Monday Nitro #129
Date: March 2, 1998
Location: Corestates Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Larry Zbyszko, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan

The main story tonight is we have an NWO guy teaming with a WCW guy to face two more NWO guys in the main event of Hall/Hogan vs. Sting/Savage. We’re less than two weeks away from Uncensored and the card is already shaping up very nicely. Hopefully WCW can rebound after a weak showing on last week’s show. Let’s get to it.

After some clips from Savage’s beatdown last week, we see the NWO arriving. Nash is already here for some reason.

Chris Benoit vs. Scotty Riggs

Benoit sends him into the corner to start but can’t hit the German suplex. Instead he clotheslines Riggs in the back of the head and hits a belly to back for two before sending Riggs to the floor. Benoit follows him out and chops Lodi, only to have Riggs get in a shot from behind. Back in and Benoit counters a vertical suplex into a snap suplex, only to be clotheslined down for two. We hit the chinlock for a few seconds before Riggs sends Benoit into the corner. They seem to botch what was supposed to be Riggs going into the post before Benoit rolls the Germans and hooks the Crossface for the submission.

Rating: D+. This wasn’t bad but it didn’t have the time to get anywhere. We’ve been through Benoit fighting the Flock already so this wasn’t anything we hadn’t seen before. Raven is gearing up to fight Page on Thunder but Benoit is still stuck in the same place he’s been for months, which sums up his run in WCW in a five minute segment.

Ric Flair hypes up the main event for some reason.

The announcers talk about Randy Savage winning the Harvard Lampoon’s Man of the Year award.

Here are Hogan and Bischoff with something to say. Eric calls Savage a midget and says things can still be healed. Hogan is tired of hearing about Savage who isn’t even famous enough to get on Leno or Conan. The NWO is for life but Savage has gotten just enough rope to hang himself. He brags about being able to beat Sting and Savage and makes bald jokes in an eye rolling line. All his disciples know he’s too sweet, which is probably supposed to introduce Beefcake’s new name. Hogan rambled a bit but this was fine.

Gene and the Nitro Girls are at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.

Juventud Guerrera vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.

They trade arm work to start with Juvy doing Owen Hart’s spinning nip up counter but getting caught by a clothesline. They speed things up a bit and both guys flip around a bit before Chavo hits another clothesline for two. Juvy flips over the corner and hits a pair of springboard missile dropkicks for no cover. Chavo avoids a charge in the corner and jumps to the top to snap Juvy’s throat across the top. Back in and the tornado DDT is countered into a sloppy looking rollup before hitting the Juvy Driver and the 450 for the pin.

Rating: C. This was fine and followed the tried and true formula of letting two small guys fly around the ring for four minutes to fire up the crowd. Juvy was a few steps ahead of Chavo at this point but Guerrero would wind up being the better all around wrestler. Juvy looked good despite losing the mask, although I still don’t agree with the decision to take it off of him.

Psychosis vs. Prince Iaukea

During the entrances we’re told of a new music video from Stuck Mojo featuring Page and the Flock which will debut later tonight. Psychosis jumps him to start and hits a quick baseball slide to send the Prince into the barricade. Iaukea avoids a dive and sends Psychosis face first into the barricade to take over. Back in and Psychosis hits a pair of left arm lariats while shaking his right arm.

Iaukea gets two off a dropkick to the back of the head and they slug it out a bit. Psychosis gets two of his own off a spinwheel kick and hits a dropkick to the back of the head of his own. A top rope hurricanrana gets two on the Prince followed by the guillotine legdrop but Psychosis pulls Prince up at two. Psychosis crotches Iaukea on the top and tries a top rope victory roll but Iaukea falls on top of him for the pin.

Rating: C-. This wasn’t bad but it wasn’t a good idea to have it right after the Juvy vs. Guerrero match. Psychosis looked decent but Iaukea continues to be one of the most uninteresting guys I’ve ever seen. There’s nothing that separates him from any other generic wrestler out there and that’s not good for a show like Nitro.

Ad for Uncensored.

Raven vs. Disco Inferno

Disco wears the same kind of hat that HHH wore in 2000 which doesn’t suit him at all. Disco kicks him into the corner to start and hits a quick swinging neckbreaker for two before sending Raven to the outside. Raven sends him into the barricade and drops Disco onto the apron to take over. A chair is brought into the ring but Disco sends Raven face first into it instead to take over. Disco chokes away with some tape but Raven hits the drop toehold onto the chair and the Evenflow is good for the pin. Short but better than I expected.

More from the party with Gene talking to a bored cop and some guy from Cleveland.

Hugh Morrus/Barbarian vs. Public Enemy

Both teams bring tables with them but Public Enemy has a trashcan as well. The can is thrown into the ring and it’s a big brawl to start. Public Enemy is over huge with the Philly crowd and apparently this is a Philadelphia street fight. Jimmy Hart gets in some shots of his own on Rocco but Barbarian and Morrus clothesline each other.

Grunge puts Jimmy on the table but Barbarian makes the save so Morrus can superplex Rocco through the table. Morrus hits Barbarian with a high cross body by mistake and the other table is brought in. Rocco dives through Morrus (the table was breaking before he dove) for the fast pin. Another short match but Public Enemy was WAY over.

Here are Savage and Liz (looking GOOD tonight) with something to say. Savage says he’s tired of carrying Hogan for all these years and without the NWO, Hogan wouldn’t have a life. Savage calls Hall and Hogan cowards and says Sting will do business Savage’s way. Here’s Sting (still not carrying the belt which I haven’t seen on TV since SuperBrawl) with a mic for once. The survey says Hall is dead but he hasn’t forgotten what Savage has done over the years. Sting will only be doing things his way.

Goldberg vs. Sick Boy

Goldberg hits a quick gorilla press drop and a clothesline to stop a charging Sick Boy. Sick Boy slips off a springboard and the fans let him have it. Goldberg says hit me with your best shot but it’s the spear and Jackhammer for the pin.

We get the music video with the band (Stuck Mojo) playing in a ring as the Flock watches from ringside. They get inside and dive right back out onto the fans as the band plays. DDP finally gets in and cleans house with a wooden chair. Raven and Page stare each other down to end the video. The song is called Rising if you want to check it out.

Here’s DDP for an interview right after the video ends. He has a title defense against Raven on Thursday and since Raven likes quotes so much, Page’s quote is Raven is about to get BANGED. Page leaves, which seems rather silly considering what comes next.

Hammer vs. Diamond Dallas Page

Hammer jumps Page as he comes in and hits a quick powerslam for no cover. Page is stomped down in the corner but he comes back with rights and lefts while Hammer argues with the referee. He goes up onto the ropes to rain down right hands but Hammer hits him low to stop Page cold. DDP spins around Hammer’s shoulders and hits a Diamond Cutter but Raven runs in for the DQ before a cover.

Raven beats Page down but Benoit makes the save. All three guys brawl to a break.

More Nitro Party stuff.

Bret Hart is looking forward to facing Hennig because the NWO is a bunch of liars and bullies. He’s here to tear the NWO down brick by brick and at Uncensored, Hennig will learn that Bret is the best there is, was and ever will be. Also Stu Hart can beat up Larry Hennig any day.

British Bulldog vs. Scott Norton

Norton shoves Bulldog around in a rare occurrence for the Brit. Bulldog comes back with a regular slam followed by a powerslam (not the powerslam mind you) but Norton clotheslines him to the floor. Norton loads up a powerbomb on the floor but stops to shove the referee away for a DQ.

Bulldog and Norton brawl up the ramp. So Norton seems to have replaced Mongo, which is an upgrade…..I think?

The announcers talk about the main event some more.

Konnan vs. Super Calo

Before the match, Konnan says Juventud is a punk for losing his mask and is no longer raza. Konnan grabs the arm to start and they speed things up with Calo hitting a quick armdrag. An awkward looking shove puts Konnan down (looked like someone missed a cue) and a dropkick puts him into the corner. Konnan hits the rolling clothesline to take over but the announcers are talking about Raven vs. Page vs. Benoit being made official for the PPV. Calo hits a quick clothesline and dropkick for two but Konnan hits the cradle DDT and the Tequila Sunrise for a fast submission.

Juvy comes out to prevent Konnan from taking Calo’s mask. A match is made for next week.

Here’s Ric Flair with something to say. Flair wants to know why Gene is at the party but Flair is here. Actually he already knows: he wants to see the main event. Well he already promoted it earlier. Flair starts talking about Bret but here are Hennig and Rude to interrupt. Flair says he’s Eric Lindros (Philadelphia hockey star for those of you unfamiliar) and they’re the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Hennig says if Flair is a 14 time champion then he’s also a 14 time loser. Flair gets ready to fight and Hennig comes in for the brawl but Rude rakes Flair’s eyes to give Hennig the advantage. Ric comes back with a low blow and goes for the leg but Rude comes in again for a Hennigplex and a three count from Rude. Bret FINALLY comes out for the save.

More Nitro Party stuff.

Jim Duggan vs. Scott Steiner

Duggan spends too much time walking around the ring and gets decked by White Thunder. Two Duggan clotheslines have no effect but a third knocks him out to the floor. Back in and a big slam puts Steiner down but Steiner comes back with a butterfly powerbomb for no cover. Steiner hooks a chinlock but Duggan morons up and shrugs off the forearms to the back.

Right hands stagger Scott but he tries a middle rope sunset flip of all things for two. Duggan pounds away in the corner again but he misses a charge and goes face first into the post, sending him out to the floor. Back in and the spinning belly to belly sets up the Steiner Recliner for the submission.

Rating: C-. This was actually decent with Duggan playing the role of plucky fighter far better than I expected him to. That being said, Steiner shouldn’t have had this much trouble with a jobber to the stars like Duggan so soon after his major heel turn. It’s no wonder why it took so long for him to get over.

Booker T/Dean Malenko vs. Eddie Guerrero/Chris Jericho

This is a rematch from Thunder where Eddie/Jericho won. Before the match Jericho declares this Monday Jericho and says his first guest is Eddie Guerrero for this tag team. Booker starts with Jericho with the latter still wearing the Juvy mask around his neck. Some quick forearms knock Jericho into the corner but Chris comes back with a middle rope dropkick for two. Eddie comes in and everything breaks down with Dean and Booker clearing the ring.

Eddie and Jericho hug on the floor as the good guys beg for them to come back in. Eddie comes in again and drops to his knees to beg but Booker forearms him in the head. A dropkick to the leg puts Booker down and Jericho comes in for a double clothesline. Eddie’s slingshot hilo gets no cover but another forearm puts him right back down.

Off to Dean as things break down again and Booker superkicks Guerrero in the back of the head. Dean breaks up a Lionsault but Booker misses a side kick to Eddie. Booker and Eddie fall to the floor and it’s Dean and Jericho inside. A slow motion Attitude Adjustment puts Jericho down and the Cloverleaf gets the win for Malenko and Booker.

Rating: C+. This is another of those matches that’s an easy layup for two given the talent in there. It’s also an easy way to set up Jericho vs. Malenko at the PPV and give the fans reason to believe Malenko can win. Booker and Eddie already have a reason to face each other so this advanced two feuds at the same time. Good stuff.

Here’s the Nash and the NWO B-Team with something to say. Scott Steiner gets to the point by asking his brother Rick to join the NWO. Here are Rick and DiBiase with Rick immediately joining with the too sweet sign to all the members. Rick surprises them with right hands but Buff stops him before he gets to Scott. A big beatdown ensues but Nash pulls away from a powerbomb. He loads up another one but Rick backdrops out and here’s the Giant to get his hands on Nash. Giant headbutts Nash down and gives him a good powerbomb, only to hurt his own neck in the process.

During the break security try to handcuff the Giant but the cuffs don’t fit.

Brian Adams vs. Bret Hart

This is Bret’s Nitro debut. Adams jumps Bret as he comes in and hits a gorilla press gutbuster to send him to the floor. Bret sends him into the post to take over back inside and pounds away in the corner. The Russian legsweep looks to set up the Sharpshooter but Adams gets a rope. Brian hits a clothesline to take over and hits a slow motion tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. A turnbuckle comes off somewhere in there but it’s Adams going face first into it, setting up the Sharpshooter. Before he can tap out though here’s Hennig for the DQ.

Rating: D. Of all the opponents they could have picked for Bret’s debut match on Nitro they picked Adams? I don’t know why the guy was signed in the first place as he’s just a generic power guy who doesn’t do anything special in the ring at all. You can already see Bret being wasted from here, as he debuted as a referee, wrestled one very good PPV match and is now fighting Brian Adams. That’s not a good sign.

Sting/Randy Savage vs. Hollywood Hogan/Scott Hall

We’re finally to this match which Tony has hyped up like it was the original NWO match. The problem here is the match is going to have about ten minutes and odds are it ends in a run in. I get the idea of hyping up the main event, but when the match isn’t going to be anything special it makes you look bad. Schiavone is famous for this and tonight is the first time he’s really done it for a match that isn’t all that huge. To really pound it in, Buffer does the big intro and calls it the main event of the evening, but Tony corrects him by saying it’s the main event of all time. It’s a big match but it’s making Tony sound silly at this point.

This is a rare instance of Hall being treated as one of the top guys in the NWO. After the first few weeks of the team he was always a step below Hogan and at times below Nash. From what I can find, this is the only time Hogan and Hall teamed together without Nash there too. On the way to the ring, Bischoff holds up a sign saying “Raw fears ratings.” Sting STILL isn’t wearing the belt. What’s up with that? I don’t think I’ve seen it since he won the title and I’m almost forgetting he’s champion.

It’s a big brawl to start with Bischoff in there to help out too. Sting and Savage clean house with Sting fighting Hogan on the floor instead of the guy he’s defending the title against in two weeks. Hall and Savage are fighting off camera while Sting whips Hogan with the weightlifting belt. Savage and Hall get back to the ring with Randy whipping Scott with the belt. We officially get going with Savage elbowing Hall in the face before bringing in Sting for a Vader Bomb of all things for two.

Back to Savage for the double ax handle before Sting drops an elbow for two. Savage pulls Hogan off the apron and sends him into the barricade. Randy comes back in for elbows to the head but Hogan comes in with some kind of metal object to knock Savage silly and give the NWO control.

It’s Savage playing face in peril now with Hogan pounding him in the head and clotheslining him in the corner. Hall gets two off the fallaway slam and it’s back to Hogan for more punching. There’s the big boot but Savage avoids the leg drop. The hot tag brings in Sting for two quick Stinger Splashes as everything breaks down. Sting loads up the Scorpion on Hogan but the NWO runs in for the DQ.

Rating: D+. It was your standard main event tag with a somewhat faster pace. How this changed the wrestling world I’m not sure but one thing is very clear: Sting may be world champion but that doesn’t mean much. I don’t think his match with Hall was even mentioned here and they might have had 30 seconds of contact in a ten minute match. It’s clear that whatever Hogan is doing is the top story and the world champion is a distant second.

A bunch of WCW guys come out for the save and Hogan names the new guy Disciple to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. Much like Thunder this was a very easy show to get through. Nothing on here was bad and the worst stuff was all short. That being said, a lot of this show is just there. It’s not very good, it’s not very bad and it just exists. It’s the kind of stuff that you watch and then forget about five minutes later, which is bad when there’s about an hour of it a week. On the good side though, Uncensored looks like a solid card and the television hasn’t been bad leading up to it. This was a show building to the PPV and there’s nothing wrong with that.

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Thunder
Date: February 26, 1998
Location: Five Seasons Center, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Lee Marshall, Bobby Heenan

After a weak Nitro we’re here in Iowa to hopefully get things back on the right track. Sting is the world champion again but Hogan and the NWO destroyed him on Monday like he was any other guy. WCW is finally starting to unite against the NWO though with Flair, Hart, Luger, Sting and maybe even Savage coming together to fight back. Let’s get to it.

Dean Malenko/Booker T. vs. Chris Jericho/Eddie Guerrero

The fans immediately go off on Guerrero and it’s Booker elbowing Jericho down to start. A spinebuster puts him down again and we take an early break. Back with Guerrero missing the slingshot hilo and being backdropped out to the floor. Tony tells us that these four will be in singles title matches at the PPV with Dean challenging Jericho and Eddie challenging Booker. Jericho pulls Dean to the floor for a snap suplex and now the fans are all over the Canadian.

Eddie and Chris hit a double shoulder for two on Malenko as this crowd is very hot. Tony tells us that the over the top DQ rule has been abolished. I never liked that rule so good for it being gone. Jericho hooks an abdominal stretch but Dean quickly hiptosses out of it. Malenko goes for the tag but Eddie dropkicks him into a Liontamer attempt to break it up. Dean kicks Chris away and makes the hot tag so Booker can clean house.

Guerrero slows him down with a dropkick but Booker hits the side kick for two. Everything breaks down and Booker hits the ax kick on Eddie but Jericho makes the save. Eddie hits a brainbuster on Booker, waits for Dean to have Jericho in the Cloverleaf, and hits the frog splash on Booker for the pin.

Rating: C+. This wasn’t quite up to the level of the matches with Benoit instead of Booker but it was fine. The thing I want to focus on is Eddie waiting those few seconds to hit the frog splash. If he had done it immediately it would have looked stupid that Dean wouldn’t break up the hold. By waiting for Malenko to put on the Cloverleaf and turn his back to the cover, Eddie made the whole sequence much more realistic. I love little things like that.

