Original Airdate: September 21, 1998
From Boston, Massachusetts; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Mike Tenay, with Larry Zbyszko (first half) and Bobby Heenan (second half)
Backstage, Scott Hall arrives at the building, and chews out security since, somehow, his car is all wrecked outside. Somehow. “It’ll be easy to find, Doug, it’s the one that’s wrecked.” I hate this angle, but this little skit was very funny
Nitro Girls
The ring fills with smoke, and when it clears, Disciple is left face down in the ring. That draws nWo Hollywood out, but as soon as they enter the ring, and smoke returns, and Disciple disappears when it dissipates. Scott Steiner is so concerned that he stops to flex a little. So then Warrior appears in the rafters, and threatens Hollywood Hogan by telling him that he’ll be taking everything Hulk holds dear, with Disciple just being the first step. As long as he doesn’t take Hogan’s bags, I guess, because that would negate the Disciple loss
Fit Finlay v Barry Darsow: Some guys in the crowd have a four piece sign reading ‘Nitro Girls/Please/Rape/Us!’ which is dumb enough to begin with, but thankfully they didn’t mix up the order of those. Or, well, that’s me being optimistic assuming that stupidity was the correct order, because, let’s face it, if you’re cool with holding up a big sign that has nothing but the word ‘RAPE’ written on it in giant letters, I don’t have a lot of confidence in your ability to do anything. I’m curious to see if they get taken away. They’re also not well coordinated, and three of the guys put theirs down too early, and yes, we have ‘RAPE’ displayed on its own. So wonderful. Anyway, the match. Darsow works the arm early, but Fit clobbers him, and throws some uppercuts. Darsow fights back and tries a piledriver, but Fit backdrops him, and hits a tombstone at 3:46. ¼*
Wrath v Nick Dinsmore: They replay almost the full nWo/Warrior segment before the match here, which is kind of nuts, considering it happened all of five minutes ago. Why not just play it on a loop? Wrath with the pump-handle slam at 2:09. DUD
Bill Goldberg/Diamond Dallas Page video package, hyping their title match at Halloween Havoc. I get that it was a branding thing, but them continually referring to it as the ‘WCW/nWo world title’ drives me nuts
Rick Steiner v Rick Fuller: Steiner fights off some fury from Fuller, and quickly wraps it up with a flying bulldog at 0:56. Afterwards, Steiner cuts a nothing promo on Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell, mostly calling them ‘girls.’ And then that weird laughter is heard again to close the segment. DUD
Hollywood Hogan leads the nWo back out, and Hulk demands Warrior return Disciple right now. Gosh dude, just carry your own bags already! Most of them have wheels, it’s not that big of a deal. Warrior then appears, and lures Hulk into chasing him into the back, where Hogan discovers the Warrior symbol burning in his dressing room. Hollywood finds Disciple on the ground in there (sprawled out in front of the toilet, probably not an uncommon sign in a wrestler’s locker room in the 80s), but then the bathroom fills with smoke (in a terrible bit of F/X, where you can see a guy spraying the smoke out of a fire extinguisher), and Disciple disappears. Did they learn nothing from the Black Scorpion debacle?
Raven and Kanyon v Villano IV and Villano V: Raven is pissed about losing the rest of his Flock, and attacks the kick start the match. They get hold of IV, and hit him with a powerbomb/neckbreaker combo, and it looks like he’s legitimately fucked up, because Raven starts talking to him, and the referee eventually just stops the match at 0:51. And, indeed, he was legitimately hurt, and was out of action for a while after this. It’s odd how much they focus the camera on this, instead of just cutting to something else. Usually they don’t do that unless it’s an angle, which this wasn’t. He’s able to eventually walk out on his own, and he’d even work a couple more matches, before having to take a break until well into 1999. DUD
Earlier today, Disco Inferno had some trouble making weight ahead of his WCW Cruiserweight title match scheduled for tonight
Diamond Dallas Page v Alex Wright: Wright cuts an anti-USA promo before the match, drawing the most heat he’s ever had in the process. Alex kick starts the bout, and he puts the boots to Dallas in the corner. Wright with some chops, and a cross corner whip allows him a dropkick on the rebound. Wright with a missile dropkick (with some insane elevation on it), and he takes Dallas into the corner for a series of uppercuts. Cross corner whip, but Page reverses. Dallas tries a side suplex, but Wright blocks, so Page just kills him with the Diamond Cutter at 1:26. This was too short to be worth much. Afterwards, Gene Okerlund comes out to discuss Halloween Havoc, and Page is all, ‘well, Goldberg’s never lost… but neither have I, because I always stay positive after someone beats me!’ Uh… yeah… that’s… that’s not how that works in a competitive sport. ½*
Nitro Party video. Some asshole actually cosplays as Disco
Nitro Girls. What was up with Larry perving on AC Jazz every week? It’s getting creepy. Do we need to get him one of the signs?
