Monday Nitro #131
Date: March 16, 1998
Location: Club La Vela, Panama City, Florida
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko

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

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

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

Nitro Girls in St. Patrick’s Day attire.

Goldberg vs. Lodi

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

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

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

Ultimo Dragon vs. Fit Finlay

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

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

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

The Nitro Girls are in DX colors tonight.

Scott Norton vs. Chris Adams

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Larry compares Hogan to Julius Caesar.

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

Raven gives the Flock some instructions before the next match.

Chris Benoit vs. Raven

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

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

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

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

The Nitro Girls are in the crowd dancing.

Heenan gives his take on the NWO issues.

Yuji Nagata vs. Ernest Miller

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

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

More Nitro Girls.

Scott Steiner vs. Ray Traylor

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

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

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

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

Tony recaps the NWO drama.

Nitro Girls again.

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

TV Title: Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Booker T

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

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

More spring break festivities.

Nitro Girls part 9 or so.

US Title: Reese vs. Diamond Dallas Page

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

Cruiserweight Title: Juventud Guerrera vs. Chris Jericho

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

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

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

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

Post match Jericho puts him in the Cloverleaf.

The Nitro Girls dance on some rocks.

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

Sting/Lex Luger vs. Hollywood Hogan/Randy Savage

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Monday Nitro #99
Date: August 4, 1997
Location: Palace of Auburn Hills, Detroit, Michigan
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Heenan

This is an interesting episode as I’ve seen says this is the 100^th episode, but I’ve counted each one I’ve done and can only come up with 99. I haven’t missed any shows and there are only 99 counting this one so far. Two weeks in 1996 had no show at all so maybe they’re counting one of those to get to 100. Either way, the main event tonight is Luger vs. Hogan for the title, five days before their PPV title match. That clearly won’t go anywhere. Let’s get to it.

Oh and this is a three hour show.

Buffer welcomes us to this special show. This whole 99 or 100 thing is going to bother me but the best I can figure out is that WCW is just lying.

After the Nitro Girls dance a bit, here are Hogan and Bischoff with something to say. Hogan runs down Luger and says that he’s going to have “500,000 of his friends” watching on Saturday. It was about 1% of that but what difference does it match? Anyway, Hogan doesn’t like having to defend tonight, but Luger is going to pay for the mistake tonight. Hogan says something about defending against Scott Hall instead but it didn’t make much sense.

Curt Hennig vs. Mortis

Feeling out process to start until Hennig takes Mortis down with a knee lift. Curt goes after Vandenberg though and the masked dude takes over. Mortis misses an elbow and there’s the Hennig neck snap. Mortis comes back with a spinwheel kick for two but Hennig goes after the knee. PerfectPlex ends this pretty quick.

Rating: C-. I don’t like matches like this one as it’s hard to rate due to how fast it was. A lot of it was them walking around, but it was so short that it was still decent. This is what WCW’s massive roster helps with: they have have a guy like Mortis lose, but he can go and beat up other people and get his spot back. Also since there’s no shame to losing to Hennig, everything is ok for him. Why WWE doesn’t use their roster like this is beyond me.

Video on Sting not talking for the last year or so.

Dean Malenko/Jeff Jarrett vs. Hector Guerrero/Chavo Guerrero

Malenko and Chavo start things off and we hit the mat very quickly. That doesn’t last long so they run the ropes a bit until Dean gets taken down by a pair of dropkicks. Hector comes in to face Jeff and we have a strut vs. dance battle. A headscissors puts Jarrett down and frustrates him so he pounds away a bit. Hector makes a brief comeback but stops to jaw with Dean, letting Jeff take over again.

There’s the running crotch attack to a 619’d Hector (I’m still looking for a better name for that) before it’s back to Malenko. Make that back to Jeff again and Hector gets two off a backslide. Chavo breaks up the Figure Four and Dean is rolled up for two. Hector won’t tag and is caught in an electric chair. Dean hooks the Cloverleaf and we’re done.

Rating: C. The idea here was that Hector wouldn’t tag, presumably due to stubbornness, but it doesn’t make Jeff any more interesting. The guy is just flat out not interesting no matter how you try to push or package him. Malenko was fine but he needs to get away from this stupid tag team thing.

Raven still won’t talk so here’s Stevie Richards instead. Richards has a contract for Raven but there’s a snag. He’s been in Atlanta renegotiating for Raven and everything seems to be cool now. Raven looks at the contract, spits at Richards and decks him. He pulls back to punch Richards again, but Stevie blocks it and says no more.

Giant vs. Joey Maggs/Lenny Lane/Scott D’Amore

Chokeslam, chokeslam, chokeslam, about 90 seconds, interview time.

Savage pops up on the stage and says bring it before running from a fast walking Giant.

We recap the roll Lex Luger is on. Basically it’s a Luger highlight video.

High Voltage vs. Public Enemy

Kaos vs. Grunge to start and Johnny wants to dance. A swinging neckbreaker puts Kaos down as does a clothesline before it’s off to Rocco. Rage interferes but Kaos takes the time to pose instead of following up. Larry: “HE’S WASTING TIME!” Remember, this is LARRY ZBYSZKO complaining about stalling. High Voltage is coming off as the heel team here and it doesn’t suit them that well.

Rage comes in and pounds away on Rocco a bit more but jumps off the top into Rocco’s boot. My goodness how I hate that spot. Grunge comes in and beats up both guys as everything breaks down. The Public Enemy loads up the table but Rage moves, sending Rocco crashing through the wood. Not that it matters as Rage runs into Kaos and is rolled up by Grunge for the pin.

Rating: D+. As lame as the match was, there was an actual story being told out there. The idea was that High Voltage didn’t have the experience to hang with the Public Enemy and the veterans used that to their advantage. This is probably the last match I would have expected something like that from but points to these guys for putting it in there.

Alex Wright cuts in on the Nitro Girls dancing. The Girls leave and Alex talks some trash about Jericho, who he faces on Saturday.

Scotty Riggs vs. Alex Wright

Non-title here. Wright sends Scotty to the floor almost immediately and hits a double ax off the apron. A suplex on the floor keeps Riggs down but he sends Wright into the barricade to get himself a breather. Back in and Alex takes over again before dancing a bit. They both hit cross bodies with Scotty falling on top for two. They head up top and Alex headbutts him down before hitting a missile dropkick for the pin.

Rating: D+. Just a squash here to set up the title match at Road Wild. Wright using the dropkick was a nice touch as that’s one of Jericho’s finishing moves. Not much of a match here, but then again Riggs wasn’t much of a wrestler. At least he stopped using the American Males theme.

Hour #2 starts.

Here’s Luger to talk to Gene. Lex says that he was only focused on Saturday but now his focus has shifted to tonight. It’s his defining moment and tonight, he’s going to make history. Standard promo here but it did exactly what it needed to do. It’s such a simple science but no one can pull it off anymore.

Chris Benoit vs. Syxx

Syxx starts with that headlock of his but Benoit quickly elbows him down. A spinwheel kick puts Benoit down but Chris immediately legdraps Syxx out to the floor. There’s a suicide dive to take the NWO dude out. Back in and Benoit goes up, only to get caught in the Tree of Woe. Syxx hits a Bronco Buster to an upside down Benoit in a move I’ve never seen before. A top rope flipping legdrop misses Benoit though and Chris suplexes him down for two. Benoit loads up a belly to back superplex but here’s Jarrett to attack Benoit for the DQ.

Rating: C+. This was a nice fast paced match that had to be brought down by a stupid ending. This was done to further the tag match on Sunday which at least had a purpose. Not much to see here but Benoit was fast paced as usual and Syxx continues to be much better against smaller guys. Not bad at all here.

More dancing.

Booker T vs. Vincent

Nothing match as Booker beats up Vincent and side kicks him for the pin in maybe 45 seconds.

DDP talks about his match with Flair tonight, saying that while he and Flair have common enemies, Flair has his respect, but he has Flair’s number. I like that line.

Wrath vs. Barbarian

Now here’s an odd match. Barbarian knocks him back into the corner but gets clotheslined down for two. Wrath takes him down but can’t hit the Death Penalty (two arm Rock Bottom) as we head to the floor. Barbarian sends him into various metal objects before we head back inside. Back in and Barbarian goes up but jumps into the Death Penalty for the pin. Too short to rate but it wasn’t very good.

Meng comes out to stare down Wrath. Wrath bails.

The hometown Steiners come out and introduce Ted DiBiase as their surprise new manager. DiBiase was one of the original members of the NWO so this is a big deal. He starts off by saying that he’s seen the error of his ways before almost saying the World Wrestling Federation tag titles were on the line on Saturday. Cue the Outsiders to laugh this off and say that DiBiase is a dead man.

More dancing.

Lee Marshall does his thing.

Konnan vs. Psychosis

Konnan pounds him down to start before nearly clotheslining a horn off. A low dropkick hits the masked man and Konnan sends him to the apron. Psychosis comes back in with a top rope spinwheel kick for two. That’s about the extent of his offense as Konnan hits the 187 and Tequila Sunrise for the fast tap.

Rey, still on crutches, comes out to confront Konnan post match. Konnan kicks the crutches away but Rey is faking it and breaks a crutch over Konnan’s back.

Glacier/Ernest Miller vs. Damien/Silver King

King and Glacier get us going and the kicking begins. Glacier cranks on the arm a bit but King kicks out of it pretty quickly. Damien trips up Glacier but the ice enthusiast kicks Silver down anyway. Off to Miller but the luchadores pound him down pretty quickly. Miller comes back with a bunch of kicks and here’s Glacier again. A backdrop gets two on Damien but Glacier is double teamed a bit. Uninterested tag brings in Miller who uses his karate stuff, finishing Damien with a spinning kick off the top.

Rating: D. At the end of the day, Miller was so unbelievably boring in this role and it took a long time to get him to a level where anyone cared about him. Silver King and Damien actually got a win or two so they were only somewhat jobbers to the stars. Not much to see here though.

Here’s Bischoff with something to say. He’s here to complain about the attack by the Giant from last week and calls out JJ Dillon. The alleged boss of WCW comes out and Eric yells a lot, threatening legal actions against the Giant and violence against Larry Z. If there was a point to this getting six minutes of TV time, I have no idea what it was.

Hour #3 begins and the Nitro Girls dance on the announce table.

