Original Airdate: September 7, 1998
From Pensacola, Florida; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Mike Tenay, with Larry Zbyszko (first half) and Bobby Heenan (second half)
Backstage, Hollywood Hulk Hogan is flipping out, because his dressing room has been defaced with an ‘OWN’ graffiti logo
nWo Hollywood storm out to continue flipping out over the vandalism of a wall that they don’t own and are literally only using for a few hours. Hogan is so mad that he decides to replace Bret Hart with Giant for their WarGames team
Bull Pain v Konnan: Pain just has a horrible look, it’s no wonder he didn’t make it. He looks like what a Nickelodeon show thinks a pro wrestler dresses like. He also looks like Bill Burr, which is neither here nor there. Konnan dominates him, but Pain manages to knock him out of the ring, and he dives from the apron with a clothesline. Inside, Pain delivers a flying frogsplash for two, but a 2nd rope elbowdrop misses, and Konnan makes a comeback - finishing with the tequila sunrise at 2:51. ¼*
Gene Okerlund brings JJ Dillon out, who throws cold water on Hogan’s decision to replace Bret with Giant for WarGames
Nitro Girls
Gene brings Diamond Dallas Page out, and he’s not ready to join the Wolfpac. He has trust issues. That draws the Wolfpac out to make their case in person, and it ends in them deciding to face off later tonight: two Wolfpac guys against DDP and a partner of his choosing
Gene brings Roddy Piper out, and gosh, space these Okerlund interview segments out a little, maybe? Anyway, he’ll team with DDP against the Wolfpac later
Nitro Girls video package. Which is literally just clips of them doing the same dances they do live five times per episode. Good use of that budget. Good use
Wrath v Lenny Lane: Gosh, that was a lot of bullshit between matches, nearly the full first hour is gone. Wrath powers him around, and Lane ends up in the corner, getting abuses. Wrath with a biel out of the corner, and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker leads to a choke. Suplex, but Lane counters to a sleeper, though Wrath shrugs it off. Wrath with a corner whip, and he nails Lane with a jumping shoulderblock on the rebound, before delivering a pumphandle front-powerslam at 2:27. Good energy from Wrath, if nothing else. ¼*
In Hogan’s dressing room, the nWo discover Disciple, strung up by his feet in front of the OWN graffiti
WCW United States Champion Bret Hart is out for a match (though no opponent is announced), when Curt Hennig, Stevie Ray, and Vincent try to crowd him. That draws Sting out to chase them away, and Bret is excited by the sign of friendship, but Sting pushes him away. Sting passes him the bat and turns his back, but Bret doesn’t strike him, and everyone just kind of goes their separate ways. Poor whoever the fuck was supposed to get a US title shot here. Sorry, unnamed dude!
Pre-taped Rick Steiner video, fuming about what’s become of his brother, and swearing revenge at Fall Brawl
Evan Karagias v Scott Steiner: The first hour had a total of five minutes of wrestling, so let’s hope for at least seven in hour two. Buff Bagwell sits in on commentary for this one, and apparently this is an impromptu match, as Scott took offense to Rick’s video, and wants to kick some ass. No opponent for Karagias is announced, so no idea who else just got fucked out of a pay day. Would it really have killed them to just pay lip service to it? Just make someone up, something. Maybe Evan was Bret’s challenger! Fuck it, I’m saying that. It’s real now. Scott with the camel clutch at 1:46. Scott got so big by this point that he was barely mobile anymore. DUD
Nitro Girls
Nitro Party video
WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Juventud Guerrera v Hector Garza: Garza grabs a standing side-headlock right away, but Guerrera forces a criss cross to escape, and wins it with a headscissors takedown. He tries another one, but Hector catches him with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, and a reversal sequence ends in Garza delivering a second one. Garza misses a corner splash, allowing Guerrera a spinheel kick to knock the challenger over the top, and Juvi dives after him with a flying bodypress on the floor. Guerrera tries another one on the way back in, but Hector throws a dropkick to block, getting him two. Garza with a spinebuster for two, and he goes to a rocking