Ernest Miller v Lenny Lane: Lane takes the offer to forfeit, but then Miller decides to kick his ass anyway. He takes his head off with a roundhouse kick, then a superkick, as Scott Hall stumbles out. Miller works a chinlock, as Dusty Rhodes comes out to try and talk some sense to a drunk Hall. Miller with another roundhouse kick at 2:47. This wasn’t really a match, it was just background for the Hall stuff. DUD
Backstage, Disco is working out, trying to make weight
Saturn v Jerry Flynn: We hear the creepy laughter again before the bell here. It would be hilarious if this led to Ted DiBiase’s return. Which sadly it did not. Update: the ‘RAPE’ sign is still unconfiscated, and apparently it’s two sided, with the other side reading ‘I’m sexy,’ with arrows pointing down at the holder. Saturn puts him through a table, before using the death valley driver to finish at 6:03. This was really long for what it was, and for what it needed to be. ¼*
Jericho-holics Anonymous t-shirt ad. This has a very ECW vibe to it
Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell are out, and are fuming about Bret Hart trying to quit the nWo. They demand that Bret come out and explain himself, and when Hart does, they immediately attack his bad leg. They double team for a bit, until Sting comes out to make the save. And then, as the heels are retreating up the aisle, Rick Steiner comes out to attack, and he brawls with Scott to end the segment. This was a solid segment
WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Billy Kidman v Disco Inferno: Disco has made weight, so this is for the title, though he’s looking pretty gassed as the bell sounds. That allows Kidman to nail him with a dropkick for two right away, and a slingshot legdrop gets the champion another two. Kidman puts the boots to him in the corner, and a cross corner whip allows Billy a clothesline for two on the rebound. Disco rakes the eyes to buy time, and he capitalizes with a turnbuckle smash. Disco grabs a standing headlock, but Kidman forces a criss cross, and Disco falls on his face since he’s so tired from all the cardio he needed to do to make weight. That allows Billy to cover for two, so Disco bails to regroup. Kidman is on him with a plancha, and Billy uses a slingshot headscissors for two on the way back in. Kidman with a snapmare into a chinlock, but Disco escapes, so Kidman throws a knee to keep control. Kidman with a bodyslam to set up a 2nd rope legdrop for two, but a charge in the corner hits a boot, and Disco takes over. Kidman fights him off and delivers a flying splash for two, as Lodi wanders out. He pleads with Kidman to come help him find Raven, and that distraction allows Disco a piledriver for two, and a fistdrop is worth another two. Disco with a 2nd rope pointed elbowdrop, but Billy dodges, and capitalizes with a bulldog for two. Backdrop, but Disco counters to a swinging neckbreaker for two. Powerbomb, but Kidman counters to a facebuster for two, so Disco hits him with an inverted atomic drop. Clothesline, but Kidman ducks, and uses a sitout spinebuster to set up the flying shooting star press at 10:14. They had some flow issues early on, but they just kept going and going with it until they made it true. Great job with the nearfalls, and points to Disco for doing a nice job selling the fatigue, too. ** ½
Nitro Girls
Horsemen bumper
Chavo Guerrero Jr v Konnan: Hey, Chavo! Where’s he been? He tries to join the nWo Wolfpac before the bell, but Konnan responds by clotheslining him down. Chavo ends up on the outside to regroup with Pepe, and manages to hammer Konnan down after coming back in, but Konnan gets him in a mat-based abdominal stretch. Chavo escapes, and grabs a chinlock, but Konnan escapes, so Chavo throws a leg lariat at him. Chavo goes to a bow-and-arrow, but they spill to the outside, and Konnan bulldogs him for two on the way back in. Konnan with a sitout facebuster for two, and the cradle DDT leads to the tequila sunrise at 10:30. Pretty low key. ½*
Dean Malenko ‘Eyes of Ice’ t-shirt ad. They were really upping the ante with their merchandise and marketing around this period
Eric Bischoff is out, and why does he constantly have Miss Elizabeth with him all the time recently? They never really explained it within the storyline, she’s just kind of there with him all the time now. Eric talks shit about Ric Flair, which draws the Four Horsemen out, and this is actually a great group. It would have been huge in a different era. They get roadblocked in the aisle by security, but Eric runs his mouth a little too much, and they end up stepping aside after he insults them. They meet Eric in the ring, and Flair is right in his element cutting a promo on him here. Bischoff begs Flair to take a swing, but Ric doesn’t take the bait because he ‘doesn’t have another two millions bucks.’ Yeah, believable. Flair cut one of the best promos he’s done in years here, maybe even one of his best ever. Everyone remembers the one from the week before, but this one was much better
Halloween Havoc ad
Kevin Nash and Lex Luger v Giant and Stevie Ray: Lex and Stevie start, and Luger grabs a side-headlock, as Scott Hall stumbles out to the announce position. He doesn’t get why everyone wants to see him fight Nash, but he’s up to do it right here tonight, if people would stop getting in his way. Lex stomps Ray down in the corner, but Ray fights back with a bodyslam. Elbowdrop, but Luger dodges, as Hall wanders down to ringside. Everyone just kind of stops to see what he’s doing, and he throws the referee out as he comes into the ring, giving us a no contest at 3:15 of nothing. So Nash comes in and wants to give Hall his match, but Scott is so drunk that he misses a swing. Kevin tries to help him up, but Giant misreads it as an attack, and goes after him, until Luger clears the ring with a chair. This was terrible, both as a match, and as a segment. You know it’s bad when even as a kid I hated this angle, long before I’d even had a drink, let alone understood what alcoholism is. DUD
Hollywood Hogan is out again, demanding Warrior. Warrior comes out, but now he’s backed up by Disciple, who apparently has been brainwashed. I hope he didn’t use too much soap. Anyway, we’re treating this as a major development and cliffhanger
BUExperience: Boy, a lot of squashes this week. And the other matches weren’t exactly high profile, either. I can understand why they lost a huge chunk of their audience from the week before here - even though RAW ended up with the same rating as the week before. The Horsemen/Bischoff segment was excellent, though.
RAW was a bad show on the other channel as well, but I’d give them a very slight edge this week. A bad night of wrestling on both sides of the aisle, though.
Monday Night Wars Rating Chart
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