Original Airdate: February 23, 1998
From Sacramento, California; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Mike Tenay, with Larry Zbyszko (first half) and Bobby Heenan (second half)
Various wrestlers react to Scott Steiner turning on Rick Steiner at SuperBrawl the night before. Bret Hart winking at his feud with brother Owen Hart in his reaction is a nice touch
Gene Okerlund tries to catch up with Rick on Rick’s way into the building, but Rick brushes past him
Lex Luger v Curt Hennig: Quite the opener this week. Lex is so furious about Scott Steiner’s betrayal that he challenges Scott to come out instead, but that goes nowhere. Lex knocks him around to start, and a cross corner whip rebounds Hennig into a hiptoss. Curt bails, so Lex tries suplexing him back in, but Scott Steiner runs in for the DQ at 1:31- debuting the look which he’d sport for the rest of his career. Afterwards, the nWo give Luger an extended beatdown, so Rick Steiner tries to make the save, but that goes badly for him. That draws WCW World Champion Sting out, and that’s enough to scare the heels off. This was like the usual main event segment, with a quick match leading to a run-in, and then a big brawl afterwards. DUD
Nitro Girls
WCW United States Title Match: Diamond Dallas Page v Van Hammer: These guys look too alike. Posturing to start, dominated by Page. Swinging neckbreaker puts Hammer down, but the challenger comes back with an inverted vertical suplex across the top rope. Nasty! Hammer with a 2nd rope clothesline, and another suplex. Page comes back before Hammer can put it away, but the challenger blocks a Diamond Cutter with a chincrusher. Hammer goes upstairs, but Dallas crotches him, and brings him off with the Cutter at 3:45. This had nothing in the way of proper flow. Afterwards, the Flock run in on Page, but Chris Benoit makes the save. ¼*
Hollywood Hulk Hogan arrives at the building, and storms right down to the ring to rant about not winning the world title at SuperBrawl. He puts the blame on Randy Savage, and wants to kick him out of the nWo, but Savage shows up in the stands, and explains that he can’t be kicked out: he quits. Or, rather, he’ll kick Hulk out, if that’s what he feels like doing. For two of the best promo guys of all time, this was pretty dull, but the result is: Hogan/Savage in a cage at Uncensored
Ultimo Dragon v Kaz Hayashi: Dragon dominates a feeling out process, but Kaz gets the better of a criss cross. Kaz tries a cross corner whip, but gets reversed, and Dragon boots him down. Dragon with a series of strikes ending in a spinkick, but Kaz fires back with a leg-feed enzuigiri. Dropkick puts Dragon on the floor, and Kaz is on him with a dive, which Larry clarifies is a ‘toupee.’ Inside, Kaz hits a flying moonsault for two, but Dragon blocks a German suplex, so Kaz uses a rana for two instead. Backdrop, but Dragon lands on his feet, and a reversal sequence ends in Dragon tying him up on the mat. Victory roll, but Kaz counters with a dragon suplex for two. To the top, but Dragon brings him off with a rana, and the Dragon Sleeper looks to finish, but Kaz fights it off. He doesn’t have a follow-up, however, and Dragon just puts him back in for the submission at 4:17. I was on board with this. **
Raven’s Rules Match: Raven v Chris Benoit: Benoit attacks him from behind in the aisle to kick start the match, and he whips Raven into the guardrail out there. Inside for the official start, where Chris chokes him with his own leather jacket, and blasts him with a chop. Snap suplex sets up the flying headbutt drop, but Raven rolls out of the way, and covers for two. Raven brings a chair into the ring to bulldog Benoit onto for two, and he dumps Benoit to the outside to baseball slide into with the chair. Inside, Chris whacks him with the chair to buy time, and the Crippler makes a comeback. and a rolling German suplex gets two, so Kidman runs in for the DQ in the No DQ match at 4:25 (4:56 total). This was okay, aside from the stupid finish. Crisp work from Benoit, and good bumping from both guys. Afterwards, DDP saves Benoit from a beatdown from the Flock, but ends up coming to blows with Chris himself! * ¼
Nitro Girls
WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Chris Jericho v Lenny Lane: Jericho wears Juventud Guerrera’s mask as a trophy during his entrance. Feeling out process to start, with Lane landing a dropkick on the champion during a criss cross. Lane manages to add a clothesline, and he puts the boots to Jericho until the champion bails. Lane chases him back in, but gets clobbered when giving up the high ground, and Chris delivers a hanging vertical suplex for two. Lane clotheslines him over the top, and the challenger dives after him with a flying somersault senton. Inside, Lenny delivers a Russian facebuster for two, but he gets caught with a whiplash out of the corner. That allows Jericho to go for the Liontamer, but Lane counters with a cradle for two. Springboard sunset flip, but Jericho counters to the Liontamer at 3:38. Good showing from Lane here, with Jericho very game to try and make him into a star with this performance. ** ¼
Rick Steiner v Vincent: Rick goes to town on poor Vincent right away, pounding him down, and choking him with his boot. Rick resorts to biting him next, then takes Vincent upstairs for a belly-to-belly superplex. Rick climbs, and the flying bulldog ends this squash at 1:35. This wasn’t a good match, but it had a point to make, and made it. Nothing wrong with that, it's legitimate storytelling. DUD
Saturn v Yuji Nagata: They feel each other out to start, dominated by Saturn. Nagata responds with a series of kicks, but Saturn reverses a suplex on him, so Sonny Onoo trips him up, and Nagata is able to deliver a suplex for two. Nagata works the knee, but Saturn gets the ropes to escape a stepover-toehold. Nagata responds by hammering him with rights, but Saturn manages to a clothesline to buy time. The knee slows down the follow up, however, and Nagata gives him a corkscrew legwhip to set up a grapevine. Saturn doesn’t give, so Nagata starts kicking at the leg, and an overhead suplex gets him two. Saturn manages a weak hotshot, and his own suplex is worth two. Northern lights suplex gets two, but Nagata counters a vertical suplex with a saito suplex. That allows him to go for the leg again, but they’re in the ropes. Corner whip, but Saturn reveres, and gets the Rings of Saturn on at 6:34. Lots of suplexes, not much flow. ¾*
WCW Television Title Match: Booker T v Renegade: Wait, Renegade was still around?! He was doing the weekend shows, but this is his first appearance on Nitro since March of ‘97. And he’s getting a title shot? Renegade nails him after a ropebreak out of the initial lockup, but Booker wins a criss cross, and a clothesline gets the champion two. Booker goes to an armbar, but Renegade fights him off in the corner, only to get caught with a spinebuster when he charges. Another criss cross allows Renegade a hotshot, and a bodyslam follows, as the challenger takes control. Renegade with a sloppy pumphandle-backbreaker, and he holds it for a submission, but Booker won’t give. Renegade tries a superplex, but Booker blocks, and Booker dives with a missile dropkick for two. Axekick gets another two, and a corner clothesline finds the mark. Renegade tries a handspring backelbow, but Booker dodges, and hits him with the Harlem sidekick at 4:14. The finish got messed up there, as it looked like Booker was supposed to catch him with the sidekick to block the handspring, but they didn’t catch it. Renegade had no business hanging with Booker at this stage, that much is for sure. ½*
Lizmark Jr v Konnan: Konnan is apparently now representing ‘nWo Mexico,’ according to Tenay. Was that supposed to become an actual thing? Because I don’t remember that at all. Pinfall reversal sequence to start, and Konnan lands a rolling clothesline, as the announcers keep referring to the WCW World title as the ‘gold belt.’ They’ve been doing that all night, did they lose the rights to their own promotion’s name, or something? I mean, wouldn’t be the first time with them. Lizmark dominates for a bit, and a springboard missile dropkick gets him two, but he gets caught with a whiplash coming out of the corner. That gets Konnan two, and a cradle DDT sets up the tequila sunrise at 3:45. Yawn. Afterwards, Konnan cuts a promo mocking Juvi for losing his mask at SuperBrawl. ½*
High Voltage v Vicious & Delicious: Robbie Rage starts with Buff Bagwell, and they do some posturing. Rage lands a standing dropkick and a press-slam, so Bagwell slaps him across the face, but that gets answered with a clothesline. Tag to Kenny Kaos, but Buff quickly fights him off for the tag to Scott Norton. Scott with a shoulderblock, and then a jumping version. Whip into the ropes, but Kaos reverses, and delivers a powerslam. Tag to Rage for a sidewalk slam/2nd rope legdrop combo for two, and I’m honestly surprised Norton agreed to take that. Kenny with a clothesline, so Bagwell takes a cheap shot, and Scott powerslams Kaos. Tag to Bagwell for a bodypress, and a bootrake follows, as the heels take control. They work Kenny over, but Rage gets the tag after Bagwell gets overconfident, and Roseanne Barr the door! Voltage try tandem suplexing Norton, but Scott reverses, and the heels finish Rage with bearhug/buff blockbuster combo at 5:07. This was a fun little match, with Bagwell and Norton showing good chemistry, and Voltage working hard. * ¾
