Nitro with the NWO getting in a fight to end the show.

Chris Adams vs. Randy Savage

Adams is a British guy who trained Steve Austin and brought the superkick to America. That’s more or less the extent of his major accomplishments but he’s in the first match ever on Thunder for some reason. Savage jumps him from behind as we hear about WCW never losing Nitro in the first place. Adams is sent to the outside so Savage can drop him on the barricade. Chris comes back with a whip into the post and gets back in which distracts the referee, allowing Luger to come out and cave in Savage’s head with a chair. Adams gets the pin to open the show with a huge upset.

JJ Dillon comes out but we go to a break before anything can happen.

Here are Hogan and Bischoff with something to say. Something I forgot to mention earlier: the set is a big stone wall that had an opening broken into it by some lightning earlier. Shouldn’t the show be called WCW Lightning then? Actually Thunder is perfect: it’s a bunch of noise with nothing of substance. It’s perfect for WCW at this point.

Hogan and Bischoff take forever to get to the ring where Bischoff introduces Hogan as the world champion. Apparently every good looking woman on the beach said that Hogan was the real world champion and tonight we’ll see the tape proving it. Hollywood is the only heavyweight champion in the world and he’s just too big and too tanned.

Here’s JJ again to say that Randy Savage wins the match because of Luger’s interference. Luger comes out and rants against JJ because only now is WCW doing anything after a year and a half of the NWO doing whatever they want. He says that WCW is going to band together and do whatever they want. Point for keeping continuity at least.

Louis Spicolli vs. Rick Martel

Louis cranks on the arm to start but is quickly sent to the floor with a clothesline. Back in and a few dropkicks send Spicolli right back to the floor. They get back in again and Spicolli pounds him down as the Flock heads to their seats. Martel fires off a cross body for two and a left hand to the ribs to stagger Louis. Another dropkick misses but Martel punches Spicolli down and hooks the Quebec Crab for the win.

Rating: D+. For a guy who hasn’t been around in years, Martel really does look smooth out there. At first I wasn’t wild on him coming back as he was just Rick Martel: guy in leather jacket, but they’re pushing him as someone with ring experience who can beat guys with relative ease, which is actually working for him.

We get a clip from Starrcade of Hall saying Nash wouldn’t be there, earning a beating from Giant in the process. I still don’t get why they didn’t just have Hall be a replacement as he would be more than adequate to fill in.

Tenzan vs. Ohara

Tenzan is a guy from Japan who is apparently part of the NWO. Tenay talks about how Ohara is like Ray Traylor as he was thrown out of the Japanese NWO and is now a freedom fighter. He pounds away on Tenzan to start but gets slammed down. The fans don’t seem pleased as Tenzan hits a spinwheel kick for no cover. Ohara comes back with a clothesline and powerbomb for two but gets caught in a middle rope chop. Tenzan hits a swan dive to end a quick match.

We get another clip from Nitro of the very good Bret and Flair segment where they argue over who is better and say each others’ catchphrases.

Ric Flair vs. Chris Jericho

Before the match, Jericho apologizes for his recent behavior and to present Penzer with another new suit jacket. Flair takes him into the corner to start and there’s our first WOO. Jericho takes it to the mat with a headlock and a monkey flip sends Flair down. Chris takes too much time though and gets poked in the eye by the master, giving Flair control.

A clothesline puts Flair back down though and there’s the Flair Flip in the corner. Jericho dropkicks him off the apron before Flair can run to the top but the Lionsault misses as Flair gets back in. Flair asks for the time and hits a low blow before stomping away a bit. Jericho hits a quick backdrop and a top rope elbow for two but a missile dropkick misses. Figure Four ends Jericho quick.

Rating: C-. This was a glorified squash for Flair but he looked very smooth out there which is a good thing for Jericho. At this point, Jericho was nowhere near what he would become so a match with Flair was one of the best things that could happen to him. That’s what veterans are supposed to do and Flair did it more than almost anyone.

Jericho freaks out again post match.

Giant vs. Meng

As Meng comes out, Tony announces Flair vs. Bret for Souled Out and yes, he says it might be the biggest announcement in the history of our sport. Meng hits a clothesline but gets caught in a powerslam to put him down. A backdrop puts Meng down and Giant vs. Nash is announced for the PPV as well. Tony basically says that it’ll actually happen this time, which is a pretty pathetic way to push a match. “Remember last time when we said it would happen and it didn’t? Well this is nothing like that and we’ll actually do what we say!” Meng avoids a splash and fires off some strikes, only to be chokeslammed down for the fast pin.

Goldberg vs. Steve McMichael

It’s just Goldberg now. Mongo goes after him on the floor to start and whips Goldberg into the steps before heading in to be stomped. A gorilla press powerslam puts Mongo down and there’s a rolling leg lock for good measure. Mongo gets to the rope and goes after the leg as well before hitting a middle rope clothesline for two. McMichael calls for the tombstone but gets caught in the spear and Jackhammer for the pin. Heenan points out that Goldberg is undefeated.

Tag Titles: Steiner Brothers vs. Buff Bagwell/Konnan

Scott and Buff start things off and it’s time to pose. Buff takes him down with a hiptoss but Scott drills him with some clothesline and a tiger bomb. Konnan is knocked to the floor as well and it’s time to stall. Off to Konnan vs. Rick with Konnan being rammed stomach first into the buckle, only to take Rick down with a clothesline. Back to Buff who jumps right into a belly to belly and it’s a double tag to bring Scott back in. Everything breaks down and Rick loads up the bulldog, but Scott goes to the other corner for the Frankensteiner for the pin to retain.

Rating: D+. Nothing to see here but the main idea is the Steiners having issues. That’s probably the best move as the Steiners had been a big deal for about nine years at this point, so there wasn’t much else that could be done with the team. Scott had been the one WCW wanted to push for years anyway so it really isn’t surprising when you think about it.

Here’s Larry Zbyszko vs. Eric Bischoff from Starrcade to tick off the fans and fill in time, because if there’s one thing WCW doesn’t have, it’s a roster big enough to fill in a full show.

Bret Hart comes out to be guest referee. There’s no pyro, there’s no big entrance, there’s nothing but generic music and Bret casually walking to the ring. The theory is that he’s in the NWO but that’s never been confirmed yet.

 

Eric Bischoff vs. Larry Zbyszko

 

This should have been Hall vs. Larry, as those two had been talking trash to each other for months. However, Larry only gets Hall if he beats Eric here tonight. If Eric wins, the NWO controls Nitro. Larry is in good shape here considering he’s 46 and hasn’t wrestled regularly in about five years. Bret checks them for weapons and we’re ready to go. Bischoff has the body of a 15 year old girl. He is however a black belt in karate so you can expect a lot of striking.

 

Bischoff hits a quick shot to Larry’s head and immediately celebrates. More strikes follow and Eric heads out to the floor for consultation with Hall. Back in and Larry hits some shots of his own and Eric is scared. Larry goes after him again and Eric hits a spin kick to the side of the head that knocks Larry down. That’s enough for Zbyszko and he charges at Eric and takes him down to the mat. Bret admonishes him for pulling Eric’s hair, so Larry puts on a sleeper and a headscissors, both of which are broken up for being chokes.

 

Off to a standing figure four but Eric quickly makes a rope. The damage is done though and Larry goes after the leg. Makes sense against a karate guy. Bret keeps Larry away from Eric and the announcers PANIC. Imagine that: a referee following the rules. Eric is sent into the steps and takes a brief walk around the ring. Back in and Bret blocks a right hand from Larry, allowing Eric to get in a kick to the head. Bischoff fires more kicks with Larry on the ropes, although Bret is fine with them.

 

Eric is starting to kick himself out though as the kicks are getting weaker and weaker each time. Now he fires rights and lefts in the corner as Larry is just covering up. Eric can barely move now and Larry shakes everything off. A suplex puts Bischoff down and Larry ties him in the Tree of Woe. Hall pulls something out of his pocket and loads it into Eric’s shoe, WITH BRET LOOKING RIGHT AT THEM. I mean, he knows what’s going on so why not LOOK THE OTHER WAY???

 

Anyway, Eric kicks him in the head with the loaded foot and the piece of metal goes flying. Bret isn’t supposed to see it, despite watching it fly through the air. Eric celebrates, so Bret hits both Bischoff and Hall before putting Hall in the Sharpshooter, which is Bret’s version of the Scorpion Deathlock. Larry chokes Eric for a bit and is declared the winner, presumably by DQ.