Tenay brings out DDP for a chat. Page praises Benoit for giving him the best match of his career and says they respect each other. They also agree that Raven is a piece of garbage, which brings out Raven and the Flock. Raven wants his US Title shot and Page says anytime, so Raven picks next week.

Brad Armstrong vs. Fit Finlay

Finlay quickly takes him to the mat to work on the ankle for a bit. Back up and Brad grabs Finlay’s leg, only to get caught by an enziguri. After doing nothing of note on the floor we head back inside for a beating from Finlay with uppercuts and right hands. Armstrong grabs an arm but Finlay whips him into the corner for an easy escape. Finlay looks like he’s toying with Brad here. Finlay charges into a boot in the corner and gets caught by a middle rope crossbody for two. Brad gets two more off a belly to back suplex but Finlay gets bored of being beaten on and tombstones him for the pin.

Rating: D+. This was an odd pairing but they would actually five three times on this show before the end of the summer. I don’t know where they’re going with this Armstrong Curse idea but I’m surprised they’re giving Brad Armstrong of all people a continued story like this. It’s not a major story but Armstrong is one of the last people you would expect to get a story at all.

Davey Boy Smith vs. Dave Taylor

Bulldog hits a quick shoulder and a clothesline to send Taylor out to the floor. Back in and the crowd is already booing Taylor despite Bulldog not being the nicest guy in the world in his WCW run. Tony tells us (he’s a chatterbox tonight) that Mongo will be out for a few weeks because of his broken arm. A suplex gets two on Smith but he pops up, hits the real vertical suplex and powerslams Taylor down for the pin.

Tenay brings out Hennig to talk about his match with Bret at Uncensored. Mike talks about Bret turning the NWO down, which Hennig says makes Bret stupid. Hennig is the man Hogan picked to deal with Bret and actually uses the my dad beat up his dad line. He’s got Neidhart tonight but isn’t worried at all. I can’t say I blame him on that.

Goldberg vs. Rick Fuller

Fuller is a big guy with a decent look. The NWO music comes on for a few seconds during Fuller’s entrance in a production error. The place goes NUTS for Goldberg who is definitely a big deal now. Heenan wants to know how many matches Goldberg has won in a row. Tony: “All of them.” Goldberg takes him to the mat with ease and no sells a big boot before hitting the two moves for the pin. This was about a minute long.

The Flock comes to ringside.

Yuji Nagata vs. La Parka

Parka swings the chair and does the Karate Kid crane kick to start. Nagata will have none of this foolishness and kicks Parka in the leg and side to take over. A sidekick puts La Parka down but he kicks Nagata in the back of the head to stagger him. Nagata is out in the Tree of Woe for a running spin kick to send him to the floor.

The masked man brings the chair into the ring as a launchpad to jump to the top rope and dive down onto Nagata in a nice move. Yuji is sent into the chair (no DQ on that for some reason) and then back inside for a corkscrew dive from the top. Cue Disco Inferno to give Sonny Onoo the Chartbuster for no apparent reason, allowing Yuji to kick the chair into La Parka’s face and get the win via the Nagata Lock.

Rating: C-. It wasn’t dull but I’m not sure what was going on here. Wasn’t Disco fighting with La Parka as recently as the last PPV? The match was one of Nagata’s more interesting ones but that might have been due to La Parka showing off a lot. Also it would have been better for Nagata to pin him off the chair kick instead of a leg lock which hadn’t been set up at all but that’s nitpicking.

Hall comes out for the survey with the boys in black taking another one. He gets his shot at Sting in two weeks and is clearly the favorite. He’s been in the ring every night for two years and all Sting has is a cool entrance. Sting has to prove how good he is at Uncensored so bring it on. Nice and simple promo to build up the title match.

Buff Bagwell does Scott Steiner’s entrance ala Michael Buffer. Scott is now known as White Thunder which never got over as a nickname. Scott talks about having breakfast with Luger, Sting and Rick on Sunday morning but the next night Luger was challenging him to a fight. Steiner accepts but doesn’t get why Luger thinks he’s the Total Package. Luger went to college and is an educated man, but he didn’t go to Michigan. Michigan wanted Scott Steiner because he’s a better athlete, so Scott sings part of Michigan’s fight song. And they wonder why it took so long for him to get over.

Scott Steiner vs. Marty Jannetty

Steiner destroys him as Tony talks about Sting/Savage vs. Hogan/Hall on Monday. The announcers think it’s a trap and Sting would have to be crazy to agree to that match. Well Sting may be the dumbest man in the history of wrestling so it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s being trapped. The match is a total squash with Scott hitting a gorilla press, belly to belly and the top rope Frankensteiner for the pin in about 90 seconds.

Curt Hennig vs. Jim Neidhart

Neidhart easily shoves him across the ring and Hennig bails to the floor. He’s pulled back in by the hair (“OWWWWWWW!”) as Scott Steiner comes in to the announcers’ desk. He says the door is still open for Rick to join the team and it’s the best decision he’ll ever make. Neidhart puts on a bearhug but here are Vincent and Adams for the DQ.

Davey Boy makes the save for his brother in law.

Raven vs. Kevin Nash

Now that’s an interesting pairing. Before the match, Raven says this is going to be a battle royal with the rest of the Flock being the other participants. Raven sits down in the corner as the Flock charges at Nash (one at a time of course) and is easily elimination. Nash powerbombs Lodi twice to a big pop, sending Nash to prison and costing him $100,000. Raven wins by default.

US Title: Chris Benoit vs. Diamond Dallas Page

Page is defending. They trade wristlocks to start with Page taking him down in an armbar. Benoit reverses into a chinlock as we hear what sounds like a canned DDP chant. Page rolls out of the chinlock into a stalemate which turns into a fight. They lock up and fall out to the floor before going into the crowd. Page hits a hard right hand to knock Benoit back to ringside and gets two off a swinging neckbreaker.

Benoit goes after the big bandages on the ribs with a kick to the stomach and a front suplex onto the ropes to put Page down. Page is whipped hard into the corner and Benoit grabs him for a northern lights suplex but just drops him on the ribs for two. Benoit stomps him down in the corner but Page comes back with right hands. We’re on a wide shot now as it appears Page is busted open. Raven comes in for the DQ a few seconds later.

Rating: C. This didn’t have the time to go anywhere but it set up the main event next week a bit better. Three way feuds like this are almost always interesting because there are so many different ways they can go. Benoit is getting a solid rub out of this as he can hang with higher level talent, but a title win would be nice.

Benoit and Raven fight to the floor and Page dives on them to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. This was a really light show and I mean that in a good way. We got some good wrestling and angle advancement but there wasn’t any heavy lifting to make the show hard to sit through. That’s a really nice thing to have as an alternative to the story heavy Nitro. Uncensored is looking good other than the main event, which could sum up almost any WCW PPV from this era.

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Monday Nitro #127
Date: February 16, 1998
Location: Tampa Fairgrounds, Tampa, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Larry Zbyszko, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan

It’s the go home show for SuperBrawl but more importantly Louie Spicolli died the day before this show of a drug overdose and choking on his own vomit. I’m not a fan of the guy but that’s a shame no matter how you look at it. As for the show tonight, the main event is Hogan/Savage vs. Sting/Luger in a preview of two matches on Sunday. Let’s get to it.

We open with the ringing of the bell in Spicolli’s memory. Simple but classy.

Clip of the end of Thunder with the big brawl between WCW and the NWO.

Here are Hogan and Bischoff to open the show, flanked by the majority of the team. Hogan continues his theme from Thunder of the ABC’s of people they’re coming after. A is anyone that supports WCW, B is for Bret Hart and now C is for the corporate gaga against the NWO. Hogan says it’s the corporate people who are holding the NWO back, but there’s no amount of money Hogan won’t pay to take over the world, and that includes making Nick Patrick the referee for Hogan vs. Sting III.

The D stands for the Dummy that is the Macho Man. Hogan already beat him last week but Savage didn’t even have the guts to apologize for turning his back on the team. The one thing that really put him over the line though was sucker punching Hogan last week on Thunder. Cue Savage who says he’ll beat Sting and Luger on his own and then he’ll beat Hogan up himself, but he’ll leave a little bit so Hogan can make the apology himself. Hogan says he’ll be the one beating his partner up and Eric calls Hogan the Heavyweight Champion of our world to end things.

George Steinbrenner is in the audience.

Goldberg vs. Hugh Morrus

Tony asks Larry about Louie Spicolli but Larry says to let it rest. That’s the only thing to say if you have to bring it up. Jimmy Hart chases Hugh down the aisle and says there’s an offer Morrus can’t refuse. Whatever that means it seems to fire Morrus up. Hugh comes up to Goldberg during warmups and the brawl is on. Morrus gets in some quick shots but Goldberg escapes a suplex and the two moves connect for the pin. Usual Goldberg stuff.

Video on the Steiners winning the tag belts last week.

Hall and Nash come up to the broadcast booth with Nash wanting to know why they have to wait until Sunday for their title rematch. Nash rants and raves about WCW politics keeping the Outsiders from what belongs to them while Tony says it’s not his decision. Larry gets up but Nash threatens to unplug his dialysis machine. Zbyszko threatens to make Hall scream and that’s about it.

Mark Starr vs. Sick Boy

A Lodi distraction allows Sick Boy to jump start the match. A slam sets up that sweet springboard dropkick and Sick Boy is looking good so far. Starr is suplexed down and choked on the ropes for a bit but he makes the quick jobber comeback. Lodi trips him up though and a Pedigree ends Starr quick. Sick Boy had some potential but he was never more than a jobber in the over crowded WCW.

Public Enemy vs. Outsiders

WCW seems to win the survey but it’s close. Hall starts with Grunge and there’s the toothpick throw. Scott drives in shoulders as the toothpick is stuck in Grunge’s beard. Grunge hits a quick backdrop for two and it’s off to Rocco who covers Hall and tags right back out. Everything breaks down and it’s a big boot for Rocco and a chokeslam for Grunge. Grunge takes Hall to the floor and loads him onto the table but Dusty makes the save. Hall puts Johnny on the table and Nash powerbombs Rocco over the top and through Grunge for the DQ.

Nash is arrested and chants Attaca. The fines for the powerbombs are now at $200,000.

Nitro Party winner.

Nick Patrick compares himself to Bill Clinton and is considering Hogan’s offer to join the NWO due to being locked out of WCW.

Mike Enos vs. Barry Horowitz

Barry jumps Enos off the apron to start which is probably his only chance. He fires off some right hands but walks into a backbreaker once inside. A pumphandle slam puts Barry down and Enos drives some headbutts into his back. Horowitz gets a quick rollup for two but walks into a powerslam for the pin. Was Enos contractually guaranteed one win in his run or something?

Mongo and Bulldog get in another fight in the back.

Second hour begins.

Bret Hart is here for the first time in nearly a month.

La Parka vs. Yuji Nagata

Nagata immediately takes him down with kicks and chops in the corner but La Parka comes back with an enziguri. A spin kick sends Yuji to the floor and the place is WAY into La Parka. The skeleton guy hits a big dive to take Nagata out on the floor in a rare high spot. Not that announcers could stop talking about Hart and the PPV for five seconds to call it but that’s to be expected. Back in and Parka tries another cross body but gets rolled through for two. Some clotheslines take Yuji down but he rolls away from top rope splash.

A cross armbreaker is quickly escaped so Yuji sends him to the apron. La Parka hits yet another high flying move with a corkscrew plancha before heading outside to get the chair. Nagata’s manager Sonny Onoo distracts the referee as Disco Inferno runs out and hits the Chartbuster on La Parka due to the chair shot from Thunder. The Nagata Lock is good for the submission back inside.

Rating: C-. At least La Parka is getting a push, albeit a tiny one. The guy got over with some ridiculous stuff but the fans like him and that’s all that matters. Yuji wasn’t too bad here and Disco coming out makes sense given the events of last week. The high spots were good here and it was a more entertaining match than I was expecting.

We hear Hogan’s comments about Bret Hart from Thunder.

Nitro Girls.

Kidman vs. Ultimo Dragon

Kidman jumps Dragon to start and takes him down with a back elbow. Dragon is backdropped into the corner headstand before hooking a rolling sunset flip for two. A hotshot puts Dragon down and Kidman sends him flying with a headscissors. Dragon is taken down again by a headlock takeover as this is surprisingly one sided. Ultimo finally comes back with a headscissors and the rapid fire kicks.

A giant swing of all things puts Kidman down and they trade rollups for two each. Dragon catches him with a spin kick to the face and the top rope hurricanrana takes Kidman down. Kidman counters the Dragon Sleeper into a Michinoku Driver for two but the third attempt at the Sleeper is good for the tap out.

Rating: C. This took a few minutes to get going but it picked up by the end. Kidman could go when he had a good opponent to work with and that was certainly the case here. This match is also an example of one of WCW’s other strengths: everyone has a very distinct look. It’s rare to see two people in WCW who dress similar as their outfits are unique and stand out. That’s a very helpful touch.

After some footage of DDP saving Benoit on Thunder, here’s Page with something to say. Page talks about how competitive the two of them are and how Benoit wants to stand on his own two feet. Page however had to make the save because he wants Benoit at his best come SuperBrawl. On Thursday it’s Benoit/Page vs. Saturn/Raven (it took Page a few tries to get the names right), and here are the Flock members to jump Page but Benoit makes a save before anything happens.

Meng vs. Barbarian

This is the brawl you would it expect it to be from the start with both guys on the mat pounding away. Back up and Barbarian charges into an elbow in the corner but Meng’s clubbering is countered by a whip into the corner. They pound on each other even more with Barbarian taking him into the corner and both guys shouting a lot. Headbutts have no effect on both guys but Meng staggers him with a big boot. Jimmy Hart breaks the wooden chair over Meng’s head to no effect so Meng puts him in the Deathgrip. Barbarian hits four straight Kicks of Fear to put Meng down for the pin.

Rating: C. This falls into the category of entertaining nonsense. Sometimes there’s nothing more fun than having two monsters beat the tar out of each other for a few minutes. Barbarian kicking Meng in the head over and over was a good idea to end the match and it made for entertaining TV. What more could you ask for from this pairing?

More Nitro Girls.

Disco Inferno vs. Perry Saturn

La Parka runs out and destroys Disco with the chair during Disco’s entrance. Rick Martel comes out and wants the match against Saturn despite having a TV Title match tonight.

Rick Martel vs. Perry Saturn

Martel takes over with a quick armdrag and we head outside with Martel sending him into the post. Back in and Martel fires off knees in the corner but a flying headscissors is countered into a hot shot. A missile dropkick gets two for Saturn but he jumps into a punch on another high risk attempt. Martel spinebusters him down but Kidman’s distraction lets Riggs knock Martel out. The Rings of Saturn get the academic submission as Martel is out of it.

Rating: C-. The more I see of Martel the more impressed I am. He comes out of retirement to put on consistently decent to good matches including an impromptu one here. It’s another good example of WCW having such a deep talent pool that they can have interesting stories with decent matches up and down the card.

Bobby Eaton vs. Curt Hennig

Speaking of throwing some veteran out there, here’s Bobby Eaton for the first time since April. They trade slaps to start until Hennig chops him out to the floor. Rude throws him back in so Hennig knee lifts Bobby back to the floor so Rude can throw him in a second time. Let’s do that sequence one more time in case you didn’t get the point already. Back in and Eaton takes advantage of Curt yelling at the fans by clipping the knee. Tony lets us know that Hennig has been gone because of his knee so there’s some psychology thrown in. Not that it matters as Hennig hooks the PerfectPlex for a pin out of nowhere. Glorified squash.

Baseball legend Wade Boggs is here.

Hour #3 begins.

Tat Titles: Vicious and Delicious vs. Steiner Brothers

As always here, Scott Steiner will only be referred to as Scott and Scott Norton will only be referred to as Norton. Rick starts with Buff and we’re into the posing a few seconds in. Buff quickly slams him down and does his strut, but Rick comes right back with an overhead belly to belly suplex. Off to Scott for a quick chinlock but it’s quickly back to Rick vs. Norton in a power match.

Rick takes Norton down with a clothesline before it’s back to Scott for another chinlock, this time with a knee in the back. Back to Rick for a wristlock but Norton shoves him into the corner, only to miss a charge in the opposite corner. Buff finally does something right by distracting Rick long enough for Norton to shove him to the floor and then into the barricade. Back in again for a neck crank from Norton and a choke from Bagwell. Rick ducks a clothesline and powerslams Buff down. Everything breaks down and Rick hits the bulldog on Bagwell but the NWO comes in for the DQ.

Rating: D. There wasn’t much to this one as Norton/Bagwell were the NWO jobbing tag team and therefore no threat to the belts at all. The fact that the Outsiders were getting their rematch on Sunday didn’t give me much hope for new champions either. It was interesting to see Rick dominating the ring time though as the Steiners’ troubles continue despite them winning most of their matches.

Scott makes the save with a chair.

TV Title: Rick Martel vs. Booker T

They talk some trash to start but Martel jumps Booker from behind. Rick yells at the crowd as he pounds on Booker but gets caught in a backdrop. Booker kicks him out to the floor as the fans tell Martel he sucks. Back in and Martel walks into a spinebuster, sending him right back to the floor. Booker works the arm back in the ring and gets two off a knee drop. Rick gets to his feet and catches Booker in a hot shot to take over before sending Booker to the floor.

