Original Airdate: December 7, 1998
From Houston, Texas; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Mike Tenay, with Larry Zbyszko (first half) and Bobby Heenan (second half)
Earlier, just before we went on the air, Scott Steiner beat up Wildcat Willie (the WCW mascot)
Nitro Girls
Scott Steiner is out, and he wants to finish off Scott Hall tonight
Nitro Party video
Nitro Girls
Diamond Dallas Page v Kendall Windham: We’re nearly a half hour into the show (with commercials), good of them to finally get around to a match. And it’s not even like it was one big segment at the top of the show, it was one thing after another, but no actual wrestling. Page nearly puts this away quickly, but Windham throws a mulekick, and adds a clothesline. Page fights back, and lands a discus clothesline, then the Diamond Cutter at 1:59. DUD
Nitro Girl Irish profile video. At least, I’m pretty sure they said ‘Irish.’ The closed captioning said ‘Irish.’ I don’t remember one of the Nitro Girls being called ‘Irish,’ though
Prince Iaukea v Norman Smiley: Smiley wins a reversal sequence early, and a swinging bodyslam puts Prince down. Smiley with a hanging butterfly suplex for two, and a corner whip works, but the charge in does not. That allows Prince a flying cradle for two, and a leg-feed enzuigiri connects. Prince keeps coming with a backdrop, and a Samoan drop sets up a flying splash for two. Bodyslam, but Smiley blocks, and a reversal sequence ends in Norman getting a crossface chickenwing on for the win at 2:55. ¾*
Gene Okerlund brings Eddie Guerrero out, and he’s furious at Rey Mysterio Jr disrespecting the LWO, and will be siccing Silver King on him
Rey Mysterio Jr v Silver King: King lands a clothesline right away, but a pop-up backfires when Rey turns it into a dropkick. A big criss cross allows Rey to dump him to the outside, and Mysterio follows. King sneaks up to the apron, so Rey sends him crashing back to the floor with a rana off, and he tries a wheelbarrow bulldog on the way back in, but King blocks. King with a helicopter powerbomb for two, and a whiplash is worth two. King misses a corner spinkick, allowing Rey to dive off the middle, but he botches whatever he was going for. Rey recovers with a backdrop over the top, and Mysterio dives after him with a somersault plancha. Inside for a charge, but King pops him up, across the turnbuckle. King goes upstairs, but Rey brings him off with a cutter at 3:45. Hard work, though not without sloppiness. *
Backstage, WCW World Champion Bill Goldberg arrives, but is met by Kevin Nash, who promises that Bill’s scheduled non-title match with Bam Bam Bigelow will not happen
Renegade v Wrath: Wrath knocks him around to start, and a corner clothesline connects, followed by a sidewalk slam for two. Wrath dumps him to the outside, as the announcers actually note that Renegade is a former Television champion. I’m actually impressed they bothered. Wrath with a side suplex to set up a trio of elbowdrops, so Renegade tries a handspring backelbow, but gets clobbered. Wrath keeps coming with a shoulderblock, and a pumphandle-slam finishes at 3:27. ¼*
Disco Inferno and Chavo Guerrero Jr v Stevie Ray and Horace: Disco calls Konnan out during the entrances, and announces that Kevin Nash has inducted him into the Wolfpac. Konnan doubts that’s true, but just kind of walks away from it. Chavo and Horace start, and Horace pounds him down in the corner. Horace with a corner clothesline, and he hiptosses Chavo out of the corner. Clothesline, but Chavo ducks, and throws a dropkick. Chavo keeps coming with a springboard bulldog before passing to Disco, who quickly eats a knee. That allows Horace to take Disco into the nWo corner, where Ray is ready with some double teaming. Ray tries a clothesline, but gets ducked, and Disco uses a swinging neckbreaker to set up a 2nd rope pointed elbowdrop for two. Cross corner whip, but Ray reverses, and follows in with a clothesline. Ray dumps him to the outside, where Horace is ready with a clothesline on the floor, and he sends Disco back inside. The nWo cut the ring in half on Disco, but Horace misses a splash, and tags Chavo. Guerrero runs wild, and he lands a tornado DDT on Horace, but Ray saves - Roseanne Barr the door! Disco ends up getting caught in a double team, and a spike piledriver finishes him at 4:17. ½*
Kevin Nash is out, and he reiterates his point that he’s not letting the Goldberg/Bigelow match happen. He can’t risk Goldberg getting hurt, and falling out of their world title match at Starrcade. So, he’ll join the match, and make it a triple threat
Nitro Girls
Saturn v Glacier: Ernest Miller and Sonny Onoo show up after the bell, and tell Saturn that Miller came here to Houston to beat him up tonight, but sadly he hurt his ankle. That distraction allows Glacier to sneak up with a kick, and he unloads more of them in the corner. Saturn slugs back, so Glacier throws a knee, and corner whips him. Glacier with a roundhouse kick on the rebound for two, and a tilt-a-whirl slam connects. Glacier stomps him for two, but Saturn manages a sunset flip for two, so Glacier throws a clothesline to cut him off. Glacier with a bodyslam to set up a rolling legdrop, but Saturn dodges. That allows Saturn to uses a legsweep, and an inverted atomic drop. Saturn with a springboard forearm for two, and a bodyslam sets up a flying elbowdrop for two. Saturn had a great elbow. Miller trips him up as he goes for the kill, and he comes in to continue the attack, but causes a DQ at 4:23. Only, the official saw him miss Saturn and hit Glacier, so Glacier actually gets the DQ win. DUD