 

Rating: F. This was in the second to last spot on the biggest show of the year and featured the boss of the company who has no skill whatsoever in the ring. Larry did fine all things considered, but to waste this spot on this match and to waste BRET HART’s in ring debut on this match is absolutely ridiculous in every sense of the word.

Back on Thunder now here’s Larry to talk about his match with Hall at Souled Out. Larry talks about how he understands why Hall hates his guts after Larry took Hall so far ten years ago. Now instead of being a world champion, Hall is on the ship of fools heading towards Larry Land. Larry can still bench press 405lbs, drive to the golf course and shoot a 73 and then beat Hall from one side of the ring to the other. He’s wrestled in front of royalty around the world and just like he did in 1980, he’ll change the NWO at Souled Out. This was actually a pretty decent promo and I remembered it from when I watched this live.

We recap Ray Traylor being thrown out of the NWO and beaten down by Hogan.

Ray Traylor vs. Scott Hall

Traylor shoves him down to start but Hall comes back with the driving shoulder blocks. He slaps Ray in the back of the head and gets sent into the corner and pounding away for his efforts. A corner splash crushes Hall and it’s off to a bearhug to waste some time. The referee takes a shot to the eye so we head to the floor for a bit with Hall hitting Traylor in the face with his NWO tag title belt. That’s only good for two and the middle rope bulldog gets the same for Hall. Scott heads to the floor to grab a chair but Larry comes out to stop him. The distraction lets Traylor hit the Boss Man Slam for the upset pin.

Rating: D+. The match was barely anything but it did advance the Larry vs. Hall feud so I can’t complain all that much. I’m not sure how many people wanted to see Zbyszko vs. Hall but at least it was a feud that had the time to build up for a few months. Speaking of having the time, can we get a match to last five minutes tonight?

Cruiserweight Title: Juventud Guerrera vs. Ultimo Dragon

Dragon is defending. Apparently Scott Steiner has been fined $5000 for hitting the referee during the tag match. The announcers didn’t even notice it so it’s likely a bit extreme. Feeling out process to start with both guys hitting some quick strikes until Juvy hits a springboard spinwheel kick for two. Guerrera misses a splash in the corner and gets stomped down as we actually talk about the match for a bit. Actually scratch that as it’s time to talk about Starrcade a bit more.

Dragon misses a handspring elbow in the corner as the fans think this is boring. Juvy loads up a top rope rana but gets crotched to the floor instead. Dragon hits a moonsault to the floor but injures his knee in the process. They head back in and Dragon hits a release German suplex for two but the top rope rana is countered again. Juvy knocks him to the mat but dives into a dropkick fro Dragon, only to come back with a quick DDT. The Juvy Driver sets up the 450 for the pin and a new champion.

Rating: C. Pretty slow paced stuff here as their high spots weren’t connecting all that well. Dragon only held the belt for about eight days here so it’s kind of hard to care about the title changing this fast. It’s not a bad match but again at just under five minutes we didn’t have time to get invested in it at all.

Here’s Bret Hart for a chat. Bret says that he’s called himself the best there is, was and ever will be and he means it and he’s meant it every time. He’s accomplished a lot over his career but now he has to prove himself all over again. Bret isn’t going to stop calling himself the best ever….and here’s Flair with a rebuttal. Ric talks about how he’s heard from a thousand people since last week (what’s with that? It was three days ago, not last week but people have been saying it all show long) that they want to hear Bret say his catchphrase to Flair’s face.

Bret does just that, sending Flair into a rant about how Bret used to sit in the front row with a box of popcorn wanting to be like Ric Flair. Bret has been a five time WWF Champion, but while he was doing that, Flair was wrestling Brody in Singapore for an hour. Not exactly but Flair is on a roll so I can forgive him. Flair yells about how he’s been around the world but Bret says he’ll have to beat the man to prove that he’s the man. Ric says it’s not just beating the man, but it’s staying the man. More good stuff here, questionable history aside.

Lex Luger vs. Scott Norton

Norton jumps him on the floor to start before heading inside for a clothesline. A backbreaker puts Luger down but a splash misses in the corner. Luger vs. Savage is announced for the PPV and here’s Buff for a distraction. Norton hits the shoulder breaker for two but Luger comes back with the forearm. The Rack ends Norton quick in a rare loss for him.

Bagwell gets Racked too as Savage comes in, only to be chased off by Luger as well.

We get the video from Starrcade of the “fast count” and it’s just not fast no matter how they look at it.

We get the long awaited footage from Nitro, which shows the referee going down and being replaced by Nick Patrick (who was suspended earlier on Nitro), who counts three on Sting as Hogan rolls him up with a handful of tights. Hogan and Sting keep fighting because that’s just what they do, so Sting makes Hogan give up in the Scorpion, which counts now because the original referee never called for the bell, which is the exact same thing that happened at Starrcade but this is almost over so I’m not going to think about it that hard. JJ comes out and gets decked by Bischoff, causing a huge brawl between WCW and the NWO.

Back live again with JJ in the ring for his decision. Before the decision is announced we need Hogan in the ring. Naturally he brings out about five guys (to no music for some reason) for the big meeting. JJ also asks Sting to come to the ring and bring the belt. The official decision is that the title is vacant until they can make an official decision. Sting says JJ has no guts and that Hogan is a dead man, which is the first thing he’s said in a year (ignoring what he said at Starrcade of course). Heenan swears this is a victory for the NWO because that’s what you do when anything happens in WCW.

US Title: Diamond Dallas Page vs. Kevin Nash

Hogan comes out with Nash (despite both guys being in the ring for the previous segment) as Tony swears that we’ll stay with the show no matter what, a mere ten minutes after we saw footage from a match that ended after Nitro went off the air. Page cranks on the arm to start but Nash elbows him down. The champ gets two off a swinging neckbreaker but Nash goes to Page’s eternally injured ribs to take over.

A clothesline in the corner has Page down again and the side slam gets two. Nash pounds on him in the corner and sends Page outside for more very slow pounding. Page is sent into the steps as Hogan tells him to give up. Back in and Nash hits Snake Eyes and an elbow drop for two. Page fights out of another Snake Eyes attempt and loads up the Diamond Cutter but Hogan hits him in the ribs for the DQ.

Rating: D+. We were clearly just killing time until the DQ here which is the case in almost all WCW main events anymore. Hogan being out there was kind of surprising as it could have been any WCW goon for the same ending. Also any bets on there being no mention of a fine to Hogan for doing the same thing Luger did earlier?

Post match Giant comes out to break up a Jackknife and brawls with Nash to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. Take everything that was good about Nitro from this week and throw it out the window. Let’s see: short and mostly meaningless matches, the title situation is a mess (and will get messier) and the NWO’s problems aren’t even mentioned. In other words, the focus is all back on the NWO being some kind of a threat and WCW needing to pull together, which is exactly what it’s been since like March. This show wasn’t terrible, but man was it frustrating.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Starrcade from Amazon for just $4 at:

Thunder
Date: January 8, 1998
Location: Ocean Center, Daytona Beach, Florida
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Lee Marshall, Bobby Heenan

Due to the success of 1997, WCW decided to add another show to it’s TV schedule so here’s their new idea. Tonight is a souped up show as debuts often are, as we have a Cruiserweight Title match, an update on the world title situation after the debacle at Starrcade, and the Larry Zbyszko vs. Eric Bischoff match from Starrcade in full, which I’m sure wouldn’t get on the nerves of the fans who paid for the show. Let’s get to it.

The announcers talk about how they’re sure Sting is the world champion.

Randy Savage is supposed to be in the opening match but he isn’t here yet. Instead, here’s a clip from Nitro of the NWO arriving in two different limos. We also get Bischoff saying there are no problems.

Tony shows us a clip of the attorney from Nitro (a week ago according to him, which is Tony speak for three days ago) saying that anyone, either WCW or NWO, who violates a WCW policy will be fined and/or suspended. Nick Patrick was suspended at least until tonight to show us that WCW was serious.

Now we see the end of Nitro with the NWO getting in a fight to end the show.

Chris Adams vs. Randy Savage

Adams is a British guy who trained Steve Austin and brought the superkick to America. That’s more or less the extent of his major accomplishments but he’s in the first match ever on Thunder for some reason. Savage jumps him from behind as we hear about WCW never losing Nitro in the first place. Adams is sent to the outside so Savage can drop him on the barricade. Chris comes back with a whip into the post and gets back in which distracts the referee, allowing Luger to come out and cave in Savage’s head with a chair. Adams gets the pin to open the show with a huge upset.

JJ Dillon comes out but we go to a break before anything can happen.