Martel gets in some cheap shots on the floor before putting on a chinlock to slow things down. There’s the Quebec Crab but Booker is quickly in the ropes. A spinwheel kick takes Martel down but the referee is bumped. Cue Saturn to go after Martel but Booker kicks him off the apron. He hurts his knee in the process though and Martel puts on the Crab for the submission and the title.

Rating: C+. Martel has something special going here as his comeback hits a big milestone. This three way feud is interesting stuff as you Saturn’s logic is questionable (he can beat Martel but not Booker so why help Booker?), Booker has a case for a rematch and Martel turned to get the title.

Here’s Bret to answer Hogan’s statements about costing him the title. Bret disagrees and says that Hogan is scared of him. If Hogan wants to find him, Bret isn’t going anywhere and all Hogan had to do was say his name once. Hogan has been ducking him for years and it’s time for them to step into the ring.

This brings out the debuting Brian Adams (Crush from the WWF) who says he has Bret’s back anywhere anytime. He offers Bret his hand….and here’s the NWO for the beatdown. Adams is of course part of the NWO, shocking no one with a brain. Hogan comes in for the big beatdown but Flair comes out for the save. This could and likely should have been the start of a Starrcade program between Bret and Hogan.

Here’s JJ Dillon to mediate the TV Title issue. He has all three guys come out and makes it Booker T vs. Martel with the winner of that defending against Saturn later in the night.

Chris Benoit/Dean Malenko vs. Chris Jericho/Eddie Guerrero

Benoit trades chops with Guerrero to start, sending Eddie running away to Jericho. Jericho comes in but has to be convinced to take the belt off. Benoit runs Jericho off and it’s Malenko vs. Eddie now with Guerrero being launched onto the top rope. Dean picks him up in a powerbomb but drops Eddie over the top rope instead, causing the heels to have a quick meeting. Back in and Dean drops Eddie with a flapjack before bringing in Benoit for the snap suplexes.

Eddie tries to slide through Benoit’s legs but gets grabbed by the hair and pulls him up into a German suplex. Dean is in with a Boston Crab to annoy Jericho and everything breaks down. Eddie hits the brainbuster on Dean but Benoit makes the save with the Swanton. Jericho comes in with a missile dropkick to Dean but Benoit breaks up the Liontamer attempt. Eddie dives onto Benoit to take him out as Dean misses a dropkick. Jericho loads up the Liontamer but Dean rolls through into a pinning combination for two. That counter is countered into a rollup but Dean counters the counter into the Cloverleaf for the submission.

Rating: B-. These four continue to have the match of the night and the crowd reactions to Jericho vs. Malenko are getting louder and louder. With Benoit rising up the ranks to challenge for the US Title and Guerrero being his usual awesome self, these matches are rapidly becoming the highlight of the shows.

Bischoff says Hogan is paying Nash’s fine.

Hollywood Hogan/Randy Savage vs. Sting/Lex Luger

Savage jumps Sting and Luger in the aisle to start the fight and Hogan sends Sting into the barricade. Hollywood hammers on Sting inside but Sting comes back with right hands to send Hogan out to the floor. Savage and Luger head into the ring now with Savage choking on the ropes.

They’re the official starters but when Savage goes to tag Hogan he’s out on the floor with Bischoff. Hollywood gets on the apron so Randy tags him with a forearm to the back. Three elbow drops get a near fall on Luger but Hogan’s legdrop misses. Hot tag Sting and Hogan is almost immediately in the Scorpion. Here’s the NWO as the match is thrown out.

Rating: D+. Did you really expect anything else here? There’s nothing wrong with setting up the two PPV main events in one TV match as it kills two birds with one stone without doing the same match twice. This was your usual NWO style brawl and the match itself only lasted a few minutes but it was entertaining enough to get by.

Hogan and Savage go at it as Flair and Hart come out to clear the ring to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. They did a good job of setting up SuperBrawl but a lot of this stuff could have been cut out. If this show was just two hours it would have been one of the better episodes they’ve had in a long time. Most of the stories are clicking and WCW continues to be on a roll at this point. Another good show this week.

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

Monday Nitro #126
Date: February 9, 1998
Location: Haskins Center, El Paso, Texas
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone

We’re inching closer to Souled Out with the core of the card already set. As for tonight we’ve got the Outsiders vs. the Steiners for the tag titles for the 87^th time along with Hogan vs. Savage for the 870^th time. That’s a very stacked show for a Nitro in early February. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Savage vs. Hogan.

There’s no Larry Zbyszko and Tony doesn’t know where he is.

Here are Hogan and Bischoff to open things up. The fans want Sting but get to hear Bischoff saying he won the war against WCW by following the rules. Not Turner’s rules or WCW’s rules, but Hollywood’s rules. Hogan says he’s tired of fans talking about the NWO falling apart but he’s even more tired about hearing Savage is taking over the team. Tonight is about family business and he’s going to teach Savage a lesson in the ring tonight. Savage is up in the crowd and accepts the challenge, saying he’ll take Hogan’s spot at SuperBrawl.

Nitro Girls.

We get a quick video recapping Mongo vs. Bulldog.

Glacier vs. Steve McMichael

Louie Spicolli has jumped into the commentary booth and is carrying bags he says belongs to “his friend” Larry. Still no word on where Larry is. Glacier tries to jump the Texan from behind but gets slugged down to the floor with ease. Back in and Glacier pounds away, only to send Mongo right back to the floor. They head back in again for Glacier to fire off his basic karate stuff followed by a snap suplex. Glacier jumps into an elbow, gets forearmed in the head a few times and the Mongo Spike (tombstone) ends this very quick.

Post match Mortis runs in to attack Glacier because this feud can’t die. Mongo makes the save for no apparent reason and says Bulldog is next.

Norman Smiley vs. Konnan

Technical sequence to start with Konnan rolling out of a full nelson but getting dropkicked out to the floor. Back in and Norman stomps Konnan down before cranking on the leg in one of those holds that only old school wrestlers like Smiley know about. After a rope is grabbed, Konnan finally comes back with a clothesline and the low dropkick as the announcers ignore the match to talk about the main events.

A DDT puts Norman down again and the fans are WAY into Konnan in a rare sight. Konnan charges into a knee in the corner and Norman gets two off a PerfecPlex. For a jobber who hardly ever did anything, Norman could go in the ring. Back up and Smiley charges into the 187 (cradle DDT) and the Tequila Sunrise is good for the tap out.

Rating: D+. Not a great match or anything but it was a smart idea to have Konnan get the one good crowd reaction he’s likely to get this year. Smiley is another in the long line of jobbers that WCW could throw out there and get a decent match out of at a moment’s notice. The 187 looked good too and I’ve always been a fan of that move.

Mike Tenay interviews a guy from WCW Motorsports. As always, the fans don’t care.

Nitro Girls again.

Nick Patrick is out to referee the next match but JJ says not so fast my friend. Nick: “I’m not guilty!” JJ: “Don’t care!” Nick: “Lawsuits!” JJ: “Security!” This story continues to thrill no one.

Yuji Nagata vs. Disco Inferno

Nagata immediately jumps Disco in the corner before taking him to the mat for some kicking. A swinging neckbreaker puts Nagata down but Disco gets smacked in the face to stagger him back again. Nagata pounds away even more but runs into an elbow in the corner. Disco goes up but jumps into a right hand to the ribs to keep any momentum from starting. A German suplex looks to set up a top rope elbow by Nagata but it only hits mat, allowing Disco to hit the Chartbuster for the win.

Rating: C-. This was certainly fast paced and exciting considering who was in there. Disco’s push continues but there’s only so much you can do against a black hole like Nagata. Again, I know the guy is talented, but he isn’t doing anything in WCW and his matches are usually dull to watch. The problem is there’s no reason to care about him. He’s just Yuji Nagata: Japanese heel.

Post match Nagata comes out and lays out both guys with the chair before doing THE LA PARKA DANCE!

Luger says Hogan should be planning for Sting and Savage is crazy for wanting a No DQ match against him at SuperBrawl. Spicolli leaves to find who attacked Zbyszko.

Eddie Guerrero/Chris Jericho vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr./Dean Malenko

Eddie jumps Chavo to start (that’s a very common practice in WCW anymore) but Chavo sends him into the barricade after Eddie takes it to the floor. Back in and Chavo rolls out of a tilt-a-whirl and drops Eddie with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker of his own. Off to Jericho who is forced to take off the Cruiserweight Title before he can come in. Jericho runs Chavo over and the fans are all over the Canadian. Chavo comes back with a springboard bulldog and it’s off to Malenko who is VERY popular here in Texas.

Malenko cleans house on Jericho and they slug it out in the corner. Dean counters a middle rope dropkick into the Cloverleaf but Eddie comes in with a missile dropkick to break it up. The fans might like Dean but the EDDIE chants begin once he gets the tag. Eddie hooks an abdominal stretch with extra leverage from Jericho but the fans cheer for him anyway. Off to Jericho for a quick suplex and the arrogant cover (someone needs to bring that back) for two. Eddie comes back in with the slingshot hilo and Jericho adds a slingshot splash for two.

Chris and Eddie each snap one of Malenko’s legs back at the same time but Eddie brags a bit too much, allowing Dean to throw him into a hot shot. A belly to back suplex puts Eddie down but Jericho breaks up the hot tag attempt. The double underhook backbreaker gets two for Chris but the Lionsault only hits mat and it’s hot tag Chavo. Eddie and Jericho double team Chavo down but Eddie talks too much, allowing Dean to pull him to the apron. Chavo hits a German suplex on Jericho but Eddie shoves Chavo off the top, sending him into the Liontamer for the tap out.

Rating: B. The more I see of these guys the more amazing it is that WCW did things the way they did. This was an excellent match with the crowd going reacting to everyone out there. All four guys looked crisp and on point and the entire match was at a fast pace. Why these guys never got a shot anywhere near the top I’ll never know.

Video on the Steiners’ troubles.

El Dandy vs. Juventud Guerrera

Dandy takes the arm to start buy Juvy snaps off a quick hurricanrana to take Dandy down. They head to the apron where Dandy is backdroped up and over the post and down to the floor. Juvy hits a big dive off the top to take him out again as the crowd is loving this lucha stuff. Dandy is sent into the post but comes back with chops in the ring. A sunset flip gets two for Guerrera but he misses a charge in the corner. Dandy misses a cross body and walks into the Juvy Driver, setting up the 450 for the pin by Juvy.

Rating: C. Dandy wasn’t much but Juvy’s high spots were more than enough to carry the match. It’s very interesting to see a crowd that knows their lucha history and cheers even louder than the average crowd would for a match like this. Guerrera continues to be one of the better cruiserweights on the roster and he should be moving into the title scene soon.

Post match Jericho runs out and jumps Juvy but gets dropkicked out to the floor. Jericho wants to know what that was for but Juvy yells at him in Spanish. He wants a title shot but Jericho wants to know what Juvy will put up. “What do you have besides a rusted out 68 Camaro? Juvy speaks Spanish and offers to put up his mask which is fine with Jericho.

Steven Regal vs. Goldberg

Here’s a somewhat famous match. Regal takes him to the mat with a cravate and kicks Goldberg in the back a few times before grabbing the arm. Goldberg takes him down by the leg but Regal is quickly in the ropes. They trade arm wringers again before Regal kicks him in the face. Regal powers out of a headscissors and fires off knees to the head before Goldberg shoves him into the corner. Goldberg cranks him down by the arm and hits a belly to back suplex for no cover.

Goldberg looks for the spear but Regal headbutts him in the ribs instead and takes out the leg instead. Regal fires off knees and punches to the face but Goldberg comes back with a botched swinging neckbreaker. A shoulder block only kind of hits Regal and he blocks some strikes in the corner to make Goldberg look even more out of it. Goldberg finally hits the spear (more like a double leg takedown here) and a Jackhammer with no delay or snap to it at all finally ends Regal.

Rating: C. This was definitely more interesting than a usual Goldberg match but for all the wrong reasons. Allegedly (Regal has denied this) Regal was shooting on Goldberg here and most of the match wasn’t planned. It resulted in Regal being fired almost immediately and eventually becoming A REAL MAN’S MAN in the WWF. Goldberg looked confused in the match and Regal easily blocking a lot of his stuff made Goldberg look less effective than he ever had before.

More Nitro Girls.

We see the Nitro Party winner of the week.

Louie Spicolli vs. Chris Adams

Spicolli has a metal briefcase which presumably is Zbyszko’s bag that he referenced earlier. Louie hits a quick dropkick to start and pounds on Adams in the corner, only to be caught in a belly to back suplex. The Flock arrives at a much later time than usual for them. A belly to belly suplex and a backdrop put Louie down again and the superkick looks to finish but Louie gets in a shot with the briefcase for the fast DQ.

Larry Zbyszko comes out post match and chases Louie off before shouting that the NWO is dying.

For those of you who don’t know, Louie Spicolli died six days after this at the age of 24 due to a drug overdose/choking on his own vomit in his sleep. He was 24 years old.

Perry Saturn vs. Ultimo Dragon

Dragon has the awesome black/gold attire tonight. He starts firing off the kicks to Saturn’s back and chest but Perry pulls him down into an STF to stop Dragon cold. An overhead belly to belly puts Dragon down and Saturn hits some high kicks to the head. Dragon comes back with a quick headscissors but Saturn counters a sunset flip into a Tazzplex. Off to a cross armbreaker on Dragon before Saturn just crushes Dragon’s head with a boot in the corner.

Back to another armbar on Dragon before Saturn turns it into a Fujiwara armbar. Dragon fights up and hits a quick spin kick to the jaw to take over. They both fight out of German suplex attempts until Dragon connects with another kick. The super rana puts Saturn down but he gets to the ropes before the Dragon Sleeper can go on. An Asai Moonsault press gets two and a Frankensteiner puts Saturn down. Dragon reverses a suplex into the Dragon Sleeper but Saturn snapmares him forward into a small package for the pin.

Rating: C+. There is some solid wrestling on this show and this was another good example of it. This was one of WCW’s strengths as they could take any two guys and throw them together for a match like this. It’s much better than the WWE formula of having the same guys fight each other seven times in three months.

Hour #3 begins.

We recap Raven laying out Benoit on Thunder.

TV Title: Booker T vs. Raven

Before the match Raven says that Benoit isn’t here because of the DDT on Thursday. Booker is holding Flock property, in particular to Saturn. The Flock jumps Booker but he fights them all off until Raven gets into it. Booker takes them down as well but Raven finally catches him in the Even Flow. Saturn comes out for the Rings of Saturn on Booker as Raven shouts to feel their pain.

Hollywood Hogan vs. Randy Savage

Savage jumps Hogan on his way to the ring and lays out Bischoff as well. They get inside and Hogan is already begging off so Savage chokes him with the t-shirt. Hogan keeps crawling away as the fans are completely behind Savage. Hollywood gets in a thumb to the eye and pounds away in the corner before biting Savage’s forehead. More shots to the throat keep Savage in trouble as the fans want Sting. An elbow drop gets two for Hogan but Savage goes low to get us back to even.

Back up and Hogan hits Savage low before putting him down with a belly to back suplex. Hogan throws Savage to the floor and seems to be walking in slow motion. Savage sends him into the barricade but the ax handle from the top hits the steel. Hogan loads up a chair shot but Liz pulls it out of his hands, allowing Savage to get in a chair shot of his own. The big elbow connects but here’s the NWO to save Hogan.

Rating: C-. It was a fight instead of a match, but it’s hard to not smile at a Hogan vs. Savage match if you’re a child of the 80s. The NWO split is coming to a head at this point and this was a sign that things are really starting to change. This match was more feeling than actual substance but it was entertaining through nostalgia and a big fight feel.

Savage is beaten down post match and Hogan attacks him with a chair. The NWO walks away but Savage gets up and goes after Hogan as we go to a break.

Here’s Luger to call out Savage but gets Liz instead. Liz begs him not go go after Savage but Luger says he’s not falling for it this time. Here’s Savage and the fight is on but Sting makes the save. There’s the Death Drop on Savage as the NWO comes out…..and a net drops onto Sting and Luger, allowing the NWO to beat them down. There are so many questions here, I don’t even know where to start.

We get a clip of the Steiners vs. Hall/Bagwell last week.

Here are the Outsiders for the main event and the survey. We’re in NWO country tonight and Hall is glad that the band is back together after a long time apart. They mention Syxx for the first time in months and say their catchphrases.

Tag Titles: Steiner Brothers vs. Outsiders

The Outsiders are defending. For the sake of simplicity, Scott Steiner will be referred to as Scott and Scott Hall will be referred to as Hall. Tony says Sting may be injured after that attack. Rick starts with Hall and the challengers take over early on. It’s off to Scott but Hall blocks a belly to belly suplex and hooks a chokeslam. Scott pops back up and hits an overhead belly to belly to take Hall down. Scott has to go after Nash and Hall takes his head off with a clothesline.

Nash gets the tag and fires off the big knee lifts in the corner to keep Scott in trouble. There’s the choke with the foot and it’s back to Hall for the fallaway slam. Back to Nash for some posing and a big boot to the face for no cover. Hall hooks the abdominal stretch before slapping the back of Scott’s head. Nash comes back in and teases the Jackknife but elbows Scott in the head instead. Back to Hall who walks into a side slam but leverages Scott into Rick, knocking the legal Rick to the floor. Hall loads up the Edge on Scott but Rick comes in with the top rope bulldog for the pin and the titles.

