Monday Nitro #175
Date: February 8, 1999
Location: Marine Midland Arena, Buffalo, New York
Attendance: 15,378
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Heenan, Mike Tenay
We’ve got two shows before SuperBrawl and some cracks are starting to show in WCW. Some of the booking is getting more and more questionable and the matches aren’t as sharp as they’ve been in the past. The tag team tournament is starting to take shape though so at least there’s something interesting going on. Well at least in theory. Let’s get to it.
We open with a clip from the end of last week’s show with Chuck Zito and Hogan stalking David Flair. It turned out that they didn’t do anything.
The announcers do their opening chat about Flair vs. Hogan.
We see a clip from Thunder where Arn Anderson called Ric to check on David. Thankfully we can’t hear Ric’s voice.
Nitro Girls. Diamond Dallas Page is shown watching from the entrance in case Steiner shows up.
Disco comes into the Wolfpack locker room to see Hall and Nash standing over a fallen Arn Anderson. Disco stands over him as the Outsiders leave. Hall says that’s three down and two to go.
Opening sequence.
We go to a pool hall where a gorgeous blonde is talking to the camera. She saw whoever is holding the camera and thought he looked good, so come get in her limo for a ride.
Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg is a masked man who gets rave reviews whenever I see him mentioned. I don’t remember anything special out of him so it should be interesting to see what he’s got. Blitzkrieg takes him down into a quickly broken chinlock before jumping to the top rope to moonsault over Rey. A dropkick sends Rey to the floor and sets up an Asai moonsault into a corkscrew. Back in and Rey catches a hurricanrana in a powerbomb before getting two off a split legged moonsault.
Blitzkrieg misses another corkscrew dive but catches Rey in a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two. A standing moonsault gets two on Rey and he misses a charge into the post to give Blitzkrieg an even bigger advantage. They head outside with Rey dropkicking Blitzkrieg out of the air to take over. Back in and Rey drapes him over the ropes and nails a guillotine legdrop followed by a superplex for two. Off to a headscissors on the mat before Rey gets two off a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker of his own. There’s a Bronco Buster and Blitzkreig misses a corkscrew moonsault, setting up a top rope hurricanrana to give Rey the pin.
Rating: C. It had a bunch of high spots but Blitzkrieg did the same corkscrew about three times and it was basically just flipping for the sake of flipping. They look cool but the flip really doesn’t add anything. It doesn’t make the match any better and it didn’t make Blitzkrieg live up to his hype. Mix it up a bit and things will get better.
Video on Luger/Nash vs. Rey/Konnan.
Kanyon goes to Raven’s house where his mom asks Kanyon to keep an eye on Raven. They sit on the couch and Kanyon says Raven has to get better. Raven, looking directly into the camera: “What a mark.” Raven says money can buy happiness and they go into the garage where Raven has a yellow Ferrari waiting on him. They drive off with the engine reving.
Booker T. vs. Fit Finlay
A hiptoss puts Finlay down to start but Finlay comes back with a slam and sits on Booker’s chest. Finlay staggers him with a jawbreaker and appears to low blow Booker on a leapfrog attempt. An elbow to the chest keeps Booker in trouble but he comes back with a spinning kick to the face. Booker gets sent outside for an elbow to the back of the head and Finlay rams him into the apron. Finlay slams him head first into the steps and we take a break.
Back with….Horace coming in to see Hollywood. The champ says he needs help and Horace says he’ll do whatever he needs. The Black and White guys are tugging for position and Horace needs to lead the team. Horace: “WHOA!” He’s not allowed to tell anyone though for reasons not exactly clear. Obviously none of the Black and White members watch the show so this will be a well kept secret.
Now we go to the back where Flair makes Bischoff a janitor. If he quits, he’s fired.
We actually get back to the match now with Booker grabbing a sleeper but getting rammed into the corner for a break. Finlay drives him head first into the mat with a knee and we hit the chinlock. That doesn’t last long as Booker comes back with a belly to back suplex and the ax kick, side kick and missile dropkick for the pin.
Rating: D+. The match was hard to stay into when there was an eight minute break in the middle. Finlay didn’t do much here but he’s just a jobber to the stars at this point anyway. It’s nice to see Booker getting more wins, but hit would be nice to see him go somewhere instead of spinning his wheels like this.
Raven takes $20,000 out of the bank, half of it in one dollar bills. They’re going clothing shopping for Kanyon.
Jimmy Hart tells Bischoff they need more toilet paper.
Hollywood tells Brian Adams the same things he told Horace.
Gene brings out Flair for a chat. Flair says he had to walk the aisle tonight because he’s the Nature Boy. The only thing he hasn’t done in this town is ride a barrel over the falls. There goes the jacket and Flair talks about the Outsiders in a high pitched voice. Tonight it’s the Outsiders vs. Mongo/Flair. As for SuperBrawl, Hogan has two weeks to keep living his dream. Flair threatens to strip right now and promises to take Hogan down in Oakland.