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Ric Flair

Hennig comes out and shakes Flair’s hand to mess with Page’s mind. Page runs Flair down and slaps him in the face to tick him off. Hennig went to the back already so this is one on one. Page pounds away in the corner and Ric is in trouble early. Flair comes back with a poke to the eye but Page counters a backdrop attempt into a sweet sitout powerbomb for no cover. Hennig comes back out and we take a break.

Back with Flair in control and Page down in the corner. Page comes back with right hands and slams Flair off the top, but a Hennig distraction lets Flair get in a shot to the knee. There’s the knee drop and Flair is in Nature Boy mode. A quick Figure Four is broken up because Page is in the ropes.

Flair pounds away even more and tries to suplex Page over the top and out to the floor. DDP counters of course and puts Ric in the Figure Four instead. Flair pokes the referee in the eye, allowing Curt to come in. Page cradles him to slow him down, but it lets Flair escape the hold. There’s a Flair Flip in the corner and Ric goes up, only to dive into a clothesline. Page calls for the Cutter but Hennig comes in for the DQ.

Rating: C+. This was fine but they more or less had a big sign saying RUN-IN COMING. That’s fine though as you can’t have these guys losing five days before a PPV match. I mean, this is WCW, not some crazy company like WWE that has guys in prominent matches getting pinned on go home shows.

Page clears the ring post match.

Hector Garza/Lizmark Jr. vs. Villanos

This would be IV and V for you Villano enthusiasts. Garza and IV start things off and things speed up quickly. Hector moonsaults out of the corner and clotheslines IV down before hitting a superkick. Off to Lizmark for a dropkick but V comes in and ducks the same move. Some armdrags put V down but the Villanos double team Lizmark to take over. Back to Garza who gets caught in a double gutbuster.

We head to the floor where Garza is dropkicked into the barricade. That gets boring so it’s back inside where everything breaks down. Garza dives on I think IV before Lizmark and V go to the floor. IV is backdropped to the floor so Garza can hit the big corkscrew plancha. Back in and Lizmark dropkicks IV a few times, but the referee gets distracted and the switch from the brothers is enough for Lizmark to get rolled up for the pin.

Rating: C. This was fine but it was nothing more than a bridge between the big stuff later on in the show. Garza had the making of a big star and was getting over pretty well in the earlier days of TNA before getting busted for steroid possession. The other three guys never amounted to anything in the States.

Here’s JJ to offer Sting a contract. Basically “we’re sorry we thought you were lying because we were too stupid to use common sense and tell that it wasn’t you the whole time. Maybe we should hit Turner up for vision insurance. Anyway, wanna fight Curt Hennig?” Sting lowers from the rafters and rips up the contract. See, this is something that actually deserved the six and a half minutes it got.

WCW World Title: Lex Luger vs. Hollywood Hogan

Dang man how long has it been since Hogan wrestled on Nitro? They trade hammerlocks to start and Hulk heads to the ropes. More feeling out until Hogan pounds away in the corner to take over. The fans are WAY into this here. Hogan keeps beating on him and drops a bunch of elbows. A clothesline in the corner has Lex in trouble and Hulk chokes away. Luger comes back and rams the champ into the buckle a few times to get himself a breather. Hollywood takes his head off with another clothesline and we take a break.

Back with Hogan still in control and hitting a suplex for two. A belly to back suplex puts Luger down again and a big right hand gets two. The big boot and legdrop hit for two and the pop is really weak for some reason. Another legdrop misses and it’s comeback time. Luger decks the Outsiders and Savage as they try to run in. The forearm takes Hogan down and there’s the Torture Rack to give us a new world champion.

Rating: B. The match itself was as by the book as you could get, but that’s exactly what it should have been. The rating is almost entirely for the moment, which is WAY better here than I remember it being. Hindsight would say it was obviously only going to last until the PPV, but still man this worked really well. I’m actually surprised at how much I liked this.

The locker room empties out for the celebration. The fans go NUTS too. Everyone goes to the back and we see Giant and Luger polishing the belt to get the NWO paint off as champagne is flowing everywhere.

Hogan loses his mind in the other locker room.

Overall Rating: B. This was supposed to be a special show, and I don’t often get to say this about WCW, but they absolutely nailed it. The wrestling here is ok at best, but they did a good job of setting up the PPV, they had a good start to the new part of the Sting angle, and the ending is actually excellent. I know it doesn’t mean anything in the long run, but at the time this was a cool moment. Good show here which almost shocks me.

Here’s Road Wild if you’re interested:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2012/05/23/road-wild-1997-you-can-see-the-problems-mounting-up-already/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of Complete 2001 Monday Night Raw Reviews at Amazon for just $5 at:

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books as low as $4 at:

Uncensored 1998
Date: March 15, 1998
Location: Mobile Civic Center, Mobile, Alabama
Attendance: 7,475
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone

This hasn’t felt like an important show throughout its build and it still doesn’t as it’s about to start. It’s a double main event with Sting defending the title against Scott Hall and a far bigger match of Hogan vs. Savage in a grudge match inside a cage. The rest of the matches come off as little more than filler. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is just shots of the four guys in the main events. Nothing to see here.

The announcers talk about the main events and Tony suggests that Hall will hand the title to Hogan if he wins it. Heenan: “No one is stupid enough to hand the world title to Hogan.” Make your own jokes.

TV Title: Eddie Guerrero vs. Booker T

Eddie is challenging and has Chavo with him against Chavo’s will. Guerrero stalls to start until he finally gets backdropped down by Booker. A side slam puts him down as well and Booker fires off some forearms. Booker hits a clothesline to send Guerrero to the floor and Chavo shrugs at his uncle. Back in and Booker kicks Eddie down as this is one sided so far. Guerrero runs to the floor and tries to walk out but gets a forearm to the jaw for his efforts.

They head back inside and Booker gorilla presses him down but takes too long going for the Harlem Hangover and gets crotched. Eddie hooks a superplex but Booker comes right back with some forearms to the head. He loads up the ax kick but Eddie dropkicks the knee out to take over. Eddie rolls to the floor to glare at Chavo before going back in to pull on Booker’s leg.

The hold stays on for a LONG time until Eddie gets caught with in the ropes. Back up and Booker hops on one foot for a bit, allowing Guerrero to reverse a whip and hit the slingshot hilo onto the bad leg. Booker rolls to the floor and Eddie goes up top, only to fall off but land on Booker’s leg anyway. As Ventura said, sometimes it’s better to be lucky. Back in and Booker hits a quick flapjack and the ax kick (with the good leg). A spinebuster puts Eddie down but Booker has to bail out of a missile dropkick. The side kick misses and Eddie loads up another superplex, only to be shoved off and missile dropkicked to retain Booker’s title.

Rating: C+. The match was good until Booker just stopped selling the leg at all, which was made even worse by how leg based his offense is. Eddie was doing some great old school heel work here with the using the ropes and stalling to rile up the crowd. This was a good choice for an opener as Booker continues improving week by week.

Chavo smirks a little so Eddie jumps him from behind.

Scott Steiner is chatting on WCW.com. Actually he’s showing off his arms to Lee Marshall and Mark Madden.

Konnan vs. Juventud Guerrera

Juvy lost his mask at SuperBrawl and Konnan gave him grief over it, setting up this match. Konnan is jawing with the crowd and Juvy gets in a kick to the back to take over. Konnan finally gets his hands on Guerrera to stop the speed and we go outside with Konnan in control. Juvy is sent into the steps but he blocks a second attempt to send Konnan face first. He uses the steps as a springboard to take Konnan out as Lodi talks trash from the front row.

Back in and a springboard missile dropkick gets two for Guerrera. Konnan comes right back by dropping Juvy on the top rope before putting on a standing leg lock. I’m sure this isn’t just an excuse for Konnan to stand in one place for a minute and a half. He makes up for it with a wicked release German suplex for two before catapulting Juvy into the corner. Guerrera is thrown across the ring again and Konnan puts on a Boston Crab while also lifting Juvy up by the arms and rocking him back and forth.

The hold looks great but Konnan drops Juvy on his head in a very scary landing. Juventud goes to the floor to remember what planet he’s on as the match just stops. Back in and Konnan picks him up in a fireman’s carry but bends Juvy around the neck in a kind of reverse torture rack.

Konnan loads up a belly to back superplex but Juvy flips out and gets Konnan in the Tree of Woe for some rapid fire kicks. Guerrera tries a rolling cradle but gets caught in a wheelbarrow suplex for two. A powerbomb is countered into a facejam on Konnan but the 450 hits mat. Konnan’s 187 cradle DDT gets two and a modified Samoan drop gets a cocky cover for two, allowing Juvy to roll him up for the surprise pin.

Rating: C-. This was very slow at times but given the injury to Guerrera halfway through it came out better than expected. The ending was perfect as Juvy’s motto was never surrender and he hung in long enough to steal a pin. Konnan could go when he wanted to and he showed off some strength here in a decent match.

Konnan lays out Juvy with another 187 before throwing him over the top.

JJ Dillon makes the powerbomb legal for Nash vs. Giant but it’s one night only.

Cruiserweight Title: Dean Malenko vs. Chris Jericho

Jericho is defending and has been frustrating Dean for months on end. He takes a long time removing the belt here and insists on being called Mr. 1004. Malenko easily takes him to the mat with a drop toehold but doesn’t follow up. Off to a wristlock on the champion but again Dean lets him go. Malenko takes him down with an armbar into a hammerlock before he runs Jericho over with a shoulder.

Back up and they run the ropes a bit until Jericho hits a quick enziguri. He loads up a springboard cross body but Malenko ducks to send the champion to the floor. Jericho starts walking out but eventually comes back and catches a leapfrog into a spinebuster. The arrogant cover gets two and a suplex gets the same before we hit the chinlock. That goes nowhere so Jericho hits the Lionsault for two. As frustration starts to set in, Jericho hits a backbreaker and bends Malenko over his knee.

Dean gets up and wakes up off a chop before firing off a series of forearms and headbutts. A belly to back suplex gets two but Jericho pops up and hits a senton backsplash for two. Jericho hits a running dropkick in the corner but Dean blocks a suplex into one of his own, only to be countered into a reverse suplex from the champion. Dean bails to the ropes to escape the Liontamer and gets some quick rollups for two.

Jericho kicks him off the apron but quickly brings it back inside. A belly to back superplex is countered into a crossbody for two for Dean and Jericho is getting frustrated. Malenko dives to the ropes to get out of the Liontamer again before countering a top rope hurricanrana into the gutbuster for two. Dean tries the leg lariat but gets caught in the Liontamer for the surprising submission.