Eddie Guerrero v Disco Inferno: We’re only at the top of the third hour here, and the show already feels like it’s been going on forever. They feel each other out to start, and Disco gets control by blocking a leapfrog with an inverted atomic drop. Clothesline gets him two, so Eddie goes to the eyes, and unloads on him in the corner. Disco turns the tables, and a hanging vertical suplex gets him a two count. Side suplex, but Eddie blocks, and he clips the knee. Guerrero stays on the leg with a dropkick to the knee, and he works a leglock from there. Bodyslam sets up a dive, but Eddie takes too long getting up there, and Disco slams him off the top. Disco adds a swinging neckbreaker for two, and a gourdbuster gets two. Eddie swipes at the leg to turn the tide back, and he splashes the knee on the apron. Eddie with a missile dropkick to the knee, and the flying frogsplash finishes at 5:10. Kind of surprised that Disco didn’t get to put up more of a fight at the end there. * ½
Nitro Girls
Gene brings JJ Dillon out to put any doubt to rest that some sort of Dusty Finish is forthcoming with the Sting title win, clarifying that he himself sent Nick Patrick out to take over refereeing duties last night, and it was all legal and sanctioned. Oddly, this is the first non-wrestling segment in over an hour, which is pretty unheard of. Feels like both a positive and a negative, actually
Ric Flair v Brad Armstrong: Tony announces that the Governor of Minnesota has named a Ric Flair Day. And Jesse Ventura wasn’t even in office yet! Armstrong takes him down in a headlock right away, so Flair forces a criss cross, but Armstrong is ready with a shoulderblock. Criss cross ends in Armstrong connecting with a dropkick, and a drop-toehold leads to a toehold, but Flair blocks. Armstrong responds with a bodyslam into a mat-based side-headlock, but Flair fights him off with chops in the corner. Brad fires back, and a corner whip sets up a backdrop on the rebound. Ten-punch count in the corner, but Flair is ready with an inverted atomic drop, but Armstrong blocks a side suplex. Rollup, but Flair blocks, so Brad clotheslines him instead. Russian legsweep gets Armstrong two, and a missile dropkick finds the mark. Armstrong goes up again with a flying bodypress, but Ric ducks it, and punts him downstairs to put a cherry on top. Figure four finishes at 3:56. Solid match, just too short to truly deliver. * ¾
Giant video package
Gene brings Giant out, neckbrace and all, and the big man swears revenge on Kevin Nash. This wasn’t the best promo in the world, but it was serviceable
Gene brings Brian Adams out to question him about why he joined the nWo, and why he attacked Bret Hart. Unfortunately for Gene, Adams nearly bites his head off… and unfortunately for the bookers, this seems to turn Adams babyface. Bret comes out to respond in person, and it comes to blows right away. Hart gets him in the Sharpshooter, but Curt Hennig makes the save. He, Adams, and Rick Rude go to work on the Hitman, but Ric Flair runs in, and the babyfaces clean house. Adams looked good here, probably better than he has in any role since 1994
WCW World Title Match: Sting v Scott Hall: The entire nWo comes out, but no Hall. Sting comes out to face them down, but another Sting comes out with a bat, and attacks him before he can reach the ring. The second Sting ends up being Hall, of course, the we get an nWo beatdown in place of the advertised main event match. Randy Savage runs out to make the save, but he’s got more guts than brains, charging in alone against the entire gang. It goes badly for him. We also get the debut of Disciple with the group here, though he’s still unnamed at this point. Finally, Lex Luger runs in with a chair to make the save, managing to clean house to end the show
BUExperience: Both shows were pretty weak this time around, and I’d only give Nitro a very slight edge for having better overall wrestling, though it once again felt like it dragged on for far too long. It also had very little non in-ring stuff for most of the show, before piling it all on in the last half hour.
Monday Night Wars Rating Chart
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