Original Airdate: August 17, 1998
From Hartford, Connecticut; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Mike Tenay, with Larry Zbyszko (first half) and Bobby Heenan (second half)
nWo Hollywood is out, and the announcers can’t stop reminding us that the show is live over and over again during the entrances. I get that they really used to push that back at the start of the Wars, but it’s 1998, and they haven’t mentioned it in forever. I wonder why it was suddenly a talking point again. Anyway, Hollywood Hulk Hogan lays down a challenge for Bill Goldberg to defend the WCW World title against Giant tonight
Gene Okerlund brings JJ Dillon out to announce the new WarGames, which will feature three teams, and one winner, who will get a world title shot at Halloween Havoc. And he names the three captains: Diamond Dallas Page, Hollywood Hogan, and Kevin Nash. I know this change was universally hated (including by me), but I don’t blame them for going in a new direction. It didn’t work, but it wasn’t a bad idea
Nitro Girls
Nitro Party video. I was surprised to recently learn that the original ones were staged, and inspired people to actually send in their own, which is how it became a thing
Steve McMichael v Sick Boy: The announcers are still going on about how they’re live, and the other channel isn’t. And then they go to another long dormant tactic: giving away the finish of the Austin/Undertaker ‘match’ on RAW, claiming that it will only last ten seconds. Well, that wasn’t wrong, but it wasn’t a match, just a brawl at the end of the show. I guess, now that they’re not leading anymore, they’re back to acknowledging the competition, and taking cheap shots. Boy sticks and moves, and a dropkick gets him two. A slugfest goes Boy’s way when he goes to the eyes, and Boy uses a (sloppy) gutwrench suplex, but misses a 2nd rope elbowdrop. Mongo is up for a three-point stance, but Boy escapes a suplex. He tries a clothesline, but McMichael ducks, and delivers the tombstone at 4:39. They gave these two way too much time. ¼*
Okerlund brings DDP out, and he promises Hogan a surprise for Fall Brawl in the form of a man he’s never beaten. Goldbe… oh. That’s where we’re going. He also takes shots at the nWo for saving Bret Hart from his wrath when they were supposed to meet, and challenges Hart for the WCW United States title tonight. Hart joins them, and accepts
Gene brings Raven out, but before Raven can speak, Horace is out, throwing out a challenge for tonight. Lots of that going on. Raven accepts, but only if it’s a tag match, with Raven picking both of their partners
High Voltage v Disco Inferno and Alex Wright: Robbie Rage starts with Wright, and Rage works a wristlock, but Alex escapes, and throws a dropkick. Rage fires back with a powerslam, as we go back on the ‘we are live’ campaign. Rage with a press-slam, as they expand the campaign to ‘we never promote matches and then don’t deliver them.’ Bridge too far. Tag to Disco, but he gets caught in the Voltage corner, and hammered. Kenny Kaos tries a backdrop, but gets blocked, so Rage comes in with an assist. Meng then randomly shows up, and beats everyone up for a no-contest at 2:37. ¼*
Eddie Guerrero is out, fuming at Eric Bischoff, and openly asking to be fired. He’s been mistreated and unappreciated, and he dumps a cup of coffee on himself, before storming out. This was way off into backstage, inside baseball territory, and they lost the crowd completely. It’s one thing to run this kind of angle in ECW, where the crowd is made up mostly of smart fans, but to do it in 1998 WCW - which is, like, the peak of the casual audience - is another
Raven and Saturn v Kanyon and Horace: Kanyon schoolboys Raven for two right away, so Saturn tags himself in, and nearly comes to blows with Raven on the switch. Kanyon grabs a headlock, but Saturn forces a criss cross, and wins a reversal sequence with an overhead suplex. Tag to Horace, but Saturn suplexes him as well. Saturn gets distracted by Kanyon, allowing Horace a clothesline, followed by a flapjack. Kanyon tags in to DDT him for two, and a running powerslam is worth two. Kanyon goes up top, but Raven shoves him off, which Saturn protests. Raven responds by tagging himself in, and he drills Kanyon with a three-alarm rolling Russian legsweep. Everyone comes in to brawl, and Saturn hits Horace with a death valley driver at 7:54. Meh. Afterwards, the Flock beat up Saturn, as this confusing angle continues, with no direction. ½*
The Wolfpac are out to hit their catchphrases, and promise to end nWo Hollywood at Fall Brawl. Not much of note here
Scott Putski v Scott Norton: Norton attacks before the bell, but Putski manages a neckbreaker - which Norton promptly no-sells. Norton with a powerslam, so Putski throws a dropkick, but Norton ignores that as well. Norton with a powerbomb at 1:00. DUD
nWo Hollywood is back out, and while Hulk is ranting about getting the world title back, suddenly the lights start to flicker, and ultimately die. Some unknown music starts, and a man comes out - Warrior! Hogan immediately cowers, and stutters as he says “I thought you were dead,” fear in his voice. Great line, great delivery. This was a great moment, and there was a lot of subtle foreshadowing leading up to it, like lingering shots of fans in Warrior face paint in recent weeks. Unfortunately, Warrior’s promo is too long (and hard to follow), and it kind of kills the moment. So after going on for what feels like an hour, Warrior basically just says ‘see you next week,’ before disappearing into a cloud of smoke. This was certainly memorable, and major… but I also can’t call it ‘good’
