Original Airdate: June 22, 1998
From Jacksonville, Florida; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Mike Tenay, with Larry Zbyszko (first half) and Bobby Heenan (second half)
Gene Okerlund brings Diamond Dallas Page out to discuss the big tag match for Bash at the Beach, pitting him and Karl Malone against Hollywood Hulk Hogan and Dennis Rodman. Not much here specifically, but this was definitely a huge deal at the time
Nitro Girls
Nitro Party video
Disco Inferno v Len Denton: Really front loading the show this week, I see. Denton looks like a beefy Bryan Cranston. Some idiot in the crowd has a sign that says he ‘killed his parents’ for Nitro tickets, which is just plain fucked up. Tracks for Jacksonville, though. They criss cross, won by Disco with an inverted atomic drop, followed by a clothesline. Disco unloads in the corner, and a bodyslam sets up a fistdrop, but Len fights him off with a turnbuckle smash. Len with chops, and a swinging neckbreaker follows. Denton with a kneeling neckbreaker (which is a pretty nasty spot, don’t see it too often), and he ropeburns Disco. Well, he is the Disco Inferno after all. Asking for it. Len goes upstairs, but gets slammed off. Disco tries a cross corner whip, but gets reversed, and Denton uses an inverted atomic drop. They criss cross again, but Disco catches him with a piledriver at 3:24. I was expecting a straight squash, but this was actually pretty competitive. * ¼
Okerlund brings Kevin Greene out, in a pretty random appearance. They just talk football, and apparently he was Bill Goldberg’s roommate back in 1991, which gets a big pop. It also draws Curt Hennig and Rick Rude out to retort, and while they distract him, Giant attacks from behind. They triple team Greene, while Gene runs away, and no one makes the save. Yep, that tracks, too
Backstage, Greene chases down the nWo, but gets pulled apart by officials before he can get his hands on them. It’s such chaos, though, that the only way to calm things down is for JJ Dillon to book Greene against Giant here tonight
Yuji Nagata v Tokyo Magnum: Nagata pounds him down at the bell, and delivers a bodyslam. Big boot, but Magnum ducks, and hits him with a series of strikes. He stupidly stops to taunt Sonny Onoo, however, and Yuji dumps him to the outside for Sonny to abuse. Back in, Nagata works the leg, but Magnum tries reversing a cross armbreaker. Nagata quickly escapes and works a stepover toehold, and he switches to targeting Magnum’s arm. Nagata with an axekick, and he unloads a series of strikes to the knee. Dude just can’t pick a part. Nagata misses a corner high knee, allowing Magnum a rana off the top for two, and he hits Yuji with a series of kicks. Magnum tries a flying moonsault press, but Nagata dodges, and spinkicks him. Nagata with a suplex, and a modified figure four finishes at 4:23. Some stiff action, but felt all over the place. ½*
Backstage, Stevie Ray is beating Chris Benoit up
Raven vignette
Public Enemy v Horace and Sick Boy: The Flock attack before the bell, but Rocco Rock fights off a double team with a springboard bodypress. The Enemy clean house, and keep control of the match, dominating Horace as the dust settles. The Flock turn the tide on Rocco, and work him over, cutting the ring in half. Finally, everyone comes in to brawl with weapons, and Roseanne Barr the door, we’ve got a kettle on. Horace ends up accidentally hitting Boy with a stop sign, and Rock capitalizes with a flying shoulderblock at 8:16. Why did they keep booking the Enemy in such (relatively) long matches during this period. ¼*
Gene brings Bret Hart out, and Bret takes credit for the kind of man Chris Benoit is. Uh, yeah… not sure that’s something I’d go around bragging
WCW United States Title Match: Bill Goldberg v Rick Fuller: Goldberg is over huge here. Huge. It’s incredible how out of nowhere he came, very much a once in a lifetime type of run. Rick manages to clip the knee and deliver a spinkick, but that’s all he manages, as Goldberg spears him, and finishes with the jackhammer at 1:30. ¼*
Earlier today, fans outside the building weighed in on DDP/Malone v Hogan/Rodman. Yeah, you ask the guy in the Chicago Bulls jersey what he thinks, not exactly a mystery what he’s going to say
The Wolfpac are out, and WCW World Tag Team Champions Sting and Kevin Nash make an open challenge to any team that wants a shot. Really meaningful segment
The fans outside are still talking about Malone and Rodman
Nitro Girls
Eddie Guerrero v Alex Wright: Alex hammers him down, and puts the boots to Guerrero, but stops to dance. More stomping, but Eddie wins a criss cross, and returns the favor with some stomping of his own. Guerrero unloads in the corner, and a snapmare allows him a bootrake. Alex goes to the eyes to shake him off, and he unloads on ropes. Alex with a cross corner whip, and he delivers a backbreaker for two on the rebound. Wright with a snapmare and bootrake of his own, and he tries a headlock, but Eddie fights him off in the corner. Guerrero throws uppercuts and chops, and a whip into the ropes allows him a clothesline, so Alex bails. Back in, he manages to pound Guerrero into the corner, and a bridging snap suplex gets him two. Wright goes up for a flying kneedrop, but Eddie dodges, and drills him with a brainbuster, as Chavo Guerrero Jr comes out to cheer him on. That distracts him, however, and Wright uses a neckbreaker at 4:55. *
Outside, more people have thoughts, yo. At least no one suggests that Karl Malone will win if he wants to, or not