Rating: B. This was the good match you would expect these two to have with fifteen minutes. Jericho won clean here with a counter into a wrestling hold which makes him look all the more dominant. It was a surprise to see Dean tap out but it gave him a reason to need redemption which is the more interesting story.

Post match Gene comes into the ring as Malenko is clearly shaken up. He rips Dean apart, talking about how Malenko should have won this match and is 0-4 in his last PPV matches. “You are a bonafied loser!” Malenko says he’s going home.

Raven says revenge will be served cold tonight.

Lex Luger vs. Scott Steiner

Steiner jumps Luger as he comes in and pounds away. He suplexes Luger down and sends him to the outside to make sure this doesn’t get interesting. Luger is sent into the barricade but suplexes Steiner off the apron to the outside. Steiner goes over the barricade before going back inside for the standard Luger offense. A low blow breaks up the Rack and there’s the Recliner (just a chinlock as he doesn’t have the arms pulled back) but Luger is in the ropes. Steiner gets a chair but his brother comes down the aisle. The distraction lets Luger hit Scott in the back for the pin.

Rating: D-. Steiner is running from his brother, is yet another lackey in the NWO, had issues against Johnny Grunge on Thunder and now loses his first prominent match to a forearm to the back in less than four minutes. Is it any wonder why it took him another year to get over? The match was junk as Luger continues to spiral into nothing.

Scott Norton comes out and gets beaten up by Rick, setting up the showdown of the brothers. Scott swings the chair but Rick backdrops him out to the floor.

US Title: Diamond Dallas Page vs. Raven vs. Chris Benoit

This is No DQ and falls count anywhere. Page is defending after invading the Benoit vs. Raven feud. It’s a triple lockup to start and now everyone stands around. Another triple lockup brings everyone out to the floor. Page is sent into the steps and the challengers fight in the ring with Benoit getting two off an elbow. Benoit stomps him down in the corner but Page comes back in to break it up. Raven and Benoit head back to the floor so DDP can hit a big dive to take them both out.

Back in again with Chris taking over and hitting a top rope splash for two on Raven. Page and Benoit slug it out to the floor but Raven dives over the top to take them both out for two on each. Page sends Benoit into the barricade but Raven charges into both of them again. Raven is whipped into the barricade and it’s Page vs. Benoit for a bit. Raven goes up by the set and comes back with a garbage can but Benoit puts it over Raven’s head so the other guys can beat on it with crutches. Benoit takes over with a crutch shot to Page’s back as they’re up by the entrance.

A trashcan to Page’s bad ribs has him in trouble and a suplex on the ramp has the ribs in even more trouble. Benoit and Raven team up for a few seconds to send Page through an Uncensored sign. Chris pulls out a kitchen sink of all things to hit Raven in the head but Raven throws a table at his head. Raven comes back with a velvet rope to choke Benoit but Chris whips Raven through the table. Page is still down as the other guys head back to the ring.

Benoit chokes Raven with the velvet rope but Raven hits him low to change momentum again. Now it’s chair time but it’s Raven taking the drop toehold into the metal. Page is slowly crawling back to the ring as Benoit whips Raven into a chair in the corner to send him to the floor. Back in and Benoit puts on a sleeper but Page comes in to put one on Benoit at the same time.

Raven hits a jawbreaker to put everyone down. Why Benoit’s leg being on Page isn’t a cover I’m not sure. Chris gets up and rolls the Germans on Raven but Page gets up to German suplex both guys at the same time. The challengers both knock Page down and Lodi hands in a stop sign to crack Page in the head. Now it’s a table as Benoit stands around. Raven puts Page on the table but Benoit cracks Raven in the head with the sign. Benoit takes Raven to the top for a superplex through Page through the table but Page knocks Benoit to the floor and Diamond Cuts Raven “though” the table to retain.

Rating: A-. This was a wild brawl before the wild brawl became the norm in wrestling. Benoit and Raven did most of the work here as Page laid up by the sign but that’s to be expected. The match was fun though and was exactly what it was supposed to be: a big ECW style battle (with a bunch of ECW spots) on a mainstream stage.

The announcers talk for a bit.

Kevin Nash vs. The Giant

The powerbomb is legal for this match. Giant is finally in wrestling gear again but still has the neck brace. They pose at each other to start before Nash does some kung fu. Kevin actually grabs a headlock but gets clotheslined down with ease. They fight to the floor with Giant being sent into the post as we continue to do nothing of note. We’re three minutes into the match and Nash finally hits some elbows to the neck to pick things up a bit.

Nash does his foot choke in the corner and puts on a sleeper. After wasting some time with the hold it’s a running crotch attack to Giant’s back. There goes the neck brace but another crotch attack is countered with a low blow. Giant fights up and shoves Nash down before loading up the powerbomb….and Brian Adams comes in for the DQ.

Rating: F. To recap: Nash no shows Starrcade, nearly cripples Giant at Souled Out, and STILL won’t do the job here. His upcoming reward? His own stable to fight the NWO while becoming one of the top faces in the company. It’s amazing how ridiculous this stuff is becoming and it’s only March of 1998. The match was horrible too with neither guy moving above a snail’s pace.

The NWO C team comes in for the beatdown but Giant fights them off and cleans house. Nash of course gets to hit Giant in the back with a ball bat but Giant gets up. No damage to Big Kev of course.

Call the Hotline!

Curt Hennig vs. Bret Hart

Feeling out process to start with neither guy doing much in the opening few minutes. Bret grabs a headlock and takes it to the mat. After nearly two minutes in the headlock Hennig is thrown to the floor for a council with Rude. Back in and Bret gets a quick Sharpshooter but Rude comes in for the unseen save. The Robinsdale Crunch starts the leg work on Bret’s knee and it immediately goes into slow gear. Hennig cannonballs down onto the leg and wraps it around the post a few times. Rude gets in a wrap around as well as the fans aren’t interested at all.

Somehow we’re six minutes into this and I haven’t left out a single bit of “action”. Hennig whips him across the ring by the hair and puts on a figure four and Rude cheats a bit. Bret makes the ropes but gets hit low to slow him down again. Back to another leg lock to waste more time before Hennig is thrown into his crotch against the post spot. Bret gets two off a bulldog to set up the Five Moves of Doom but Hennig sends him chest first into the buckle. The PerfectPlex gets two and they trade rollups for two. Hennig tries a sunset flip but Bret rolls through into the Sharpshooter for the submission.

Rating: D. Take ten minutes off this and it’s a great match. The problem is it’s not even fourteen minutes long. It was clear that neither guy was interested in doing much until the very last bit. Those two minutes or so were better but the rest was WAY too dull to sit through. Bret didn’t care at all and it appears to be mutual from WCW.

Rude destroys Bret post match with the Rude Awakening and some chair shots.

WCW World Title: Scott Hall vs. Sting

There’s no recap due to there being nothing in this story to recap. Hall won a battle royal four months ago and Sting hasn’t had a big defense yet. Dusty is in Hall’s corner to keep that idea going a little while longer. Sting easily slugs Hall down to start and it’s time for a breather. Back in and Hall fires off the driving shoulders but gets punched to the corner. A hiptoss is countered and Hall chokeslams him down but stops to mock the Giant.

Sting comes right back with some right hands and Hall is knocked to the floor again. The champion goes out to get him but a trip from Dusty is enough to let Hall take over with a clothesline. Back in and the discus punch puts Sting down and the fallaway slam gets two. Sting comes back with a right hand and the falling low blow spot.

With both guys down, Hall distracts the referee so Dusty can hit the Bionic Elbow. Sting starts no selling punches and hits the Stinger Splash but a Dusty distraction leads to a ref bump. Some brass knuckles get two for Hall but the Outsider’s Edge is countered into the Death Drop to retain Sting’s title.

Rating: D. Hall was given no chance coming into this match and had no chance in the match. This could have been a decent Nitro main event but it has no business as the co main event of a pay per view. It felt like a modern World Heavyweight Championship match as we were just waiting for the real main event. The match was basic stuff but not very interesting.

The cage is lowered.

Hollywood Hogan vs. Randy Savage

Hogan pounds away in the corner to start and chokes Savage on the mat. The big boot gets two as the fans think Hogan sucks. Hogan chokes even more as this is already boring me to death. Savage comes back with left hands before choking Hogan with I think tape. Hogan whips him with the weightlifting belt but Savage avoids the legdrop. Now it’s Savage with the belt before sending Hogan into the steel so hard that the cage is afraid to move.

Hogan goes into the cage again as the fans are almost silent. Savage is backdropped into the cage and slides down in a nice visual. Back to whipping with the belt before Hollywood gets two off a belly to back suplex. Savage is rammed head first into the cage a few times for two as this continues to be horrible.

Now, for a change of pace, let’s go to the floor to make the cage entirely pointless. Also, let’s make sure to keep the cage in between the camera and the wrestlers so we can barely see anything. They head back inside and Savage sends him into the steal before popping up. Apparently they’re both bleeding but we’re on a wide shot so it’s almost impossible to see.

Savage goes up top for a double ax from the edge of the cage for two. It’s elbow time but Disciple runs out to break in and pull Hogan away. Savage is on top of the cage and begs Savage to jump but Savage climbs down instead. Sting repels down and we get a ridiculously long staredown, as Hogan and Sting look at each other for well over a minute….and Savage turns on Sting. Hogan doesn’t know what’s going on as Savage leaves to end the show. The match is a no contest because that’s how you end a pay per view.

Rating: F. Hall and Sting are off the hook now for their bad match. Their match was bad, but this was a full on embarrassment. Hogan and Savage moved like 85 year olds out there with the “violent” parts looking more like kids mimicking wrestling moves. So after somehow looking like geriatrics and children, the ending didn’t exist and the post match (I think?) stuff makes little to no sense. Such is life in WCW.

