Original Airdate: October 26, 1998
From Phoenix, Arizona; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Mike Tenay, with Larry Zbyszko (first half) and Bobby Heenan (second half)
Nitro Girls
Stevie Ray v Kenny Kaos: Ray dumps him to the outside for a trip into the guardrail right away, and he delivers a big boot on the way back inside. Ray with a bodyslam to set up an elbowdrop, but Kaos dodges. Kaos tries a cross corner whip, but Ray reverses, only to miss a charge in. That allows Kaos a flying shoulderblock for two, as Buff Bagwell runs out. He passes Stevie the slapjack, and he knocks Kaos silly, then hits a butterfly piledriver at 2:03. Afterwards, the heels attempt a beat down, but Rick Steiner makes the save. And then Rick randomly asks Kaos if he’d like to be his partner, and co-tag champion. Quite the vetting process. DUD
Prince Iaukea v Kanyon: Kanyon kick starts the bout, but he gloats, and Prince catches him with a dropkick. Prince with a 2nd rope sunset flip for two, but a hiptoss is countered into a swinging neckbreaker for two. Kanyon goes to a headlock from there, but Prince fights free, and dumps Kanyon over the top with a successful hiptoss. Prince is on him with a springboard dive, but Kanyon sidesteps, and Prince wipes out. Kanyon tries a piledriver on the steps, but Prince counters with a backdrop on the floor, and a springboard flying somersault senton gets him two on the way back in. Prince with a backdrop driver, but a reversal sequence ends in Kanyon delivering a reverse STO at 3:11. Prince was working really hard here. *
Gene Okerlund brings the Four Horsemen out, but before they can say much, Eric Bischoff is out. He claims to have seen the light, and is ready to reinstate Ric Flair, agreeing to let him wrestle again, starting right here tonight
Nitro Party video
Alex Wright v Barry Horowitz: I’m still a little staggered that Horowitz showed up in WCW at this point in his career. Of all the guys to make the jump, obviously his move didn’t draw a lot of fanfare, but I’m surprised WCW even bothered. Wright with a neckbreaker at 2:47. ¼*
Wrath v Sick Boy: Boy stupidly gives up the high ground, and gets stomped as the bell sounds. Boy manages a spinheel kick, but Wrath kind of shrugs it off, and unloads in the corner. Wrath with a biel, and he grounds Boy in a chinlock from there. Wrath dumps him to the outside, then back in with a slingshot shoulderblock for two. Wrath with a slam for two, and a corner whip follows, but Boy blocks the charge in. Boy with a neckbreaker, but Wrath pops up, and delivers a jumping shoulderblock. He adds a pumphandle-slam, and we’re done at 2:41. Even though this was a squash lengthy match, it wasn’t a square performance. Wrath took too long getting it done here, and wasn’t as destructive as he should have been. DUD
WCW World Title Match: Bill Goldberg v Diamond Dallas Page: From Halloween Havoc in Las Vegas Nevada on October 25. Posturing to start, and Goldberg gets control with a cross-armbreaker. Page escapes, and tries the Diamond Cutter, but Bill blocks, and Page ends up on the outside. Back in, Page regroups with a hammerlock, but Goldberg overpowers him, and knocks him to the outside with a shoulderblock. Page hustles back in to keep taking it to him, and delivers a swinging neckbreaker. A Russian legsweep gets him two, and he latches on with a front-facelock. Bill fights it off, and slams him, then hits a sidewalk slam for two. Back to the armbreaker, but Page gets into the ropes. Goldberg tries a superkick, but misses, so he tries a spear, but that misses too, and the champ ends up on the outside. DDP with a flying clothesline for two, and a floatover DDT follows. Goldberg pops back up with the spear, but Dallas counters the Jackhammer with the Diamond Cutter! Cover, count, but Goldberg gets a shoulder up at two. Page tries a vertical suplex, but Goldberg counters to the Jackhammer at 10:28. Everybody (myself included) lost their minds over this one back in 1998, mostly because it was so much different and more ‘complete’ than any other Goldberg match that came before it. But looking at it today, it’s just an okay match, nothing special, and certainly not a blowaway. It worked as the main event. * ½
Okerlund visits Kevin Nash’s dressing room, wanting to know why he walked out of the match against Scott Hall without going for the pinfall at Havoc. Before Nash can say anything, Hall walks in, looking lowkey, and contrite. They shake hands, but as soon as they do, Giant shows up, and works with Hall to beat the hell out of Nash
Nitro Girls hype video
Nitro Girls
nWo Hollywood are out, officially welcoming Horace into the group, following his assist in Hollywood Hogan defeating Warrior last night. And that’s it