Riggs v Konnan: They trade wristlocks to start, dominated by Konnan. Konnan lands a rolling clothesline, and a snapmare sets up a seated dropkick. Backslide, but Riggs blocks, so Konnan hammers him instead, but loses a criss cross to a hotshot. Riggs with a dropkick, and he dumps Konnan to the outside for a plancha. Inside, Riggs uses a cross corner whip ahead of a corner kneesmash, but Konnan wins a criss cross with a sitout facebuster for two. Konnan with a cradle for two, so Lodi distracts him, and Riggs manages a clothesline. A powerslam gets him two, but a flying dropkick misses, and Konnan gets the tequila sunrise on at 4:46. Sloppy, and they were moving at half speed on top of it. DUD
Earlier this week at Planet Hollywood in Los Angeles California, there was a press conference to officially announce the DDP/Malone v Hogan/Rodman match for the Bash. Moderated by Lee Marshall! Again, this was big league stuff
Nitro Girls
Steve McMichael v Stevie Ray: Man, that mid-90s Horsemen theme was da bomb, to use the parlance of the times. McMichael dominates a slugfest, so Ray goes to the eyes, and pounds him into the corner. Ray with a backelbow (nicely sold by McMichael), and McMichael wins a second slugfest, this time without a cheap shot to derail him. McMichael unloads in the corner, so Ray tries going for the arm, but McMichael blocks. He kinda sorta tries a sleeper, but it goes nowhere, so he just blatantly chokes Ray down instead. Ray fights back with a savate kick, and he lands a legdrop for two. Ray with a bodyslam and a chinlock, but McMichael fights him off. They spill to the outside, where Ray reverses him into the steps. He grabs a chair, but Chris Benoit runs out to pull it away from him. Benoit tries to use it, but Booker T is out to cut that off, and Ray walks out, getting counted out at 9:04, after Booker urges him to stop wasting his time with these guys. Yes, they gave these two nine minutes, and then booked that finish on top of it. DUD
nWo Hollywood are out for the usual public masturbation. “What have they done to our sport?” wonders Schiavone. You said it, brother
Bret Hart v Chris Benoit: They feel each other out to start, with Benoit dominating things. He gets an armbar, but Bret uses a bodyslam to escape, only to miss an elbowdrop. Crisp execution there. Benoit with an armdrag into another armbar, but Hart fights into the corner to force a break, and then throws a punch on the release. That allows Bret a DDT, and he ropeburns the Crippler. Chris tries throwing a chop, but Hart quickly cuts him off, and chokes him into the corner. Chris fights his way out of the corner, so Bret kicks him in the gut, and unloads with uppercuts. Hart tries a cross corner whip, but Benoit reverses, only for Bret to block the charge. Hart with an inverted atomic drop and a clothesline to set up a 2nd rope elbowdrop, but Benoit dodges. That allows Chris a series of chops, but Hart cuts him off with a hotshot, and dumps him to the outside. Bret follows to ram his back into the post, and Hart rolls him in for a piledriver for two. Bret throws a headbutt, and a Russian legsweep gets him two. Hart stomps the groin, and a rollup gets him two, but Chris recovers with a rolling German suplex. Bret takes two, but blocks a third, leading to a reversal sequence that ends in Benoit delivering a dragon suplex. Chris uses a snap suplex to set up the flying headbutt drop, but Hart dodges, and uses a headbutt drop to the groin. Hart goes up, but Chris crotches him, and uses a vertical superplex for two. Chris with a short-clothesline for two, so Bret goes to the eyes. That allows him to try a suplex, but Benoit counters to the crippler crossface. Hart makes the ropes, as Stevie Ray shows up, and the distraction allows Hart to nail him with a weapon. Hart then pulls an unconscious Benoit on top of himself to create deniability, and kicks out at two, before putting the limp Crippler in the Sharpshooter for three arm drops at 14:16. Bret seemed more engaged here than he has in a while, but still well below his ceiling as a worker. I mean, I’ve seen him have this level of a match with Henry Godwinn on a random episode of Superstars, so this wasn’t top shelf Hitman stuff. ** ¼
Kevin Greene v Giant: Greene charges in and gets Giant into the corner, but a corner splash gets him clobbered with a clothesline. That allows Giant an elbowdrop, so Greene throws a headbutt down low, and uses a shoulderblock to knock him into the corner. Greene with a three-point stance from there, but Curt Hennig and Rick Rude run in for the DQ at 1:13. We get a second beatdown of Greene on this episode, but this time Goldberg gets off his ass to make the save. The match didn’t have enough time to be anything, but Goldberg making the save and fighting off the nWo to stand tall was a great ending. DUD
BUExperience: Despite the narrative that RAW started destroying them at will in 1998, the WWF’s creative direction was significantly less interesting during this period than it was a year earlier. The wheels were starting to come off of WCW a little, yeah, but they still had a lot of good stuff going on, and this episode felt strong. And the general feeling was positive, with lots of celebrity involvement making everything look hot.
I’d give this the edge over the opposing RAW. Better overall, and the match of the night in Hart/Benoit.
Monday Night Wars Rating Chart
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