Dean Malenko v Curt Hennig: Hennig stalls with Rick Rude on the outside right away, and man, Rude looks really old and battered at this point. I’m shocked he was only 39 here, he looks old. Dean finally goes after Curt after a bunch of stalling, but Curt hits him with chops. Dean turns the tables in the corner, and a leg lariat connects for two. Hennig with a cross corner whip, so Dean rebounds out, but Curt catches him with a clothesline. Hennig goes to a headvice, but Dean escapes, so Hennig tries for the fisherman suplex, but Malenko counters with a vertical suplex. Dean with a side suplex, as the announcers downgrade the RAW main event to ‘six seconds’ now. Malenko goes for the Texas cloverleaf, but Curt is in the ropes. Rude hops onto the apron to distract Dean, and he’s able to get a cheap shot off. That allows Hennig the bridging fisherman suplex at 7:47. ½*
Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell are out to remind us that Scott is legitimately injured, so he can’t wrestle Rick Steiner. Even though he really, really wants to. They bring out Scott’s ‘doctor,’ but Rick shows up, and barks a lot. Sounds like he needs a doctor
Nitro Girls
WCW Television Title Triangle Match: Chris Jericho v Stevie Ray v Chavo Guerrero Jr: Jericho tries to form an alliance with Guerrero at the bell, but then holds back when Chavo charges into a shoulderblock from Ray. Chavo still gets suckered into another ‘pairing,’ and this time eats a clothesline from Stevie. Ray superkicks Jericho out of the ring, and he press-drops Chavo over the top onto the champion on the floor. Ray drags Jericho back in, but Chavo is up with a flying bodypress on his fellow challenger for two. Chris tries to sucker Chavo again, but this time Chavo dropkicks him, and stomps a mudhole in the corner. Chavo with a springboard bulldog for two, so Stevie double clotheslines them. Stevie tries a double suplex, but gets reversed, and both Jericho and Guerrero dive with stereo missile dropkicks. Chavo covers Ray, but Jericho breaks it at two, and dumps Guerrero out of the ring. That allows Stevie to recover, and he chokes the champion, but the referee gets bumped as they criss cross. That allows Ray to pull out his slapjack to wallop Jericho with, so Giant shows up to chokeslam Stevie. All three guys are left looking up at the lights, and Chavo is the only one to beat the count, but Jericho distracts the referee from seeing it. The still dazed Guerrero falls out of the ring, and Jericho gets to his feet - getting the knockout win on Stevie and Chavo at 5:24. This was mostly okay, and while it was a dumb finish, that was kind of the point, so it wasn’t a negative. ¾*
WCW United States Title Match: Bret Hart v Diamond Dallas Page: Dallas wins a slugfest at the bell, and grabs a standing headlock. Hart forces a criss cross, but loses it when Page uses a belly-to-belly suplex for two. Diamond Cutter, but Hart hits the deck, and bails. Page chases him into the aisle, where the Hitman eats the guardrail a few times, before getting sent into the steps. Inside, Page hammers him in the corner, and a cross corner whip rattles the ring. Dallas with a vertical suplex for two, and he takes Bret into the corner for a ten-punch, but Bret throws a low blow to block it. Hart with a hotshot on the top turnbuckle, and he stomps Page in the groin, before bootchoking him. Hart with a headbutt drop to the groin, and he unloads on the challenger in the corner. Hart tries a suplex, but Page pulls out a small package for two, so Hart punches him in the brain. Hart with a Russian legsweep for two, and a backbreaker sets up a 2nd rope pointed elbowdrop for two. Hart with another bootchoke, and a piledriver gets two. That wasn’t a bad looking piledriver, I’m surprised Bret didn’t use them more regularly. Page comes back to life with a flurry of punches in the corner, and a discus clothesline finds the mark. Dallas with a flying clothesline for two, and a pancake piledriver gets two. Cross corner whip, but Hart reverses, and the referee gets bumped. That allows Bret to pull a weapon out, and he blasts Page with it while the referee is down. Hart then shoves the weapon in Page’s pants, and puts Dallas on top of him for a two count. Page is still knocked silly, though, and Hart puts the Sharpshooter on, but neglects to pull him to center ring first, and Page has the ropes. Bret scoops him up for a suplex, but Dallas snaps off the Cutter! Cover, but Bret is in the ropes. Bret sees things slipping away, so he grabs the side of his head and acts like he’s been hit with a weapon, and when the referee goes to inspect Page’s gear, he finds one - calling the DQ at 11:57. This was a pretty good match. Bret didn’t want to get out of low gear, but Page was working hard, and Hart at least was willing to hang. It’s hard to believe, but in the nearly eight months that master class worker Hart has been in the promotion, this was one of his better matches. ** ½
Nitro Girls
WCW World Title Match: Bill Goldberg v Giant: Giant attacks before the bell, and hammers Goldberg into the corner, but Bill slugs back. Giant pelts him with a headbutt, and a bodyslam follows. Goldberg pops up, however, and gives Giant a bodyslam back - drawing a massive pop. Giant pops up, and the heat here is off the charts. Nothing else tonight was even close. Especially not as far as matches go. Giant unloads in the corner, and a Russian legsweep works. Giant with a headbutt, and he dumps Bill to the outside for Disciple to abuse. Goldberg fights him off, so Giant comes out to snake-eyes him into the post, but Bill reverses him into the steel. Back in, Giant uses a vertical suplex, but Goldberg is up fast, and charges with a spear. Jackhammer time, but Disciple runs in for the DQ at 3:24. That might be the first time I can remember that Goldberg didn’t get a clean win. Afterwards, Scott Hall runs in on Goldberg, but Kevin Nash is out to make the save. Goldberg charges Hall with the spear, but Scott sidesteps, and Bill plows Kevin instead! Hall bails, leaving Goldberg and Nash to get in each other’s faces as the show goes off the air. ½*
BUExperience: This felt like a very long episode, but I’d still give it a (very slight) edge over RAW, especially with the weight of Warrior’s surprise return.
Monday Night Wars Rating Chart
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