He puts the Figure Four on the air and says we should get some great wrestling tonight. Flair says Hall beat Benoit last week but gets no shot because he’s abusing his power. Hart has been faking a groin injury so he needs to come out here and drop the belt right now. Bret limps down to the ring and Flair says he’ll be wrestling at SuperBrawl or give up the title. Hart says he’s injured but Flair says he’s doing it whether he wants to or not. Actually let’s just have Hart wrestle tonight against Roddy Piper and the title is on the line. Flair says the match with the Outsiders will be DOWN THERE.
Bret leaves and gets in the face of Will Sasso from MadTV.
The still unnamed blonde promises not to bite too much and tells the person behind the camera to come sit next to her.
Solid video on the tag team tournament and the great tag teams over the years.
Nitro Girls with Page watching on a monitor in the back.
Hollywood tells Stevie Ray to take over the team. Is everyone else watching a Mighty Mouse marathon? The announcers haven’t acknowledged any of these meetings yet.
Tag Team Title Tournament: Brian Adams/Horace vs. Barry Windham/Curt Hennig
Neither team has lost yet. Windham and Hennig come out to something that sounds a lot like a cover of the Legion of Doom theme. It’s a brawl to start with Hennig taking over on Adams, only to get caught in a gorilla press. Horace chops Barry on the floor before Brian throws Hennig outside as well. All four guys brawl on the floor and we take a break.
Back with Bischoff having to find aftershave for the luchadors. He can’t understand their Spanish and this really isn’t funny.
We go back to the match with Barry holding Horace in a Figure Four with Hennig adding in some extra leverage. Off to Hennig for chops in the corner and the necksnap but Horace kicks him in the face. Adams comes in with a suplex for two but gets caught in a sleeper. The fans are dead here because, amazingly enough, not many people are interested in two midcard heel teams fighting each other.
Everything breaks down and the PefectPlex gets two on Brian with Horace making the save. Vince comes out with the slap jack and Stevie Ray is shaking his head in the aisle. Hennig is in trouble as Stevie takes the slap jack from Vince, only to knock Adams out cold and give Curt the pin.
Rating: D. Again, who in the world thought this was a good idea? There’s no one for the fans to cheer for and the whole point of the match was an argument between the NWO B Team. The match was watchable but I need someone to care about to make up for it being dull stuff. I still have no idea why this is a double elimination tournament.
The Black and White argues post match.
The Blonde is in a hotel and tells the guy he has nothing to be worried about. They get in an elevator and she holds up a hotel key.
Video on Goldberg vs. Bigelow.
Vince gets his time with Hogan. Vince: “I’m the daddy!”
Gene brings out Bigelow, who is carrying some kind of paper, for a chat. Bigelow says he loves it when a plan comes together. This has been the idea all along: to break down Goldberg by raiding arenas until he had Goldberg right where he wanted him. Bigelow holds up the paper, which is an article from USA Today about Goldberg going to Washington D.C. to speak against animal fighting.
Goldberg should have his mind on SuperBrawl and the Beast From the East. The article says Goldberg hopes to have everyone in WCW adopt an animal this year. Bigelow would be glad to put a leash on Goldberg’s wife and walk her around the block a few times. This brings out Goldberg and the fight is on until security breaks it up.
Nitro Girls.
We see Page meeting a woman from a TV show he’ll be appearing on later this week. The woman tries to do a promo and it’s painful.
Kenny Kaos vs. Diamond Dallas Page
Tony does on sale listings, including a Chris Jericho and the Nitro Girls appearance at the Rupp Arena box office. Why did I never hear about this? Page takes over to start and sends Kaos out to the floor. Kenny is rammed into various things before they head back inside for a discus lariat to send Kaos right back outside. A belly to belly gets two for Page but Kaos snaps his throat across the top rope. Kaos drops him with a springboard clothesline and chokes a lot. We hit the chinlock for a bit until Page fights up with two more discus lariats followed by the middle rope Diamond Cutter for the pin.
Rating: D+. Just a basic match here but Kaos continues to get in some offense. It’s not like it’s going to lead anywhere or anything as he’s already reached the peak of his career, but it’s nice to see some lip service. The fact that his reign as a champion is never mentioned sums up how much it meant though.
Kanyon and Raven go to Versace and we get a Kanyon fashion show, including him changing in his underwear. Raven: “You’re such a jabroni.”
After a break and a montage of bars and clubs, Raven and Kanyon get back home just before Raven’s mom. They don’t say anything about what happened, but WCW has called and asked for Raven to come back to work. He seems fine with the idea.
Ernest Miller comes out for another open challenge. We cut to the Black and White locker room where Adams tells Vince to go get him. The Black and White laugh after Vince leaves.
We see Vince going to the ring and telling Disco Inferno that Miller is talking about his sister. Disco is too smart (there’s one I didn’t think I’d get to type) this time though and tells Vince to do it himself.
Vince vs. Ernest Miller
Seriously. Vince goes after Sonny Onoo before the bell and Miller jumps him from the apron. Back in and Miller kicks him a few times to send him back to the floor. Another kick sends Vince into the crowd for some brawling. Back inside again and Vince hits a jawbreaker but gets superkicked for the third time. More kicks drop Vince and Miller heads up top, but Sonny gets dragged to the apron which crotches Miller down. Vince grabs a rollup for the pin.
Rating: D-. Vince vs. Ernest Miller just got four minutes on Nitro after a four minute intro. I like that they’re trying to do something with Miller and it’s better than he used to be, but at the end of the day, there isn’t much they can do that is going to make me care about Vince. If nothing else this is bad because it gives him more to brag about when no one is in line to see him at conventions.
Kimberly is getting in her car when Scott Steiner shows up. Page is right there to go after him but security holds Page back, allowing Steiner to get in the car with her. They speed off and Steiner shoves her out of the car onto the concrete. That’s rather extreme. It’s so extreme that Kimberly keeps her face down on the concrete and is in a full body outfit so you can’t tell it was a stuntwoman.
After a break, EMTs are tending to Kimberly. They get her in an ambulance and Page leaves with her. Tony wants charges pressed against Steiner.
We get the same clip of Bret on MadTV, though this time it’s extended to show that he was beating up Jesse Ventura.
Larry Zbyszko is doing his hair in the bathroom and yells at Bischoff over the floor not being clean. Bischoff finds some bleach and is way too happy about it.
US Title: Bret Hart vs. Roddy Piper
Bret is defending and this is Piper’s first televised match since September. Piper slaps him in the face to start and does the ear slap before hammering away in the corner. Bret comes back with right hands and takes it to the floor but stops to limp a bit. Back in and the champion chokes a lot but Bret falls down, holding his groin. Piper clearly didn’t hit him so I think we’ve got some goldbricking. The trainer comes in to check on Hart as Tony is screaming for Piper to get on him.
Naturally Bret is faking and takes Piper into the corner for a stomping and we take a break. Back with Bret choking even more before punching Piper out to the floor. Hart pulls Will Sasso over the barricade to choke him, and despite Tony seeing him earlier and identifying the man as Will Sasso from MadTV, Tony has no idea who he is.
The distraction lets Piper get in a suplex for two back inside before getting caught in the sleeper. Bret goes to the corner to escape and the referee goes down. Piper is up first and Will Sasso is playing cheerleader. Hart has a foreign object and knocks Piper out, but he goes over to yell at Sasso, allowing Piper to get a rollup for the pin and the title.
Rating: D. This is a good example of why people were tuning out from WCW at this point. I understand that Piper wasn’t going to be a long term champion, but was there NO ONE ELSE that they could put in this role? No, it had to be Piper, who shows up and wins a title that so many other people could benefit from holding. It’s 1999 and I can’t imagine many people want to see Piper with a belt. But then again we don’t want to risk pushing someone new do we? That would just be crazy.
The Outsiders come out for their catchphrases and we go to a commercial.
The Blonde brings the cameraman into her hotel room and has him sit down on the bed while she goes to do something.
Outsiders vs. Ric Flair/Steve McMichael
It’s a brawl to start and the Outsiders are knocked to the floor. Hall and Flair get things going with Flair chopping him into the corner. Scott comes back with some right hands in the corner to no effect but Hall nails a clothesline to put both guys down. Flair elbows him in the jaw and goes up, only to be slammed back down. It’s off to Nash but Ric is able to tag in Mongo, who stomps on Nash’s foot. Both Outsiders are slammed down but Nash kicks McMichael in the face to take over.
Tony brings up Sting again as Mongo gets double teamed in the corner. Hall hits the fall away slam for two before putting on the sleeper. Mongo jawbreaks his way to freedom and the ice cold tag brings in Flair. Ric beats up Hall with ease and a few knee crusher set up the Figure Four. The hold stays on for a good while but we cut to Hogan knocking on the bathroom door. Bischoff hands him the mop bucket that he poured the bleach into earlier and says that this should work.
Hogan leaves with the bucket and all of the backstage workers are out cold on the floor. Back to the arena and Hall is out of the hold without much damage. A shoulder puts both he and Flair down as Hogan comes out with the bucket. He throws the bleach in it at Flair but hits Mongo to blind him and the match is thrown out.
Rating: D. This was Mongo’s final match and thank goodness for that. The guy dragged down a match between three guys that shouldn’t have their stuff dragged down like this. The fans did not care about him when he was in there and after two and a half years, there’s really no excuse for him to not get any better at all.
Hogan and the Outsiders go after Flair but Ric fights them off until Goldberg makes the save. Bigelow comes in but is easily dispatched to end the show.
Overall Rating: D+. You could feel things starting to change on this show. Between the car thing with Steiner and the bleach in Mongo’s eyes, things were getting a bit more sinister at this time. The Blonde is an interesting idea as there’s a mystery about who sent her and who she’s talking to, but we’ll get to that later.
The wrestling on this show was really bad. There are a few bright spots like Rey’s match, but the rest of the show felt like it was there for the stories and the matches were bridging the gaps. That can work when the stories are good, but that’s not the case here for the most part, especially when the matches are this dull. Not a good show, but SuperBrawl is looking like a chance for some serious revenge.
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