WCW Monday Nitro (May 18, 1998)

 

Original Airdate: May 18, 1998

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

Eric Bischoff is in the ring as we come on the air, declaring himself the ‘king’ after his ‘win’ over Vince McMahon the night before at Slamboree. This was a pretty pointless thing to open the show with

Nitro Girls

Saturn v Psychosis: Saturn pounds him into the corner to start, and he unloads. Tilt-a-whirl, but Psychosis blocks, and lands a spinheel kick for two. Psychosis with chops ahead of a superplex attempt, but Saturn blocks. Saturn dives, but Psychosis dropkicks him to block, and then uses another dropkick to knock Saturn over the top. Psychosis is on him with a suicide dive, but Saturn manages a suplex on the way back in, and a superkick follows. That knocks Psychosis silly, and Saturn finishes him with a death valley driver into the rings of saturn at 2:32. This was too short to be notable. ½*

Gene Okerlund brings Roddy Piper out to talk about his refereeing at Slamboree, which draws Randy Savage out before long. But before that can go south, Piper tells Macho that he reviewed the tape, and he’s reversing the decision, so Macho gets the win over Bret Hart afterall. What the fuck? Bret, rightly, storms out to respond, and he considers this kind of screwing to be fighting screwing. He marches towards the ring, but WCW World Champion Hollywood Hulk Hogan cuts him off - instead telling him to save it for the Great American Bash in a tag match. Again, what the fuck? Booking that tag match is great (at least, for the marquee value), but the execution is terrible

Last night, Gene caught up with new WCW Cruiserweight Champion Dean Malenko, who is proud he avenged his late father

Also last night, Chris Jericho storms around after losing the title 

Juventud Guerrera v Damien: A big criss cross to start, won by Juvi with a spinheel kick. Cross corner whip, but Damien reverses, and a delivers a clothesline for two. Damien with a corner whip of his own, but Guerrera blocks, and uses a dropkick to knock Damien to the outside. Baseball slide, but Damien dodges, and sends Juvi into the steps. Damien is on him with a dropkick from the apron, which gets a leveraged two count on the way back inside. Another criss cross is one by Guerrera, and he dives with a flying headscissors. Back upstairs, but Damien crotches him, and delivers a muscle breaker for two. Cool spot. Powerbomb, but Juvi blocks, and manages a scoop sitout brainbuster for two. Guerrera goes up for the flying 450 splash, but lands awkwardly, kind of hitting Damien with his knees more than anything else. And then he just delivers an elbowdrop to get the pin anyway at 3:48. This was pretty ugly. ½*

Nitro Girls

WCW United States Title Match: Bill Goldberg v Glacier: Glacier tries coming with strikes, but Goldberg absorbs them, and drops the challenger with a clothesline. Goldberg with a corkscrew legwhip, and a hiptoss follows, allowing Bill to simply choke him down. Cross corner whip, but Glacier blocks the charge, and throws a dropkick. Bill pops right back up, however, and he drills Glacier with a spear, then finishes him off with the jackhammer at 1:53. Goldberg was just blitzing fools during this period. ¼*

Okerlund brings Diamond Dallas Page out, and he wants to Hogan next

Hollywood Hogan leads the nWo black-and-white out so Hulk can do his usual ranting. Bret looks so out of place hanging out in the background with all the goobers here. So the big point this week is to gloat about Scott Hall turning on Kevin Nash the night before to align himself with Hulk’s nWo brand. Once that’s out of the way, they call Sting out to take his place in the group, but Sting spits in Giant’s face. That earns him a beating, but Nash makes the save to close the show

BUExperience: Nitro’s ratings continue to freefall as they accommodate the NBA playoffs, but man, I’m digging these one hour episodes. It was not nearly as good as the opposing RAW, no, but at least it was concise. 

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	5/18/98
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	5.3	2.51
Total Wins	21	105
Win Streak
Better Show (as of 5/18)	61	61