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WCW Monday Nitro 8/31/98
You know how HHH would open the shows even when he wasn't the champion during the few times during his death reign era when he wasn't the champ? This is where he got it. Hogan and Bischoff come to the ring. Eric say's he's packing a concealed weapon, which is a pen, and he says Eddie will wrestle, and Warrior won't. Hulk reveals the members of Team nWo: Hogan, Bret Hart, Stevie Ray. The Ultimate in Ultimate Warrior was muted. He calls Warrior out right now! The lights go out. Here comes DA WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRIIIIIIOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! By the time Warrior's entrance is over, the nWo is surrounding the ring. Hulk says he's going to crucify Warrior. The lights go out again, start flashing, and the ring fills up with smoke. When the lights come back up, Warrior has vanished. The lights go out again and the Batsignal is shown in the corner of the building.
Hogan/Hart vs Sting/Luger for the main event tonight. Goldberg met with Mark McGuire earlier in the day.
Wrath vs Jim Powers
Wrath backs Powers into the corner and goes to town with chops. Series of chokes on the ring ropes. Three elbows in a row. Powers apparently blows out a knee taking an atomic drop. Meltdown for the easy win.
TO THE NITRO PARTY. They're at some giant high school. Jim Duggan, Gene, and half o the Nitro girls are there. No Duggan match tonight!
Norman Smiley vs Scott Norton
Norton storms to the ring and I'm afraid for Screamin' Norman. He walks in the ring and just starts headbutting Norman. Lariat. Powerslam. Shoulder breaker. Norton pulls Norman up. Powerbomb. Complete domination. The lights start flashing. It looks like Warrior is hanging out in the rafters. I guess Sting doesn't need them any more.
EARLIER TODAY. Tenay caught up with Saturn carrying Lodi's bags. Saturn will not break his word.
The Wolfpac come to the ring. Sting is again not with them, but he is in the main event, so he should be there. Nash is wearing sunglasses, which probably means he's drunk or hung over. Konnan is wearing socks and sandals. Lex looks forward to the tune up match tonight. Nash stresses he isn't the leader. Except he makes all the announcements for the group. They drew straws in a very Armageddon style and the 3 members of Team Wolfpac are Nash, Sting, and Luger. I don't think anyone didn't see that coming, but if Stevie Ray got put in the match, it wasn't too outlandish for Konnan to get added. I'm pretty sure there isn't anyone in War Games that isn't 40, or at least 38-39. He gives DDP until next week to make an official decision on his membership. They'll also fuck Piper up if they come across him. Nash tells a story about an old warrior falling asleep under a tree. When he woke up, he was surrounded by wolves. The warrior reached out to pet a wolf that look familiar and lost his hand. The rest of the wolves joined in shortly after.
TO THE SCHIAVONE. JoJo is the guest. JoJo says he's here on unofficial business and asks for Arn Anderson to come to the ring to have a personal discussion. Shouldn't a personal, non-business related discussion happen not in front of 12,000 people? Huge "We Want Flair" chants start up. JJ talks about how the Horsemen were the highlight of his professional career and that he sometimes goes home and watches tapes in his personal tape library. In doing so, he found a video of Arn Anderson's first promo from MACW. It was done on a beach, with Arn in swim trunks, a tank top, and a Yankees hat. They showed it on the big screen. JoJo says that 15 years ago, Arn came to him looking for guidance and advice, and now Mongo and Benoit are asking Arn for advice. Arn just doesn't GET IT. WCW NEEDS the Four Horsemen. JoJo brings Beoint and Mongo out. They talk to Arn without the microphone. He tries to leave, but JoJo stops him. "Arn, I think you're afraid of all this." With that, Arn gets sad and leaves the ring. Man, I'm getting pretty hyped for the Horsemen to come back. For real. I've really enjoyed this build up.