Here are Hogan and Bischoff with something to say. Something I forgot to mention earlier: the set is a big stone wall that had an opening broken into it by some lightning earlier. Shouldn’t the show be called WCW Lightning then? Actually Thunder is perfect: it’s a bunch of noise with nothing of substance. It’s perfect for WCW at this point.

Hogan and Bischoff take forever to get to the ring where Bischoff introduces Hogan as the world champion. Apparently every good looking woman on the beach said that Hogan was the real world champion and tonight we’ll see the tape proving it. Hollywood is the only heavyweight champion in the world and he’s just too big and too tanned.

Here’s JJ again to say that Randy Savage wins the match because of Luger’s interference. Luger comes out and rants against JJ because only now is WCW doing anything after a year and a half of the NWO doing whatever they want. He says that WCW is going to band together and do whatever they want. Point for keeping continuity at least.

Louis Spicolli vs. Rick Martel

Louis cranks on the arm to start but is quickly sent to the floor with a clothesline. Back in and a few dropkicks send Spicolli right back to the floor. They get back in again and Spicolli pounds him down as the Flock heads to their seats. Martel fires off a cross body for two and a left hand to the ribs to stagger Louis. Another dropkick misses but Martel punches Spicolli down and hooks the Quebec Crab for the win.

Rating: D+. For a guy who hasn’t been around in years, Martel really does look smooth out there. At first I wasn’t wild on him coming back as he was just Rick Martel: guy in leather jacket, but they’re pushing him as someone with ring experience who can beat guys with relative ease, which is actually working for him.

We get a clip from Starrcade of Hall saying Nash wouldn’t be there, earning a beating from Giant in the process. I still don’t get why they didn’t just have Hall be a replacement as he would be more than adequate to fill in.

Tenzan vs. Ohara

Tenzan is a guy from Japan who is apparently part of the NWO. Tenay talks about how Ohara is like Ray Traylor as he was thrown out of the Japanese NWO and is now a freedom fighter. He pounds away on Tenzan to start but gets slammed down. The fans don’t seem pleased as Tenzan hits a spinwheel kick for no cover. Ohara comes back with a clothesline and powerbomb for two but gets caught in a middle rope chop. Tenzan hits a swan dive to end a quick match.

We get another clip from Nitro of the very good Bret and Flair segment where they argue over who is better and say each others’ catchphrases.

Ric Flair vs. Chris Jericho

Before the match, Jericho apologizes for his recent behavior and to present Penzer with another new suit jacket. Flair takes him into the corner to start and there’s our first WOO. Jericho takes it to the mat with a headlock and a monkey flip sends Flair down. Chris takes too much time though and gets poked in the eye by the master, giving Flair control.

A clothesline puts Flair back down though and there’s the Flair Flip in the corner. Jericho dropkicks him off the apron before Flair can run to the top but the Lionsault misses as Flair gets back in. Flair asks for the time and hits a low blow before stomping away a bit. Jericho hits a quick backdrop and a top rope elbow for two but a missile dropkick misses. Figure Four ends Jericho quick.

Rating: C-. This was a glorified squash for Flair but he looked very smooth out there which is a good thing for Jericho. At this point, Jericho was nowhere near what he would become so a match with Flair was one of the best things that could happen to him. That’s what veterans are supposed to do and Flair did it more than almost anyone.

Jericho freaks out again post match.

Giant vs. Meng

As Meng comes out, Tony announces Flair vs. Bret for Souled Out and yes, he says it might be the biggest announcement in the history of our sport. Meng hits a clothesline but gets caught in a powerslam to put him down. A backdrop puts Meng down and Giant vs. Nash is announced for the PPV as well. Tony basically says that it’ll actually happen this time, which is a pretty pathetic way to push a match. “Remember last time when we said it would happen and it didn’t? Well this is nothing like that and we’ll actually do what we say!” Meng avoids a splash and fires off some strikes, only to be chokeslammed down for the fast pin.

Goldberg vs. Steve McMichael

It’s just Goldberg now. Mongo goes after him on the floor to start and whips Goldberg into the steps before heading in to be stomped. A gorilla press powerslam puts Mongo down and there’s a rolling leg lock for good measure. Mongo gets to the rope and goes after the leg as well before hitting a middle rope clothesline for two. McMichael calls for the tombstone but gets caught in the spear and Jackhammer for the pin. Heenan points out that Goldberg is undefeated.

Tag Titles: Steiner Brothers vs. Buff Bagwell/Konnan

Scott and Buff start things off and it’s time to pose. Buff takes him down with a hiptoss but Scott drills him with some clothesline and a tiger bomb. Konnan is knocked to the floor as well and it’s time to stall. Off to Konnan vs. Rick with Konnan being rammed stomach first into the buckle, only to take Rick down with a clothesline. Back to Buff who jumps right into a belly to belly and it’s a double tag to bring Scott back in. Everything breaks down and Rick loads up the bulldog, but Scott goes to the other corner for the Frankensteiner for the pin to retain.

Rating: D+. Nothing to see here but the main idea is the Steiners having issues. That’s probably the best move as the Steiners had been a big deal for about nine years at this point, so there wasn’t much else that could be done with the team. Scott had been the one WCW wanted to push for years anyway so it really isn’t surprising when you think about it.

Here’s Larry Zbyszko vs. Eric Bischoff from Starrcade to tick off the fans and fill in time, because if there’s one thing WCW doesn’t have, it’s a roster big enough to fill in a full show.

Bret Hart comes out to be guest referee. There’s no pyro, there’s no big entrance, there’s nothing but generic music and Bret casually walking to the ring. The theory is that he’s in the NWO but that’s never been confirmed yet.

Eric Bischoff vs. Larry Zbyszko

This should have been Hall vs. Larry, as those two had been talking trash to each other for months. However, Larry only gets Hall if he beats Eric here tonight. If Eric wins, the NWO controls Nitro. Larry is in good shape here considering he’s 46 and hasn’t wrestled regularly in about five years. Bret checks them for weapons and we’re ready to go. Bischoff has the body of a 15 year old girl. He is however a black belt in karate so you can expect a lot of striking.

Bischoff hits a quick shot to Larry’s head and immediately celebrates. More strikes follow and Eric heads out to the floor for consultation with Hall. Back in and Larry hits some shots of his own and Eric is scared. Larry goes after him again and Eric hits a spin kick to the side of the head that knocks Larry down. That’s enough for Zbyszko and he charges at Eric and takes him down to the mat. Bret admonishes him for pulling Eric’s hair, so Larry puts on a sleeper and a headscissors, both of which are broken up for being chokes.

Off to a standing figure four but Eric quickly makes a rope. The damage is done though and Larry goes after the leg. Makes sense against a karate guy. Bret keeps Larry away from Eric and the announcers PANIC. Imagine that: a referee following the rules. Eric is sent into the steps and takes a brief walk around the ring. Back in and Bret blocks a right hand from Larry, allowing Eric to get in a kick to the head. Bischoff fires more kicks with Larry on the ropes, although Bret is fine with them.

Eric is starting to kick himself out though as the kicks are getting weaker and weaker each time. Now he fires rights and lefts in the corner as Larry is just covering up. Eric can barely move now and Larry shakes everything off. A suplex puts Bischoff down and Larry ties him in the Tree of Woe. Hall pulls something out of his pocket and loads it into Eric’s shoe, WITH BRET LOOKING RIGHT AT THEM. I mean, he knows what’s going on so why not LOOK THE OTHER WAY???

Anyway, Eric kicks him in the head with the loaded foot and the piece of metal goes flying. Bret isn’t supposed to see it, despite watching it fly through the air. Eric celebrates, so Bret hits both Bischoff and Hall before putting Hall in the Sharpshooter, which is Bret’s version of the Scorpion Deathlock. Larry chokes Eric for a bit and is declared the winner, presumably by DQ.

Rating: F. This was in the second to last spot on the biggest show of the year and featured the boss of the company who has no skill whatsoever in the ring. Larry did fine all things considered, but to waste this spot on this match and to waste BRET HART’s in ring debut on this match is absolutely ridiculous in every sense of the word.

Back on Thunder now here’s Larry to talk about his match with Hall at Souled Out. Larry talks about how he understands why Hall hates his guts after Larry took Hall so far ten years ago. Now instead of being a world champion, Hall is on the ship of fools heading towards Larry Land. Larry can still bench press 405lbs, drive to the golf course and shoot a 73 and then beat Hall from one side of the ring to the other. He’s wrestled in front of royalty around the world and just like he did in 1980, he’ll change the NWO at Souled Out. This was actually a pretty decent promo and I remembered it from when I watched this live.

We recap Ray Traylor being thrown out of the NWO and beaten down by Hogan.

