Original Airdate: March 30, 1998
From Chicago, Illinois; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Mike Tenay, with Larry Zbyszko (first half) and Bobby Heenan (second half)
Nitro Girls open the show
High Voltage v Mike Enos and Wayne Bloom: Robbie Rage starts with Enos, and gets reversed into the ropes, and nailed. Enos tries a suplex, but Rage blocks, and grabs a wristlock. Rage takes it to the mat for a cross-armbreaker, so Bloom comes in to break it up, so Rage tags out to Kenny Kaos. Voltage deliver a tandem press-slam for two, and a snapmare allows Kaos a cobra clutch on Enos. Back to Rage for a suplex, so Bloom dives in with a flying axehandle to buy Mike the time to tag. Bloom with another flying axehandle for two, and a butterfly suplex leads to a tag to Enos for superplex for two. Mike with a cross corner whip, but the charge in misses, and both men tag. Kaos runs wild, and Roseanne Barr the door - only for Giant to come out and wreck everyone for a no-contest at 3:33. A pretty fun match before the garbage finish. Afterwards, Giant tells Roddy Piper that he’ll be his tag partner at Spring Stampede. Was he paying a per diem fee on that decision, or something? * ¼
Gene Okerlund brings Roddy Piper and Giant out to do the usual rambling Piper promo from this period. Why Giant needed to ruin a match to get to this, since they got their own segment anyway, I still don’t really get
Perry Saturn v Fit Finlay: Fit schools him on the mat a bit to start, until Saturn fights him off in the corner. A charge misses, allowing Fit a clothesline, and he bashes Saturn’s face into the apron. Fit with an uppercut, but Saturn throws a kick, and cross corner whips him, following in with an elbow. Fit sweeps the leg and holds a leglock, and he tries a lateral press for two. Saturn fights back with a suplex for two, but Fit counters a whip into the ropes with a short-clothesline. Rolling firemans carry slam gets him two, but a corner charge misses, and Saturn suplexes him to set up the Rings of Saturn at 3:41. They were really laying into one another here. Not a great match, but interesting. WCW was terrific at delivering interesting pairings during the Nitro era. * ½
Gene comes out to hype his hotline. Apparently, Tenay is getting a cut now?
WCW Road Report
The nWo come out so we can get the usual rambling Hollywood Hogan promo from this period. Besides the usual ranting at Piper, Hulk’s target this week is WCW World Tag Team Champion Kevin Nash, who he punishes by telling him he can’t have any nWo guys for his tag match against WCW World Champion Sting and Lex Luger later tonight
Nitro Girls in neon
WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Chris Jericho v Marty Jannetty: The announcers point out the CFO of the Chicago Bulls at ringside, and Larry, of course, needs to take shots at him. He was such an insecure jerk during this period. Jericho cuts a promo on Dean Malenko before the bell, as Larry continues to sound like a grumpy old man by ranting about Hanson. Gosh, this show could not get more 1998 if it tried. Jericho attacks before the bell, but Marty fights him off in the corner, and delivers a fistdrop. “Jannetty a beneficiary of WCW’s open door policy,” notes Tenay. Really making the promotion feel prestigious here, Mikey. Marty with a powerslam for two, and a facebuster leads to the rocker dropper, but Jericho counters to the Liontamer at 1:22. This was too short to go anywhere. Afterwards, Jericho unveils his list of ‘1,004 holds’ to mock Malenko’s claim of being the ‘man of 1,000 holds.’ Chris was incredibly entertaining during this period. By the way, this segment marks the end of the first hour, with a sum total of, what, nine minutes of in-ring time? Vince Russo gets a lot of the blame for the switch to short matches, but it wasn’t all him. ¼*
Prince Iaukea v Glacier: Jericho is still listing off his 1,004 holds during the entrances, so Iaukea evicts him from the premises. Glacier dominates as they measure each other, and a side suplex works, but Glacier wastes time gloating, and takes an electric chair. Prince goes after the knee, and a pair of dropkicks lead to a death valley driver. Prince with a springboard flying bodypress, but Glacier catches him in a powerslam. Glacier goes up with a dive from there, but Prince catches him in a bridging northern lights suplex at 2:03. This was a very awkwardly worked bout. ¼*
Nitro Girls are in the crowd
Nitro party video from some high school in Ohio, complete with cheerleaders as ‘Nitro Girls’
Juventud Guerrera v El Dandy: They trade shots to start, and Dandy wins a criss cross with a kneelift. Senton splash, but Guerrera dodges, and uses a rana. Headscissors sends Dandy to the outside, and Guerrera tries a baseball slide, but Dandy dodges. That allows Dandy to grab the high ground, and he clobbers Guerrera on the way inside. Dandy with a clothesline, and a matslam follows. Cross corner whip ends with Guerrera crotched on the top rope, but Guerrera manages a cradle out of there for two, before Dandy clobbers him again. Dandy with a drop-toehold and a boot for two, but Guerrera blocks a tilt-a-whirl, and Guerrera drills him with a scoop sitout brainbuster at 2:54. This was going along fine, but ended before it got into high gear. *
Chavo Guerrero Jr v Kaz Hayashi: Some feeling out to start, and a criss cross ends in Hayashi winning a reversal sequence with a spinheel kick. Armdrag leaves Chavo in an armbar, but a short-leg lariat misses, and Chavo suplexes him. Guerrero adds an uppercut, and a dropkick connects for two. Another uppercut connects, and a snapmare sets up a chinlock. Hayashi escapes, but misses a springboard bodypress, allowing Guerrero a side suplex for two. Back to the chinlock, but Hayashi escapes with a jawbreaker, so Chavo tries a German suplex, but Hayashi lands on his feet. Criss cross sees Hayashi try a rana, but they botch it, so Kaz goes up with a missile dropkick instead. Bridging German suplex gets Hayashi a two count, but Chavo comes back with a tornado DDT at 3:49. This wasn’t bad, but felt like they couldn’t quite get on the same page. ¾*
Raven v Buff Bagwell: Raven, still carting around the WCW United States title belt around, cuts an embittered promo about how Diamond Dallas Page abandoned him in ECW for years instead of getting him a job in WCW, and that ‘the snake’ always told him Page wasn’t a true friend. Good promo here, and they keep dropping hints about Jake Roberts coming in, though that never went anywhere. Buff gets a big babyface reaction here. He goes to the eyes and uses a hiptoss to start, so Raven corner whips him, but Bagwell blocks the charge, and delivers a clothesline to a huge pop. Seriously, why is Buff over so huge here? Raven bails to the outside to regroup, but DDP runs out, so Raven bails into the crowd for the countout at 1:41. This wasn’t even really a match. Afterwards, Page cuts a tremendous promo in response to Raven’s complaints earlier. This continues to be a good angle, and luckily they’re not leaning too heavily into the Jake stuff, since it didn’t lead to anything. I’m guessing they knew Jake wasn’t the safest bet in the world, and they were hedging. DUD
Disco Inferno v Billy Kidman: Kidman pounds him down to start, but a criss cross allows Disco a pop-up flapjack, and he adds a clothesline for two. Disco unloads in the corner from there, and he hiptosses Billy over the top. Kidman manages a bulldog for two on the way back inside, and a bodyslam sets up a slingshot legdrop. Cross corner whip and a clothesline get Kidman two, but Disco counters a backdrop with a sunset flip for two, so Billy blasts him with a dropkick. Kidman with a sidewalk slam to set up a flying frogsplash, but Disco dodges, and makes a comeback. Jumping forearm gets him two, and a swinging neckbreaker is worth two. Bodyslam sets up a 2nd rope pointed elbowdrop, but Kidman dodges, and cross corner whips him. Sitout spinebuster gets Kidman two, but a criss cross allows Disco a piledriver at 5:13. Good energy to this one. * ¼
Jim Neidhart v Curt Hennig: Rick Rude muscles his way onto the commentary desk for this one. Hennig won’t let Anvil get into the ring, so Jim drags him to the outside, and sends Curt into the guardrail. Inside, Neidhart keeps pounding him, and a cross corner whip triggers an oversell from Curt. Neidhart with a bodyslam and a bearhug, so Rude abandons his post to go down to ringside - running in for the DQ at 2:45. Neidhart was not what you might call ‘good’ at this stage, and Hennig wasn’t the guy to drag something out of him. Afterwards, Hennig and Rude do a beatdown, so Davey Boy Smith runs out for the save, but Brian Adams comes out to give the nWo the advantage again. That goes on for a bit, but Bret Hart runs out to make the final save, as this angle continues to stagger along without much beyond the initial direction. ¼*
WCW Television Title Match: Booker T v Chris Benoit: They feel each other out to start, and Benoit gets control in the corner, pounding the champion down there. Booker fights back with a spinebuster for two, and a bodyslam follows. Backelbow finds its mark next, and everything Booker is doing here looks really crisp, which is as much to Benoit’s credit as it is to the champions. Benoit comes back with a German suplex, and a snap suplex gets the challenger two. Backelbow gets two, and a cross corner whip follows, so Booker tries a charge, but Chris is ready with a drop-toehold for two. Backbreaker gets two, so Benoit goes to a bow-and-arrow, but Booker manages a side suplex to escape. Benoit responds with a three-alarm rolling German suplex, but Booker blocks the third one, and a criss cross results in a double knockout spot. Booker recovers with a side suplex, and he adds a Harlem sidekick to keep it going. Missile dropkick follows, but Benoit blocks, and grabs the crippler crossface, but Booker has the ropes right away. They get to their feet for a slugfest, but time expires at 9:30. Good execution throughout, but the match fell a little flat. * ¼
Nitro Girls
Ultimo Dragon v Psychosis: Criss cross right away, ending in Psychosis delivering a clothesline for two. Dragon tries coming back with a handspring, but Psychosis blocks, so Dragon uses a springboard moonsault press for two. Rana into a cradle, but Psychosis rolls through for two, then misses a corner dropkick. That allows Dragon to take him upstairs, but Psychosis blocks the rana, and dives with a flying spinheel kick to send Dragon to the outside. Psychosis hits him with a dive out there, but Raven’s Flock jump the rail to attack him for the DQ 2:10 - the beating a form of payback for Lodi’s (legit, and not incorporated into the storyline) injury from last week. The match sucked, with Dragon looking way off his game throughout, and the crowd completely dead. ¼*
Bill Goldberg v Ray Traylor: Goldberg wakes the crowd up, of course, getting a big reaction. Goldberg powers him around in the early going, and a clothesline sends Ray to the outside. Ray throws a punch to fight him off on the way back in, and he tries a wristlock, but Goldberg just shrugs that off completely. Traylor tries a spinebuster, but Goldberg no-sells, and drills him with a spear. That draws a massive pop, and the Jackhammer ends it at 2:19, making Goldberg 67-0. DUD
Sting and Lex Luger v Kevin Nash and Randy Savage: Savage is Nash’s mystery partner, in response to Hogan’s refusal to allow him to use an nWo guys. Macho attacks Sting in the aisle before the match, and drops him with a piledriver on the floor. Meanwhile, Nash takes advantage of the distraction to take control of Luger inside of the ring, and he bootchokes him. Tag to Savage to pound on Lex as well, and I really don’t get if Savage is supposed to be a babyface or a heel. It seems to change from week to week, or even within the confines of a single show. Randy gets distracted and decides to beat up Sting on the outside again, and an axehandle on Luger connects. They work Lex over in super dull fashion, until Sting finally wakes up, and makes a comeback. Luger with the torture rack on Luger, but Disciple runs in to save, and he puts Nash on top for the pin at 6:28. Someone chucks a drink in that lands squarely on Lex’s gut during the cover, which may be the only redeeming thing about this awful match. DUD
Roddy Piper v Hollywood Hulk Hogan: Hogan’s already at ringside at the end of the last segment, so Piper attacks, kick starting the match. Disciple saves, and Hulk brawls to the back with Roddy. They disappear back there, and brawl back out following a commercial break. Piper just beats on him and beats on him forever, all the way into the ring, and then more of the same once they’re there. Hulk wins a slugfest and chokes Piper down, and he goes to a backrake, but Piper starts no-selling. Disciple responds by tripping him up, and he rams Roddy into the apron to calm him down. That allows Hogan to keep unloading on the way back in, but a clothesline misses, and Piper gets a sleeper on. Disciple runs in for the DQ, however, at 9:54. Oh man, this makes the tag match that preceded it look like a classic. Afterwards, Nash comes out to hold Piper for Hogan to hit, but Hulk accidentally hits Kevin. That looked stupid, and Nash’s motivations didn’t even make sense there. This was all terrible. -** ¼
BUExperience: Nitro had better stuff going on in the ring this week (for the most part, there was a lot of suck here too, especially in the third hour), but nothing here could match RAW’s overall energy. Except maybe Goldberg. And, Buff Bagwell, surprisingly.
Monday Night Wars Rating Chart
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