Brian Adams vs Eddie Guerrero
Eddie was being forced into this match. If he really wanted out of his contract, I'd say refusing this match would be a breech and he might get sued, but he'd probably get out of the contract. Warrior is again shown watching from up in the rafters. Eddie lies down in the middle of the ring. He does this a few times, offers his face for punches, and won't fight back. Crush eventually gives up trying to get the match started and pins Eddie. Eddie grabs the mic and says that he won't allow Bischoff to sue him like he's sued other people in the company. Then the mic is cut off and they go to commercial.
Riggs vs The Cat
If Cat is mad about a wrestling company wanting him to wrestle, maybe he should have gone to work for Karate Masters instead. Cat pokes Riggs in his one good eye and kicks him in the face. Cat totally misses the Feliner, makes the pin anyway, the fans boo, so they redo the spot. Why are they having Cat turn heel against other heels? Cat is the greatest! No one can stop him.
TO THE NITRO PARTY. Wapakoneta, Ohio. Sure seems like a college, but is apparently a massive high school.
Marty Jannetty vs Konnan
Marty has a new look and music. A short mullet with lime green, white, and pink tights with matching jacket. And music that sounds like something 2 Cold Scorpio would have had in 1992. Actually, the tights kind of look like Scorp would have worn them, also in 1992. Was he repackaged for Worldwide or something? He's obviously not going to win anything on Nitro or Thunder. This match is so long.
Raven, Saturn, Lodi, and Kanyon come out. Raven tells Lodi to tell Saturn to not touch Raven or Kanyon. Raven then tells Kanyon to break him. But right after that, he tossed the mic to Kanyon, who dropped it. Saturn clapped. Kanyon shit talks Saturn trying to get him to break his code.
Lodi/Saturn vs High Voltage
Lodi starts out. He's wearing goggles for this match. Saturn gets tagged in and press slammed, which gets him pissed off. He gets up and throws one of the Volts, tags out, and Lodi tags right back out when he sees the other tag being made. Bear hug belly to belly from Rage. I think. Saturn comes back with more suplexes to both men, but is cut off with a lariatoo. Lot of bad looking double team moves. Saturn hits a DVD and Lodi tags himself in. Lodi wins!
TO THE SCHIAVONE. He brings team captain DDP to the ring. DDP gives a shout out to the Little League World Series champions. "Them boys jacked it out!" Uh. What the fuck. DDP's usage of jacked and banged were not always thought through very well. DDP likes saying Hollywood SCUM Hogan so much, he says it again. He brings Roddy Piper to the ring. Piper implies that Bret has hemorrhoids. He tells a story abou Bret's first match in the WWF, how stupid he looked, and that Bret came up to Piper and said they were cousins. He says Hogan is using Bret and wants Bret to be a man. Giant runs to the ring. They try to fight him off. Didn't work. Giant stood on DDP's throat until security broke it up. They arrest him. They have cuffs that fit him now?
Scott Steiner and his doctor come to the ring. Scotty was feeling pussy heat from all of the women in Miami since stepped off the plane. Scott brings out more doctors to prove he's legit shook. Doctor Juju Ubangge from Jamaica. Which is Buff in tie dye, a sham man stick, and a cap with dreads. The mic is cutting out. Buff's fake accent keeps slipping. Dr. Juju is now throwing salt all around Scott and doing Muta hand movements. Scott Steiner is healed. This is a bit offensive. At least Buff isn't in black face. Rick shows up in the ring. The heels run off. He just wants to say he will kick Scott's ass at Fall Brawl. Warrior is in the rafters watching.
Evan Kouragious vs Juventud Guerrera WCW Cruiserweight Championship
Evan certainly isn't a title contender. A fight happens in the crowd and gets a much bigger reaction than any of the wrestlers. Evan hits a press slam snake eyes. Juvi hits a missile drop kick. He taunts a bit and gets caught up in a powerslam. Weak dropkick sends Juvi to the floor. The ref won't let Evan do any dives. Something again is going on in the crowd that they like more than the match. It's probably Warrior walking around or something. Juvi hits a crossbody to the floor. Guillotine leg drop from Juvi! I hope Hypnosis does a 450 soon. Evan hits a Flapjack Norton and does maybe the worst half crab ever performed. Evan is not ready for live TV. I'd argue that he wasn't ready even by the time of 3 Count. Super rana from Juvi. Evan does one of his own. Juvi driver thankfully ends this. Juvi looked pissed.