Ray Traylor vs. Scott Hall

Traylor shoves him down to start but Hall comes back with the driving shoulder blocks. He slaps Ray in the back of the head and gets sent into the corner and pounding away for his efforts. A corner splash crushes Hall and it’s off to a bearhug to waste some time. The referee takes a shot to the eye so we head to the floor for a bit with Hall hitting Traylor in the face with his NWO tag title belt. That’s only good for two and the middle rope bulldog gets the same for Hall. Scott heads to the floor to grab a chair but Larry comes out to stop him. The distraction lets Traylor hit the Boss Man Slam for the upset pin.

Rating: D+. The match was barely anything but it did advance the Larry vs. Hall feud so I can’t complain all that much. I’m not sure how many people wanted to see Zbyszko vs. Hall but at least it was a feud that had the time to build up for a few months. Speaking of having the time, can we get a match to last five minutes tonight?

Cruiserweight Title: Juventud Guerrera vs. Ultimo Dragon

Dragon is defending. Apparently Scott Steiner has been fined $5000 for hitting the referee during the tag match. The announcers didn’t even notice it so it’s likely a bit extreme. Feeling out process to start with both guys hitting some quick strikes until Juvy hits a springboard spinwheel kick for two. Guerrera misses a splash in the corner and gets stomped down as we actually talk about the match for a bit. Actually scratch that as it’s time to talk about Starrcade a bit more.

Dragon misses a handspring elbow in the corner as the fans think this is boring. Juvy loads up a top rope rana but gets crotched to the floor instead. Dragon hits a moonsault to the floor but injures his knee in the process. They head back in and Dragon hits a release German suplex for two but the top rope rana is countered again. Juvy knocks him to the mat but dives into a dropkick fro Dragon, only to come back with a quick DDT. The Juvy Driver sets up the 450 for the pin and a new champion.

Rating: C. Pretty slow paced stuff here as their high spots weren’t connecting all that well. Dragon only held the belt for about eight days here so it’s kind of hard to care about the title changing this fast. It’s not a bad match but again at just under five minutes we didn’t have time to get invested in it at all.

Here’s Bret Hart for a chat. Bret says that he’s called himself the best there is, was and ever will be and he means it and he’s meant it every time. He’s accomplished a lot over his career but now he has to prove himself all over again. Bret isn’t going to stop calling himself the best ever….and here’s Flair with a rebuttal. Ric talks about how he’s heard from a thousand people since last week (what’s with that? It was three days ago, not last week but people have been saying it all show long) that they want to hear Bret say his catchphrase to Flair’s face.

Bret does just that, sending Flair into a rant about how Bret used to sit in the front row with a box of popcorn wanting to be like Ric Flair. Bret has been a five time WWF Champion, but while he was doing that, Flair was wrestling Brody in Singapore for an hour. Not exactly but Flair is on a roll so I can forgive him. Flair yells about how he’s been around the world but Bret says he’ll have to beat the man to prove that he’s the man. Ric says it’s not just beating the man, but it’s staying the man. More good stuff here, questionable history aside.

Lex Luger vs. Scott Norton

Norton jumps him on the floor to start before heading inside for a clothesline. A backbreaker puts Luger down but a splash misses in the corner. Luger vs. Savage is announced for the PPV and here’s Buff for a distraction. Norton hits the shoulder breaker for two but Luger comes back with the forearm. The Rack ends Norton quick in a rare loss for him.

Bagwell gets Racked too as Savage comes in, only to be chased off by Luger as well.

We get the video from Starrcade of the “fast count” and it’s just not fast no matter how they look at it.

We get the long awaited footage from Nitro, which shows the referee going down and being replaced by Nick Patrick (who was suspended earlier on Nitro), who counts three on Sting as Hogan rolls him up with a handful of tights. Hogan and Sting keep fighting because that’s just what they do, so Sting makes Hogan give up in the Scorpion, which counts now because the original referee never called for the bell, which is the exact same thing that happened at Starrcade but this is almost over so I’m not going to think about it that hard. JJ comes out and gets decked by Bischoff, causing a huge brawl between WCW and the NWO.

Back live again with JJ in the ring for his decision. Before the decision is announced we need Hogan in the ring. Naturally he brings out about five guys (to no music for some reason) for the big meeting. JJ also asks Sting to come to the ring and bring the belt. The official decision is that the title is vacant until they can make an official decision. Sting says JJ has no guts and that Hogan is a dead man, which is the first thing he’s said in a year (ignoring what he said at Starrcade of course). Heenan swears this is a victory for the NWO because that’s what you do when anything happens in WCW.

US Title: Diamond Dallas Page vs. Kevin Nash

Hogan comes out with Nash (despite both guys being in the ring for the previous segment) as Tony swears that we’ll stay with the show no matter what, a mere ten minutes after we saw footage from a match that ended after Nitro went off the air. Page cranks on the arm to start but Nash elbows him down. The champ gets two off a swinging neckbreaker but Nash goes to Page’s eternally injured ribs to take over.

A clothesline in the corner has Page down again and the side slam gets two. Nash pounds on him in the corner and sends Page outside for more very slow pounding. Page is sent into the steps as Hogan tells him to give up. Back in and Nash hits Snake Eyes and an elbow drop for two. Page fights out of another Snake Eyes attempt and loads up the Diamond Cutter but Hogan hits him in the ribs for the DQ.

Rating: D+. We were clearly just killing time until the DQ here which is the case in almost all WCW main events anymore. Hogan being out there was kind of surprising as it could have been any WCW goon for the same ending. Also any bets on there being no mention of a fine to Hogan for doing the same thing Luger did earlier?

Post match Giant comes out to break up a Jackknife and brawls with Nash to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. Take everything that was good about Nitro from this week and throw it out the window. Let’s see: short and mostly meaningless matches, the title situation is a mess (and will get messier) and the NWO’s problems aren’t even mentioned. In other words, the focus is all back on the NWO being some kind of a threat and WCW needing to pull together, which is exactly what it’s been since like March. This show wasn’t terrible, but man was it frustrating.

Monday Nitro #121
Date: January 5, 1998
Location: Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia
Attendance: 26,773
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko, Tony Schiavone

It’s been a week since the mess with Hogan and Sting to end the last episode and from what I understand, nothing has been announced yet. Odds are that’s going to be saved for the first episode of Thunder which airs three days after this show. We’re in a new year here though so things should be pretty big tonight to give them a good start. Let’s get to it.

We open with two limos pulling up, bringing the NWO in full force. They don’t seem to be too pleased with each other so Tony is in a frenzy.

The announcers talk about the cameras rolling after the show went off the air last week, but there’s a court injunction keeping them from showing us the tape. That’s all the explanation we’re given, but that sounds so appropriate for WCW. I’m not even going to bother to ask the variety of questions that statement brings up.

JJ says he thinks Sting is champion (Tony already told us that) and he’s sorry for the near riot that took place in Baltimore last week. Apparently lawyers from both sides have wanted the tape but it’s in a judge’s chambers. YOUR tax dollars at work people! Apparently the tape will be released in 24 hours and we can see it on the debut episode of Thunder. Boy that’s convenient. We’ll also see video from Starrcade on Thursday about the fast count and all that jazz.

Here’s Jericho with a chair and a suit jacket in his hands. He wants to apologize for his actions last week because that’s not the real Chris Jericho. The real Jericho is the one standing here right now. He understands that a lot of people look up to him and that wasn’t the right reaction. Jericho gives Penzer a new chair to sit in and a new suit jacket to wear. That will NEVER happen again.

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Chris Jericho

Non-title here. Feeling out process to start with Page taking over via a swinging neckbreaker. They get back up and slap hands before Jericho is run over with a shoulder block. Tony is still shocked by the fifteen members of the NWO showing up in two limos. We get another standoff and Jericho offers a handshake, only to sucker Page in with a right hand. Not that it matters as the Diamond Cutter hits for the pin a few seconds later.

Jericho has another fit post match.

Gene talks to some WCW lawyer who reads a prepared statement, basically saying any WCW wrestlers violating WCW policies will be fined or suspended. Also if the NWO violates a policy on Nitro, they’re fined or suspended too. That’s certainly riveting information.

Bill Goldberg vs. Stevie Ray

Goldberg pounds him down to start but Stevie escapes a powerslam and hits a belly to back suplex for no cover. A clothesline gets two for Stevie but Goldberg’s second powerslam attempt works fine. Off to a quick chinlock but Stevie comes back with a superkick. Not that it matters as it’s the spear and Jackhammer to keep Goldie undefeated.

Nitro Girls.