Overall Rating: C. The divide on this show really is distinct. The first half of this show (bad four minute Luger vs. Steiner match aside) is really solid stuff with a great three way and some other good to very good stuff in the midcard. After the three way it’s all downhill though as the wheels come off again. The main event gets a huge amount of the blame here as it’s not only long but horrible. Hart’s match was long but just boring and the title match wasn’t all that bad. The main event was one of the worst matches I’ve ever seen and didn’t even make sense. The whole show isn’t terrible but stop before the cage match.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of Complete 2001 Monday Night Raw Reviews at Amazon for just $5 at:

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Monday Nitro #130
Date: March 9, 1998
Location: Lawrence Joel Memorial Veterans Coliseum, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko

It’s the go home show for Uncensored and the card is almost entirely set. Tonight is going to be about finalizing everything for Sunday with the focus likely being on Savage vs. Hogan instead of Sting vs. Hall. Other than that there might be some time spent on Page vs. Benoit vs. Raven but it’s going to pale in comparison to Age in the Cage. Let’s get to it.

We open with a clip from Thunder of Savage saying he’s the real man and Hogan’s wife knows it. Hogan freaking out over possibly being thrown out of the NWO is a nice bit of storytelling.

The announcers hype up the show and Larry gets a very nice response from the crowd.

Ernest Miller vs. Damien

Damien is unmasked here which I don’t think was always the case, although it might have been face paint. Miller is in shorts instead of his usual attire and it’s a striking contest to start things off. Damien puts him on the middle rope for a hurricanrana but dives into a kick to the chest. Miller runs up the ropes and hits a spin kick to the face for a quick pin. This was an odd choice for an opener but the kick to end it looked great.

Here are Bischoff and Hogan with something to say. Eric sucks up to Hogan, saying that no one will ever be half of what Hogan is now. However, Bischoff wants to talk about ingrates like Randy Savage. If it wasn’t for Hogan, Savage’s family would be out of a job and out on the street, so it’s now time for Savage to pay the price. Hogan talks about Savage dragging Liz into this business and implies she did everyone in the locker room. That draws a big gasp from the crowd. Hogan goes on about how great he is until it’s time to pose.

Gene is at Duke University with the Nitro Girls.

Lenny Lane vs. Sick Boy

Lane’s music starts when he’s halfway down the aisle. Lenny hits some basic stuff to start but the much taller Sick Boy comes back with some right hands. Lodi has the words Go Heels on his back. Lane dives over the top to take both Flock members down and gets two off a missile dropkick back inside. Sick Boy comes back with a layout F5 and some right hands to the head.

A running elbow in the corner puts Lane down but he avoids a top rope elbow. Lane gets a rolling cradle for two followed by something resembling a Skull Crushing Finale. Back up and Lane horribly botches a standing Lionsault, making it more like a springboard back clothesline. There was no rotation at all and they’re lucky Lane didn’t land on his head. Thankfully Sick Boy rolls over Lane’s back and hits a quick Pedigree (the Cure) for the pin.

Rating: D. Lane was trying but he was in over his head with the moves he was going for. Sick Boy’s size got in his way here as he wasn’t able to do much against the much smaller Lane. The match would have been better with a better pairing, but with the two guys we had it was bordering on a disaster.

Here’s Giant, still in a neck brace, with something to say. Giant has been looking for Kevin Nash to get a head start on Sunday’s match but he’s nowhere in sight. He mentions having buddies, which brings out Savage and Sting, FINALLY holding the belt. Savage says he doesn’t feel alone because Giant is about 8,000 feet tall and Sting is the world champion. Sting beats on the ropes with the bat as Savage challenges Hogan and any other two guys from the NWO to a six man tonight.

Goldberg vs. Barry Darsow

Darsow is more famous as Smash from Demolition or Repo Man. He’s just Barry Darsow, guy in trunks here though. Goldberg immediately takes him down by the leg before running Barry over with a shoulder block. A lariat sends Darsow to the floor and Goldberg rams him into the barricade and post. Goldberg misses a shoulder into the post though and Darsow goes after the arm. The arm is sent into the buckle but Goldberg snaps awake and hits the spear and Jackhammer for the quick pin.

Gene is still at Duke University.

Here’s Hall with something to say. There’s no survey tonight, because he needs to talk about Savage running down Hogan. If Hollywood needs him, Hall is in his corner tonight. As for Sting, Hall will prove he’s better on Sunday. Thanks for throwing in something about your first WCW World Title shot. Nash comes out and says he’ll have Hogan’s back as well and Giant will get what’s coming to him too.

Dean Malenko vs. Kidman

Dean quickly takes him down and tries the Cloverleaf but Kidman rolls to the ropes. A dropkick gets two for the itchy one and he kicks Malenko in the head a few times. Dean misses a dropkick and it’s off to a chinlock. Kidman shoves Malenko chest first into the buckle and stomps him down in the corner in a surprising show of aggression. A slingshot legdrop gets two on Dean and a middle rope bulldog gets the same. Here’s Jericho to watch Malenko as Kidman slams Dean down for two. Kidman goes up top but gets caught in the middle rope gutbuster. The Cloverleaf is good for the submission.

Rating: C. Not bad here and the gutbuster is always cool to see. Jericho didn’t really do anything here but his presence alone is usually entertaining. Dean is a great foil for Jericho with the serious vs. goofy natures battling each other. Kidman is good but he’s almost playing his gimmick too well as the lack of interest makes for less than thrilling matches.

Jericho and the Flock gets in to stare down Malenko but the Flock beats Jericho down instead. Chris and Dean escape separately.

Here are Hogan and Bischoff with something else to say. Bischoff says Hogan has had to draw straws to pick his partners. Hogan talks about Savage being cool with the NWO for a long time before everything fell apart. The NWO is better than ever without Savage though, which brings us to tonight. Hogan has picked Hall and Nash as his partners (shocking) because they would never stab him in the back. This didn’t need to be done in the arena.

More Gene and the Nitro Girls. Are these segments supposed to be interesting?

Bryan Adams vs. Kaos

From Bret Hart to this for Adams, which is much more appropriate for a guy of his caliber. Adams jumps Kaos to start and lays him out with a quick piledriver. A kick to the shoulder puts Kaos down again and a gutbuster gets two. I’m leaving out the walking around between each move to avoid redundancy. Kaos comes back with a jawbreaker and a clothesline for two before his partner Rage goes up top. Adams fights Kaos off with ease and kicks Rage down before hitting a tilt-a-whirl slam on Kaos for the pin.

Rating: D. WAY too long here with Adams showing how limited his offense is at this point. That flat out shouldn’t be the case for someone with the kind of experience that he has. Adams didn’t look good out there other than the tilt-a-whirl finisher, but at least it was against a jobber and not anyone of value. Also what was up with High Voltage trying to double team like that? It came off like Adams was the good guy fighting off cheaters here.

Post match Adams hits the tilt-a-whirl on Rage for a pin as well.

Here’s Konnan who talks a lot of trash about Juventud Guerrera and says he has an opponent for him of the same size and weight. If Juvy can beat this guy, he can have a match against Konnan.

Juventud Guerrera vs. Scott Norton

Juvy tries to dive on Norton and just bounces off. Chops have no effect either and we head inside. Norton launches him into the air for a great looking crash. Guerrera comes back with a missile dropkick but a springboard spinwheel kick is caught into a backbreaker. Off to a bearhug followed by a full nelson to make Juvy scream. Guerrera will not give up and Norton lets him go, only to hit the shoulder breaker for the pin.

Rating: D+. What in the world was the point of this? Juvy can’t beat a guy he shouldn’t be able to beat and Konnan gets to laugh a lot? Guerrera not giving up was a nice idea, but having him destroyed by a shoulder breaker a few seconds later doesn’t make him look that great. This didn’t do much for anyone.

Video on Raven vs. Page vs. Benoit.

Chris Benoit/Diamond Dallas Page vs. Perry Saturn/Raven

This should be good. Benoit and Saturn slug it out to start and Perry gets two off a northern lights suplex. Chris takes him into the corner and makes the tag off to Page for a swinging neckbreaker. Raven gets the tag but Benoit tags himself in before Page can get himself a piece. Benoit runs Raven over and Saturn is knocked to the floor as well as we take a break.

Back with Page being double teamed in the corner….which has switched for some reason. As in the teams have switched corners during the break. Raven snaps Page’s throat across the ropes for two but Page comes back with a sunset flip. No count though as Benoit is making a save, allowing Raven to put on a front facelock. Page fights his way over to Benoit but the referee is with Saturn so it’s no good. Saturn comes in for a bearhug on the bad ribs which lasts for a good long while.

Page finally breaks free but Saturn trips him up, allowing Raven to stop the tag. A great looking guillotine legdrop gets two for Saturn but an elbow drop misses, allowing for the hot tag off to Benoit. The Canadian cleans house but Raven breaks up the Rolling Germans with a low blow. The Evenflow is countered into the Crossface but Page Diamond Cuts Saturn onto Benoit to break the hold. Page and Benoit get in a fight and brawl to a countout.

Rating: B. For once this is the right ending as it builds up to the PPV match perfectly well. This was a really solid tag match which followed the formula to perfection and had the fans losing their minds for the hot tag. It’s another example of what should be the first rule of wrestling: when things start to go bad, have a good wrestling match and things will get better in a hurry.

Goldberg and Disco Inferno went to Duke University hospital earlier today.

Gene gets some Dominos Pizza as the Girls keep dancing.

Hour #3 begins.

Konnan vs. British Bulldog

Konnan starts a USA chant in a funny bit. The Bulldog rolls and spins out of a wristlock and hooks a chinlock a minute into the match. Konnan fights up and takes Bulldog down with a clothesline and a back elbow to the jaw for two. A low dropkick gets two on the Bulldog before he gets up and…..rolls himself up for two? Bulldog was the one doing the move but rolled onto his shoulders with his feet in the air before kicking out. Odd indeed. Anyway Konnan comes off the ropes but walks into a horrible powerslam for the pin by Bulldog. This was really, REALLY bad while it lasted.

Here’s Flair and remember we’re in North Carolina. Flair talks about how the last time he was in this city, Curt Hennig slammed a cage door on his head. This time though, it’s Hennig’s turn to take a beating. Tonight Hennig will be Carolina Dreaming. Flair didn’t have much to say here.

Cruiserweight Title: Disco Inferno vs. Chris Jericho

Jericho grabs a headlock to start but Disco takes him down with a hiptoss. Disco sends him over the top and out to the floor but Jericho blocks an ax handle from the apron with a dropkick to the ribs. Back in and Disco gets two off a sunset flip but the champ drops him throat first across the top rope. Disco catches a charging Jericho in something like a spinebuster for two. A swinging neckbreaker gets a VERY close two but Jericho comes right back with the double underhook backbreaker and the Liontamer retains the belt.