horse, but Guerrera counters into a cradle for two. Garza cuts him off with a clothesline for two, and a magistral cradle is worth two. Garza works a butterfly hold, but Guerrera blocks a powerbomb, and throws chops. A criss cross allows Garza a pop-up flapjack, and a dropkick follows. Cross corner whip, but Guerrera reverses, and matslams the challenger. That allows Guerrera to go up with a missile dropkick for two, but Hector blocks a rana off the top, and kind of just drops him in a powerbomb on the way down. That didn’t look great. Garza with a proper powerbomb for two, and a bodyslam sets up a 2nd rope moonsault, but Juvi dodges. That allows Guerrera a scoop sitout brainbuster at 6:47. Solid action here. **
Gene brings Mr. Perfect out, ahead of his cage match with Dean Malenko later. Not much here, but the hype was fine, and the segment was short
Ernest Miller v Kenny Kaos: Miller with a takedown early, as he shows off his martial arts acumen. Kaos tries a hammerlock, but Miller takes him down again, and then dumps Kenny to the outside for good measure. Kaos dives back in with a springboard flying bodypress for two, and he grounds Ernest in an armbar from there. Miller forces a criss cross, so Kaos throws a bodypress for two, and a swinging neckbreaker follows. A springboard flying axehandle misses, however, and Miller cracks him with a roundhouse kick for the pin at 3:03. Not great work, but there was genuine effort here. Afterwards, Miller grabs the microphone, and actually shows some personality, which is awesome. ½*
Chris Adams v Stevie Ray: Stevie’s got his nWo gear now, and good on him! Too many guys turn heel and just keep the same look forever, and it’s a death knell. Ray dominates, but wastes time gloating, and misses an elbowdrop. That allows Adams to dropkick him into the corner for a ten-punch, but Ray fights him off with an inverted atomic drop. He puts the boots to Adams from there, and a clothesline connects. A snapmare allows Stevie a nervehold, until Adams escapes, so Ray drops him with a high knee. Ray uses a bodyslam to set up a kneedrop for two, and a cross corner whip sets up a charge, but Adams dodges. Adams with a side suplex and a leg-feed enzuigiri, followed by a 2nd rope clothesline. Cover, but a distraction from Vincent causes Chris to abandon it, and Stevie blasts him with kick, then puts it away with a pedigree at 3:47. Nothing of note, but Stevie needed a squash win to establish his new character, so this wasn’t pointless. ¼*
Nitro Girls video
Saturn v Riggs: Riggs attacks, and lands a dropkick quickly. He takes Saturn into the corner for some abuse, and a cross corner whip allows him a charge in. Riggs with another corner whip, and he follows in with a hip attack. Riggs lands a clothesline, but a punch misses, and Saturn is able to land a superkick. Saturn adds a suplex and a bicycle kick, and he takes Riggs into the corner to unload on. To the outside, Saturn gives the Flock a front row seat to the abuse, and Riggs eats the steps out there. Inside, Saturn delivers the death valley driver at 4:28. Riggs looked really out of his depth here. He’s a pretty experienced worker too, but he looked lost. Afterwards, Raven orders Saturn to break Riggs’ fingers, or have his broken if he refuses. Saturn refuses, and Raven breaks his fingers. Well, he gave him a choice. I know I’m becoming a broken record on this, but this whole angle continues to be strange and confusing. ½*
Nitro Girls. In person
WCW Television Title Match: Chris Jericho v Jim Neidhart: Jim shoves him out of the ring right away, frustrating the champion. Inside, Jim grabs a headlock, so Jericho forces a criss cross, but runs into a shoulderblock. Jim with a matslam, and a pop-up flapjack follows. He tries a second one, but Jericho counters with a dropkick, then uses a springboard version to put Jim on the outside. Chris follows with a baseball slide, and he whips Anvil into the guardrail out there. Jericho tries a bodyslam on the way back in, but gets toppled for two, so he throws a spinkick. That allows him a vertical suplex for two, but the Lionsault misses, and Jim throws a clothesline. Jim with a cross corner whip, so Jericho dumps him to the outside to buy time. He tries adding a plancha, but Jim catches him, and posts the champion for his trouble. Jim with a 2nd rope splash, but Jericho dodges, and gets the Liontamer on. Sadly, poor Jim just can’t take it properly, and they end up calling a submission while he’s still just kind of on his back at 4:30. Yeah, trying that with Neidhart was… well, let’s just call it ‘overly ambitious.’ Finish aside, Jericho seemed determined to get something out of Neidhart here. And he largely succeeded! This was probably Neidhart’s last respectable match, ever. *