John Nord vs. Barbarian

You might remember Nord as the Berzerker from the early 90s. He’s part of a new wave of talent coming in apparently, which will also include a former WWF Tag Team Champion debuting later tonight. Nord is just a guy in white trunks and furry boots here. They clothesline each other and no one goes anywhere but another clothesline puts Barbarian on the floor. Nord, a big guy in his own right, hits a dive over the top to crush Barbarian but he stops to go after Jimmy Hart. Barbie rams him into the barricade but Nord sends him head first into the steps.

They whip each other into the barricade as this is way more energetic than you would expect it to be. Back in and Nord hits a Samoan drop for no cover followed by a series of elbow drops. Jimmy gets choked a bit but Barbarian hits a big boot to the jaw, sending Nord out to the floor. Back in and a pumphandle slam gets two for Barbarian before he chops Nord in the corner. Nord misses a charge into the corner and falls outside again, only to come back in with a middle rope elbow. A modified camel clutch by Nord (Nord was sitting almost on the mat while pulling back on the chin) is good for the submission.

Rating: C+. This was WAY better than I ever could have expected it to be as Nord looked pretty solid out there. Barbarian was his usual self but a bit more physical than he usually was, making for a pretty solid surprise here. I barely remember Nord at all around this time which is one of the fun parts of rewatching these shows. Good stuff here.

Here’s Bischoff for a chat. He says there are no problems in the NWO so the announcers can forget about it. The fans boo him and Eric loses his cool. He goes on a rant about how Hogan beat Sting twice in a row and how there’s no tape or anything and WCW is just scared of the people seeing it. Eric says Nitro should belong to the NWO after the kick to the head, but we’ll see that on Thunder as well. Eric is still ticked off and walks out.

We look at Ultimo Dragon winning the Cruiserweight Title last week from Eddie.

Psychosis vs. Juventud Guerrera

The winner gets the first shot at Dragon. Apparently we’re going to see Bischoff vs. Zbyszko in its entirety on Thunder. Good to know I paid to see it live because I can now see it again less than two weeks later. Psychosis takes him down twice in a row to start but misses a splash in the corner to let Juvy fire off some chops. Juvy sends him to the floor and there’s a big dive to take Psychosis out.

Back in and Psychosis crotches him on the top rope as Tony starts bragging about the NWO not holding any titles. A facejam gets two for Psychosis but the guillotine legdrop misses. Juvy hits a springboard missile dropkick to take out Psychosis’ knee before pounding away at the masked head. Juvy goes up but dives into a dropkick to the ribs to shift momentum again. Psychosis has a powerbomb reversed into a DDT and the 450 sends Juvy to Thunder (where else?) for the title shot.

Rating: C. This was fine. Both guys got to do their thing and it was a nice change of pace from the match we saw just before it. As stupid as some of the main event stuff would get, the lower card stuff on Nitro was almost always an excellent mix of different styles, which is what we got right here.

We get a clip from last April with the NWO having problems to show that this has happened before. What this has to do with anything that’s happened lately is beyond me but it’s hard to keep up with WCW logic at times.

Hour #2 begins.

More Nitro Girls.

Here’s TV Champion Booker T to say it’s awesome that he’s TV Champion. It was for his son apparently.

TV Title: Booker T vs. Prince Iaukea

Feeling out process to start with Booker’s wristlock going nowhere. Instead Booker kicks him in the head and pounds away before getting two off the ax kick. A side kick misses Iaukea though and Booker falls to the floor. Back in and another kick to Iaukea’s head sets up the Harlem Hangover for the pin to retain the title. Total squash.

We get proof of the fast count: stills of Patrick counting it. Tony: “You can see the fast count.” How does this man remember to tie his shoes every morning?

Buff Bagwell/Scott Norton/Konnan vs. Ray Traylor/Steiner Brothers

Traylor and Konnan get things going with Ray missing a charge into the corner and getting clotheslined down. Konnan loads up a DDT but Scott Steiner takes his head off with a clothesline to break it up. Bagwell gets slapped to the floor as Scott Steiner stomps on Konnan’s head. Everything breaks down and the NWO is sent to the floor. Bagwell gets the tag but wants Rick instead of Scott.

Rick poses a bit in a funny spot, causing Buff to go off with right hands. That lasts all of four seconds as Rick suplexes him down and gets two off a Steiner Line. Back to Ray to face Norton with Traylor being taken down like he’s nothing. Ray comes back with an uppercut and it’s back to Rick for a top rope clothesline.

The NWO finally starts cheating to let Buff take over and Rick gets beaten down by all three NWO guys. Rick finally clotheslines Buff down and tags in his brother as everything breaks down. Everything breaks down and the Steiners set up the Steiner Bulldog, only to have Scott drop Buff down in an electric chair. Rick is distracted but his brother hits the awesome Steiner Screwdriver on Konnan for the pin. DiBiase gets in some kicks to Vincent for old times’ sake.

Rating: C+. This match goes up a letter or so because of the Steiner Screwdriver. If there has ever been a more devastating looking move I can’t think of it off the top of my head. If you’ve never seen it, picture a delayed vertical suplex but instead of falling back, Scott drops the other guy straight down on his head like a fast piledriver. It’s incredibly dangerous but so sweet to watch. That lack of the Steiner Bulldog at the end isn’t a good sign for the Brothers though.

Here are the Nitro Girls again in case you forgot what they look like.

We look at a fan’s Nitro Party.

Brad Armstrong vs. Rick Martel

This is Martel’s debut and his first national match in years. A quick rollup gets two for Martel as I think Armstrong is the heel here. Brad grabs a headlock as Tony is SURE there are problems in the NWO. Armstrong charges into a knee in the corner and gets caught by a middle rope clothesline for no cover. Brad gets in a forearm out of the corner and chokes away, only to get caught in the Quebec Crab for the win for Martel. Another short match.

More Nitro Girls.

Chris Benoit/Steve McMichael vs. Perry Saturn/Riggs

Benoit and Saturn get things going and the chops start flying fast. Off to Mongo who gets pounded into the corner, only to come out with a hip toss. A powerslam puts Saturn down but Riggs comes in for a double team. Benoit is fine with letting his partner get beaten down by both guys in an odd bit. Riggs trips Mongo up for a clothesline from Saturn before drawing in Benoit to allow more cheating.

The Flock cuts the ring off to keep Mongo in with Saturn putting on a Fujiwara Armbar. A double shoulder puts McMichael down but he hooks a double suplex and makes the hot tag to Benoit. Everything breaks down and there’s the Crossface to Saturn but a Kidman distraction lets Raven hit the DDT on Benoit, giving Saturn the pin.

Rating: C-. They’re taking their sweet time to get to Raven vs. Benoit but that has the potential to be a classic when we get there. The tag match was a fine idea to keep the story going now that Benoit has gone through every individual member of the Flock but hopefully Mongo isn’t a fixture in these matches.

Here’s Ric Flair with something to say. He’s glad WCW is taking over again and is glad that Sting is world champion, but everyone wants the belt. One of the people that wants it is someone that has rubbed him the wrong way: Bret Hart. How can someone like Bret call himself the best when Flair is around? This brings out Hart who says that he’ll say the catchphrase and then say WOO at the end of it.

Flair talks about how Bret is a big time columnist in Canada, but we’re here in Atlanta tonight and Flair is prime USA man. He tells Bret to say it again and Bret does just that. If Flair has a problem with it, too bad. Flair lists off some legendary names and says Hart can believe he’s better than them, but Race and Kiniski and Funk and Brisco aren’t Ric Flair. Bret takes off his jacket and says to be the man you gotta beat the man, which he’s done before. Flair says if you think you’re better than me, let’s see you do it again. AWESOME segment here that makes me want to watch them fight right now.

Lex Luger vs. Randy Savage

Nick Patrick is the referee here to tick off the announcers. Actually scratch that as JJ comes out to suspend him, drawing out Bischoff to protest. Bagwell and Norton are here with Savage and Luger gets jumped before the bell. An elbow to the face puts Luger down for two and a belly to back suplex gets the same as this is one sided so far.

A slam puts Luger down but Savage jumps into a right hand to the ribs. Luger starts firing off his wide array of clotheslines and the powerslam looks to set up the Rack, only to have Savage bail to the floor. Savage bails to the floor to avoid the Rack and after hiding behind Liz he’s able to send Luger into the barricade to take over. Back in and Luger gets a small package out of nowhere for the pin.

Rating: D+. These two spent like three years fighting each other and this wasn’t one of their better matches. The match was almost too short to rate and the ending came out of nowhere, making it hard to get into the match at all. Luger was rapidly becoming a shell of himself which would only continue in the coming years.