Rating: C. This was better than I was expecting with Disco continuing to impress in the ring. Jericho was playing it straight tonight and came up with a decent match as a result. The match with Malenko on Sunday is getting overlooked for some reason but it should be good as well. Nice match here.

Remember how Gene was at Duke University with the Nitro Girls? He’s still there.

TV Title: Booker T vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.

Eddie follows Chavo out and tries to talk some reason into him before the match. Booker yells at Eddie, allowing Chavo to get in a cheap shot before the bell. A dropkick to the leg takes Booker down but Eddie has the referee during the cover. Booker hits the spin kick to take Chavo down but the ax kick mostly misses. The missile dropkick is good for a quick pin for Booker in an abrupt ending.

Post match Eddie gives Chavo a brainbuster for losing.

Curt Hennig vs. Ric Flair

Before the match, Flair tells Hennig and Rude that he’s going to do this for every Horseman ever. Flair hits a quick hiptoss to send Curt to the floor and the fans freak out. Back in and Curt fires off some chops before sending Flair out to the floor for a beating from Rude. Ric gets back in and slugs it out with Flair knocking Hennig down to the mat. A low blow has Hennig in even more trouble and Flair brings in a chair. He puts Hennig in the Tree of Woe and picks up the chair but the NWO runs in for the DQ.

Rating: C. This didn’t have the time to go anywhere but Ric in North Carolina is always worth a look. Flair vs. Hennig had gone on for months and then just stopped cold for the sake of a DDP vs. Hennig match at Starrcade. It’s good to see them bring things up again but the fire was gone at this point.

Post match the NWO runs in for the beatdown but Bret makes the save.

Scott Steiner/Scott Norton vs. Rick Steiner/Lex Luger

For the sake of simplicity, Scott Steiner will only be called Scott, Scott Norton will only be called Norton and Rick Steiner will only be called Rick. Rick comes out with a bulldog (Heenan: “He brought his sister!”) and chases off the NWO before the bell. We start with Rick vs. Norton and the NWO member being thrown down with a belly to belly. Scott bails to the floor from a glare from his brother and it’s Luger coming in with an ax handle to Norton’s shoulder.

Off to Scott who is run over by a few clotheslines and it’s time for the brothers to fight but Scott bails to the corner. Norton runs over Rick and it’s finally time for Scott to come in and pound away. Rick gets in a single right hand to the ribs and Scott bails to the corner. A backdrop puts Norton down but Scott breaks up the Steiner Bulldog. Luger beats Scott up the aisle and apparently it’s a double countout despite not hearing the count at all.

Rating: D+. This was storyline development as we build towards the eventual Steiner showdown. Luger and Scott have a match on Sunday which was barely mentioned here but at least they fought to end things. Norton was the odd man out and I’m not sure why they had him work twice tonight.

Hollywood Hogan/Outsiders vs. Sting/Randy Savage/The Giant

Thankfully Sting actually wears the belt again. Giant is in a neck brace and street clothes but goes after Nash anyway. It’s a big brawl to start with the three pairs fighting all over the arena. Sting and Hogan get things going with the champion pounding away and getting two off a right hand. Hogan sends him into a few corners and hits Sting in the back but the champion blocks a ram into the corner to get control back. Hall and Nash have their arms stretched out but Hogan doesn’t seem interested in tagging.

Giant gets the tag and Hogan staggers away, falling right into Nash which counts as a tag. Hall and Hogan try to jump Giant from behind but he picks both of them up AT THE SAME TIME in a double bearhug. That guy is so strong it’s unreal. Nash breaks it up though and Giant is in trouble. The NWO goes after Giant’s bad neck and the beating goes on for a good while. Hogan puts on a front facelock but can’t get the brace off.

Sting finally comes in without a tag to give Giant a breather but the brace has been removed. A triple beatdown has Giant in trouble but he shoves all three guys down and makes the hot tag to Savage. Giant gets back up and Nash runs off as Savage pounds on Hogan. Sting and Hall finally have some contact with the champion hitting a few Stinger Splashes before they fight to the floor. In the melee the Disciple comes in with the Stunner on Savage to give Hogan the pin.

Rating: C-. Not a terrible match but it was much more hype than actual substance. I’ll let the shock of a Nitro main event fitting that description sink in for a minute. Anyway the Sting vs. Hall match continues to be given less attention than even the TV Title match but any other solution might take some of the spotlight of Hogan vs. Savage and we couldn’t have that.

Overall Rating: C. This is an interesting show as they covered most of if not all the matches for Sunday but I really don’t care to see the PPV. At the end of the day the card just isn’t all that good and the Hogan vs. Savage issue does nothing for me. A lot of the other matches sound ok but not good enough to want to watch the show. The wrestling on here was ok but the storylines that dominated things dragged it down.

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Thunder
Date: March 5, 1998
Location: Columbus Civic Center, Columbus, Ohio
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Lee Marshall

WCW is in an interesting little groove right now as they’re not taking their shows seriously at all other than the main event and it’s making things much easier to get through. We’re ten days from Uncensored and the show is shaping up pretty well which means the TV has been good lately. Tonight’s main event is Page defending the US Title against Raven, assuming we don’t get more NWO drama instead. Let’s get to it.

We open with a video of Randy Savage receiving the Harvard Lampoon’s Man of the Year award. It’s used as a promo for Hogan vs. Savage.

Here’s a lot of the NWO led by Hogan and Bischoff to get us going. Bischoff talks about how Savage doesn’t deserve the award because he isn’t a real man. A real man wouldn’t walk in Hollywood Hogan’s shadows all these years and Savage is the second most delusional man in the world. Hogan talks about having the NWO watching his back and taking care of Savage and Sting on Monday. Savage winning Man of the Year is a joke and if you want to know how much of a man Hollywood is, just look at Liz’s skinny legs. Uh….sure.

Anyway Hogan is going to need another opponent after the beating he gave Savage on Monday and if Savage is here tonight Hogan will beat him up again tonight. Brian Adams says everyone knows Hollywood is the real icon and Savage is scared of him. It would be an honor for Adams to take Hogan’s place against Savage tonight if he actually shows up. Hollywood is all cool with that and that’s that.

Bill Goldberg vs. Vincent

Heenan has assigned Tenay to find out how many matches Goldberg has won in a row. The spear and Jackhammer end this before I can finish typing that sentence.

We look at This Week in WCW Motorsports. I’ll leave you to figure out how pointless this is.

Prince Iaukea vs. Eddie Guerrero

Feeling out process to start with Prince snapmaring Eddie down, causing Guerrero to complain of a hair pull. Eddie tries to drop down but gets a headbutt in the back to send him to the floor. A dive over the top rope takes Eddie out but back inside, Prince has to put his springboard on hold because Eddie pulls the referee in his path. Eddie goes after the knee to take over and puts on a spinning toe hold. Iaukea rolls him up for a quick two and gets the same off a superkick. He loads up another springboard but Eddie dropkicks his leg out and the frog splash is good for the pin.

Rating: C. This was by far the most entertaining Prince Iaukea match I can remember seeing. Based on his track record though, I’m going to give Eddie about 97% of the credit for the match succeeding. This was an easy win for Guerrero to set up Guerrero’s title shot at the PPV and little more.

Juventud Guerrera vs. El Dandy

Dandy throws him down by the hair to start and fires off some kicks to the chest. The Flock arrives late as always. A pair of headscissors puts Dandy down and Juvy pounds away in the corner. Dandy is sent to the floor for a BIG Air Juvy dive to fire up the crowd. Guerrera can’t suplex him back in though and gets caught by a belly to back for two. Juvy comes right back with a quick DDT and counters what looked like a powerbomb attempt into a rollup. They speed things up a bit with some near falls each but Dandy goes up top, only to get slammed face first onto the mat. The 450 finishes this a few seconds later.

Rating: D+. Not bad here but Dandy never was anything more than a Bret Hart punchline. Juvy is gearing up for his showdown against Konnan which should be entertaining if they wrestle the kind of match they’re capable of having. The Air Juvy dive looked great here but there wasn’t much else to talk about.

Post match Konnan comes out to ramble on in broken Spanish and says Juvy has lost his identity. Juvy says he never surrenders, other than when he surrendered away his mask.

Here’s Randy Savage with something to say. He wants Hogan and Adams out here right now and gets his wish plus a bonus Easy E. Savage says the rest of the NWO wants to stab Hogan in the back the first chance they get. The NWO’s main goal is to get rid of Hogan because he’s like a horse with a broken leg. At Uncensored, Savage is going to send Hogan to the glue factory. Brian Adams is betting his career on Hulk Hogan, so Savage will raise the bet: after Savage takes care of Brian he wants Hogan TONIGHT. Hogan says Savage should be a comedian and he’ll be in Adams’ corner tonight.

Video on Steiner vs. Luger for Uncensored.

Chase Tatum vs. Scott Steiner

Chase is well built but you know what’s coming here: suplex, forearms to the back, whip into the steps, more pounding in the corner, butterfly powerbomb and the Recliner for the submission. Total squash.

Video on Nash vs. Giant including Giant’s powerbomb from Monday.

Curt Hennig vs. Jim Neidhart

You can see the dilemma of Neidhart at this point: he’s being used to put over the Bret vs. Hennig feud but that legal stipulation kept Neidhart and Bret from associating on TV. Hennig stalls on the apron to start, gets shoved into the corner, and stalls yet again. Back in and Neidhart runs him over before putting on a headlock.

Lee Marshall buries the Hart vs. Hennig feud, saying they sound like a couple of three year olds fighting on a playground. Curt bails to the floor for a chat with Rude before Neidhart pounds him down and puts on a chinlock. With Curt distracting the referee, Rude pulls out a 2×4 from under the ring and knocks Neidhart silly with it, setting up the HennigPlex for the pin.

Rating: F. So we have Marshall burying the feud, a stupid ending, and about a minute of “action” in a three and a half minute match. This was a disaster in just a few short minutes which is quite impressive. I’m guessing Curt was, ahem, under the weather for this one as he barely did anything at all.

Bulldog runs out for the save.

Raven comes to the ring to talk about labyrinths and corridors. He helped DDP back in the day but Page never thanked him. Raven spent three years in Barbed Wire City and was so scarred he no longer feels the pain. Tonight is Page’s Waterloo and when Raven wins the title, he isn’t defending it at Uncensored. The challengers will have to wait until his pain is gone.