Eddie Guerrero v Saturn: They feel each other out early, with Eddie in control. Saturn escapes an armbar with an overhead suplex, and both guys regroup. Saturn tries a headlock, but Eddie immediately forces a criss cross, though he gets hit with a shoulderblock. Eddie throws a dropkick at the leg to take Saturn down, and Guerrero works the part. Eddie with a slingshot somersault senton splash on the leg, and he unloads in the corner for a bit. Into the ropes, but Saturn manages a powerslam, so Eddie dropkicks the leg again before Saturn can follow up. Cross corner whip, but Saturn reverses. He tries a press-slam on the rebound, but the knee gives out, and Eddie escapes. Eddie tries a wheelbarrow bulldog, but gets countered with a wheelbarrow facebuster for two. Eddie tries a tornado DDT, but Saturn counters with a bridging northern lights suplex for two. Falcon arrow, but Eddie counters to a rollup for two. A reversal sequence ends in Saturn suplexing him, and he lands the falcon arrow on the second go. That allows Saturn to try for the death valley driver, but the LWO run in on him to draw the DQ at 4:40. Good back-and-forth action, though capped by a weak finish. Afterwards, we get a full LWO beatdown. * ¼
Okerlund brings Judy Bagwell out, and she’s just as mad as everyone else about how Buff has been behaving. I sincerely hope that this starts a trend where we check in with everyone’s mom to see how they feel about things
WCW World Tag Team Title Match: Rick Steiner and Kenny Kaos v Giant and Stevie Ray: Tenay claims, without a hint of irony, that ‘people’ have been saying that High Voltage are the Steiner Brothers of the late 90s. Kaos and Ray start, and Kaos dominates, indeed looking like he’s trying to work like a younger Scott Steiner. A cheap shot from Giant allows Stevie a superkick, and Ray adds an inverted atomic drop. The challengers work Kaos over, but he manages to tag Rick while in a bearhug from Giant. Rick runs wild, but gets avalanched in the corner, and why are they doing this in the home corner, not the neutral? Are they trying to make Kaos look like even more of a dork? The heels go to work on Rick, so Kaos comes in, and Roseanne Barr the door. Rick gets to the top, and dives at Stevie with a flying bulldog at 3:17. Nothing to this, just establishing Steiner and Kaos as a team. ¼*
Bischoff is back out, ready to let Ric Flair wrestle, as promised. But, instead of a live match, he airs clips of Hogan beating him at Bash at the Beach ‘94, and then laughs about it
WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Billy Kidman v Juventud Guerrera: A criss cross to start, won by Guerrera with a headscissor takedown. A nice sequence there. Guerrera with a series of turnbuckle smashes, but a trip to the top is followed up by Billy. Guerrera blocks a superplex, and the challenger dives with a flying headscissors for two. Guerrera with a brainbuster for two, and he grabs a chinlock, but gets reversed into the corner. Guerrera blocks the follow up, and hooks a rollup for two, but Kidman gets him with a side suplex. A reversal sequence sees Guerrera land a rocker dropper for two, but another headscissors gets countered to a wheelbarrow suplex for two. Vertical suplex, but Guerrera blocks, and hits a wheelbarrow bulldog for two. Guerrera with a flying bodypress for two, but a second one gets blocked with a dropkick. That allows the champion to go up, but Guerrera crotches him before he can dive. Guerrera brings him off the top with a rana for two, but a powerbomb gets countered with a sitout spinebuster. That allows Kidman to go up, and the flying shooting star press retains at 5:52. The match flow wasn’t particularly smooth, but the overall effort was strong. ** ½
Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell are out to gloat about the ruse they pulled on Rick Steiner the night before, which seems like a pretty silly thing to gloat about, considering it resulted in losing the tag title. They call JJ Dillon out, and want JJ to sanction a rematch, since the referee who counted the fall at Havoc wasn’t the assigned official. Dillon blows them off, so they attack, and deliver a beat down
Warrior is out, and he’s acting like he won the match with Hulk last night. That draws Hogan out, but the nWo prevent him from getting in. Horace goes in instead, but Warrior fights him off, so Giant gives it a go. Warrior fights him off as well, but while he has his back turned, Hollywood jumps him. Hulk gets a few shots in, but Warrior fights him off, and clears the ring. I’m not sure what the point of this was. Were they planning to do another Hogan match, which got scrapped?