TO THE NITRO PARTY.
Chris Jericho vs Disco Inferno WCW TV Championship
Jericho already beat one one of the Dancing Fools. Disco is out for revenge! Jericho gets to the early advantage, but Disco comes back with a slam. He misses the five knuckle shuffle. Jericho then misses the Lionsault. Spinebuster from Disco. Chartbuster! Disco waited too long to pin and Jericho was too close to the ropes anyway. Disco gets caught in the Liontamer. He almost made it to the ropes, but Jericho pulled him back and cranked down for the win.
Goldberg vs Al Greene WCW Championship
Kevin Nash kicked Tenay out of his seat so he could do color for this match. What happened to WCW saying they wouldn't let wrestlers come to the announce position anymore? Chet Lemon, yo. Nash makes references to Al being his first tag partner. Fans are SO amped for Goldberg. A back body drop gets one of the biggest pops of the night. Greene bails before he can get speared. He goes to the floor. Goldberg follows him. Back in the ring, spear and jackhammer for the easy win.
Hollywood Hogan/Bret Hart vs Sting/Lex Luger
I thought Hogan/Savage vs Sting/Luger was the biggest WWF vs WCW match, but I think this outdoes it. Someone tries to throw something at Buffer, who dodges like GWB dodged the shoe. Lex is kind of growing a beard. Bret and Lex start out. Lex hits a shoulder block and poses. Lex sounds like he's a mook getting punched in a Sega Genesis beat em up. Bret tags out when Sting is tagged in. Hulk dominates Sting. Of course. Lex gets tagged in and Hulk immediately gets in control of him, too. Bret comes in and does all the cheap heel things he can think of. Russian leg sweep. Bret and Hogan are dominating. Back breaker. 2 moves of doom. Lex tries to make a come back, and eventually they hit a double clothesline. Hogan and Sting come in. Hogan begs off to Sting like it was Jay Leno. Stinger splash. Beefcake moves Hogan for the second, so Hogan is back in control already. He uses his weight belt on Sting. Bret took it away from him and threw it down. Bret walks off. Hogan follows him to ask what the deal was. And they're counted out. What a terrible finish. Sting gets a hot tag, Hogan dominates right away, and then a casual count out. Hogan and Bret get in the ring and start arguing. Smoke started to fill the ring, but then it stopped. No one mentioned it. The rest of the nWo come out to calm things down. The ring again fills with smoke and the lights start flashing. It's THE WARRIOR! His smoke lays all of the nWo out, except for Hogan. He high tails it and WE'RE OUTTA TIME.
Shows are seeming a little more focused now that Summer is over and the nWo feud is actually leading to something. Feels like people have more defined goals and programs right now.
Hogan has his thing with Warrior, which also ties into to nWo vs WCW and War Games.
DDP is the team captain of WCW and looking to get a title shot soon.
Nash is building up to some kind of confrontation to Goldberg, but also the nWo feud finally has a match with some kind of stakes to build to. He also has the secondary angle with Hall.
Bret has his angle with Sting where he's trying to prove he respects Sting, even if he is aligned with Hogan. This is on top of being the US Champion and injuring people.
Scott Norton is on a dominating win streak, building either to a match with Nash or Goldberg, or both.
Eddie has an angle of being fed up with management.
And finally, the build up to the return of the Four Horsemen is definitely my favorite thing right now. It's legit good. Even with Mongo. I'm pretty stoked for the return of Flair and that whole show, which I believe is coming up very soon.
The Steiners are finally about to have (hopefully) the first and last singles match of their program that started in FEBRUARY.
The Flock angle seems to have settled down now that Kanyon has officially joined and isn't just people turning on each other every week. Why Kanyon joined has yet to be revealed.
Summer months were just brutal for WCW in general. Coming up we have the lWo, Horsemen revival, Kidman's break from the throes of heroin addiction, Bam Bam Big Yellow, Hall's drinking being an angle, Chucky, Hogan's presidential run, and more.