Jericho talks about being loved by the fans and how they should put him on a pedestal for everything he’s done for them. He’s nailing this character to perfection.

Cruiserweight Title: Chris Jericho vs. Ciclope

Before the match, Jericho tells us all to Wang Chung tonight. Also he’s been counting and knows 1004 holds, meaning he’s better than Malenko. More on that in a few days. Jericho takes him into the corner to start and grabs the arm but Ciclope trips his leg. A kick to the ribs sets up a brainbuster from Ciclope and Jericho is sent to the floor. Ciclope tries a dive but Jericho casually sidesteps him and stomps away. Back in and Jericho counters a quick victory roll into the Liontamer for the submission. Not much to see here.

Jericho won’t let go of the hold until Malenko comes out for the save and puts Chris in the Cloverleaf.

Scott Norton vs. Renegade

I’ve sat through El Dandy and Prince Iaukea tonight and this is my reward. Norton shoves him into the corner and hits a LONG string of knees and forearms. As in he goes on for well over a minute doing nothing more than those two moves. Presumably out of boredom, here’s Giant to lay out both guys. Norton gets a Jackknife and Renegade is chokeslammed to the amusement of the crowd.

Giant is handcuffed but the cuffs don’t fit. Instead Doug Dillinger puts chains around Giant’s wrists.

US Title: Raven vs. Diamond Dallas Page

Raven insists on No DQ, which I thought was always the case for him. Page wants no referee, which is a great way to guarantee you keep the belt. He knocks Raven to the floor and hits a big plancha before sending Raven into the barricade. Raven comes back with a whip of his own and they head up to the stage. Benoit comes out and jumps both guys to make it a threeway fight. They fight in the aisle and then inside the ring with Benoit missing the Swan Dive on Raven. The 7’2 Reese debuts to distract Page and the Flock comes in for the double beatdown. Both guys get DDTs onto a piece of guardrail to end this non-match.

Randy Savage vs. Brian Adams

Hogan comes out with Adams so we’re guaranteed a run-in palooza to end the show. Before the match, Savage says it’s true that Liz managed the both of them, but Liz says Savage is clearly the real man between the two of them. Adams has to hold Hogan back but Savage says if Hogan wants to know who the real man is, ask Hogan’s wife. It’s a big brawl to start with Savage having to fight both guys.

Lee Marshall continues his brilliant commentary with this gem: “We’re going to find out who is the kahuna and who is the kahu-not.” Savage whips Hogan with the belt and gets in a shot on Adams as well. They head back in and Liz gets in a cheap shot on Adams. Savage saves her from Hogan but Disciple comes in for the DQ. This was a match?

The NWO destroys Savage and Sting makes the save to end the show (no belt of course).

Overall Rating: D. This didn’t do it for me. The matches were all either really short, really bad or not matches at all. Savage had some good lines, but the focus being entirely on Hogan vs. Savage and the NWO split is getting really tiresome. The world title was mentioned in a single throwaway line which led to another Hogan discussion. Also, did WCW really think we would care about Brian Adams this much? This was a bad show and one of the worst in the series so far.

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Bash at the Beach 1998
Date: July 12, 1998
Location: Cox Arena, San Diego, California
Attendance: 10,095
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan

 

Remember that horrible main event last year with an NBA player in it? Well this one has two NBA players. Yes this time it’s DDP/Karl Malone vs. Hogan/Rodman. At least there’s a world title match here though as this is 6 days after Goldberg beat Hogan for the title so he’s got Hennig tonight. Also the annoying Kevin Greene is back because we need MORE non-wrestling athletes. Let’s get to it.

 

The opening video more or less just lists off the participants in the matches I just told you.

 

The announcers talk forever about how huge this is.

 

Raven vs. Perry Saturn

 

Raven’s Rules of course. This is the beginning of the Saturn frees the Flock stuff. Lodi is dressed like Hat Guy. Riggs is with Raven and let’s talk about the main event. I mean we gave them a full half second after the bell rang to be about them. They fight outside and Raven goes into the railing. Into the ring and Saturn slips off the top. He catches himself on the mat though and hits a dropkick.

 

Saturn throws on a hold and Raven taps but it doesn’t count for whatever reason. He misses a guillotine legdrop though and Raven is able to get a table. Saturn manages to crotch him but misses a dive and lands on the floor again. Raven hits the Russian leg sweep into the railing. Sleeper doesn’t get Raven anywhere as Saturn gets a jawbreaker to counter.

 

Raven gets drilled in the corner with a bunch of kicks and now a suplex. Saturn grabs a chair and bashes Raven with it a few times but only gets two. Saturn sets for something but Riggs and Lodi come in for the save. Perry suplexes them both at once to send them flying and accidentally drills the referee. Out to the floor and Raven gets bulldogged into the steps. Saturn sets up another table and puts a table on top of him.

 

Saturn goes up top but Kanyon comes out and pulls Raven off the table before Saturn jumps. Saturn jumps anyway so are we supposed to believe Saturn just couldn’t see it? Seriously? Saturn mostly misses the tables anyway so he wouldn’t have hit Raven even if Kanyon hadn’t moved him. Kanyon hits a Flatliner (Downward Spiral) on Raven onto the chair. Saturn is rolled in and Raven gets two. Riggs comes in again and takes a DVD but the opening allows Raven to get the Evenflow DDT to end this.

 

Rating: C+. Some of the bumps here were pretty good but these two had the same match for like a year. This wasn’t too bad though, although the table bump was really stupid looking due to the total miss and Saturn looking like a total idiot. This feud would go on a few more months until Saturn freed the Flock, more or less ending their usefulness outside of Kidman.

 

Eddie says he’ll win his hair vs. hair match against Chavo because Chavo is insane. Also Chavo has a match with Stevie Ray before he has to face Eddie.

 

Juventud Guerrera vs. Kidman

 

Not a title match here. Just a cruiserweight match for the sake of having a cruiserweight match. Juvy is a face and Kidman is a part of the Flock. They lock up to start and then slug it out for a bit before Kidman grabs a headlock. A lot of speed to start and Juvy takes over with a set of chops and a headscissors, followed by a clothesline to the floor. Lodi saves a big dive by Juvy and hits him with “Lethal” (Tony’s word not mine) forearms to the back.

 

Kidman misses a dive so Juvy shows him how it’s done, taking out Lodi and Kidman. He kicks Lodi’s hat and the fans boo. Back in the ring for another counter sequence but this one ends better for Kidman as he hits a wheelbarrow suplex. Out to the floor and Kidman picks him up for what looks like a powerbomb but drops Juvy backwards to clothesline him on the railing.

 

Kidman goes to the apron and dives into the railing by mistake to shift the momentum again. Juvy gets a sunset bomb to the floor after some resistance from Kidman. Tony of course calls it a sidewalk slam because he’s an idiot. Back in the ring Kidman uses a low blow to break up a top rope rana and hits a sitout spinebuster off the top in a cool move. It only gets two and we hit a well deserved chinlock.

 

More chopping and ducking follow and Juvy gets a rollup for two. Juvy gets tossed to the floor so Kidman goes up to dive. Juvy gets up for the save and Kidman gets crotched, followed by a springboard rana for two. Juvy gets a Rock Bottom suplex for two. Kidman pops up to hit a springboard bulldog for two (think Stratusfaction). Pinfall reversal sequence doesn’t go anywhere but Kidman walks into the Juvy Driver for two. Juvy charges at Kidman and gets caught in a spinebuster. Kidman misses the Shooting Star and the miss is enough for Juvy to get the 450 for the pin.

 

Rating: B. Really good match here as this is what the cruiserweights were supposed to be about: just going out there and going insane, hitting all kinds of stuff you wouldn’t see elsewhere. Kidman would get a lot better and Juvy would decline a bit as a heel but this was still awesome stuff. Really liked it as they just went out and had a good match. What more can you ask of them?

 

Konnan is on an internet chat. Konnan on the internet is never a good thing. Just ask X.

 

Stevie Ray vs. Chavo Guerrero

 

Not sure why Stevie was picked but this was so that Chavo wouldn’t be at 100% to face Eddie later. Chavo is crazy at this point. He comes out with a water gun and an inner tube around his stomach. Eddie comes out with some scissors to great heat. Chavo dedicates this to his favorite wrestler, Eddie Guerrero. The hair vs. hair match is right after this. Chavo avoids Stevie then poses and dances. He offers a handshake which Stevie actually accepts. While in the handshake, Chavo submits. Apparently Chavo is crazy like a psycho.

 

Chavo Guerrero vs. Eddie Guerrero

 

Chavo bites him to start as Mike talks about the significance of hair vs. hair in Mexico. Now Chavo dances some more as we haven’t had any significant contact in the first two minutes or so. Eddie gets a chair and that doesn’t work of course. Chavo sits in said chair and maybe now we can get a match? Eddie offers a handshake and Chavo takes it, pulling him into a clothesline.

 

We finally get going after two and a half minutes. Backdrop to Eddie so he hides with the referee. Chavo bites him again as this isn’t much of a match for the first three and a half minutes so far. Eddie gets a dropkick to the knee and fires off some shoulders to the back. Slingshot hilo has Chavo in more trouble. After nothing of note on the floor there’s the Gory Special to Chavo. Nice touch.

 

Camel clutch goes on. Did someone grab a camel in that once and say it seemed like a good name for a wrestling match? Out to the floor and Eddie rams his head into the steps. There go the mats at ringside and Eddie wants a brainbuster. Chavo counters into a regular suplex and Eddie is in trouble. The younger one goes up and is crotched so Eddie hits a superplex to put both guys down.

 

Chavo gets the advantage and tries a frog splash but Eddie gets the knees up just in time. Eddie tries Chavo’s tornado DDT and this time it hits, allowing Eddie to grab some scissors before it’s time. Frog splash by Eddie misses and now Chavo hits the tornado DDT. He grabs the scissors, allowing Eddie to get a small package for the pin.

 

Rating: C. Not as good as you would expect here as they were kind of all over the place. The comedy at the beginning didn’t work and they were more or less mirroring each other after that. It’s not bad but for Chavo vs. Eddie you kind of expect a lot more than what you got here.

 

Post match Chavo goes insane and cuts his own hair while he makes sound effects. He plays the psycho really well.