Post match Savage goes after Luger with a chair but Bischoff pulls the chair away (remember the threat of suspensions earlier tonight). Savage doesn’t know who it was and decks Bischoff, drawing out Hogan to calm things down. Nash comes out and decks Savage as Hogan tries to calm things down. The NWO surrounds Luger but Sting runs in for the save to end things.

Overall Rating: B-. This was actually a pretty solid show with the NWO showing real signs of problems and Sting clearly being the lead soldier in WCW’s war. Add that in with some excellent talking between Bret and Flair and you have a pretty good TV show here. You can see a lot of Souled Out coming together, but right now we’re getting ready for Thunder on Thursday which should be interesting. Good show this week and one of the best in a very long time.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Starrcade for just $4 from Amazon at:

Monday Nitro #37
Date: May 27, 1996
Location: Macon Coliseum, Macon, Georgia
Attendance: 4,309
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Heenan, Eric Bischoff

 

We’re FINALLY here as we reach probably the most important TV show in wrestling history. First and foremost, tonight Scott Hall is going to debut by jumping the guardrail, more or less shattering the idea that things are predictable on wrestling. That’s the huge deal so I’ll go into detail on how awesome and shocking it was later. Also this is the first two hour Nitro and there’s a new announce team. Let’s get to it.

 

Theme song opens us up.

 

Tony and Larry are the first hour commentators while Heenan and Bischoff will come in later. NO MORE MONGO!!!!! This is a great show so far!

 

American Males vs. Arn Anderson/Ric Flair

 

Gee I wonder what’s going to happen. Larry calls the Males the young and the useless. That might be the only funny line he has all year so enjoy it while it lasts. Liz looks awesome in blue. Flair vs. Riggs to get us started here. Larry seems like the heel commentator here which wouldn’t last that long. The Horsemen get him on the floor and work him over like the Horsemen are known to do.

 

Yep Larry certainly is because he complains about how the football players that the Horsemen are facing at the next PPV are losers. Everything breaks down and the Males actually clean the ring for a bit. Flair runs over to his VIP table and grabs come champagne for a shot. Well that’s a new one. Things calm down again and it’s Arn vs. Bagwell at the moment.

 

Arn accidentally clotheslines the pole and we take a break. Back with Bagwell fighting out of the corner but he doesn’t tag. And never mind as he brings in Riggs for awhile as Flair chills in the corner. Tony and Larry have been given champagne by Flair. Shame Heenan isn’t there for this one. Flair works on the knee of Riggs as does Arn. Riggs manages to get an enziguri to send Anderson to the floor but as he goes for the tag, Flair and the referee get into a shoving match. Oh never mind as Bagwell gets the tag anyway.

 

Missile dropkick takes down Flair for two and they do the small package bit where the partners keep rolling them over. I love that as the guys don’t kick out for like twenty seconds and just lay there. Fisherman’s suplex hits Flair but Anderson makes the save. Woman saves another pin attempt and Anderson kills Bagwell with a DDT and Flair gets the pin. Quick ending.

 

Rating: C. This was kind of sloppy but for the most part it was fine. No one expected the Males to win here and that’s fine. They weren’t supposed to win anything here and they had a decent match out of it instead. This is what veterans are supposed to do: give the young guys experience and help bring them up slowly. For some reason that rarely happens in most companies and the young guys are seen as weaker when they come up. Either way, just an average match here but it was fine.

 

Anderson isn’t afraid of football players. Flair says his women are attractive and he’ll get Debra. Liz is the Sugar Mama using Savage’s money apparently.

 

Kevin Greene and Mongo are training for their match. This is a waste of time.

 

Steve Doll vs. The Mauler

 

And here it is. Why would this be on TV you ask? The same reason a guy named Steve Gatorwolf was on SNME once: to allow something else to happen. Mauler is Mike Enos and has Colonel Parker with him. Doll means nothing. Crowd is DEAD and the Mauler squashes him for awhile. They both go to the floor and Doll goes into the post. We take a break and come back and you can see him in the crowd.

 

Scott Hall comes over the railing and wants a mic. He says the famous line of you know who I am but you don’t know why I’m here. He calls out some of the big WCW names and has a challenge for Bischoff, Turner, Savage and anyone else that is here in WCW. “You want a war? You gonna get one.” The match of course just ends.

 

Ok so as you likely know, this completely changed wrestling forever for a lot of reasons.

 

1. No one, I mean NO ONE, saw this coming. Hall had literally wrestled less than two weeks prior on a WWF show. Today the 90 day no compete clauses exist because of this moment. If three months had gone by, first of all people would have noticed Hall was missing and there would be a good chance the word could have gotten out that he had signed with WCW. It made things seem like anything could happen on Nitro at the drop of a hat and that made you want to see the show. This was dabbled in with Luger on the debut episode but this blows Luger away.

 

2. Hall’s line about a war made people think that WWF was in on this which was unthinkable. People had jumped before but when they arrived there was fanfare to it and all that jazz. Hall came in through the crowd (by the way if I remember correctly he wouldn’t be named until Bash at the Beach) in street clothes, making it look totally unplanned. The idea of breaking the walls of kayfabe was also unthinkable coming up to this point, which shook everything up.

 

3. This would be the main story for the next three years minimum with all kinds of twists and turns in there. Everything was about Hall and eventually Nash and Hogan, but at this time everything was blown away by what the potential of this could be and it definitely had huge potential to be one of the biggest storylines of all time and it definitely was. It also set up the WWF because they had to respond to it. Granted they didn’t do that for almost 18 months but the idea was there.

 

4. I can’t emphasize this enough but this changed everything. The model before this had been to just go out there and do your thing week in and week out with the same structure every time. This made it look like the script had been thrown out the window and that there was this rogue guy and later this rogue group that didn’t care about the rules and were going to take things over whether you liked it or not. Having it look like the other company is involved in it is a brilliant idea as it looks like something is completely unprepared, which makes you want to see it at the same time. Brilliant.

 

5. Finally, this more or less marks the end of the athletics being the focus of the show. Everything became about drama from this point on. The matches got worse, the young guys got pushed to the back, the storylines and a lot of the face/heel dynamics were abandoned and everything was focused on drama. It wouldn’t really kick in until late July, but from this point on you could see the line of demarcation and how everything would change afterwards. It certainly worked for awhile, but eventually people got tired of it which is what brought the company down, along with about a thousand other things but we’ll get to that later.

 

Craig Pittman vs. Diamond Dallas Page

 

Guy that won a major PPV competition vs. a guy that hasn’t been on Nitro in months. Gee what do you think is going to happen here? No mention of the Hall incident post break. Teddy Long manages Pittman here. Page makes fun of him to start and imitates a soldier. Pittman does one armed pushups and Page thinks for once and tries to jump him. Pittman moved but the idea was nice at least.

 

There’s a slight reference to Hall but it’s not mentioned specifically at all. Page gets choked on the floor by a cord and then gets almost caught in the Code Red (Pittman’s cross armbreaker finisher). Teddy goes down and the distraction sets up the Diamond Cutter to end it. Barely even a match.

 

Video on Randy Savage and how he’s insane now.

 

Shark says he’s out of the Dungeon of Doom. Somehow he has a world title match tonight. They were a lot more liberal with those back then I guess.

 

Video on Hogan and how he’s been chilling with “celebrities” from Hollywood recently. He’s done some charity work too, which is always cool. He’s also been on Baywatch. It’s really funny seeing how big a deal they’re trying to make a guest appearance on Baywatch seem when Rock is a legit big star now.

 

Hour #2 starts. Bischoff says they’re not going to dignify the guy jumping the rail as he dignifies the guy jumping over the rail.

 

WCW World Title: Shark vs. Giant

 

That sounds like a bad Syfy channel movie. Shark is listed from Tsunami. No country or anything. He’s just from a tsunami apparently. Shark (Earthquake) hammers away on Giant. This is somehow fallout from Slamboree as Giant is replacing Shark or something. Shark keeps ramming into him and Giant eventually gets bored and clotheslines him down.

 

Giant chokes with the boot but Shark actually comes off the middle rope with a double axe. The future Big Show is like dude, you’re old and slams him with ease. He held him up there too which looked awesome. They exchange some more big man stuff and I wouldn’t look for this to last much longer at all. Eric says the second hour will start weekly at 8:50 or so. This bothered me back in the day. How can you start the second hour when the first hour isn’t even a complete hour? Jimmy gets up on the apron and the distraction lets Giant hit the chokeslam to end this.

 

Rating: C. Just a battle of the big men here so how much can you really complain? It’s not that bad but another win for Giant is never a bad thing. He needed all the ring time he could get and that’s what he did here. Shark would feud with the Dungeon briefly before just kind of leaving.