Eddie Guerrero waltzes out, begging for Eric Bischoff to fire him. He’s stealing a lot from Cactus Jack’s run in ECW here, right down to the t-shirt style
Cage Match: Dean Malenko v Curt Hennig: Curt attacks as Malenko climbs into the cage, and he unloads on him. Malenko fights him off with a drop-toehold, so Curt triggers a slugfest, and goes to the eyes to win it. Curt adds a turnbuckle smash, but wastes time trying to get something from Rick Rude, and Dean side suplexes him. Dean adds a dropkick, so Curt climbs to the ceiling of the cage, but Dean pulls him off. Malenko hammers him in the corner, but misses a charge, and Curt puts the boots to him. Curt goes after Dean’s bad shoulder, as the announcers seem to be having a hard time staying focused here. And I don’t mean in the usual way, where they talk about the main event instead of the match… they’re literally not able to string coherent sentences together. Very odd, my only guess is that someone was passing them notes or talking in their headset, and distracting them. Anyway, this match isn’t very focused either, so. Hennig keeps working him over in dull fashion, staying on the part, but doing nothing interesting with it. An axehandle to the shoulder gets him two, and a kneelift leads to a cross-armbreaker. Dean fights it, so Hennig releases, and chucks him into the cage instead. That’s what you get, Malenko. Dean manages to sweep him down for a catapult into the cage, and Dean tosses him into the steel for payback. Texas cloverleaf, but Hennig has the ropes to block. Corner whip, but Hennig reverses, and delivers a bodyslam on the rebound. That allows Curt to try for a figure four, but Dean sends him into the cage to block. He gets the Cloverleaf on, but the referee is down, and Rude is able to break into the cage. He beats Malenko down, but the referee wakes up, and disqualifies Curt at 12:18. Boy, I could have forgiven how insanely dull this was if it actually built to a great finish, but there’s really no justifying a DQ in a cage match. It’s just not possible. So afterwards, Hennig and Rude try to smash the cage door shut on Malenko’s head, but Arn Anderson makes the save to a big pop! ½*
WCW World Title Match: Bill Goldberg v Scott Putski: Yep, Scott Putski got a world title shot. What a world we lived in. Spear, jackhammer, 0:49. DUD
Nitro Girls
Diamond Dallas Page and Roddy Piper v Sting and Lex Luger: Page and Luger start, but Piper quickly comes in to slug it out with Lex. Back to Page with a side suplex for two, but a clothesline misses, and Luger rebounds with one of his own. Tag to Sting for a bulldog, and an inverted atomic drop follows. Sting with a jumping DDT, but a uranage gets countered with a DDT for two. Lex comes in to attack, so Piper responds in kind, and everyone brawls. The crowd immediately ignores the match to look toward the entrance to see who will run in, and cue Kevin Nash to post Piper on the outside, then nail Page for the DQ at 4:17. This was just treading water until the finish. DUD
nWo Hollywood are back out, and Hogan wants Warrior to face Giant, right here in the cage, if he’s feeling so tough. The ring fills with smoke, and suddenly Giant is flat on his back, while Warrior is sitting calmly in a chair. Warrior picks up the chair and stalks Hogan, and Hulk has nowhere to run, since they are in a cage. Both guys square off while holding chairs, and Hulk gets a shot off, but Warrior no sells. Bischoff hustles out with a key to unlock the door, allowing Hogan to bail, and that’s just kind of the end of the segment. The Warrior stuff continues to be underwhelming
BUExperience: There wasn’t really any good wrestling, or even any major developments, but this was a very watchable episode. Though many of the storylines regularly feel like they’re going off the rails, it also feels like everyone has something to do, and a direction - even if the direction isn’t always clearly defined.
Monday Night Wars Rating Chart
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