Rating: C. The match was a standard formula tag match but the ending felt very rushed. It was interesting to see Scott take the long beating instead of Rick for a change and the match was at least different than the usual encounters between these teams. At the same time though, can we PLEASE get another team to hold the titles? It’s been a year and a half and one other team has held the titles, with a reign of less than a day.

Scott teases turning on Rick due to not getting the pin but celebrates to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. You can use a lot of words to describe this show but the first one on my list is LONG. If this was just a two hour edition it would have been one of the best shows they ever produced with some big matches, some excellent action and some good build for SuperBrawl. The problem though is we had stuff like Mongo vs. Glacier and Disco vs. Nagata doing nothing more than filling in time. Things are looking good for WCW at the moment, but where are Hart and Flair? They haven’t been on TV since the PPV three weeks ago. Anyway good show tonight.

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

Thunder
Date: January 29, 1998
Location: Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Lee Marshall, Bobby Heenan

Back to Thursday nights here with the fourth episode of the series. The main story continues to be the destruction of the NWO as Nitro ended with Hall and Hogan standing around while Sting beat up Savage. The main event tonight is the Steiners challenging for the tag titles in a match we haven’t seen before. That shouldn’t make sense so let’s get to it.

The intro has changed to a thunderstorm theme which doesn’t work as well.

The set is now a traditional one with a regular entrance and the Thunder logo on top of it.

US Title: Diamond Dallas Page vs. Sick Boy

Page takes it to the mat but gets caught in an armbar. Sick Boy bails to the floor and the stalling begins. Back in and Page pulls him down but Sick Boy nips up. The discus lariat misses so Page goes to a tilt-a-whirl side slam for no cover. Sick Boy goes back to the apron for a springboard missile dropkick to take over. A spinning belly to belly suplex gets two on Page but Sick Boy misses a kick to the ribs. The discus lariat looks to set up the Diamond Cutter but Sick Boy takes out the knee. Not that it matters much as Page throws him up for a flapjack but pulls him down into the Cutter for the pin.

Rating: C+. This was much better than I expected which is what I’ve said for both Sick Boy matches I’ve seen. He looks good in the ring and can fly through the air for a guy of his size. The Diamond Cutter to end it looked great as Sick Boy’s head bounced off the mat to knock him out cold.

The Flock decides not to jump Page.

Here’s JJ Dillon with an announcement: Nash is being fined $50,000 for his powerbomb on Monday and if he does it again, the fines will grow.

Meng vs. Jim Duggan

Duggan wins a quick slugout and takes it to the floor where he whips Meng into the steps and beats on him with Jimmy Hart’s jacket. Back inside and Meng does what he does best: hit Duggan in the head. It has little effect on the thickheaded Duggan so Meng keeps pounding away. They slug it out until Duggan misses a charge into the corner, allowing Meng to put on a nerve hold. Back up and a double clothesline puts both guys down, allowing Hart to get up on the apron with the 2×4. Duggan intercepts the throw and cracks it over Meng’s back but chases after Hart instead. Back in and the Tongan Death Grip ends Jim.

Rating: C. This was far better than I was expecting it to be with Duggan looking much better than I would have expected him to. Meng continues to get small pushes every now and then, which is likely to build him up for a feeding to a bigger name later on. Both guys were working hard here and it was better than it should have been.

Raven vs. Marty Jannetty

Anything goes again and Marty’s music still doesn’t fit him at all. Jannetty takes him into the corner to start and dropkicks Raven to the outside. He pounds on Raven on the floor but gets sent hard into the post to change momentum. Raven throws in a chair for the drop toehold and Marty is in big trouble. Marty hits a quick bulldog and slams Raven’s head into the mat a few times for two but Raven is smiling. A superkick puts Raven down and the top rope fist gets two, but Raven dropkicks the chair into Marty’s face to knock him silly. The Evenflow DDT is good for the pin for Raven.

Rating: C-. Another decent match here with Marty looking decent in defeat. Raven smiling while he’s in pain is still very creepy and fits his character perfectly. The Raven’s Rules all the time stuff isn’t a problem because the weapons and violence aren’t the focus of the matches. That DDT looked great too.

Jerry Lee Lewis is here.

Bill Goldberg vs. Yuji Nagata

The pops are getting louder and louder. Nagata goes straight at him but Goldberg chokes him down. Goldberg takes him down with a quick leglock but Nagata makes the ropes. Yuji’s slam is countered into a spinning neckbreaker and it’s the spear and Jackhammer for another fast pin.

Goldberg vs. Meng is announced for Saturday Night. There’s the bigger name Meng was being set up for.

We recap Savage’s rant against Hogan, Bischoff and the rest of the NWO from Nitro.

Here’s Hall for the survey with the NWO taking the crowd tonight. Hall wants to know when he gets his title shot from World War III but now it’s time to bring out Dusty Rhodes. Dusty talks about corporate America tearing down what he built in 1991 and taking away the tradition of professional wrestling. He lived on the 12^th floor and got tired of dealing with the suits every day. Now he’s tired of carrying Tony Schiavone for the last four years.

Then Dusty started hearing from Eric Bischoff and realized that the NWO is why you’re here tonight. Dusty says the NWO is the future and they’ve gotten Dusty the biggest checks of his career. This time, WCW isn’t going to make any comeback with anybody because the NWO is going to crush them all. “You hear that marks on the internet?” Also, the powerbomb should be reinstated because a 500lb man shouldn’t be in the ring if he can’t protect himself. Dusty Rhodes ladies and gentlemen.

Scott Hall vs. Disco Inferno

Hall slaps Disco around to start and does the Giant mocking bit. A quick attempt at the Outsider’s Edge is countered and Disco hits the Chartbuster out of nowhere. Dusty puts the foot on the ropes and brings Hall out to the floor for a chat. Back in and Hall pounds away on Disco before hitting the fallaway slam and the Edge for the pin.

Here’s Nick Patrick for the first time since he was suspended. Patrick insists that the count at Starrcade was a normal count and that Bret should be suspended, not him. He’s going to have his lawyers look into this and wants to referee the rematch to prove how awesome he is.

TV Title: Booker T vs. Perry Saturn

Booker is defending and is in blue Harlem Heat attire instead of his usual singles tights. Saturn pounds him down in the corner to start but Booker comes back with right hands of his own. Apparently Saturn is getting this show because Martel has a concussion. A powerslam gets two for the champion and they head to the outside with Saturn being sent into the barricade. Back inside and Saturn gets two off a brainbuster but crotches himself on the middle rope. Booker hits the side kick and ax kick but has to fight off the Flock. Martel comes out to help but Booker sends Saturn into him and rolls Saturn up to retain.

Rating: C. This was your usual fast paced match between the two as the three way feud is starting to develop. Booker is nailing the singles push now and has transitioned from the tag team ranks with ease. I’m also surprised at how well Martel has fit into this feud as I didn’t remember him being anything at all in his return push.

We see the end of Nitro with Hall and Hogan turning their backs on Savage.

Eddie Guerrero/Chris Jericho vs. Dean Malenko/Chris Benoit

This should be awesome. Jericho and Malenko get things going but the fans are all over Eddie. Dean quickly takes him down to start but it’s off to Eddie to send Dean into the corner. A rollup gets two for Eddie but he walks into a powerslam for two. Off to Benoit vs. Jericho with Benoit hitting a hard clothesline to take over. Jericho comes right back with a delayed vertical suplex and some chops in the corner. You know Benoit is cool with that and takes over with chops of his own.

Jericho comes right back with a German suplex and the Lionsault for two before Guerrero comes back in. Benoit tries the Crossface but Jericho makes the save as everything breaks down. Dean throws Guerrero into a northern lights suplex but Jericho breaks up the Cloverleaf attempt. Jericho hits a missile dropkick on Dean but Malenko reverses the Liontamer into a rollup for two. Dean hooks a superplex on Jericho and Benoit adds the Swan Dive. Eddie tries a Frog Splash on Malenko but only hits feet, allowing Benoit to hook the Crossface on Jericho for the win.

Rating: B. This was a six and a half minute match with the action of a match twice that long. These guys were arguably the most valuable guys in WCW for a long time as you could just throw them out there in any combination and get a good match. Benoit and Malenko looked very good together as a team.

Post match Benoit says his chapter with Raven has come to an end. Tenay asks Benoit why he’s never had a title shot but Benoit says he doesn’t need one. DDP pops up in the crowd (Marshall: “is that Scott Hall?”) and says that the promoters don’t see Benoit as a main eventer. They didn’t see Page as a main eventer either, but Page is interested in the idea. If Benoit wants a shot at the US Title, all he has to do is ask. Benoit agrees to the title match a week from tonight.

Tag Titles: Steiner Brothers vs. Kevin Nash/Konnan

Konnan gets to defend the belts because of Wolfpack Rules. Rick starts off with Konnan with Steiner pounding him down into the mat and hooking an STF of all things. Konnan makes the rope but gets caught in a release German suplex to send him over to Nash. The Steiners knock Nash to the floor and do their signature pose.

They head back inside and Nash pounds on Rick in the corner with the knee lifts and elbows to the head. Konnan comes in for a stump puller of all things but Scott breaks it up. Kevin gets the tag and gets caught by a Steiner Line but here’s Buff Bagwell to challenge Scott to a posedown. Back in the ring, Nash hits Rick with the belt for a DQ.

Rating: D. This didn’t have time to go anywhere and was mainly storyline stuff anyway. The Scott vs. Buff posedown stuff is fine as a catalyst for the Steiner Brothers’ split which had to happen at some point. I’m not wild on the Wolfpack Rules idea as those usually only work when there are two members of a team, but the NWO could pretty much make up whatever rules they wanted around this time.

Post match Nash powerbombs the referee and is taken away by security. Nash: “Make sure Jack Ruby isn’t out there. That’s how Oswald got it.”

Overall Rating: C+. This was the same formula as last week and it still works quite well. They’re using Thunder to focus on the midcard and it offers a nice contrast to the storyline heavy Nitro. The lack of Hogan and Sting allows the show to build on other stories which makes for a more interesting show. Good stuff again this week.

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

Slamboree 1998
Date: May 17, 1998
Location: The Centrum, Worcester, Massachusetts
Attendance: 11,592
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone

It’s a month after Spring Stampede and as you know already, Hogan is champion again. Therefore, he’s not on the card tonight. The main event is a tag title match with Sting/Giant vs. the Outsiders. Also we have an open challenge from Eric Bischoff to Vince McMahon, which is a very interesting story which I’ll get to later on. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is a bunch of shots of main event guys with words popping up on the screen.

The announcers talk to open the show. Hart vs. Savage tonight too with Piper as guest referee. Hart cost Savage the title to Hogan apparently. Also Giant has joined the NWO (again) and wants to win the titles with Sting and have Sting join the black and white.

We now get to the real focus of the show: Eric and Vince. So Eric issued a challenge to Vince on Nitro. On Thunder, Eric read a letter from Vince, saying that it was illegal to imply Vince would be at the PPV. Now here’s where it gets good. Vince SUED Bischoff for false advertising, because it was still being implied that Vince would be there, which is how things work in wrestling. WCW settled out of court, allegedly for A LOT of money.

TV Title: Fit Finlay vs. Chris Benoit

Finlay is defending and has the referee take the belt off of him. He shoves Benoit so Benoit chops him HARD. Finlay goes to a top wristlock and pushes Benoit down with it but a great looking bridge keeps Benoit off the mat. Benoit tries the Crossface but Finlay reverses into an armbar. The fans are all over Finlay here. Benoit fights out of that and hooks a hiptoss for two.

They chop it out, resulting in a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker by Chris. Fit’s Boston Crab attempt is countered but he clotheslines Benoit down and out to the floor. The champ works on the shoulder and then a rear chinlock back in the ring. Benoit escapes via an electric chair drop but Finlay is up first. Off to a reverse chinlock for a bit and they head to the floor. Benoit hits him in the back with a chair which is ok I guess. He sets for a suicide dive but Finlay holds up the chair and Benoit’s head crashes into it. I cringe a bit every time I see stuff like that now.

Back in, Finlay clotheslines him down again and it’s time for the chinlock. This one is shorter as Benoit kicks him off, shoulder first into the corner. Rolling Germans take Finlay down but he counters the third by ramming Benoit’s throat into the rope. A quick Crossface attempt is escaped but Benoit hits the snap suplex.

He loads up the Swan Dive but here’s Booker T. He doesn’t do anything but Benoit’s distraction allows Finlay to shove Benoit off the top. Back in a small package gets two for Benoit. He’s been using a lot of those quick rollups here. And never mind as Finlay hits the Tombstone out of nowhere for the pin to retain the title.

Rating: C+. Pretty good match here and a solid opener, although cutting two or three minutes off would have made it better. Finlay is a guy that the more I see the more I like as he was a very stiff kind of wrestler which is the kind of stuff I tend to like. Benoit of course could go move for move with Finlay so that worked out fine. Good opener but it ran a bit long.

Jericho doesn’t care who he’s facing in the title match tonight. It’s decided by a battle royal later tonight.

Brian Adams vs. Lex Luger

Adams is the latest NWO lackey. I think this is somehow connected to the Steiners but I’m not sure what Heenan is talking about. Luger punches him immediately and knocks Adams to the floor. He goes after Adams’ shoulder, which is payback for Rick Steiner it seems. Lex calls for the Rack but stops to beat up Vincent, which lets Adams hit a piledriver to change the momentum. They go to the floor for a bit and back inside, Brian hits a backbreaker for two. Legdrop gets the same and then they clothesline each other. Vincent gets knocked off the apron and the Rack gets the tap out.

Rating: D. This had no business being on PPV. It should have been on Nitro or something, but I guess it filled in the six minutes that they needed. I’m still not 100% sure what happened with Steiner but I guess that’s because I haven’t watched the Nitros leading up to this. Luger’s push would eventually land him in the Wolfpack because…..well because Luger was a popular face.

Saturn says there’s no gauntlet match tonight. He’s fighting Goldberg on his own. What about Saturn? What about him?

Battle Royal

Super Calo, Chavo Guerrero Jr., Ciclope, Damien, El Dandy, El Grio, Juventud Guerrera, Marty Jannetty, Kidman, Evan Karagis, Lenny Lane, Psychosis, Silver King, Johnny Swinger, Villano IV

There are fifteen cruiserweights in it and the winner gets Jericho for the title immediately thereafter. Jericho did some funny intros for all of them. You can be eliminated by pin or being thrown out of the ring, be it through or over the ropes. Karagis is put out first by Kidman. Everyone is doing little stuff to open things up as you would expect. Swinger is out and El Grio, a fat guy, goes up and takes a few guys down but not out.

Silver King went out somewhere in there. Lane and El Dandy have a short mini-match and Dandy backdrops Grio out. I think there are ten or eleven left in there. Someone puts Jannetty out and Damien eliminates Villano. There are eight left now. Lane poses on the ropes and gets knocked out as well. Damien tries to walk the ropes like an idiot and deserves the elimination he gets.

Chavo dropkicks Dandy out so we have Chavo, Psychosis, Kidman, Ciclope and Juvy. Kidman low bridges Chavo to get us down to four. Psychosis misses a charge in the corner and eliminates himself. Juvy dumps Kidman and it’s down to Guerrera and Ciclope. They stare each other down for a LONG time, shake hands, and Juvy eliminates himself. More on this in a second.

Rating: C. This was fine all things considered. The match only ran about eight minutes and the whole point was the surprise ending, and then the bigger surprise a few seconds later. There weren’t very many big spots here, but everyone got out fast enough. There’s not much to complain about or praise here so we’ll say it’s right in the middle.

Jericho gets in the ring and Ciclope immediately takes off his mask to reveal…..DEAN MALENKO. This gets an eruption from the crowd. See, the idea is that Jericho beat Malenko and Malenko left out of frustration. Jericho spent two months running his mouth about Malenko, so no one had seen Dean since March. People wanted to see him come back and beat the stuffing out of Jericho, and now Jericho had nowhere to run. It got people to care and the response is awesome.

Cruiserweight Title: Dean Malenko vs. Chris Jericho

Jericho freaks out and Dean hammers on him, going off like he never has before in his WCW career. Jericho tries to wrestle but Dean just pounds him down time after time. Juvy is cheering at ringside. Dean throws Jericho into the barricade but Chris gets in some shots as Dean gets back in. Dean is like screw that and pounds Jericho down in the corner again. The champ finally gets a breather off a hot shot.

A senton backsplash puts Dean down but he doesn’t get covered. The crowd is all over Jericho here. Suplex gets two. Lionsault gets the same. A backbreaker looks to set up the Liontamer (the move that put Dean out) but Malenko counters into a quick ankle lock. Jericho gets to the rope and hits a jumping back elbow for two. Dean comes back AGAIN and beats Jericho’s head in. I’m liking this violent version of him. Jericho puts him on top but gets caught in the super gutbuster. The Texas Cloverleaf goes on and Jericho finally taps out, drawing one of the best pops from this era of WCW.

Rating: B. The match was just ok but the reaction is GREAT. This is what you call a well crafted story with a perfect ending in Jericho tapping out. Since this is WCW they screwed it up by giving Jericho the title back in two weeks but this worked very well. I think ti’s one of those storylines that would have been better had you went through the buildup though.