 

Post match Big Bubba comes in to cut half of Shark’s hair. This led to a bad match at the Bash.

 

Bischoff keeps talking about Hall without actually talking about him you know.

 

TV Title: Maxx vs. Lex Luger

 

Maxx used to be DDP’s bodyguard so he’s now #1 contender for the TV Title. Don’t you get the connection there? We talk about the Great American Bash where some guy named Rey Mysterio is going to debut. Maxx uses some very basic power stuff as we pad this out since there’s no point in even making fun of Maxx’s lack of a chance here. More babbling about Hall follows as he’s going to get a chance to talk at the end of the hour.

 

Maxx hammers away as Luger stumbles around a lot. Side slam gets two. Make that four which only in wrestling doesn’t get enough for three. Elbow drop gets two. Falls count anywhere between Sullivan and Benoit is mentioned. Awesome match there. Luger hits a powerslam and there’s the Rack out of almost nowhere to end this.

 

Rating: D+. Just kind of there for the most part as just like Giant did with Shark, Luger gets a workout here that doesn’t mean anything. Their title match went nowhere for the most part because the whole thing was about Bischoff getting jumped by the Outsiders. Anyway, nothing of note here but that was the point.

 

Luger says he earned the title shot even though it was taken from DDP and given to Luger. We get a clip of Giant chokeslaming Luger through the table a few weeks back. Luger wants all the big men WCW has before the title match.

 

Bobby Walker vs. Brad Armstrong

 

Just….why? Walker is a no name guy called Hard Work. See what I mean here? Bischoff still won’t say Hall’s name “due to legal reasons” and still won’t dignify him as he mentions him for the fourth time tonight. Walker takes him down with the arm and Armstrong does the same to Walker. Walker botches a few moves before hitting a cross body off the top for two.

 

We hit the mat for some more basic stuff. Headscissors goes on while they’re on the mat as this is pure filler. They didn’t have the whole two hour concept down yet I wouldn’t think. Walker gets a backslide for two. He goes up and slips again before hitting a top rope shoulder block for the pin.

 

Rating: D. So in a four minute match he noticeably botched three moves. Walker would later be part of a racial discrimination lawsuit against WCW, saying that they held him back because he was black. Based on this, I think it was more due to a high level of suck. Armstrong was always around but never really did anything. We did hear about the Cruiserweight Title being in America now, which is definitely a good thing overall.

 

Steven Regal vs. Alex Wright

 

Time to talk about Hulk! Or the Nasty Boys! Or Dennis Rodman! I never got this. It’s not like they’re talking about something major. They’re talking about random stuff that is there to avoid talking about the matches. That makes no sense but they always did it. Wright speeds things up a bit and takes him to the floor. He dives over the top to take out Regal as we take a break.

 

Back with Wright holding his arm as Regal takes over apparently. Headlock on the mat goes on which is a lot worse from Regal than most people. Belly to belly gets two for Wright. Bischoff actually calls Wright green. When do you ever hear that word being used? That’s another thing that started to be added around this time: random insider terms. European uppercut gives Wright some momentum and a rollup gets two. Pretty sweet pinfall reversal sequence ends with Wright hitting a nice dropkick to take over again. Monkey flip is countered and Regal gets a jackknife cover for the pin.

 

Rating: C+. Pretty nice match here as both guys worked rather hard to give us a nice crisp match. Unfortunately neither guy would really mean anything because they couldn’t talk that well but at the same time they were good backdrops for the amount of talking about WCW vs. NWO. Not much here but a decent little TV match.

 

Regal goes on a rant about Quasimodo and makes a semi-Hitler reference, calling Wright a mini-Adolf. Regal says WCW is nuts here and actually references Hall and says it’s time he has his say in what goes on in WCW. He challenges Sting who he would lose to at the Bash in a good match.

 

Scott Steiner vs. Sting

 

Odd main event here but whatever. They shake hands to start us off. Scott overpowers Sting to start as this is the always weird face vs. face match. Sting sends him to the floor with a dropkick and then dives over the top with a plancha. Back in and Scott gets a butterfly powerbomb for no cover. There’s the belly to belly for no cover again. Scott gets a double axe to the floor as he keeps control.

 

That gets two back in the ring as we make fun of WWF again because that’s just how we roll around here right? Sting gets a big boot up to block a charge in the corner as momentum balances out a bit. Scott hits another belly to belly for two. STF goes on. I guess that makes four moves for him right? He just lets it go and hits a cross armbreaker. Sting starts a comeback but the splash misses.

 

Scott gets a dragon suplex and here comes Luger as a second I guess. Rick comes out also and you might as well just paint a big sign that says DOUBLE DQ IS COMING in big letters on the screen. Samoan Drop from the middle rope gets no cover from Scott again. Sting avoids the Frankensteiner but can’t get the Scorpion. Scott tries a Tombstone which is reversed into one by Sting for two. Sting suplexes Scott to the floor and Luger interferes as does Rick and it’s a double DQ even though Luger hit first.

 

Rating: B-. Pretty good match here and the ending was there to protect Scott I think. They always wanted to push him hard but they couldn’t do it for another four years. The tag match that you would expect would happen next week in a show I missed because I was in a garage hiding from a severe thunderstorm. Anyway, pretty good stuff here with a predictable ending.

 

Hall comes up to the booth and says that “we” are tired of WCW’s big mouths. He tells Billionaire Ted to get three guys for a fight because they’re coming for a war. Hall wants to do it in the ring where it matters. Good line there.

 

Overall Rating: C. Industry changing moment aside, this was a pretty weak show. The matches seemed rather inconsequential for the most part but it’s clear they’re setting up for the Bash. On the other hand you have the 800 pound gorilla in the room known as Scott Hall. The show other than him means nothing as he was just the first step in a huge story that was coming. Anyway, from a historical standpoint this is huge and that’s the only one that really matters.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my book on the History of the WWE Championship from Amazon for just $5 at:

 

Monday Nitro #89
Date: May 26, 1997
Location: Nashville Municipal Auditorium, Nashville, Tennessee
Attendance: 6,484
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyzsko

We’re back to the regular two hours again and that might be something good in this case. Also Hogan is here tonight which always helps make the shows feel bigger than they do without him. We’re coming up on the Great American Bash in three weeks and odds are we’ll get the main event announced tonight. Let’s get to it.

Here are Hogan and Bischoff to open the show. Hogan’s beard appears to be infecting his head and is growing at an alarming rate. This is the one year anniversary of Hall jumping the guard rail. Bischoff says he’s checked under the ring and there’s not Sting this week. Hogan talks about partying in the Bahamas with Nick and Brooke, which are names that don’t mean anything at this point. Hogan runs down Sting and Eric says that Sting is just afraid of Hulk. Hogan says he’s going to be looking around and if he finds anyone in Sting makeup, he’s going to take them out.

Hector Garza/Juventud Guerrera/Super Calo vs. Ciclope/Damien/La Parka

This is under Mexican rules, which means if you go to the floor, another member of your team can come in just like a tag. La Parka and Juvy get us going with Juvy taking over with a quick spin kick to the face. Juvy goes up but his cross body is caught and La Parka struts over to the corner and sets Juvy up top. Juvy comes back with a big top rope rana to send Parka to the floor.

Off to Ciclope as Larry complains about the Mexican rules because “we’re not in Mexico.” Sometimes common sense is the best approach. Calo comes in to replace Parka and hits a headscissors to send Parka to the floor. Calo hits a HUGE suicide dive to send both guys into the crowd, giving us Damien vs. Garza. Garza is basically here for one move: a corkscrew plancha to the floor. The idea is that he’s going to hit it but you don’t know when or how many people he’ll take out.

Everything breaks down and it’s almost impossible to tell who is legal as four people came in at the same time when Garza and Damien went to the floor. It appears to be Calo vs. Damien now with Calo in control, only to take his eyes off Damien and get jumped. Off to Garza who speeds things up but gets sent to the floor.

Everyone goes to the floor and it’s time to fire off the dives. Garza hits his big corkscrew plancha, prompting Larry to ask if Garza thinks he’s Captain Planet. Turner property or not, that’s the best Larry can come up with? Damien tries a seated senton back inside but Garza catches him in a powerbomb and hits a standing moonsault for the pin.

Rating: B. This is pretty much the textbook definition for a lucha libre spotfest and there’s nothing wrong with that. Other than Juvy, none of these guys have stood out but they know how to fire off all kinds of flips and dives. While not a great match from a technical standpoint or anything like that, it was fun and the dives were great. That’s what you want to do with an opener too. Good stuff here.

