Original Airdate: November 30, 1998
From Chattanooga, Tennessee; Your Host is Tony Schiavone, with Larry Zbyszko (first half) and Bobby Heenan (second half)
Nitro Girls
Outside, nWo Hollywood arrive, and make their way straight into the arena. The talk this week is all about Hollywood Hulk Hogan retiring in order to devote all his attention to running for president, which may have created a power vacuum in the group. Eric Bischoff suggests Scott Steiner is the ‘heir apparent,’ and Steiner sets Scott Hall as their first order of business
WCW Television Title Match: Chris Jericho v Konnan: Konnan dominates early on, throwing the champion around. Konnan blocks a monkey flip and delivers a seated dropkick, then grounds the champion in an armbar. Chris fires back with a hotshot, and a springboard dropkick knocks Konnan to the outside. Jericho is on him with a plancha, and he tosses Konnan into the steps from there. Inside, that gets Chris an arrogant two count, and he keeps Konnan grounded in a chinlock. Chris tries a dive, but lands on a boot, and Konnan uses a rolling clothesline. Konnan adds a bridging fisherman suplex for two, so Jericho throws a chincrusher ahead of a Lionsault for two. Chris with a spinkick into the corner, but a cross corner whip gets blocked, and Konnan whiplashes him for two. A reversal sequence allows Jericho to get the Liontamer on, but Konnan has the ropes. Chris got a pretty good pop for getting the hold on there. Frustrated, Jericho grabs the title belt, but misses a swing, and Konnan delivers a facebuster on the belt for the pin at 7:09. I can't say I understood taking the belt off of Jericho, especially to put on Konnan. Not a knock on Konnan (he was over at this point), but Jericho was really strong, and had a much more complete package than just a big pop for his catchphrases. ½*
Konnan music video
Gene Okerlund brings Ric Flair out, and he’s disappointed at Barry Windham. Because of tradition and shit. He also calls Bischoff out, challenging him to get it on later. Flair is still over huge, but his segments are almost the same thing every time, and nothing ever really develops
Scott Hall is out, and he’ll fight the entire nWo alone, if need be. But, apparently he’s not totally in it alone, as Kevin Nash shows up, and tells him he’ll tag with him against them later
Raven and Kanyon v Scott Armstrong and Steve Armstrong: Raven doesn’t want to participate, and just sort of lounges in the corner as the bell sounds. Kanyon chews him out, allowing the Armstrongs to attack, and fucking Steve is still rocking the Young Pistols gear in 1998. Kanyon fights them off as Raven decides to walk out, and hits Steve with the reverse STO, but wastes time jawing at Raven, and Scott schoolboys at 3:24. This was just background for an angle. DUD
Gene brings Bret Hart out, who will face WCW United States Champion Diamond Dallas Page for that title tonight. Bret claims that DDP took a hit out on him, and paid Dean Malenko to hurt him last week. He’ll still get in the ring tonight, but if he loses, we know why
WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Billy Kidman v Eddie Guerrero: Eddie tries pushing him around, so Kidman throws a dropkick. A criss cross allows Kidman a monkey flip, so Eddie tries backdropping him over the top, but Billy lands on the apron, and rebounds with a slingshot headscissors. Another dropkick sends the challenger to the outside, and Kidman dives with a plancha, but Guerrero catches him, and Kidman tastes the steps. Eddie with a slingshot somersault senton splash on the way back in, and a shoulderbreaker follows, leading to a keylock. Eddie tries a powerbomb, but Billy counters with a facebuster for two, and adds a bulldog to set up mounted punches. Kidman with a sitout spinebuster for two, but a pop-up gets countered with a rana. That allows Eddie a tornado DDT, and he goes upstairs, but Kidman vertical superplexes him off for two. Cross corner whip, but Guerrero reverses, and the referee gets bumped in the process. Kidman manages a rana off the top on his challenger, and he goes up with a dive, but Juventud Guerrera shows up. That distraction prevents him from hitting the move, but here’s Rey Mysterio Jr to nail Eddie with a springboard flying dropkick. That allows Billy to get back to the top, and the flying shooting star press retains at 9:21. Weird bit here, as the timekeeper rang the bell before the count was actually finished. **
Bam Bam Bigelow shows up, seated in the crowd
Bischoff and Barry Windham are out, and they summon Dean Malenko out. Dean joins them, and Eric lays it out: Dean will face Barry tonight. And if Dean can win, Eric will give Flair the match he wants against Bischoff. Oh, and Dusty Rhodes will act as the special guest referee
Nitro Girls
Wrath v Bobby Blaze: Wrath wraps this up with a pumphandle-slam in a brisk 0:27. I assume this was just a squash to give Wrath some mojo back after the loss to Nash last week. DUD
Saturn v Sonny Onoo: Saturn answers Ernest Miller’s open challenge, but Miller gives him (a very reluctant) Onoo instead. Saturn immediately hits him with a falcon arrow, but Miller pulls the referee out at two. That allows Glacier to sneak in with a superkick on Saturn, and he puts Sonny on top… for two. Miller tosses Sonny a chain to finish the job, but Saturn ducks, and hits the death valley driver at 1:13. But then the referee finds the chain, blames it on Saturn, and reverses the decision. This was just silliness, but at least it seemed to be building to something. DUD
Outside, WCW World Champion Bill Goldberg arrives
Okerlund brings Goldberg and Kevin Nash out for the official contract signing for their world title match at Starrcade. They both sign, and part of the contract is that Goldberg cannot defend the belt between now and Starrcade. That’s a nice touch, and something often overlooked with these deals. Before the ink even dries, Bam Bam Bigelow jumps the rail, and tries to get at Goldberg, but security takes him away. This entire angle remains strong, and they’re doing a very good job of making the Starrcade main event a must see
Booker T v Mike Enos: Booker with a savate kick for two after some posturing, but Mike manages a hotshot, and he clotheslines Booker over the top. Mike dives at him from the apron, and he takes Booker in to work a chinlock on. Booker escapes, and lands the axekick, followed by a side suplex. Booker keeps it going with the Harlem sidekick, and a spinebuster finishes at 3:25. DUD
Outside, Bigelow fumes about being ejected
Lex Luger v Brian Adams: Lex dominates a bit at the bell, but gets put down, and held in a nervehold for a while. The announcers, rightly, ignore this terrible match, and talk about anything else. Sadly, ‘anything else’ is Hogan’s bullshit. Lex fights up and makes a comeback, but a forearm smash knocks Adams into the referee, bumping him. That allows Vincent to come in and attack, but Luger fights him off. Meanwhile, Adams has grabbed a chair, and he pops Lex with it. The heels add a spike piledriver on the chair, but it only gets two from the recovering official. That used to put guys on the shelf, what the fuck. Lex with a schoolboy for two, and an inverted atomic drop follows, so Adams goes to the eyes. Vincent tries to bring the chair in again, but it backfires, and Luger gets the torture rack on at 5:04. How did two guys who wrestled, like, four thousand times manage to never find a bit of chemistry together? Like, even by accident. DUD
Nitro Girls
Dean Malenko v Barry Windham: As promised, Dusty Rhodes acts as the special guest referee, and if Dean can win, Ric Flair gets his match with Eric Bischoff. This is Windham’s first WCW match since Slamboree ‘94, and his first as a regular roster member since Beach Blast ‘93. Barry kick starts things, but Dean hangs, and uses a drop-toehold. Windham bails, so Dean chases, but Rhodes gets in his way - allowing Barry a cheap shot. Windham with a gutwrench suplex for two, and he throws an elbow, then takes Dean into the corner to pound. Windham misses a corner charge, allowing Malenko to climb, but Barry knocks him off. Dean hurts his bad leg on the way down, and Windham goes to work on it. The crowd isn’t giving them much here. Windham keeps pounding the leg, until Dusty decides to just stop the match at 3:06. But wait - he’s awarding it to Malenko, apparently disqualifying Windham. That draws an irate Bischoff out to fire him, and the Horsemen quickly follow to give Windham a proper beatdown. Flair wants the match with Bischoff now, but Eric takes off. DUD
The Outsiders v Scott Steiner and Horace: The unnamed nWo Hollywood referee officiates this, for some reason. Scott Hall starts with Horace, and dominates him. Horace manages a short-clothesline to escape a wristlock, and a cross corner clothesline finds the mark. Hiptoss, but Hall counters to a chokeslam, as Schiavone reads a note he’s been passed: Bischoff will face Flair at Starrcade. Tag to Scott Steiner, and he pounds Hall into the corner. Steiner with a clothesline for two, and a tiger bomb gets him another two. Steiner tries a superplex, but Hall blocks, and dives with a 2nd rope bulldog for two. Hall argues the (very slow) count, allowing Steiner to recover with a low blow, and he dumps Hall to the outside for Horace to abuse. Kevin Nash saves, but the damage is done, and Steiner keeps control once Hall is back in. Steiner with mounted punches, and the heels work Hall over. Nash comes in, and runs wild, allowing Hall to grab Horace for the crucifix powerbomb. The referee refuses to count, so Nash powerbombs him. That allows a proper official to slide in, and he counts the pin at 7:24. Huge pop for the finish, but the match was kind of flat. ¼*
Outside, Bigelow is still raging, so Goldberg runs out to give him what he wants. He spears Bam Bam down on the grass, and they brawl around the parking lot for a bit, until security can intervene
WCW United States Title No Disqualification Match: Diamond Dallas Page v Bret Hart: Bret works in street clothes here, looking like John Cena in his t-shirt and jean shorts. Hart manages to pop Page with a mulekick, and he ropeburns him from there. Bret goes to town in the corner, but Dallas turns the tables, and puts the Hitman in a ringpost figure four. That draws Giant out to save, and he press-slams DDP. Giant adds a chokeslam over the referee’s protests, and Hart looks to get the easy pin… but then decides he wants to see Giant chokeslam him again first. That allows Bret the Sharpshooter on a limp Page for the title at 4:14. This was barely a match. DUD
BUExperience: Overall good, but a lot of squash level matches, and while the angles were strong throughout, it couldn’t match RAWs level of excitement.
Monday Night Wars Rating Chart
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