A white limo arrives as shown by, I kid you not, the Vinnie Mac cam. Tony takes shots at JR while we find out it’s not Vince.

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Raven

This is a Bowery Death Match, which means last man standing in a cage which has weapons inside. There’s a top on the cage too which makes it even better. Raven comes out with a bunch of guys in riot squad gear. Page goes fast to start and rams Raven’s head into the buckle over and over. Raven manages to send him into the cage to escape and things slow down.

Raven pours out his first bucket of weapons and picks a bullrope. Page clotheslines him down and takes the rope himself which goes around Raven’s neck. The other end of the rope goes around the top of the cage and Raven hangs him up from the cage, pulling on the rope with all of his weight. That gets an 8 so Page breaks a VCR over his head (holy stolen ECW spot Batman! It was bounced off Raven’s head in both companies).

Page goes after him again and is kicked into the trashcan, putting both guys down now. Bird Boy hits Page twice with the can for about a seven count each time. Cookie sheet shots do about the same. Raven puts on a sleeper but Page kicks away, knocking the referee down in the process. Another sleeper attempt results in a jawbreaker and the drop toehold onto the chair to Raven.

The Flock breaks through the riot squad and bring boltcutters with them. Van Hammer, recently thrown out of the Flock, pops up from under the ring and beats them up with a stop sign before any real damage can be done. A riot squad member hits Hammer and the rest of them get him out of here. Page is up and beating on Raven but the riot squad comes in anyway. It’s Kidman and Horace but there are two more somewhere else.

Page knocks Horace down and Diamond Cuts Kidman off the cage that Kidman was hanging from (looked awesome). They slug it out a bit more (that would be Raven and Page in case you’ve lost track) and Raven hits a Diamond Cutter on Page for about 8. A chair shot misses Page and the real Diamond Cutter gets the win for Page.

Rating: C. Decent brawl and I think it was the blowoff to the feud. If not it should be because there’s nothing else that Page can overcome in this feud. It wasn’t great though as it was more about the other guys than the two in the match which hurt it a good bit. Still though, entertaining enough and Page won in the end which is the right idea.

Post match another riot squad member comes in and cuffs I think Sick Boy to the cage before cuffing Raven and attacking him. He unmasks to reveal…..Mortis. Then he unmasks as Chris Kanyon who isn’t named yet. With Raven cuffed to the cage, Kanyon hits him with the chair (Chairshot heard round the world? What’s that?). Apparently Kanyon had been seen as a vendor lately at TV shows.

Back to the Vinnie cam which includes people being checked as they come in to make sure they’re not WWF guys.

Ultimo Dragon vs. Eddie Guerrero

If Dragon wins, Chavo is freed from his uncle’s control. They go to the mat to start with Eddie in control. He gets a test of strength grip and drops onto Dragon’s bridge but can’t break it. That’s always cool to see. Dragon pops up and tries the kicks but Eddie ducks and hits a dropkick to take over again. Dragon hits a headscissors and monkey flip and then the kicks. The crowd is noticeably quieter than they were earlier in the night.

Eddie bails for a bit but comes back in only to get kicked even more. Off to a half crab by the masked man but Eddie escapes and hooks a chinlock. They go to the floor and Eddie wants Chavo to help with the beatdown but Chavo wants nothing to do with it. Dragon hits an enziguri to knock Eddie to the floor and hits the Asai Moonsault, but it puts him down too.

Back inside Dragon hits something like Shock Treatment for two. Top rope moonsault gets two. Dragon tries his super rana but Eddie reverses into a tornado DDT but the Frog Splash misses. Dragon Sleeper goes on but Eddie gets a rope. Eddie hooks one of his own but Chavo breaks it up when Eddie cheats. Chavo argues on the apron and gets kicked down with a spin kick. Brainbuster and Frog Splash get the pin.

Rating: C-. Not bad here but I would expect more out of these two. This was more about the Eddie vs. Chavo feud and extending that out a bit more. I think this is the one that resulted in Chavo going insane but the timing seems off on that. Also I don’t remember the blowoff for it but I’d assume it was in a few weeks/months. The match was ok but would have probably been fine on Nitro.

Chavo looks at Eddie and then beats up Dragon because Dragon didn’t free him. Eddie is about to get punched but gets a kiss on the cheek instead. Ok then.

Vince has his own dressing room.

US Title: Goldberg vs. Saturn

This was supposed to be a Goldberg vs. Flock gauntlet match but they changed it the day of the show for no apparent reason. Saturn gets in some quick offense to start but Goldberg clotheslines him down and hits the gorilla press powerslam. A gorilla press drop sets up another clothesline and a superkick stops Saturn’s comeback. Saturn comes back with a legsweep and then he slaps Goldberg in the face for some reason.

A neckbreaker puts Saturn down and he pounds Perry in the corner. They go to the floor but Goldberg accidentally clotheslines the post. Back inside and Saturn hooks a sleeper which is broken with ease. A belly to belly puts but he pops up with a swinging neckbreaker and hooks a sleeper. Goldie hits a neckbreaker of his own to escape so Saturn pulls in a chair. He uses it as a springboard to dropkick Goldberg’s back but a second attempt results in a spear out of the air. Jackhammer and we’re done.

Rating: C. Way better than last month and I think it was partially because it was a minute or so shorter. That and the thicker air probably helped. Goldberg would be moved on to the world title in about two months as he should have been. Saturn would turn against the Flock soon and break them up for good.

Great American Bash ad, featuring Raven.

Here’s Eric for the Vince challenge. Eric actually has Buffer do an intro for Vince, who apparently is off saving a bus full of nuns because he’s not here. The referee counts and Bischoff officially wins. And they wonder why people eventually stopped caring about this company.

Bret Hart vs. Randy Savage

Piper is guest referee and this is payback for Bret costing Savage the title. See how easy that was? Savage is Wolfpack, Hart is black and white. Hart bails to the floor for some stalling but Piper throws him in instead. Bret keeps stalling and they lock up about a minute in. Hart goes to the eyes and pounds on Randy in the corner. Savage hits him low (I think) and chokes away while Piper shouts FIGHT over and over again.

Randy keeps choking and drops an elbow on the throat while Bret is on the mat. Bret comes back with a headbutt and legdrop followed by a suplex from the apron into the ring. Backbreaker still doesn’t get a cover. Out to the floor and Hart misses a big chair shot, getting sent into the steps as a punishment. They go into the crowd and fight around the hockey boards. At least I think they are as you can barely see their heads let alone the rest of them.

Back to ringside now as Piper gets praised for some reason. Bret goes for the knee which was injured coming in. Scott Hall has arrived at the arena now. Russian Legsweep and a piledriver get two. DDT puts Savage down but Bret talks to the fans instead of covering. A backbreaker sets up the middle rope elbow but he uses a traditional one instead and Savage moves. Savage snaps into a suplex for two.

Savage goes up and hits the big elbow but lands on his knee so the cover is delayed, meaning it only gets two. Bret gets up and hooks the Sharpshooter but here’s Liz for the save. She didn’t come out with Savage here either. And never mind as Savage broke the hold before she got here and put the hold on Bret. Liz comes in and shoves Piper, which distracts Savage long enough for Bret to hit him low. Bret has a foreign object and clocks Piper with it but Savage steals it away. Cue Hogan who wraps Savage’s leg around the post. Sharpshooter and we’re done.

Rating: D. The opening ten to twelve minutes were REALLY boring, then it picked up a bit, then we had two run-ins and a foreign object for the ending. The match was just boring and it really hurt things here. It was clear that neither guy cared that much at this point and can you blame them? Neither guy was going to get anywhere near the main event longer than a quick stretch at a time because Hogan and Nash were dominating things. This had moments but not enough of them.

Tag Titles: Sting/The Giant vs. Outsiders

Guess who has the titles coming in. Dusty is with the Outsiders which is supposed to mean something. So Hall and Nash are Wolfpack, Giant is Black and White and Sting is whatever. Giant wants him in the NWO but he hasn’t given an answer yet. Hall and Sting start us off with Sting walking into a chokeslam but coming back with his kind of bulldog move. A pair of Stinger Splashes sets up the Scorpion but Nash makes the save.

Giant comes in and the mixed faction team clears the ring. The biggest man comes in legally so Hall does his Frankenstein (‘s monster) deal and tags Nash. Nash gets run over so Giant does the Hogan hand to his ear. An elbow drop keeps Nash down and Giant sends him to the corner for some hip attacks. The fans chant for the Wolfpack as Sting comes in and walks into a big boot for the Outsiders to take over.

Hall’s fallaway slam gets two. Back to Nash for some Snake Eyes and then Hall gets another tag. The Outsiders work Sting over and Hall does his abdominal stretch. Nash hits the side slam and it’s bearhug time. Sting escapes for a bit and dives at Nash to make the tag. Giant comes in and takes Nash down and drops a leg for two. He goes up top (oh boy) but his splash misses. Nash sets for the powerbomb but Hall turns on him, hits him with the belt and Giant gets the pin.

Rating: D. This was another slow and boring match with a bad ending. Usually I would go into some intentionally complicated statement of what just happened and say something like “got all that?” after it but I can’t figure it out well enough to type it all up. That’s the problem with something like this: it got way too complicated way too fast and when you need a flow chart to tell what’s going on, it’s not going to last long.

Post match Hall, Giant and Rhodes all hug. Sting would join the Wolfpack soon. Giant tells Sting to come join them to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. Of the three I’ve done, this was certainly the best but that’s not really saying much. There are parts here that are certainly good, but the WNO stuff was so overdone and so overly complicated that everyone stopped caring. They had to elevate Goldberg because they had no one to put out there as the top face of the company. The show was ok at times but man once WCW started to go downhill, it went off a cliff, through the ground, around the world and over the cliff again. This would be the start of that.

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

Monday Nitro #117
Date: December 8, 1997
Location: First Niagara Center, Buffalo, New York
Commentators: Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay

We’re into the final three shows before Starrcade so the card really should start to fill out now. The main event tonight is Hall vs. Page which has a history from the early 90s which I doubt we’ll hear about. Other than that we’re hopefully going to get some new matches announced for the PPV as the card is pretty thin at the moment. Let’s get to it.

The announcers talk about Larry vs. Bischoff for a bit to open things up.

Konnan vs. Ray Traylor

Konnan immediately runs but gets punched down in the corner with ease. A powerslam sends Konnan to the floor but he pulls Traylor to the floor for a quick slugout. Ray is sent into the steps and Konnan pounds him down back inside. A DDT gets two for Konnan….and there go the lights. They come back up a few moments later and Konnan is out cold. Ray cautiously puts his boot on Konnan’s chest for the win. Not enough to rate here but it was dull while it lasted.

We see Rude helping in the beatdown of Page last week.

Steve McMichael vs. Barbarian

Mongo grabs a headlock to start and hits a quick shoulder block to take over. A hard shot to the back of Barbarian’s head actually hurts him and we cut to the Flock in the crowd. Barbie comes back with a big boot to send Mongo to the floor followed by some whips into the barricade and apron. Back in and a kind of pumphandle slam gets two on Mongo and Barbarian goes up top. His flying clothesline jumps into a shot to the face and Mongo grabs the tombstone out of nowhere for the pin.

Rating: D. After a year and a half, Mongo should be better than he is here. He’s been in the ring with some solid talent over this time and he’s just not getting any better. Barbarian is a generic heel but he’s not bad in the ring. Mongo dragged him WAY down here and the whole Mongo experiment is clearly not working.

Post match Meng runs in and puts Mongo in the Death Grip.

Gene suggests that no one respects Disco for losing to Jackie. Disco says he’s tired of hearing about it. I think everyone is tired of hearing about Jackie in general.

Buff Bagwell comes out and challenges Luger because he’s buff and we’re in Buffalo. Seriously, that’s what he said.

Prince Iaukea vs. Dean Malenko

Eddie comes out to do commentary again. After a quick feeling out process to start, Malenko snaps off a good dropkick and goes after the knee. Prince fights up and hits a quick clothesline to send Dean to the apron. Back in and they trade nearfalls as Eddie is ripping into Dean like there’s no tomorrow. A double clothesline puts both guys down but it’s Dean up first for the double underhook powerbomb and the Cloverleaf for the fast tap out. This was just a step above a squash.

Nitro Girls.

Nash says he’s the real giant of pro wrestling and that Giant is one dimensional.

Giant says he’s the real giant of pro wrestling and that he’s going to chokeslam Nash.

Nitro Girls.

Chris Benoit vs. Lodi

Again this is supposed to be Raven but he’s not here tonight so it’s the yet to be named Lodi instead. Tony has a name for him and calls him Load-Eye. Benoit knocks him off the apron to start and chops Lodi up against the barricade. They head inside with Benoit talking trash to the Flock and chopping the skin off of Lodi’s chest. Benoit hits his hard clothesline to take Lodi down and loads up a superplex. The Swan Dive and Crossface end this destruction as Benoit impresses again.

The Flock doesn’t run in because Raven isn’t here to lead them. Benoit grabs a mic and tells Raven to get out here and take a beating like a man. He promises to teach Raven what abuse is really about.

Here’s Ric Flair who says Hall, Nash and Hogan would get theirs at Starrcade. As for Hennig, Flair wants him in a cage at the PPV. Gene asks about Bret Hart and Flair calls him the real greatest of all time and invites Bret to come to Nitro. Oh wait actually Flair is the best ever and comparing Bret to Flair is like comparing John Elway to Jim Kelly. Hey look who is in the front row: Jim Kelly!

Randy Savage vs. Hugh Morrus

Savage knocks Jim Kelly’s hat off and Morrus jumps Macho to start. Kelly and teammate Bruce Smith get in some shots of their own and this is all before the bell. They head inside and I think we’re underway. Morrus hits a running clothesline in the corner and shouts insults about the NWO.

A second charge into the corner misses and Savage dumps him to the floor. Back in and Hugh hits a powerslam for two but Savage avoids a top rope elbow. Randy slams him down for his own elbow but pulls Morrus up at two. Another elbow hits but the lights go out again. About a minute later the lights come on and Savage is out with a Sting mask on. Morrus wins for no apparent reason.

Rating: D. Nothing to see here other than angle advancement at the end. Morrus was one of those guys who was always around but never really did anything of note. This was one of those things he was good for though as Savage got to beat him up until the stuff at the end of the match.

Rude and Bischoff head to the announce table and say they don’t buy Schiavone’s nonsense. Granted I don’t think anyone else did but I get their point. They threaten the announcers and make them do the see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil poses. Ok then.

TV Title: Saturn vs. Disco Inferno

The announcers say we have to take a break because they’re scared for their lives. Back with Saturn throwing Disco around as Tony spends the first few minutes talking about how they need to not ignore the match. Saturn is knocked to the floor and Disco sends him into the steps, only to have Saturn drop him onto the top rope back inside. The champ cranks on Disco’s arms before hitting a high angle suplex for no cover.

A top rope elbow misses and we head back to the floor again with Saturn sending him into the barricade. Disco Stuns Lodi over the barricade before pounding away on Saturn in the corner. Saturn hits a neckbreaker to take over again, followed by a big suplex for two. Disco counters a powerbomb out of nowhere and Stuns Saturn for the pin and the title.

Rating: C. I have no idea what the point of this was. We spend two months making fun of Disco for losing to Jackie and then give him a clean pin over a killer like Saturn? That’s supposed to make us forget about everything he’s done for the last few months? The match wasn’t bad but the booking makes you wonder what WCW was thinking at this point. I guess the idea was that Raven wasn’t there to guide him, but……Disco Inferno?

We look at another Nitro Party winner.

Nitro Girls.

Buff Bagwell vs. Lex Luger

Bagwell immediately sends him to the floor and poses only to be run over with a clothesline. We get a pose off followed by Luger pounding him into the corner and hiptossing Buff down and flexing some more. Buff comes back with a clothesline and a belly to back suplex before pounding on Luger’s back. Off to a camel clutch but Luger fights up and slams him onto the mat as Norton comes out. Luger makes his comeback with his usual stuff (clotheslines, atomic drop, forearm) to send Buff to the floor and as he fights off the NWO, Buff gets counted out.

Rating: D. Bagwell just isn’t at this level yet and Lex Luger isn’t going to be the right guy to bring him up at all. This is the second week in a row where these two have done nothing of note and it’s not really bringing Bagwell up the card at all. Then again no one ever would despite the guy being around for like ten years.

Video on Sting.

Scott Hall vs. Diamond Dallas Page

Main event time. Hall does the survey as the announcers complain about being threatened too much. As the camera goes to the regular shot of the ring to open the match, someone holds up a HUGE Undertaker cutout which made my head snap around when I saw it. Hall starts with the driving shoulders and we actually hear about Page managing Hall back in the day. They fight over a top wristlock and Hall is sent down to the mat.

Page pounds away in the corner and gets two off a clothesline. Hall comes back with the middle rope bulldog for two of his own and stomps away a bit. The fallaway slam hits for two as the fans are lethargic at the moment. Off to the abdominal stretch as we hear that if Zbyszko beats Bischoff at Starrcade he gets a shot at Hall. As is the custom though, Page counters into a stretch of his own, only to be hiptossed over. The Outsider’s Edge is countered into a backdrop and some atomic drops have Hall in trouble. Page pancakes him down but here’s Hennig for the DQ.

Rating: C-. They were clearly going through the motions out there with a bunch of signature stuff from Hall and that’s about it. This is the problem with WCW anymore: everything is just filling time to get to the run in and the story advancement post match. Why would I get into a match and the near falls when there’s probably a 90% chance it’s going to end in a run-in?

The beatdown is on and Page is in big trouble. Even Hogan and Bischoff come out for this one. Another Sting dummy falls through the ring and even Hogan points it out this time. Hogan talks trash and has the NWO pull the Sting dummy out of the hole. Hollywood keeps talking trash to the dummy and the dummy stands up. It’s the real Sting cleaning house and Hogan is terrified to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. Lame matches, little storyline advancement, questionable booking in what advancement we did get. Yep this is the WCW that I knew was coming and didn’t want to have to sit through. They’re clearly just coasting until Starrcade, which is in three weeks and has three matches announced if my math is correct. Not a good show here and you can see the cracks starting to come out here.

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

Super J Cup 1994
Date: April 16, 1994
Location: Sumo Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Attendance: 11,500

This is another requested show from a long time ago. This is one of those shows that you hear a lot about but most people haven’t seen. It’s a Junior Heavyweight tournament held in New Japan Pro Wrestling and featuring some big names, including Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero before most people had ever heard of either of them. This was named show of the year by Meltzer, but 1994 wasn’t the best year for wrestling so it should be interesting to see what’s going on here. Let’s get to it.

After the opening video, we get all of the competitors introduced to us. Here are the brackets. Wild Pegasus and Great Sasuke have byes to the second round and will face the winners of the first and last matches respectively.

Wild Pegasus

Black Tiger

Taka Michinoku

Gedo

Dean Malenko

Shinjiro Otani

Super Delfin

Ricky Fuji

Negro Casas

Hayabusa

Jushin Thunder Liger

Masayoshi Motegi

El Samurai

Great Sasuke

Super J Cup First Round: Dean Malenko vs. Gedo

Gedo is more famous as half of a tag team with Jado. After a handshake they charge at each other and Dean dropkicks him to the floor. Back in and Gedo grabs the arm but Dean rolls out of it. This is very fast paced as you would expect it to be. Dean takes it to the mat and hooks a leg lock but Gedo counters into a kind of cross armbreaker. They trade arm control for awhile until Dean headscissors him into a standoff.

Gedo takes him down and puts Dean in a leg lock of his own, but Dean counters into the same arm hold that Gedo countered into earlier. Nice. It turns into an amateur mat battle with Dean working on the arm while Gedo tries to sit out. Gedo gets up and comes back with offense that looks like an American stereotype of Japanese wrestling. Dean takes him down into a chinlock which is quickly broken.

Malenko will have none of this being on defense thing so he goes all aggressive and rams Gedo into the corner and busts out a Jackhammer of all things (remember that this is in 1994) for two. Gedo takes him to the mat for a very modified STF. Dean makes the rope so they slug it out and collide. Gedo counters a tombstone into one of his own but misses the swan dive. Malenko rams him into the corner again and hits a top rope cross body for two, but Gedo catches him with a powerslam to advance. Dean’s shoulder looked to be up but it counted anyway.

Rating: B-. Good opener here and the crowd was getting into it. Since this is a Jr. Heavyweight tournament there’s going to be a lot of fast paced matches which makes things more interesting. Dean was still young here and full of fire, making this a solid performance from him. I haven’t seen much from Gedo but he doesn’t seem to be anything of note.

Super J Cup First Round: Super Delfin vs. Shinjiro Otani

Delfin has a title which I think is the UWF Super Welterweight Title. Otani rushes him to start and immediately takes Delfin down by the leg. He hooks a modified heel hook/ankle lock but Delfin grabs a rope. Ohtani stays on the leg but shifts to a headlock. Delfin pops up and hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker as his knee is suddenly fine. Ohtani is like cool man and spin kicks Delfin’s head off, sending him to the floor.

Back in and Ohtani cannonballs down on the leg Flair style and hooks a half crab. Delfin escapes and finally sells the knee, only to get taken down into a scissors lock. That gets broken via rope as well and a Saito Suplex puts Ohtani down for two, as does a splash. Ohtani dropkicks him to the floor and hits a huge dive, buckling Delfin’s knee in the process. A springboard knee to the head gets two for Ohtani and it’s off to what can best be called a cross kneebreaker. Delfin makes the rope again and they head into the corner for a tornado DDT from Delfin. Delfin ties him up in a complex looking pinning combination for the win.

Rating: C+. The knee stuff drove me crazy here as Ohtani dismantled that knee but Delfin didn’t seem interested in selling it in any way at all. That’s one of the biggest annoyances I have in wrestling, as it’s disrespectful to the guy doing the work as well as looking ridiculous. Fun match for the Ohtani stuff, but he’s a guy I’ve always liked.

Super J Cup First Round: Taka Michinoku vs. Black Tiger

Taka looks very young here and is of course more famous for his WWF run. Black Tiger is Eddie Guerrero under a mask and WAY before he was famous in the US. The winner of this gets Wild Pegasus, more famous as Chris Benoit. Eddie is heel here and takes Taka down fast, hitting the slingshot hilo and a BIG powerbomb for two. Neckbreaker gets two for Eddie and it’s off to an abdominal stretch.

Eddie chops him down and puts on a Sharpshooter, which the announcers call a Scorpion. That’s quickly broken and they collide as this is almost too fast to call. Taka tries a clothesline but it only staggers Eddie, but Eddie’s takes Taka’s head off. Taka headscissors Eddie to the floor and moonsaults off the top back into the ring (Taka is alone in the ring and wasn’t going after Eddie) to pop the crowd.

Back in and Taka moonsaults moonsaults over Eddie so he can suplex him down. Eddie goes to the floor and Taka hits a HUGE dive to take both guys out. Back in again and Michinoku hits a German for two as well as a rana for the same. Another rana attempt is countered into another BIG powerbomb for two. Eddie hits a top rope splash (not the amphibian kind) for two. Taka powerbombs Guerrero down for two and hits a moonsault for the same. Another moonsault hits knees so Eddie hits his brainbuster for two. Eddie is all ticked off now so he KILLS Taka with a tornado DDT for the pin.

Rating: B. This was a very fun and fast paced match. Even though it was just a spotfest, sometimes there’s nothing wrong with that at all and it worked very well here. Eddie was on fire at this point and he would go to AAA soon where he would become a breakout star before heading to ECW and then WCW. Speaking of WCW, the music he left to sounded a lot like what would become the Nitro theme but it was too close to tell.

Super J Cup First Round: El Samurai vs. Masayoshi Motegi

Winner of this gets the Great Sasuke. Motegi has some title with him here as well which I think is the W*ING Junior Heavyweight Title. Motegi dropkicks Samurai down before the bell and knocks him to the floor for a suicide dive. With Samurai on the floor, Motegi loads up a dive but slips coming off the ropes for a laugh from the crowd. Back in and Samurai takes him to the mat and starts going amateur.

A fairly sloppy headscissors gets two for Samurai as does a side slam. Samurai hooks a Boston Crab which is countered into a pinfall reversal sequence for two for each guy. They stay on the mat for a bit until Motegi fights up, only to get tombstoned down immediately for two. Back up again and Samurai hits a kind of reverse suplex for two. Motegi hits a running elbow but gets sent to the floor quickly, with Samurai hitting a suicide dive of his own.

Back in and a missile dropkick gets two for Samurai but Motegi takes him right down again with a modified powerbomb. Samurai gets put in a rolling surfboard followed by a dragon sleeper which doesn’t last long. Motegi tries what I think was supposed to be a headscissors but it landed more like a spinning cross body. That gets two and it’s time for Motegi to roll some Germans. Those get two and they trade German attempts. Samurai finally hits one for two, followed by a powerbomb to get the pin on Motegi and advance.

Rating: D+. This was by far the worst match of the night so far as there were a ton of botches. Samurai started with the mat stuff and then went with the flying offense and the latter didn’t work that well at all. The match was full of botches which really brought things down here. I’ve only heard of Samurai and I wasn’t all that impressed here.

Motegi cuts a promo post match but I have no idea what he’s saying.

Super J Cup First Round: Ricky Fuji vs. Negro Casas

Casas, a Mexican, dropkicks Fuji, a Japanese guy wearing a jacket that says Canada for some reason, down to start. They hit the mat with Fuji grabbing a quick headscissors, before being put in an STF to give Casas control. Casas throws on a headscissors of his own but Fuji comes back with a headlock. Back to their feet and Casas hits some kicks, only to be taken right back down by Fuji.

A quick dragon sleeper by Fuji is broken and a backsplash gets two for Casas. Fuji gets sent outside and taken down by a dive from Casas as things slow down. Back in and Fuji hits a top rope ax handle for two. Casas escapes a suplex and La Majistral gets two, as does a Saito Suplex. The middle rope backsplash from the middle rope misses for Casas and Fuji hits a Tiger Bomb to advance.

Rating: D+. Second pretty bad match in a row here. These two didn’t click at all for the most part and I’m not sure whose fault that was. Fuji is a guy I’ve heard of but I’d like to know what the deal with that Canada jacket was. This wasn’t the worst match I’ve ever seen, but there wasn’t much good to it at all.

Super J Cup First Round: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Hayabusa

Liger is basically divine at this point. Hayabusa immediately kicks him in the head and sends him to the floor, followed by a big dive. Back in and Hayabusa hits a missile dropkick to put Liger down. After a quick chinlock from Hayabusa, he hits a slam and legdrop for two. Off to a leg lock on Liger but Hayabusa’s knee drop misses. Liger slaps on a figure four but Hayabusa grabs the rope.

Liger hits his palm strike to the face followed by a powerbomb for two. He stays on the knee of Hayabusa before killing him with a clothesline for two. Back to the knee but Hayabusa somehow hits an enziguri from his back to escape. Liger sends him into the corner and immediately follows in with a Rolling Liger Kick. Superplex gets two on Hayabusa.

Hayabusa coems back with a running dropkick for two as he’s getting fired up now. Another running kick to the face puts Liger down for two. A senton and top rope spinwheel kick get two as does a moonsault. Hayabusa tries a spinning rana off the top but only gets half of it, resulting in a two count.

Liger gets slammed down and Hayabusa COMPLETELY misses a Shooting Star (Liger’s signature move), with only his legs hitting Liger after Hayabusa had stopped moving at all. Thankfully Liger doesn’t sell it and hits the Liger Bomb for two. Liger loads up a superplex but gets knocked off. Hayabusa jumps into a powerbomb and a fisherman’s buster gets the pin to complete the second round with Liger advancing.

Rating: C-. Hayabusa was fun to watch but DANG did he miss some spots. He would eventually snap his neck like a twig and be forced to retire in 2001. Liger on the other hand is probably the most famous Japanese wrestler in America other than maybe Great Muta, so I think we know who the more successful one was. This would have been way better if Hayabusa didn’t botch stuff so badly.

We recap the first round, so here are the updated brackets:

Wild Pegasus

Black Tiger

Gedo

Super Delfin

Ricky Fuji

Jushin Thunder Liger

El Samurai

The Great Sasuke

Super J Cup Quarter-Finals: Super Delfin vs. Gedo

Delfin grabs the leg to start and tries a half crab but Gedo reverses into one of his own. That doesn’t work that well so Gedo chops him down and shouts a lot. Delfin pops up and chops Gedo down before shouting just like Gedo. Delfin speeds things up but Gedo dropkicks him down. Gedo dropkicks Delfin right back down, only to be sent to the floor for his efforts.

Back in and Delfin pounds away in the corner but gets atomic dropped out. Gedo hooks a quick chinlock but gets rammed into the buckle to break the hold. They chop it out and Delfin knocks him to the floor where he takes Gedo out with a big dive off the top. Back in and a victory roll gets a bad looking two for Delfin. By bad I mean the referee stopped counting because Gedo didn’t kick out in time.

Gedo knocks him down and a moonsault gets two. A crucifix gets two for Delfin and the referee did it AGAIN. Delfin hits a German for two followed by a top rope elbow for two. Tornado DDT looks to finish for Delfin, but Gedo rolls him up for the pin. This time the referee counted three even though Delfin’s shoulder looked to be up.

Rating: D+. This wasn’t working for me either. Again it wasn’t that bad, but it just wasn’t that good. The refereeing was horrible here as the guy was missing almost everything the entire time, or at least the second half of the match. Nothing much to see here but we have something up next that might be a bit better.

Super J Cup Quarter-Finals: Wild Pegasus vs. Black Tiger

In other words, Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero. Benoit takes him to the mat by the leg and cranks on it a bit but Eddie takes him down almost immediately as well. They fight over the leg and Eddie takes over before hitting a slingshot hilo for two. He hooks a kind of triangle choke on Benoit for a bit but Chris gets up again. Benoit grabs a reverse suplex and both guys are down again.

Benoit tries to suplex him to the floor but Eddie blocks it. That’s fine by Benoit who snaps off a German and follows it up by a knee to the ribs. Eddie gets draped over the top rope in a move Benoit often used. Bridging German gets two for Benoit and the fans seem pleased. A big powerbomb (popular move tonight) gets two for Chris as does a snap suplex. Benoit hooks on the same kind of choke that Eddie had on earlier to slow things down.

Back up and Benoit tries another knee to the ribs but Eddie hooks a rollup for two. A clothesline and German get two each for Guerrero and it’s camel clutch time. Eddie goes up (these holds don’t last nearly as long as they do in America) but misses a missile dropkick. Benoit grabs a test of strength grip and Eddie is in trouble.

Actually scratch that as Eddie runs the ropes while holding Benoit’s hand, slips, catches himself, and then hits a rana for two. Top rope rana gets two for Eddie as the fans are getting into this. Brainbuster looks to set up a tornado DDT from Eddie but Benoit shoves him off. Benoit loads up something on the top but Eddie shoves him off. Eddie dives at Benoit but gets caught in a powerslam/arm drag to the mat for the pin for Benoit.

Rating: B. Eddie vs. Benoit is a good match. Gee who would have seen that coming? This wasn’t a classic or anything and I remember two distinctly better matches that they’ve had in the past, but still you can’t go wrong with this pairing. Eddie was looking great here but Benoit was on fire and wasn’t going to lose here no matter what Guerrero threw at him.

Super J Cup Quarter-Finals: The Great Sasuke vs. El Samurai

This should be good. Sasuke is a legendary junior heavyweight and can fly with the best of them. After about 30 seconds of circling each other they lock up. Sasuke takes him to the mat and works over the leg but can’t get a half crab. Samurai hooks a hammerlock but gets caught in a leg lock on the mat. Samurai counters that into an attempted cross armbreaker but Sasuke is blocking most of it. Sasuke grabs the leg right back again but Samurai escapes into a standoff.

Now Samurai grabs Sasuke’s leg in a reversal of roles. Samurai takes him to the mat and ties up the legs before adding a butterfly lock on top of it. That looked awesome. Sasuke heads to the floor and is hurting all over. Back into the ring and Samurai hooks a stump puller. Sasuke grabs a rope and heads to the floor again to cool things off. Back in and Samurai takes him right back down in a headscissors with an armbar which appears to be a signature move for him.

Sasuke breaks that and sends Samurai to the floor. In a cool looking visual, all of the photographers run to Samurai so they can see Sasuke hit a cartwheel into a moonsault to the floor. Back in and Sasuke kicks Samurai’s head off for two. Samurai will have none of that though and puts Sasuke on the floor, followed by a huge flip dive to take out the Great one. Back in Samurai hits a German for two. The crowd is losing it more and more on each of these moves.

A flying headbutt gets two for Samurai and he’s getting frustrated. Sasuke snaps off a rana for two and goes up, but Samurai stops him. Samurai can’t slam him down though and gets caught in a sunset flip off the top for two. Back in the ring and Sasuke misses a spinwheel kick. Samurai powerbombs Sasuke down but it only gets two. Sasuke is getting fired up now and he rolls through a rana from Samurai for the pin.

Rating: B+. This was a very solid match all around with at least two distinct parts. They had the back and forth submission stuff to start and then they busted out the big spots and near falls, all of which were getting better and better each time. I can see why Sasuke is considered so great. Good stuff here and Samurai looked WAY better here than he did in the first match.

Sasuke says something that I can’t understand.

Super J Cup Quarter-Finals: Jushin Liger vs. Ricky Fuji

They fight for control to start and Fuji grabs a wristlock. Liger hits a monkey flip to escape and it’s a standoff. A test of strength goes badly for Fuji and it’s another standoff. Liger gets sent to the floor where Fuji hits a pescado and powerbomb to take over. Liger comes back with a kick to the chest and another to the head to take over. They head back to the floor and Liger drops a double stomp to the chest/stomach. FREAKING OW MAN!

Back inside and a rolling Liger Kick followed by a slam gets two. A release German puts Fuji down and Liger tries a superplex, only to have Fuji kind of fall on him for a cross body. Liger gets sent to the floor and Fuji hits a baseball slide. Back in and a release German gets two on Liger. Fuji goes up but gets shoved down and Liger hits a top rope rana for the pin to make the final four.

Rating: C-. Not bad here but Fuji was kind of a mess. At the end of the day though, it’s Jushin Thunder Liger in 1994 and it’s going to take someone awesome to beat him. Not a horrible match or anything here but Liger was in need of some better competition out there. That would come in the next match.

Remaining participants:

Wild Pegasus

Gedo

Jushin Liger

Great Sasuke

Fuji says something.

Super J Cup Semi-Finals: Gedo vs. Wild Pegasus

Neither guy can connect with anything flashy to start so they slap it out a bit. Benoit hits a neckbreaker for two followed by a middle rope legdrop for the same. Gedo hits a shoulder block and slaps on a double arm trap submission hold. Something like a piledriver gets two for Gedo and it’s chinlock time. That’s followed by another chinlock to mix things up. They get up and chop it out and you know Benoit is winning that.

Gedo dropkicks him to the floor and mostly misses a moonsault press to the outside. Powerslam and northern lights get two for Gedo but a falling headbutt (literally, he fell) misses Benoit. They both try Germans but Benoit settles for a bad powerbomb for two. A better version sets up a good falling headbutt from Benoit for the pin to send him to the finals.

Rating: C+. Not bad here but dang some of Gedo’s stuff wasn’t clicking at all. Benoit was never in any real trouble, which brought things down a bit. Still though, the match was pretty fast paced and entertaining which is the right idea. Gedo was just a stop on the road for Benoit and the match was too short to mean anything. Decent though.

Gedo talks.

Super J Cup Semi-Finals: The Great Sasuke vs. Jushin Thunder Liger

This is going to be awesome by definition. They fight for control to start and Sasuke gets him down by the leg. Liger rolls out and it’s a standoff. Jushin throws on a reverse surfboard but Sasuke grabs the arm to escape. He can’t get the armbreaker so they trade submissions for awhile until Liger hooks a kind of surfboard followed by the full on version. I still love that move. Liger cranks that up even more by keeping their legs up and hooking a dragon sleeper on top of it. FREAKING OW MAN!

Liger puts on a camel clutch and cranks on that sucker. The rolling Liger Kick hits and Sasuke is in big trouble. Liger kills him with a tombstone and throws on a crossface chickenwing to further punish Sasuke. Sasuke kind of falls out of that so Liger CRANKS on the arm with whatever evil ideas he can come up with. Yeah Liger is heel here. There’s the cross armbreaker to Sasuke whose arm looks like jelly. This is total dominance so far.

Liger suplexes him down again and Sasuke is barely moving. Jushin goes up but Sasuke dropkicks him out of the air, sending him out to the floor. Sasuke hits a SWEET Asai Moonsault to take Liger out. Liger gets sent into the post from the apron so Sasuke hits a GREAT Swanton Dive to a standing Liger to take him down again. Back in and Sasuke drops some knees, followed by a spinwheel kick for two.

Sasuke hits a piledriver to put Liger down for two and a big old powerbomb gets the same. Now it’s Liger that can barely move. Sasuke tombstones him down but the Swanton Bomb misses. Liger hits the running palm strike for two and he’s getting frustrated. LigerBomb gets two as does a top rope rana, but Liger poses too much and gets rolled up for two. A release German gets two for Liger as does his fisherman’s buster finisher.

Liger suplexes him over the top and out to the floor and hits a BIG dive. Back in and Liger is spent from trying so hard. Sasuke gets up to the apron behind Liger and tries a Hail Mary springboard….but he slips and falls flat on his face. Instead Sasuke hits a standing rana out of nowhere for the pin and a spot in the finals.

Rating: A. If that finish had hit, this would be a masterpiece. These guys were WORKING out there with Sasuke taking one of the worst beatings I’ve seen in years. Sasuke is a total freak with these high spots, flying all over the place and taking out everyone in sight. The botches hurt him a lot but this was awesome all the way through. Great stuff.

Super J Cup Finals: Wild Pegasus vs. Great Sasuke

They fight over arm control to start again and Sasuke spins and flips his way out of everything. The fans cheer for Sasuke which they’ve done all night so far. Benoit chops away in the corner but what might have been a Boston Crab is countered. Sasuke kicks him to the floor and Benoit takes a breather. Back in and Benoit takes him down with a triangle choke but Sasuke counters into a modified surfboard. Benoit pops up to a standoff and things reset.

Things speed up and Sasuke starts flying around, but Benoit takes his head off with a clothesline. The Canadian hits a German on the Japanese for two. Sasuke comes back with a spinwheel kick and a legdrop for two. They fight for arm control on the mat as all of the tournament participants are watching at ringside. Sasuke gets up and tries to jump around some more but Benoit runs him over with another clothesline.

Benoit drapes him over the top rope and hits a springboard elbow of all things to put Sasuke on the floor. Back in and Benoit can’t hit his dragon suplex. Ok scratch that as it gets two. Swan Dive gets two for Benoit as does a big powerbomb. Sasuke is amazing at selling this stuff too. Benoit channels his inner Hart and slaps on a Sharpshooter (remember this is 1994 and Bret is WWF Champion so it’s a big move at this time).

The hold gets released for no apparent reason so Benoit hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two. Benoit misses a dropkick and gets clotheslined down. He’ll have none of that though and snaps off a great German suplex for two. Dragon suplex is countered into a rollup for two and Sasuke kicks him to the floor. In a SWEET move, Sasuke cartwheels towards the ropes and hits a spinning backflip over the top to the floor to take Benoit out.

They head back inside and Sasuke hits a German of his own for two. A fisherman’s suplex gets two for Sasuke as well but his missile dropkick misses. Sasuke goes to the apron but he suplexes Benoit over the top in a near 360 to the floor. Benoit slides back in but then right back out for some reason. Sasuke is annoyed by Benoit not making a commitment so he hits a missile dropkick to the floor. Back in and Sasuke is limping. Gee I wonder why. Top rope moonsault gets two on Benoit and a BIG reaction from the crowd. Sasuke goes up again but Benoit stops him and hits a gutwrench suplex off the top for the pin and the championship.

Rating: A+. This got five stars from Meltzer and I can’t say I can argue. They beat the TAR out of each other and there weren’t any major mistakes or botches at all in this. Benoit would go on to bigger and better things, but DANG Sasuke looked great. He kept flying higher and higher but Benoit was finally able to take him down and a wrestling move beat him. Great story to a great match.

A big ceremony ends the show. Benoit won a championship in this which may or may not be the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship. Liger, Sasuke and Gedo get trophies too.

Overall Rating: A. 1994 wasn’t the best year for the big companies so I have no argument against this being show of the year. It runs just under three hours and after about the first hour, the worst match is good. The first hour has nothing bad at all in it and the rest is pure gold. The last two matches are EXCELLENT and are both well seeing. This was a great surprise and it’s available in full on YouTube. Definitely check this one out if you like Cruiserweight wrestling as it’s great stuff.

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

Monday Nitro #109
Date: October 13, 1997
Location: Ice Palace, Tampa, Florida
Attendance: 12,000
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko

It’s one of the last shows before Halloween Havoc and WCW has been on fire lately. The main match tonight is a tag title defense with the Outsiders fighting a team to be announced. If they don’t defend the belts, they’ll be stripped of the titles. Not that it took forever to get them to defend the stupid things or anything like that though. Let’s get to it.

Here are Hogan (sans belt), Bischoff and Savage to open the show. Bischoff plugs Hogan’s new movie Assault on Devil’s Island and takes jabs at Raw for not being live. Yeah Eric I wouldn’t compare my show to 1997 Raw. Oh and Savage is in a neckbrace because of the Diamond Cutter last week. Hogan wants Piper to give him his belt back (Piper took it when he was running from Hogan and Bischoff last week) and that’s about it.

We see the Diamond Cutter on Savage from last week.

The announcers say there are four title matches this week. Is it sweeps week or something?

Cruiserweight Title: Eddie Guerrero vs. Psychosis

Eddie is defending and there’s no Sonny Onoo with Psychosis for no apparent reason. Psychosis misses a charge into the corner to start, allowing Eddie to hit a fast suplex for two. Apparently Disco vs. Jackie at the PPV is non-title due to the athletic commission. Why is that match even happening? Has that ever been answered? Psychosis shrugs it off and hits a quick leg lariat and a baseball slide to send Eddie to the floor.

We get the spot of the match as Psychosis hits a big old senton backsplash to the floor, possibly injuring his back in the process though. Back in and the guillotine legdrop misses Eddie but Psychosis grabs a quick rollup for two anyway. Psychosis goes for the arm which is kind of rare to see in a lucha match. Once that goes nowhere Eddie takes over, only to walk into a backbreaker. The masked one goes up but is quickly crotched, superplexed and Frog Splashed for the pin to retain the title.

Rating: C. This didn’t work that well but the injury might have had something to do with it. Eddie was gearing up for the showdown with Rey which needs to be announced already. This kept him looking strong though and that’s what a champion needs going into a big PPV title defense. Not a good match here but the big senton got the fans going at least.

Eddie teases ripping off the mask but walks away.

It’s time for the second of Tenay’s videos on lucha libre. Today he’s talking about masks and how important they are to culture of lucha libre. We see the making of masks and hear from Rey Mysterio Jr. and Senior (Rey’s uncle) who says how important the masks are in identity. We hear from Dr. Lechuga (I know some Spanish and either that’s a fake name or we’re hearing from Dr. Lettuce.) about the history of masks and the various cultures that form them. Psychosis talks about how important his mask is.

Rey worries about losing his mask, but that shouldn’t be a problem. Only a completely stupid company would stop making masks that popular which were guaranteed money makers. Silver King says why cover up my pretty face? La Parka says he wears a mask to scare people. We get clips from When Worlds Collide with Eddie getting his hair cut and hear about Luchas De Apuestas. For a two minute segment, this was AWESOME. I love these segments and there’s some really interesting stuff in there.

Here’s Piper who looks a bit different in the face this week. Makeup maybe? Piper is here to talk about Bischoff and makes it clear that he is the boss, not Bischoff. What happened to Savage last week was justice, not an unfair attack. Also Hogan doesn’t deserve to carry the belt (which is nowhere in sight) so for now it’s gone. Piper says the same thing he said last week about the Outsiders having to defend or be stripped and that’s it.

We recap Jarrett/Debra vs. Mongo.

Steve Regal vs. Steve McMichael

Mongo grabs a quick headlock and runs Regal over with a shoulder block. I do love it when heels like Regal are shocked when a much bigger and stronger guy runs them over. That’s always amusing. Off to a wristlock which is more Regal’s speed and he takes it down to the mat for some control. Mongo again powers out of it and tosses Regal around like something that is large and easy to throw around. Regal comes back with an uppercut and some stomping but Mongo pops up again. Now Mongo looks confused so he hits a few elbows and finishes Regal with the tombstone. That was a really awkward looking ending.

Rating: D. It continues to amaze me that Mongo somehow kept getting worse in the ring. He’s in there with one of the best technicians of all time and can’t get a watchable match? Regal is more than capable of walking him through this but I guess Mongo is even beyond Regal’s help. That says a lot.

Gene is with Debra and asks about rumors that Jarrett is gone. Apparently he is indeed gone (SWEET!) but she has a surprise for Mongo at Halloween Havoc. Mongo calls her a snake. No that would be her future husband, who would also be named Steve.

Yuji Nagata vs. Chris Jericho

The quest for Nagata to be useful or interesting continues. Sonny is here with Nagata but wasn’t with Psychosis. Apparently it’s Dragon vs. Nagata at the PPV. I know that would sway me into buying it. Jericho immediately goes for the arm with whatever hold he can put on it. When that doesn’t work, he goes with the easiest idea there is: kick him in the face. Now back to Nagata’s arm but Nagata hits a fast superplex to take over. A snapmare puts Jericho down and there’s a HARD kick to the Canadian’s back.

Now Nagata works on the arm but runs into a boot in the corner and gets caught by a middle rope missile dropkick. In something I’ve never seen, at least not from Jericho, he grabs Nagata in a half nelson and gives him a giant swing. That gets two and Nagata knocks him to the apron and then into the barricade. Out to the floor and Nagata goes into the post. They head back in but Jericho has to beat up Sonny. As they actually get back in, Sonny trips Jericho on the top and the Nagata Lock (standing figure four) gets the submission.

Rating: C. I get that Nagata is skilled and means a lot in Japan, but man alive he is dull in America. He’s just a guy in trunks using wrestling holds. Jericho at least plays to the crowd and has a ton of charisma which can get him through a match. I know Nagata is talented and such, but anything being different about him would be an improvement. He’s just so dull it’s almost unreal.

Raven is in a nursery next to a crib. He talks about how his earliest memories are of feeling of abandonment and sadness. Raven says that our futures are determined in these moments and we’re all creatures of this nature.

Bill Goldberg vs. Scotty Riggs

Goldberg has his signature music now. We get a shot of Saturn and Raven in the crowd along with a third person. I don’t recognize him but there’s a chance it’s Sick Boy. Richards is gone as well, I believe back to ECW. Goldberg shrugs him off and Riggs gets in a few right hands. The spear (more like a tackle here) takes Riggs down and Goldberg pounds away.

Riggs gets up some boots in the corner but gets slammed out of the corner a few seconds later. Scotty comes back with some dropkicks including one that sends Goldberg over the top. Apparently Judo Gene LeBell wants to train Goldberg. Bill will have none of this selling stuff and LAUNCHES Riggs into the barricade to take over again. Back in and the Jackhammer ends this. This would be #4 as Goldberg won on Saturday Night as well.

The Nitro Girls waste some time.

Here are Hall and Syxx for the Survey. The fans actually side with WCW on this one which is a rarity around this time. Hall complains about having to face both Luger and Zbyszko but it’s the only way WCW can have a chance. Apparently Nash is out with an injury and the Steiners want a title match tonight. That’s cool because Syxx will take Nash’s place. As Hall is talking, a fan hits him in the face with a piece of trash. It nailed him square in the jaw.

Tag Titles: Steiner Brothers vs. Scott Hall/Syxx

For the sake of clarity, only Scott Steiner will be referred to as Scott and Scott Hall will only be referred to as Hall. Hall is quickly sent to the floor and the Steiners stand tall. We start with Scott vs. Syxx and there’s a wheelbarrow slam for Syxx to give the Steiners control. Off to Rick vs. Hall with Steiner pounding away, only to get caught by a clothesline to give the NWO control. Rick will have none of that though and hits a middle rope clothesline. Steiner goes up again but a cross body (huh?) is caught in a fallaway slam by Hall.

Rick won’t sell it though and knocks Syxx off the apron, only to be decked by Hall again. Hall pounds on him in the corner but Rick comes back with a Steiner Line. Hot tag brings in Scott and house is cleaned. The Steiner DDT off the top gets two on Syxx as Hall pulls the referee to the floor. Larry Z comes down to scare Hall back to the ring and there’s the Steiner Bulldog to Hall. The Steiners get a double cover and Larry counts the pin for the titles. You know, because being a guest referee in 13 days counts as being a referee here.

Rating: C-. The match was short but the fans were very hot for it. This had been built up for months upon months but then when they get to the payoff, we don’t even get Hall and Nash to do the job. You know, because of that “knee injury” Nash had. Isn’t it amazing how he’s hurt every time that he has to do a job? I’m sure we’ll hear more about the refereeing issue.

Tony says they have an injury update on Savage: “Who cares?” The heartlessness is pretty sad. And yes I know it’s a fake injury.

The Nitro Girls dance a bit.

Dean Malenko vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

Apparently the decision in the tag match stands because Larry is an assigned official. Assigned at a PPV but what difference does that make? Also Eric can’t reverse the decision. Rey gives his mask to a baby at ringside but the baby gives it back to him. It’s fast paced stuff to start with Dean taking it to the mat to slow Rey down. Back up and Rey goes from a test of strength into a sunset flip for two. Dean catapults him to the apron but Mysterio pops right back in.

Back in and Rey counters a variety of holds by Dean by flying through the air, only to be caught by a leg lariat for two. A quick victory roll gets two for Rey but a headscissors is countered into a side slam for no cover. Off to a figure four necklock by Dean for a few seconds before he powerbombs Rey halfway back to Mexico for two. Rey comes back and pounds away in the corner but Dean launches him into the corner.

Mysterio lands on the top rope and hits a flip attack to take Dean down again. A sunset flip gets two on Malenko and the West Coast Pop looks to finish. At two though Eddie runs in and rips Rey’s mask off, causing him to break the hold. Malenko backflips up into the Texas Cloverleaf and Rey taps immediately to hide his face.

Rating: B. This was one of the better matches I’ve ever seen them have and one of the best cruiserweight matches they’ve ever had on Nitro. They barely ever stopped moving other than a quick rest hold by Dean. Other than that it was five minutes of nonstop action with an ending that advanced the story and kept Rey looking strong at the same time. Great match here and actually worth checking out for how fast and agile Rey was in his time.

DDP is at the Power Plant and talks about how he hasn’t changed like Hogan and Savage have. Oh and Piper is awesome too. This was just to hype up Savage vs. Page.

Here’s Piper with more to say. The tag title change stands because Larry was officially made a referee last week so the pin counted. HAIL THE STEINERS! This brings out Savage and Bischoff with Eric talking about Savage’s injury. He wants to know if this is how Piper is going to run things and wants Hogan’s title back. Piper says come in and get it (the title is nowhere in sight) but here’s the NWO. Sting comes out as well and holds off the NWO before blasting Piper. At least they didn’t show a closeup of him to show it was clearly a fake. It’s Hogan and Piper gets beaten up.

Video on Hennig vs. Flair.