Alex Wright vs. Psychosis

This is Wright’s first match after his heel turn last week. Wright flips around to escape a wristlock but Psychosis does the exact same thing. A jumping kick to the face gives Wright control again and he pounds away in the corner. Psychosis comes back with a moonsault press for two followed by a top rope spin kick to the back of Wright’s head for one. Wright bails to the floor and dances a bit, only for Psychosis to bust out a mostly missed moonsault to take both guys out. Back in and the guillotine legdrop pins Wright.

Rating: D+. This was pretty messy. Also why in the world would you have Wright lose completely clean after a heel turn last week? The announcers are pushing this as a huge upset and to be fair it probably is. The match had almost no flow or story to it at all and the big spots didn’t hit. Not terrible but really messy.

Sonny Onoo still has a surprise for Chono tonight but won’t say who it is. Sonny tries to sign Psychosis as he leaves and Psychosis is interested. As Sonny gloats, Madusa comes out and wants a Women’s Title shot. She says she’ll do anything for it and immediately regrets saying it. Sonny says she’ll get the shot at the Bash but if she loses, her career is over. She agrees and that’s it.

We get a quick look at Ernest Miller and his martial arts background.

Wrath vs. Mark Starr

Total squash with Wrath throwing Starr all over the place, including out to the floor so Mortis can get in some shots. Wrath does look awesome and has a great name, but this feud went on so long that it killed whatever he had going. A top rope clothesline kills Starr and a bicycle kick sets up the double arm Rock Bottom to end the massacre. Apparently that move is called the Death Penalty.

Konnan vs. Villano IV

They’re going really light on the promos tonight. Hugh Morrus talks about how he doesn’t like Konnan anymore, which I think happened at Slamboree. Konnan and Villano shake hands before Konnan hits him in the ribs to start. Konnan pounds him into the corner and fires off a dropkick. He shouts VIVA MEXICO which apparently fires up Villano.

After a brief comeback, Villano shouts VIVA MEXICO as well. Not that it really matters as Konnan hits an Alabama Slam out of the corner to stop the momentum dead. Here’s Morrus but security stops him in the aisle. The 187 (fisherman’s DDT) kills Villano dead and Tequila Sunrise (half crab with armbar) gets the win for Konnan.

Rating: C-. Just a squash here as Konnan was a guy who had a decent place in the midcard. The next step for him of course: put him in the NWO where he got lost in the shuffle. He was a Mexican wrestler who could actually wrestle a style different from the dozen or so other luchadores they had which gave him something to offer. Then it went nowhere because the NWO didn’t have enough lackeys.

Konnan runs down the Dungeon and Sullivan post match.

Masahiro Chono vs. ???

Sonny comes out to introduce the surprise: The Great Muta. Chono is NWO. We get a LONG stall at the beginning of the match, during which Larry announces that the Japanese are in fact a different race. No contact in the first minute. Or in the second minute. Muta puts on a VERY weak headlock. So weak that Chono just ducks out of it and Muta doesn’t move his arms. Sonny freaks out on Muta, Muta sprays mist in his eyes, and Muta joins the NWO. Well no one had joined in a few months so I guess we needed someone else to inflate the ranks.

Hour #2 starts.

Savage talks about his feud with Page. Apparently he wants a rematch at the Bash, which may or may not already be set. The idea is that Savage was embarrassed by a guy in his first main event match at Spring Stampede and it’s driving him crazier than he already is.

Here are Page and Kimberly with a rebuttal. The match is already signed apparently. Page has the crutch that was broken over his back by Hogan. He talks about how he’s under Savage’s skin and how he owes Hogan a Diamond Cutter. Page owes Savage even more though and he’ll get that at the Bash. Kimberly says she’s keeping the pieces of the crutch as a memento. She also has some of the hair that Savage pulled out of her head. Page says you don’t mess with family or his wife, and Savage messed with both. See, this is how you build up a match. I want to see these two fight now.

Barbarian vs. Jim Powers

Powers fires off some basic offense to start but can’t take Barbarian down. A clothesline takes Powers’ head off and Barbarian sends him out to the floor for some more beating. Back in and they chop it out with Barbie taking over. Powers gets in some boots but he doesn’t jump far enough coming off the middle rope so Barbarian can catch him in a powerslam. A big boot ends Powers.

Rating: D. Powers is FINALLY done after this, not appearing on Nitro for over a year after this. Why we needed to have Barbarian get a squash win on Nitro is kind of head scratching but it was something different than they’ve had in the rest of the show. Meng has been doing some singles stuff around this time so maybe that’s why.

Benoit comes out post match and wants Sullivan back soon. Hart says Barbarian is ready for Benoit right now so Benoit takes his jacket off and gets in the ring. Hart says next week.

The Giant vs. Jerry Flynn/Johnny Swinger/Rick Fuller

The jobbers have to tag here so what are you expecting to happen? Swinger starts and can’t do anything. Flynn can’t do anything so it’s off to Fuller who is by far the biggest guy on the team. After Fuller gets beaten up, all three come in with Flynn and Fuller getting belly to back suplexed at the same time. There’s a chokeslam to Swinger, there’s one for Fuller, and there’s one for Flynn. Giant pins all Swinger and Flynn at the same time.

Luger and Giant are in the ring and we hear about an open contract issued by Hogan and Rodman for the PPV Luger talks about being an NBA fan and watching Rodman. At Uncensored, Rodman came into the WCW world and Luger would like to invite them back. Luger issues the challenge for the PPV and Giant says they’re ready. I’m missing something because that match wound up happening at Bash at the Beach. Maybe that’s what they meant or maybe it was changed.

Lee Marshall does his road report jazz.

Here’s Syxx to talk about Flair. He shows us a video from last week of him and the Outsiders beating up Flair before bringing the Outsiders out. Hall and Nash have the newer design of the tag titles which I’ve always liked better. They make fun of Piper and say Piper couldn’t make Hogan sleep unless they showed him Piper’s latest movie. To the shock of everyone, Hall and Nash offer to defend the titles. The opponents aren’t the shock. It’s that they’re actually defending the belts. They want Piper and Flair so they can retire them once and for all.

Jeff Jarrett/Steve McMichael vs. Harlem Heat

Before the match we get a quick recap of Kevin Greene running in last week. Booker and Jeff start things off but it’s off to Mongo before anything happens. Mongo runs him over but Booker won’t tag out. Booker escapes a belly to back suplex but gets punched in the face and clotheslined down. Off to Jarrett as Greene is on commentary now. Stevie comes in and pounds on Jarrett in the corner before slamming him down. We cut to the commentators so we can see that Greene is in fact wearing a football jacket.

Off to Booker vs. Mongo again with the Horsemen taking over. Booker misses a charge into the corner but Stevie blasts Mongo in the back of the head to put him down. Stevie uses the power stuff to take over on McMichael before it’s back to Booker for a chinlock. Harlem Heat double teams to draw in Jarrett which allows for even more double teaming.

Stevie puts on another chinlock so we cut to the announcers again. Mongo comes out of nowhere with a powerslam to Booker and it’s hot (?) tag to Jarrett. Jeff fires off dropkicks to take over and everything breaks down. Mongo realizes Greene is with the announcers and walks off for a brawl. Jeff puts Booker in the Figure Four but Stevie breaks it up and a Hart Attack with Booker hitting a side kick instead of a clothesline gets the pin for the Heat.

Rating: D+. This was long and not interesting. The problem is there’s no reason for these guys to be fighting and the main story of the match was about the football players fighting, which I don’t think anyone was interested in seeing. Just like last week: these matches have almost no meaning because the Outsiders never defend the belts, so these guys are all fighting for nothing.

Jarrett says that might be the last straw.

Here are Hogan and Bischoff to end the show. Hogan says the title is on the line right now if Sting wants to face him for it. Bischoff says unfortunately Sting isn’t here tonight. They turn their backs to the camera and Sting pops up through the mat. And of course it’s the fake one and the announcers are fooled.

The NWO Sting stays on his knees in front of Hogan and nods when asked if he’s half the man Hogan is. He bows down to Hogan and the real Sting repels into the ring. There’s a Death Drop for Bischoff and Hogan falls over the bowing fake Sting. The real one beats up the fake one and here come the troops. Sting flies into the rafters again to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. This started off hot but slowed way down afterwards. Having Hogan around helped a lot and you can see that they’re building to Sting vs. Hogan eventually. I don’t think anyone expected it to take another seven months, but it was worth it in theory. As for the rest of the show, it wasn’t bad but as always, the show is better when the bigger names are in play.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my book on the History of the WWE Championship from Amazon for just $5 at: