WCW Monday Nitro (April 27, 1998)

Original Airdate: April 27, 1998

From Norfolk, Virginia; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Mike Tenay, with Larry Zbyszko (first half) and Bobby Heenan (second half)

Nitro Girls open us up, only to be interrupted by Alex Wright wanting to dance with them, before getting hauled off by security 

Randy Savage and Kevin Nash hit the ring to tout their new supergroup, and they introduce Konnan as a member. This was very rambling

Nitro Party video

Juventud Guerrera video package. He’s an Aztec warrior now. This dude had no business cutting promos

WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Chris Jericho v Chavo Guerrero Jr: Chris ‘interviews’ a portrait of Dean Malenko before the match, continuing to take shots at the absent former champion. Jericho tries a sneak attack, but it goes badly, and Chavo backdrops him. A dropkick and a side suplex get the challenger two, and Guerrero grabs a chinlock, but Jericho fights out. Chavo tries a bodypress, but Jericho catches him in a hotshot, and unloads in the corner. A distraction from Eddie Guerrero allows Chavo a dropkick for two, and a springboard bulldog gets another two. Chavo tries a headscissors from there, but gets countered into the Liontamer at 1:53. This never got off the ground. ¾*

We take a look back at SuperBrawl VIII, when Chris Jericho unmasked Juventud Guerrera

WCW World Champion Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, and Disciple hit the ring to… basically say nothing. They aren’t sweating Savage and Nash’s group, they aren’t revealing Bret Hart’s motivations… they really don’t have anything to say, making this a completely pointless segment

WCW United States Title Match: Bill Goldberg v Scott Norton: Scott throws chops to start, and a jumping shoulderblock gets him a one count. Goldberg pops up and gets in his face ahead of a swinging neckbreaker for one, and they spill to the outside for a slugfest. Norton sends him into the post out there, but Bill basically no-sells, and gets him in a kneebar on the way back in. Scott makes the ropes, so Goldberg unloads in the corner, but Scott blocks a cross corner whip. He tries one of his own, but Goldberg reverses, so Norton uses an inverted shoulderbreaker for two. Fujiwara armbar, but Goldberg fights to a vertical base, so Scott drops him with a single-arm DDT. Back to the shoulderbreaker, but Goldberg counters with a spear, and the Jackhammer finishes at 2:45. I think there was a total of, like, one move sold over the course of the entire match. ¾*

Gene Okerlund brings Bret Hart out to answer for his behavior last week, and as usual, Bret’s fashion sense is all over the place. Between he and Shawn Michaels, I could write an essay on how the better a worker’s ring gear is, the worse their real world fashion sense is. Anyway, he doesn’t really have a good reason or clear motivation - he basically just is pleased that he’s made an impact. This turn was terrible, and you can see that Bret knows it, too

BUExperience: This was a ‘special’ one hour episode (to accommodate basketball), and it was pretty terrible. Five whole minutes of wrestling! Lots of rambling, pointless interviews! I’m definitely giving RAW the win this week. 

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	4/27/98
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	5.7	1.72
Total Wins	19	105
Win Streak	1
Better Show (as of 4/27)	59	60