Scott Norton vs. Ray Traylor

Please be quick. Norton has Vincent and Bagwell with him here because that’s what NWO members do. Traylor starts with uppercuts and hits a quick backdrop but stops to go after Bagwell. Back in and Norton pounds away on Traylor with clubbing forearms to the back. A slam puts Norton down and we cut to the crowd. Kidman, now with eye shadow, sits in the crowd next to Raven and Saturn.

Back to the match and Buff chokes away a bit while Norton argues with the referee. Norton pounds away very, very slowly. Traylor comes back with an uppercut and puts Norton in 619 position for a sliding uppercut. Vincent gets decked too but during the distraction Buff throws Norton the spraypaint can and Traylor is knocked out for the pin.

Rating: F+. After Rey vs. Dean, this was hard to sit through. Then again Norton vs. Traylor would be hard to sit through after watching a dancing bear act. Traylor going to war against the NWO was a nice idea but having him job to Scott Norton doesn’t help anyone. Norton is just a power goon and having him lose would do nothing but help Traylor. But that might mean WCW fans have something else to cheer for and we can’t have that.

TV Title: Disco Inferno vs. Alex Wright

Wright jumps him to start and both guys still have their jackets on. Disco is defending in case you haven’t read anything from around this time. Wright pounds him down against the ropes and hits a good dropkick to send the champion down. Another dropkick puts Disco down and Alex finally takes his own jacket off. Alex whips Inferno with said jacket for good measure but gets punched in the face for his efforts. The offense is short lived though as Wright comes back and stomps away even more. Mostly just kicking and punching so far.

We stop for a quick dance break and Disco gets draped over the apron and pounded even more. Almost all Alex so far. Out on the floor and Wright stomps on his hand for good measure. Wouldn’t the leg be better as it would get rid of the dancing abilities? Back in and Disco tries a fast backslide but gets taken down by a clothesline. A small package gets two more for the champion and here’s Jackie. Disco yells at her and gets rolled up, only to reverse into one of own for the pin to retain.

Rating: D+. Nothing to see here but it’s definitely better than Disco vs. Jackie would wind up being. I’m still not entirely sure what the story is with those two but I’m guessing it’s more of Jackie’s “I’m a woman but I can wrestle men. Yeah I suck but I’M LOUD AND THAT MEANS I AM AN INTERESTING PERSON!” Match was nothing.

US Title: Diamond Dallas Page vs. Curt Hennig

Page fires off his shoulder blocks into Hennig’s shoulder to send Curt (the champion) out to the floor. Back in and DDP grabs a headlock but Curt runs away from a Diamond Cutter attempt. The champ gets on the apron and Page spits in his face to send him back to the floor. Back in and it’s back to the headlock as Hennig can’t get anything to work early on. Hennig tries to run the ropes but gets caught in a Russian legsweep for two. The champ finally gets something going by getting in a shot to Page’s likely injured ribs.

A dropkick puts Page down and we hit the chinlock. Hennig puts his feet on the ropes like any good heel would do. Page fights up but gets caught in a sleeper, only to come out with a jawbreaker. There’s the Pancake to Hennig but Curt comes back with a jawbreaker of his own. Cue Flair but security holds him back. Page rolls up Hennig for three as Flair runs in. The three count goes down but I’m guessing Flair was late as the referee says no pin. I’m guessing Hennig wins by DQ but the ending was botched.

Rating: C. The match was ok but the ending was a big blow to it. The problem here was that the three count clearly hit before Flair touched either guy so there’s no real reason for a DQ, especially after Hall pulled a referee from the ring earlier and it wasn’t even a DQ. These two should work well together and did most of the time, but it never hit the level that it could have.

Post match Piper makes the referee give Page the belt. Anderson (referee) isn’t sure and here’s Hogan to try to get at Piper. The NWO runs in and it’s 7-2. Even more guys come in and the good guys are in trouble. Savage, with a neck injury, is able to drop the big elbow on Page. There’s a legdrop and another elbow as Page is in trouble. Piper gets an elbow as well but here’s Sting at the top of a row of stands.

But wait here he comes from another side of the arena. No wait he’s over there. Wait he’s in the ring and coming through the crowd. We’re on our fifth Sting but most of them are getting beaten up. Here comes another one through the crowd and a seventh one joins him. The sixth one gets in and is stomped down.

Now they’re coming through the entrance. Now three more come out. I’ve lost count at this point. All of them are getting beaten down….until Bagwell hits one for no effect. The Death Drop lays Bagwell out and the NWO runs. Piper has the world title belt from somewhere and swings it over his head to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. This is the third great show in a row with an AWESOME ending segment. How often do you see a show with four title matches in two hours? There are a lot of PPVs that don’t do that and we got it for free here tonight. Sting was coming for Hogan and they might as well have been printing the money in their basement. I would say there was no way to screw this up, but you know the rest I’m sure. Another very good show here.

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Monday Nitro #70
Date: January 13, 1997
Location: Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana
Attendance: 10,034
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyzsko

This is another step towards Souled Out but we have another show after this before we get to the Saturday PPV. Tonight sees one of the most interesting (and unsuccessful) marketing gimmicks ever but it wasn’t as bad as a lot of things they tried. More on that later. Anyway other than that, we’re getting the PPV main event to close the show….kind of. Let’s get to it.

We open with Giant trying to get at Hogan in the NWO locker room. Giant: “You’re a four legged feline.” What kind of an…..never mind. Giant calls him a coward which Tony and Larry immediately say means Hogan isn’t defending the title.

Mr. JL vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.

Larry and Tony talk about the Hogan vs. Giant non-match with Larry seemingly referencing Showdown at Shea. They trade headscissors and Chavo dropkicks him to the floor. Chavo hits a pescado to the floor and there’s an ECW chant for some reason. JL gets in a shot and misses a dive off the top to the floor. Back in JL misses a slingshot splash and Chavo hammers away. Cross body gets two for Guerrero. Chavo goes up but gets chopped down and JL hits a rana for one. Guerrero knocks him down and hits a moonsault press for the pin.

Rating: C+. Pretty fun little match here as the Cruiserweights get to go out and show off a little bit. It’s got nothing on Rey or Dragon or anything like that but it’s not supposed to. This was a good choice for an opener as the crowd was getting into this pretty strong at the end which is always a good sign.

Here’s Duggan with the WCW flag. WCW is awesome and Sting needs to pick a side.

Jim Duggan vs. Super Calo

Sting comes out and drops Duggan because he doesn’t want to watch this match. Larry/Tony: “HE’S NWO!!!”

Craig Pittman vs. Chris Jericho

This is a replacement match apparently. They cover the guys being in gear by saying this is a match scheduled for later. That’s something that would save a ton of time in wrestling: a never seen matchmaker who makes matches just because matches need to be made to fill a show. We could save so much time on going to see the GM saying that so and so is facing so and so. Anyway this lasts like a minute and Jericho wins with a missile dropkick.

Harlem Heat vs. High Voltage

Larry and Tony have the following discussion during the entrances. Larry: “Sting must be NWO. Even I wouldn’t hit Duggan.” Tony: “Yeah you would.” Larry: “Well not from behind.” Booker and Kaos start with Booker dominating. Off to Rage who hits a slingshot legdrop…and then it’s off to the back where Giant charges at the NWO again, this time calling them monkies. Eric and Hogan talk about how there was no contract so there’s no match.

Tony and Larry talk about how he should get the shot because of winning World War 3 as Harlem Heat is in control. Booker misses a middle rope elbow and it’s off to Kaos. Everything breaks down and the Heatseeker (Doomsday Device with a missile dropkick) gets the pin. Too short to rate due to the NWO/Giant stuff.

The WCW Executive Committee is meeting at the WCW Headquarters across the street (why they’re in New Orleans is beyond me) and they’ll make a decision about Hogan vs. Giant.

Bischoff and Dibiase take over on commentary.

We get a video on Sting since he became Crow Man.

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Mark Starr

Starr actually gets an entrance and comes out second. Maybe he used his Starr power to get it? Thankfully the Diamond Cutter ends this in about a minute so I can’t be pelted for that horrible joke.

The Outsiders come out to give Page the colors and Page hugs Nash. He puts on the shirt and shakes Hall’s hand before pulling Hall in and laying him out with the Diamond Cutter. Nash gets sent to the floor and Page bails through the crowd.

The Outsiders have an NWO promo about how they’re going to come after Scott Steiner’s back in the match at Souled Out.

Dean Malenko vs. Eddie Guerrero

This is non-title. We’re told that there’s going to be a decision from the executive committee and they’re walking across the street to give it to us, because phones don’t exist in the bizarro world of WCW. Technical stuff to start and Eddie takes him to the mat. He works on the arm but Dean grabs the knee. Eddie spins out of that and it’s a standoff. Dean hits a leg lariat to take over.

We get breaking news: Piper was speaking an ancient version of Gaelic last week when he was being taken away. Tony has MORE breaking news. Hogan has to face the Giant, TONIGHT. Remember that, because it becomes important later. Eddie escapes a belly to back suplex and I have to make sure to look at the screen because the announcers are busy reading announcements like a public address system announcer.

Eddie stays on the knee and tries a Figure Four but Dean blocks the leg from going down. Now the hold goes on full and Tony bothers to talk about the match a bit. Dean gets to the rope and hits the floor. Back inside and Eddie takes over but loads up a tornado DDT which is countered by Eddie being thrown into the middle of the ring. Off to an abdominal stretch as Tony plugs the Adventures of Robin Hood TV series which debuts tonight.

Syxx is watching from the other side of the arena. Malenko hits a belly to back suplex for two. Eddie grabs a Gory Special but Dean counters into a sunset flip for two. Backslide gets two for Eddie. Victory roll gets two for Dean. Off to a test of strength position and Eddie climbs the ropes and hits a rana for two. This is getting really good. Eddie’s top rope double ax is blocked and they go into a series of standing switches, resulting in a braibuster by Dean for two. Eddie comes back with one of his own but gets on the ropes to look at Syxx so that Malenko can powerbomb him out of the corner for the pin.

Rating: B. Good match here as you would expect from these guys. As usual the announcers wanted to talk about anything not related to the match for the most part but if you block them out (a required skill to be a Nitro viewer) then you’ll have a good time with this match. Good stuff as always.

Hour #2 begins.

We get a clip from earlier of Giant breaking into the NWO’s locker room.

Super Calo vs. Konnan

Dang they really wanted to get Calo on this show didn’t they? Konnan takes him down and gets a rolling cradle for two. Calo speeds things up with an armdrag and dropkick to send Konnan to the outside. Suicide dive takes Konnan out and gets two back in the ring. Konnan hits a rolling clothesline and then kills Calo with a powerbomb. Then he does it again but Calo pops up in less than ten seconds.

Konnan goes and sits on the middle rope for no apparent reason other than to allow Calo to headscissor him down. In another weird bit, Konnan sends him into the ropes and Calo tries a cross body but Konnan doesn’t move an inch. The 187 (fisherman’s brainbuster) ends this clean. Too short to rate but there were some weird parts to this.

Jeff Jarrett vs. Chris Benoit

The Horsemen Split continues. While Benoit is on the way to the ring we get a promo from Sullivan in front of a chess board. He says he owns the board and he’s taking it back next week. More BREAKING NEWS: Hogan vs. Giant will be non-title because apparently a champion has to have 48 hours to prepare. Sweet Christmas where do they come up with these things?

Benoit takes him down to start so Jericho does the same thing and struts a bit. This is a rematch from Starrcade if you don’t remember that. Mongo and Debra come out after the fans all look towards the ramp. Heenan freaks out because something is going on then sees who it is and calms down again. Benoit takes him down with a clothesline and this is a very slow match.

We hear about a brawl in Louisiana between Jerry Sags and Scott Hall. Is there a reason they picked now to talk about that? Jeff comes back with a neckbreaker to load up the figure four but Arn yells at the referee for some reason. This allows Mongo to try to hit Jeff with the briefcase but he hits Benoit by mistake to give Jarrett the win.

Rating: D+. Not much here because this was just here to have the angle continue. Why in the world the Horsemen had to be broken up like this is beyond me, but I’d assume it was so that they would wind up being as forgotten as possible. I mean think about it: women are breaking up the Horsemen. Think about that for a minute.

Post match the Horsemen argue in the aisle. Benoit says we’re solving this tonight. Benoit says the Horsemen are an elite team and Mongo knows what being on an elite team means. If Mongo wants to keep being a Horseman, quit fumbling the ball because this isn’t looking like an elite team at all. Benoit was hand picked and Mongo became one due to an unfortunate circumstance. As for Debra, she can badmouth him but badmouthing Woman is just a bad idea. He insists Woman is all woman and he knows by experience.

Mongo says he made a mistake and that the case has won them a lot of matches. Benoit wants to know where Flair is. Anderson says this has to be solved because they’re a team. Benoit tells Mongo to shape up or ship out. Debra says she’d never gossip because she loves the Horsemen. Mongo gets in Benoit’s face but Anderson separates them. Benoit says he wants results and it’s time for the Horsemen to match his effort. This would carry on in one form or another well into the summer.

Scotty Riggs vs. Billy Kidman

Billy is just a cruiserweight jobber at this point. The announcers use this as time for another Hogan vs. Giant commercial. Scotty controls with the arm as Tony compares it to the Super Bowl. Kidman works on the arm now for a change as Bagwell in a new look comes out to the entrance. He says he’s buff. Kidman misses the 450 (Tenay calls it the shooting star for some reason) and Riggs wins with a fisherman’s suplex (Bagwell’s former finishing move) so that their old tag team music can play. Is he a jilted lover? Just there to have Bagwell come out.

The announcers talk about Hogan vs. Giant some more.

Lee Marshall is in Chicago.

Some singer is here.

Rick Fuller vs. Lex Luger

Fuller is of course an overly tall power guy because Luger doesn’t know how to face anyone else. They shove each other a few times and Fuller hides in the ropes to avoid getting punched. Fuller takes him down and drops a leg for two. He chops Luger in the corner but Luger Lexes Up, hits some clotheslines and Racks him for the win. Moving on.

Giant comes out and stares Luger down in the aisle. Nothing happens though because Giant is here to talk about the main event. Giant goes on a rant about how this is about him and how he wants the title. His theme is about books and how he was a bookend but tonight he’s closing the chapter. He wasn’t much of a talker so a basic theme like that was a good idea for him.

Arn Anderson vs. Rick Steiner

Arn uses wrestling skill for a quick advantage which is a rare thing to see against a Steiner. That pretty much stops working because of a belly to belly suplex that sends Arn to the floor. And now we hear the announcement about the ending of the show: we’re running low on time and JUST IN CASE we run out of time, make sure to watch the debut of the New Adventures of Robin Hood because we’ll show you the match during the commercials!

Anderson calls for help from the back but no one comes out. Shoulder block gets two for Rick. Arn keeps calling for help but we’re told that the Horsemen are fighting in the back. Anderson gets knocked to the floor and walks out for the countout. Enough short matches!!!

The Steiners are ready for Souled Out and the Outsiders.

Hulk Hogan vs. The Giant

Tony says we have six minutes of air time left and you know what’s coming. Hogan talks for awhile and says he doesn’t have to do this so Giant grabs him and starts the beating. The bell rings and we have a minuet of TV time left. Giant knocks him to the floor and Hogan says he’s done. Giant throws him back in and we’re out of time.

At this point, the show ends and Robin Hood would have begun. The idea was that the fans would watch Robin Hood and get to see parts of the match during the break. This would go on until the final break, meaning the match would go 45 minutes. Since I don’t think Hogan wrestled 45 minutes combined in 1997, you can probably guess that it didn’t go that way. Also, most people (myself included) watched something else and flipped back to see if the match was going on or not. The version I have airs it in one straight shot for the sake of simplicity.

Back with Giant chopping him in the corner. A clothesline puts Hogan down and giant no sells a low blow. Hogan hides behind the referee and it’s time for a test of strength. Giant steps on his hands and we take another break. Back with Hogan getting thrown back into the ring. There’s a slam but the Chokeslam is countered. The NWO runs in and it’s a DQ. The match itself was supposed to have run about 45 minutes but from what I can find, it ran about 6 minutes live.

Rating: D. I probably shouldn’t give it a grade based on my rules but I feel like I haven’t done enough during this show. The match was exactly what you would expect from these two in 1997 with Hogan doing nothing on offense while Giant tossed him around. The match at Souled Out would be a longer version of this.

Overall Rating: D+. This is a strange show indeed. WCW was in an awkward place at this point which is similar to the original Super Mario for NES. It’s like the big match that we’re told about and are teased with are on another show. The problem WCW had was that you never really got to the show that had those great main event matches. At the end of the day, Hogan was getting paid no matter what, Hall and Nash were getting paid no matter what, and so they had no point in putting any kind of effort in at all.

WCW never gave us the great main events they hyped up for months on end and finally, the people got tired of it. They gave us the matches they said we’d get (most of the time), but those matches were usually horrible. At the end of the day, it’s a wrestling show and sometimes, the answer to all your problems is to go and have good wrestling matches. That never quite connected in WCW’s main event scene.

Oh yeah this was about Nitro. This show did a good job of building up some of the matches for Souled Out but as usual, you’ll get so sick of hearing about the NWO and Hogan vs. Giant that you won’t care about the match when it finally happens. Also this parade of squashes really needs to end. This isn’t Superstars in 1987. The drama on these shows was great and it was easy to see why you would want to watch week to week, but the quality wasn’t there for the most part.

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