 

Apparently Malenko vs. Jericho is off due to Malenko snapping and beating up Jericho on Nitro. Jericho will defend the title against a mystery opponent later tonight.

 

Konnan vs. Disco Inferno

 

This is an added bonus match. It’s a Wrestlezone special I guess. Disco is billed from Funkytown of all places. Alex Wright is with Disco here and tries to speak some Spanish. Thankfully Mike and Tony are here to tell us they can’t speak Spanish. Where would we be without them to explain jokes to us? Nash and Luger are with Konnan. Gee I wonder what’s going to happen. Nash talks for awhile to eat up more time.

 

Disco gets beaten down quickly which shouldn’t surprise anyone. We hear about Disco’s legit good resume in wrestling which is often forgotten. Disco gets in some jobber offense as it’s pretty clear what we’ve got on our hands here. Wright gets in some shots while Luger/Nash aren’t thrilled with it. There’s a Rack for Wright and a powerbomb for Disco. Tequila Sunrise ends this squash.

 

The Giant vs. Kevin Greene

 

Giant is black and white and Greene is here because WCW isn’t that smart. Greene is a guy that wasn’t that skilled but he was clearly having a blast out there and wanted to be out there doing this. He runs a lot which is smart strategy. Greene kicks the rope into the Little Giants and tries some punches in the corner but gets caught in a spinebuster (called a gutwrench waistlock slam by Tony) and the beating begins.

 

The fans chant for Goldberg but he’s not coming for a bit longer. The scary thing about Giant here is that he’s 26 years old. Bobby implies that Giant might be able to reach Andre’s undefeated streak. Dude, seriously? Greene tries a comeback and a headbutt stops that cold. After a brief thing on the floor Greene hits a forearm off the top and goes after the knee. He charges out of the corner into the chokeslam though and we’re done.

 

Rating: C+. This grade isn’t the same as I would use for a regular wrestling match. This was a wrestler vs. a football player and considering that, this was pretty good actually. Greene wasn’t supposed to be anything special and he was trying, which is exactly what he was supposed to do. Nothing great mind you, but all things considered this was fine.

 

Hennig says he can beat Goldberg.

 

We recap Malenko losing his title shot after Jericho cost him a match and then implied that Dean’s dad slept around and that his mother was a w****.

 

Cruiserweight Title: Chris Jericho vs. ???

 

Jericho doesn’t know who he’s facing and he comes out in a top hat with a cane and does a softshoe routine. JJ Dillon comes out and makes the match. Apparently it’s with a local kid that hasn’t wrestled in six months. It’s also No DQ still which was to be the stipulation with Malenko.

 

Cruiserweight Title: Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio

 

Rey takes over to start and is more muscular than he used to be. After a bit on the floor, Jericho gets a shot to the knee back in the ring. Jericho has apparently had enough and goes up to the set, more or less ending the interesting part of the match. They fight up a lifeguard chair and Rey dives onto Jericho on the sand. Back to the ring and Jericho gets a nice powerslam off the top (called a top rope powerslam by Tony. Wait that was correct. I need a minute to recover from that one).

 

Jericho tries to Pillmanize the leg but Rey moves, sending Jericho crashing into the chair. Rey swings away at it and dropkicks it into the knee. Jericho is in trouble all of a sudden and a facejam looks to set up the West Coast Pop. Liontamer is blocked and Rey gets to the ropes. Here comes Malenko as Jericho tries the Liontamer again. Rey rolls through for the pin and the title. Note here that Malenko DID NOT TOUCH JERICHO. He wasn’t in the ring, he wasn’t within 20 feet of the ring.

 

Rating: C-. Not much here at all but the opening was good. After that the whole thing changed and given that the match was only about six minutes long, I’m not sure what was going on here. Rey didn’t look completely comfortable on the knee so maybe that was it. Also, the reason to note Dean’s lack of involvement was the title would be returned to Jericho the next night due to Dean’s “interference”.

 

Malenko and Jericho fight to the back as Jericho tries to escape.

 

TV Title: Bret Hart vs. Booker T

 

Bret still hasn’t really done anything so let’s take that big acquisition and put him in the lower midcard and in the NWO. You know, because he’s just another guy. Booker is champion if that wasn’t clear. They head to the mat and Bret comes out ahead there. Booker gets a cross body for two. Bret is sent to the floor and is in trouble already. He does manage to take over on the floor and takes over back inside.

 

Booker is still in trouble as they go outside. He goes into the railing and Bret rams his back into the post which isn’t a DQ somehow. Five Moves of Doom get some two counts. This is really boring. Booker tries his Jack Brisco sunset flip out of the corner but botches it badly. Booker gets a kick to put Bret down and follows it up with the axe kick and Bret is down. There’s a flapjack and Booker spins up. Missile dropkick gets two. And never mind as Bret hits Booker with a chair for a DQ. Give me a break.

 

Rating: D-. Just a really boring match here as Bret continues to be totally wasted. I mean seriously, Booker T is good but at this point he should have bowed down to Bret and thanked him for beating him for the TV Title. Bret would FINALLY get something a few weeks later, winning the vacant US Title. Still though, this was really bad and the ending hurt it horribly.

 

Bret destroys the knee until Stevie walks out and tells him to stop.

 

Video on Goldberg who won the title six days ago. Also Hall got destroyed earlier in the night. The video makes it look like Goldberg squashed Hall in about 9 seconds. I still can’t believe they just had Goldberg beat Hogan on 4 days’ notice for the title on free TV. But hey, they managed to beat Raw for one night. Who cares that it would have brought in hundreds of thousands of buys and millions of dollars on PPV?

 

WCW World Title: Goldberg vs. Curt Hennig

 

This was added during the week, probably on Thunder. Hennig of course bounces around like a pinball. Goldberg tries his rolling leg lock and messes it up so Curt hits the floor. He tries to go up top and that totally fails. Hennig tries to go after the leg and spends a minute or so doing that as the fans chant for the champion. This time Goldberg manages to get the leg lock but walks into the Perfectplex for two. Spear and Jackhammer end this maybe a second later.

 

Rating: D. Just a squash here which isn’t what is supposed to happen on a PPV in a world title match. It wasn’t anything we hadn’t seen a hundred times (literally) before. Goldberg would mow through everyone until the idiocy of Halloween Havoc and the further idiocy of Starrcade. Nothing match here that wasn’t even four minutes long.

 

We recap the main event. Basically WCW decided to bring in celebrities for the sake of bringing in celebrities, making the main event wrestler/NBA player vs. wrestler/NBA player. Allegedly Rodman wasn’t seen until a few hours before show time and was in no condition to perform here. Did I mention this match is going to have half an hour to fill?

 

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

 

I actually watched this show when it aired with a buddy of mine and he said it looked like Malone and Page jumped into a vat of glue with their jeans on. I think he’s onto something with that theory. For some reason the heels’ music changes from Voodoo Child to the traditional NWO song halfway through their entrance. Malone comes out to some bad rap song. Dang he has long arms.

 

The basketball players start us off and it’s time to stall. Minute and a half of no contact yet. Test of strength is teased but Malone slaps Rodman’s hand away. It was Malone’s idea mind you. Two minutes in now and no real contact. They lock up and Rodman grabs a headlock. And never mind as we need to stall some more as Rodman goes to the floor. 2:45 in now with a headlock being all the contact. The world title match was 3:50. Off to Hogan vs. Malone and they have a pose off. Test of strength is teased….and doesn’t happen.

 

This match is officially longer than the world title match and we’ve had a total of one headlock. I actually want to see how far they can take this. At 4:12, they lock up. Malone puts on a hold that I don’t have an actual name for. It’s kind of like a headlock I guess. Picture a guy setting for a left armed Rock Bottom and clasping his arms around and kind of holding them there. Malone slams him (not bad) and it’s off to Page. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to see DDP in a match.

 

Page of course wants Rodman because we haven’t been bored enough yet. They lock up and it’s time to stall AGAIN. The fans chant boring and I can’t blame them. We’re at 6:00 now and here’s what’s happened so far: headlock, tieup, that hold Malone did, slam and another tieup. Seriously, NOTHING ELSE HAS HAPPENED. Jericho vs. Mysterio was 6:00 and it was bad, but at least it was a match.

 

They tieup again and Page shoves him off again. Page and Rodman spit at each other as we add an “armdrag” to the list of what’s gone on. This is now longer than Giant vs. Greene. The announcers freak and Hogan struts on the apron. Page grabs a headlock and even Tony is saying this is something of note finally. They collide and Rodman goes down. Another lockup and Rodman puts on headlock #4 as we hit the 8:00 mark.

 

We now see why Rodman is either drunk, high, or just awful at this. Rodman has a headlock on and Page tries to shoot him into the ropes. That’s a counter that I’m sure you’ve seen hundreds of times. Nothing special about it and perfectly normal. Rodman falls down and pulls Page with him, resulting in Page getting a two count. This is just embarrassing at this point. Actually it was embarrassing five minutes ago.

 

Page now with a head/chin lock and gets sent into the ropes. Rodman rams him with a shoulder block….and falls forward, allowing Page to get two again. Fans are openly booing now as Malone comes in. Rodman never gets up and tags Hogan. Hogan puts on a top wristlock which is shrugged off by Malone. Malone obviously isn’t skilled, but he’s trying and is fired up out there, which is really all you can ask for.

 

We’re over ten minutes in now and somehow that’s not even halfway through. Rodman actually does something as he hits a double axe to Malone to give Hulk the advantage. Hogan chokes a lot as you have to wonder why DDP vs. Hogan hasn’t gotten more time. I mean, they actually, know how to wrestle and such. Hogan slams him and drops some elbows. Back to Rodman who looks sleepy.

 

Rodman rams Malone into Hogan’s boot and it’s back to Hulk. Malone’s selling is pretty good actually. Off to a chinlock for a bit and Rodman comes in to hold Malone. Hogan punches Malone and Rodman falls down. Belly to back to Malone with Hogan making sure to be as careful as possible. Malone finally gets the hot tag to Page and he comes in off the top with a clothesline.

 

Things wake up for about 15 seconds until Rodman knees him in the back to let Hulk take over again. There’s the weightlifting belt to Page’s back. This is so boring it’s unreal. Double clothesline puts Page down. Hogan chokes him in the corner as we’re finally in a regular match with more than a move every three minutes. And never mind as that’s enough for Hogan so it’s off to Dennis again.