Lex Luger and Konnan v Scott Steiner and Scott Hall: Stuff like this kills me with WCW during this period. Steiner just beat up the commissioner of the promotion two segments ago, and now he’s out here working a match, like nothing happened. If you’re going to book something like that, and then just have him come out and have a match ten minutes later like it’s nothing, it negates the whole deal. How is he not suspended, or something? Everyone brawls right away, and spill to the outside. All four guys brawl up the aisle, and inside, Lex gets a chair to beat on Hall with. Luger gets the torture rack on, but Steiner breaks it up, and we go to commercial break, with no finish seen or announced at 4:29. Um, okay then. DUD
WCW United States Title Match: Bret Hart v Diamond Dallas Page: Posturing to start, and Hart hooks a rollup for two as they size each other up. Dallas grabs a hammerlock, but Hart reverses, and hooks the ankle to take it down to the mat. Even a bored, diminished Bret Hart is still better than most guys. Page counters to a schoolboy for two, so Bret backs off to break the momentum. Dallas grabs a standing side-headlock as they engage, but Hart forces a criss cross. Page wins it with a swinging neckbreaker for two, and he corners Hart for a ten-punch, but Bret shakes him off with a hotshot on the top turnbuckle. Hart with a headbutt drop to the groin, and he unloads on his challenger in the corner. Hart with a Russian legsweep for two, and he grounds Dallas in a chinlock from there. DDP slugs free, so Hart drops him with a DDT for two. Bret argues the count, allowing Dallas to recover, and the challenger goes on the comeback trail. A pancake piledriver gets Page two, but a trip to the top ends in Dallas getting crotched. That allows Bret a vertical superplex for two, but Page hooks a small package for two. Bret takes him into the corner to pound, and a cross corner whip works, but the charge in doesn’t. That allows Page a schoolboy for two, but Hart delivers a backbreaker to cut him off. Hart adds a 2nd rope pointed elbowdrop for two (with great timing from Page on the kickout), but Dallas counters a suplex into a takedown for two. Bret decks him to try holding off a comeback, but Page manages a chincrusher to buy more time. That allows Dallas a series of turnbuckle smashes, so Hart goes low with a mulekick - so powerful that it takes both DDP and the referee out! Hart pulls a weapon out, but misses a swing at Page, and Dallas hits the Diamond Cutter at 10:46. Hart wasn’t having the best matches of his career during this period, to say the least, but he was putting in a real effort here. Afterwards, Bret attacks Page with a chair, destroying the new champ’s knee, until Bill Goldberg makes the save. ** ¼
BUExperience: This episode drew Nitro’s highest rating for the remainder of the show’s existence, and not only that, but Nitro would never win another week against RAW from here on. Much of the ratings power came from replaying the Halloween Havoc main event in full (as a make good, after the show ran long, and a large chunk of pay per view buyers didn’t get to see the match), which ‘cheapens’ the win, perhaps.
Either way, it’s a decent enough episode, though too long, and still can’t match the fire in RAW’s belly.
Monday Night Wars Rating Chart
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