Wolfpac t-shirt ad
Lex Luger v Emery Hale: Hale looks like if Bubba Dudley were in shape. I’m surprised to read that Jimmy Hart brought him in, with hopes that he’d work a program with Hulk Hogan. Gosh, that didn’t not work out at all for him. Luger with the torture rack at 4:06. Hale was trying. ¼*
Monday Night Jericho t-shirt ad
Starrcade ad
Chris Jericho v Bobby Duncum Jr: Duncum powers him around to start, and uses a bodyslam ahead of a turnbuckle smash. Jericho tries chops, but Duncum shoulderblocks him. Hiptoss, but Chris blocks, so Duncum simply steamrolls him with a short-clothesline. Another slam, but Jericho counters with a side suplex, and delivers a bodyslam. Jericho goes to the top, but Duncum shoves him off, with Chris taking a bump all the way to the floor. Duncum dives after him, and he tries to power Jericho back into the ring, but Chris snaps his throat across the top rope to block. Jericho with a missile dropkick, and he unloads the chops. Duncum fires back with a big boot, and a bulldog lands for two. Duncum with a cross corner clothesline, and a pump-elbowdrop gets him two. Duncum with a pop-up, and he goes upstairs, but Chris superplexes him off for two. Jericho with a cross corner whip, but Bobby throws a knee to block. Duncum tries a powerbomb, but Chris counters to a leveraged cradle at 5:13. This was pretty solid stuff. **
Starrcade ad
Giant v Scott Putski: Giant quickly chokeslams him at 0:28. Scott Putski: a star just anywhere he goes. Afterwards, Giant threatens DDP… with Christmas puns. DUD
Backstage, Konnan hangs out with the nWo Hollywood referee
Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit v Raven and Kanyon: Raven refuses to come out, so Kanyon refuses to wrestle another handicap match, and says he’ll take on one of them, but on Thunder. Why not right now? Anyway, this leads to the Horsemen beating him up.
Ric Flair/Eric Bischoff feud review video
Okerlund brings Flair out, and he just basically yells out a bunch of old timers’ names, since that’s all he represents now, apparently. Being old. Or ‘tradition’
WCW Television Title Match: Konnan v Booker T: A criss cross allows Booker a spinkick, and he cracks Konnan with a chop. Clothesline, but Konnan ducks, so Booker rebounds with a jumping forearm for two instead. Booker lands a savate kick for two, but Konnan blocks a backdrop, and lands a rolling clothesline. Konnan with a snapmare to set up a seated dropkick, and Booker wisely bails. Konnan follows to the outside, but Booker nails him with a kick. He tries a whip into the guardrail, but Konnan reverses, and pounds on the challenger with forearms. Konnan gets a LeBell lock on as they head back in, as Tony talks about how WCW is going to continue to ‘set the standard’ for well beyond the year 2000. Yeah, about that. It really goes to show how quickly fortunes can rise and fall. Konnan with a bulldog for two, but the telegraphs a backdrop, and Booker delivers an axekick. That draws Stevie Ray out, as Booker keeps trading off with Konnan. Booker with the Harlem sidekick, and he goes upstairs, but Ray comes in to hit Konnan for an intentional DQ at 5:08. Booker threatens his brother, but Ray wants Booker to get good and mad, since he thinks he’s been too soft, and that’s why he couldn’t put Konnan away. Stevie tries recruiting him into the nWo, but Booker brushes it off. ½*
Scott Steiner v Scott Hall: They have over 30,000 on hand here at the Astrodome, which they claim is a record for the city. Yeah, about that. The nWo referee is nowhere to be seen during Steiner’s entrance, and he ends up hopping out - literally tied up - as things get going. That allows Hall to hammer away, and a chokeslam gets him two. Hall with a fallaway slam for two, but Steiner pops up with a clothesline. He stops to threaten the official, allowing Hall to schoolboy for two, so the nWo run in on him for the DQ at 0:58. The attack continues after the bell, until both the Wolfpac and DDP make the save. DUD
Nitro Girls
Gene brings WCW United States Champion Bret Hart out, and Hart thinks that DDP signing to face Giant at Starrcade is kind of a ‘coward’s way out,’ but whatever. I should note that Bret didn’t even get a match for the big show, though that might just have been due to injuries. But, with their booking, who knows
Starrcade ad
Bill Goldberg v Bam Bam Bigelow: The WCW World title is not on the line. Kevin Nash shows up to attack Bigelow before Goldberg makes his entrance, and then Bill runs out and brawls with both guys, so we don’t get a proper match. The crowd shits all over that, and rightly so. They’d spent the entire night hyping this hard, and it’s one thing to pivot if you deliver something better, or that at least advances the storyline in some exciting way. But this didn’t do either, and just came off like a huge letdown.
BUExperience: Not delivering the main event left me with a bad taste in my mouth, though the rest of the show was solid. Neither show stood out this week, let’s call it a push.
Monday Night Wars Rating Chart
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