 

The heels seem like they don’t want to stay in the ring at all. Hogan suplexes Page and it’s back to The Worm. The fans chant for Page who at least fights back. Rodman puts a front chancery on as Malone plays cheerleader. The heels switch without a tag and the legdrop misses. Off to Malone who does some very basic stuff but does it well enough, all things considered. Double noggin knocker puts the heels down.

 

Malone hits a big boot and it’s not bad at all. Off to Page again and there’s the Diamond Cutter to FINALLY wake the crowd up. Malone hits what is supposed to be a Diamond Cutter on Rodman but was more like he grabbed Rodman’s shirt and pulled him down with it. The referee has to get Malone out so Disciple comes in to hit a Stunner on Page for Hogan to get the cheap pin.

 

Rating: N. As in no or not acceptable. This was the match that the show was sold on and it was atrocious. The idea of putting celebrities in the main event, even athletic ones, is stupid for one simple reason: they can’t wrestle. They’re not trained to do it and they don’t know how to do it.

 

Having Malone and Rodman as seconds or enforcers or whatever while Page and Hogan have a match is fine, but having like 8 minutes of stalling because they don’t know what to do isn’t fine. This is on WCW, not Rodman who at least showed something resembling interest (despite failing completely) and Malone who was trying. Horrible, HORRIBLE main event and match in general.

 

Malone hits a much better Diamond Cutter on Disciple post match. The referee gets one too as the NWO celebrates.

 

Overall Rating: D-. This is a fine example of how short term thinking can mess up a whole show. This was all messed up because the two big matches, as in the world title and main event, were either bad or really short due to the booking being changed or stupid from the beginning. The rest of the card is just your run of the mill WCW show which means it’s mostly weak with a good match sprinkled in here or there. Overall though this felt awful and like a nothing show, which isn’t good. Somehow it would get even worse next month with Hogan/Bischoff vs. DDP/Jay Leno. We’ll get to that later.
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Monday Nitro #79
Date: March 17, 1997
Location: Savannah Civic Center, Savannah, Georgia
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Heenan

It’s the night after Uncensored and the big story is that Sting has declared his loyalty for WCW by attacking the NWO to close the show last night. At the same time though it’s not all good for the purple and gold (WCW for you young people out there) as the NWO won the main event last night, basically giving them unlimited power in the company. There are eleven matches tonight so expect some quick finishes. Let’s get to it.

Rey Mysterio vs. Psychosis

Mysterio takes him to the mat to start and controls from behind. Psychosis takes him to the mat as we see the Japanese announce table which has Ultimo Dragon sans mask. Rey tries to do his kickoff out of a test of strength position but they mistime it horribly. A springboard headscissors sends Psychosis to the floor and Rey follows it with a rana off the apron. Back in and Psychosis rams him stomach first into the buckle. Psychosis misses a charge into the post and Rey hits a flip dive to the floor. West Coast Pop is HORRIBLY botched as Psychosis’ head is drive into the mat ala a piledriver for the pin.

Rating: C-. I haven’t seen Rey botch this much stuff in years. The ending was almost scary as Psychosis just stopped moving when his head got driven into the mat like that. The match wasn’t horrible but with two noticeable botches in three and a half minutes, how good can you consider a match?

Arn Anderson says Sting came home last night, but that’s not what he’s here to talk about. He was injured at Halloween Havoc and has to have neck surgery. Arn talks about how his grandmother stayed alive long enough to see him become a mature adult. Last night he saw his family, the Horsemen, mature. He also saw Sullivan’s son recently and it looks like the Sullivan family has broken up completely. Anderson says he’ll be back, but he never would be, at least not in the ring.

We recap last night with Savage and Liz attacking Kimberly and Page. They spray painted Kimberly when page was down.

Maxx vs. Diamond Dallas Page

Maxx is a muscle guy who is part of the Dungeon of Doom. There’s a slight chance that he’s the same guy that played Maxx Muscle, who was Page’s bodyguard back in 1995. This is a squash, with Page hitting a top rope splash of all things. He escapes a full nelson and hits the Cutter for the quick pin in maybe a minute and a half.

Page says he’s hunting for Savage and Liz. We’re also told possibly for the first time that Page and Kimberly are married in real life. Savage is a dead man walking. Page starts to leave but Savage and Liz are in the crowd. Savage says he’s the icon and Page is the wrestler with no name. Talk of a non-sanctioned match is mentioned but Savage says it’ll be later. Page charges into the crowd but Savage gets away.

Hugh Morrus/Konnan vs. Renegade/Joe Gomez

Before the match here are Bischoff and the Outsiders to take over the announce desk. Actually scratch that as they just have an announcement: they’ll be getting in the ring tonight but no opponents are mentioned. Apparently them getting to challenge for any title they want according to the stipulations from the main event last night now means the champions get to pick when they wrestle ever.

Back to the match which starts with Morrus jumping Gomez and working over his knee. Konnan comes in quickly and kicks at said knee. The Dungeon trades off a few times but the offense doesn’t improve at all. The announcers talk about Spring Stampede a bit as not much is going on during the match. A clothesline puts Gomez down and Konnan comes back in for a half crab. After about three minutes of leg work Gomez finally tags in Renegade. He cleans house for about fifteen seconds and then tags back out when Gomez can’t even stand. It takes about ten seconds to hit No Laughing Matter for the pin on Joe.

Rating: D. This was a dull match and it seems like they were trying to set up a feud between Renegade and Gomez for who knows what reason. The match was boring as it was about four minutes of leg work followed by the angle to end the show. Gomez stayed around for a long time and never did anything at all.

US Title: Dean Malenko vs. Scotty Riggs

Malenko won the title last night. Riggs lost a strap match to Bagwell last night so he gets a title match tonight. Makes perfect sense right? Scotty hits a quick dropkick to start but it only gets two. Dean will have none of that and sends Riggs to the floor and into the barricade. Back in and we get a pinfall reversal sequence for some two counts. Riggs makes a quick comeback with his jobber level offense before he gets caught in a hot shot. Dean grabs a rolling cradle for the pin to retain fast.

Lex Luger/The Giant vs. The Knuckles

That would be Knuckles Nelson and T. Rantula. I don’t know about you, but I’m smelling an upset here. Giant and Rantula start us off and the man who would be Peter Parker is thrown back into his own corner quickly. Nelson comes in and this is squash territory already. Giant works him over in the corner for awhile until Rantula comes in to help. That goes nowhere either and it’s a chokeslam for Nelson. Luger walks in without a tag and powerslams Rantula as Giant pins Nelson. Luger Racks Rantula post match. Total squash.

Luger and Giant talk about Sting coming back last night. We get some clips from the show with Sting destroying the NWO as Giant talks about seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Luger says it made him believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny. These guys do know they lost the main event right?

We get some stills from last night with Mortis vs. Glacier. Wrath debuted post match to beat down Glacier.

Bobby Eaton vs. Ultimo Dragon

Dragon stalls on the floor to start so Eaton punches him in the face. And never mind as Dragon puts him on top and hits a rana for the pin. This wasn’t even a minute and a half.

Here’s the NWO in full force. Hogan and Bischoff brag about winning last night and talk about being able to challenge for any title. That would be the TV and US Titles, unless you want to count the Women’s belt if that exists yet. Savage says he’ll face Page at some point. Nash says the Outsiders will face the Steiners at Spring Stampede. That would wind up being Rick vs. Nash for the titles. During this announcement, Hall takes a beer to the head. In PERFECT response, he wipes his hair as he is known to do.

Call the NWO hotline!

Hour #2 begins and it seems a lot later than usual. We do the usual recap.

Alex Wright/Mark Starr vs. Jeff Jarrett/Steve McMichael

Jarrett and Wright start things off with Alex firing off some dropkicks. Jarrett takes him down and Mongo drops an elbow on the back of Wright’s head to take over. There’s a side slam and it’s back to Jarrett. Tony calls that a solid tag. How can a tag exactly be solid? Everything breaks down with Starr diving over Mongo which is called a chop block. Figure Four ends Starr quick.

Public Enemy comes out and beats up the Horsemen post match. The Horsemen fight them off and then go to talk to Gene. Apparently these teams are going to be fighting at the PPV. Debra screeches a bit and Jarrett says he’s walking the walk now. Mongo dares the people to boo Debra, again not seeming to know if he’s a face or a heel.

Lee Marshall does his schtick.

Scott Norton vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.

Norton runs him over and Chavo bails to the floor. Back in and Chavo goes after the knee but Norton won’t go down. Two more shots to it and he still won’t go down. A missile dropkick won’t put Norton down and a sunset flip doesn’t either. Norton powerbombs him to death to end this. Norton wouldn’t sell a thing here.

Hogan and Rodman talk about nothing of note.

Chris Benoit vs. Billy Kidman

This doesn’t even last a minute with the Crossface ending it. That hadn’t been his finisher long at all at this point.

Benoit and Woman have something to say but Flair comes out before they can start. Benoit talks about Sullivan of course and Flair blames Piper for the loss last night. Ric isn’t worried about Arn because he’s tough. As for Piper, he can come be a Horseman and take Arn’s spot. That’s quite the offer.

Steiner Brothers vs. Harlem Heat

Scott and Booker get us going with Booker hitting a fast side kick. He walks into a gorilla press slam though and it’s off to Rick. Stevie comes in to stomp away and adds in some punches for good measure. They trade powerslams as it’s time to talk about Sting. Booker comes in and side slams Rick down but it’s off to Scott who cleans house. Everything breaks down and it’s the NWO in for the DQ.

Rating: D+. The match was just filler until the NWO got there for no apparent reason. I guess it was to beat down the tag teams like the black and white used to do but it didn’t quite work as well. These teams seem a level or two beneath the NWO, but at the same time the NWO has beaten up everyone so many times that it doesn’t mean much when they beat up the main event guys anymore.

Luger and Giant come out for the save and clear the ring. Sting drops from the ceiling to end the show. He stands with WCW and that’s it. Hogan is terrified.

Overall Rating: D+. WCW hit a MAJOR funk over the summer, as the world title wouldn’t be defended on PPV from March until August, making most of the PPV main events totally worthless. Spring Stampede would be Savage vs. Page, the next month would be a six man tag and the third would be Rodman/Hogan vs. Luger/Giant. There were no major matches to build to so there was little going on in the way of television. This was a good example of that, as aside from Page and Savage getting set up, almost nothing happened here. That would be the case for the next few months.

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