Original Airdate: December 21, 1998
From St. Louis, Missouri; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Mike Tenay, with Larry Zbyszko (first half) and Bobby Heenan (second half)
Video package highlighting Eric Bischoff’s various misdeeds to open things up
Nitro Girls
Fit Finlay v Scott Putski: They trade wristlocks to start, and feel each other out on the mat. Finlay gets control and works a chinlock, but Putski counters to a hammerlock. Fit gets a bow-and-arrow, but Putski fights him off, and wins a fight on the outside. Putski with a bodyslam to set up an elbowdrop for two on the way back in, and Scott grabs an armbar from there. Fit fights him off, and works the leg, and they spill to the outside for another brawl. Putski gets control, but misses the axehandle sledge, and Fit spikes him with a tombstone at 12:09. This was very long for what it was, and for the level of star power involved. But, the crowd was consistently responding to it, which is more than you can say for even a lot of super hot acts on RAW, who tend to get great reactions for their entrances, and then have dead matches. ¼*
Ric Flair/Eric Bischoff feud review video
Ernest Miller is out, but Santa Claus hits the ring. Miller threatens to dispatch him, but gets suplexed, and Santa is revealed as Saturn in disguise. And they did a hell of a job with the makeup there, it wasn’t super obvious that it was him, even for the TV presentation. Kind of crazy that they’d pay that much attention to detail for this nothing angle, but almost anytime someone is pretending to be Sting, it’s super obvious that it’s a fake
Chavo Guerrero Jr v Kaz Hayashi: Hayashi smacks Pepe off the ringpost, so you know this is going to get serious, and fast. Chavo pounds him down, and a reversal sequence ends in Guerrero delivering a side suplex. Chavo hits a boot on a corner charge, allowing Hayashi to climb to the top for a flying bodypress, but Chavo blocks with a dropkick. Chavo adds a tornado DDT for the pin at 2:39. ¼*
Goldberg/Bam Bam Bigelow feud review
Kevin Nash is out to cut his go-home promo on Goldberg, comparing his run with the WWF Title to Bill’s run with the WCW belt. Yeah, not sure that’s something I’d want to bring up
Nitro Girls, featuring the debut of the future Sharmell (Booker T’s wife)
Gene Okerlund brings Raven and Kanyon out, and Kanyon makes fun of him for being a mama’s boy. Raven slugs him, so Raven’s mom runs out, wanting to take him home so he can get medical help in Palm Beach. Boy, this first hour was almost wall-to-wall talking
Bischoff is out to mock Ric Flair, but as he talks, we see that the Horsemen are attacking Scott Norton in the back. And even in a four-on-one backstage attack, Scott still barely sells. Flair then rushes the ring, and the pop is enormous, of course. He chases Eric to the back, and he’s definitely not looking like a dude who just had a cardiac episode a week before. Or, you know, maybe Ric Flair just doesn’t make very good decisions
Giant/Diamond Dallas Page/Bret Hart feud review video. They did a decent job of shoehorning Giant into this, to cover for Bret’s injury
Wrath v Lizmark Jr: Lizmark tries some fireworks, but Wrath shrugs them off, and… works a chinlock. Maybe we need to stop blaming Kevin Nash for Wrath never breaking through as a top star. Wrath with a uranage, then a shoulderblock, ahead of the pumphandle-slam at 3:43. Someone order the squash? DUD
Nitro Girls
Nitro Party video. Some dude legit DDT’d his friend in a bowling alley here. At least, I hope it was a friend
Eddie Guerrero v Rey Mysterio Jr: Eddie’s goal is to mess Rey up ahead of his shot at the WCW Cruiserweight title at Starrcade. A criss cross goes Rey’s way with a monkey flip, and he uses a dropkick to send Guerrero over the top. Rey tries a dive, but Eddie sends him into the guardrail to block, in a great looking bump. Rey they takes another eye catching bump into the steps, and Guerrero uses a slingshot somersault senton splash on the way back in. Eddie with a saito suplex for two, and he slaps on a gory special. Eddie then helicopters it into a neckbreaker, and he stretches Rey in a surfboard sharpshooter from there. The announcers are discussing the broad angle here, but not giving near enough attention to what’s going on in the ring. And then they move on to talking about other angles, to make it worse. Guerrero tries a suplex, but Rey reverses him over the top, and both men are left down out there. Guerrero is up first, and whips Rey into the rail, before taking it back inside. Eddie with a rana off the top for two, and he slaps on a camel clutch from there. He tears at the mask, and nearly exposes Mysterio. Eddie unloads on him in the corner, and a German suplex drops him right on his neck. Ugly. Eddie with a dropkick to the shoulderblades, so Rey throws some kicks to try and buy time, but Guerrero rakes the eyes. Guerrero with a bootrake, but Rey comes back with a headscissors to dump Eddie to the outside. Rey wants to dive, but his bad knee acts up, and Guerrero clips it to capitalize. Eddie goes to work on the part, but Rey manages a victory roll for two - reversed by Eddie for two. Guerrero stays on him with a hanging vertical suplex to set up a flying somersault senton splash, but Rey dodges. Guerrero still manages to get up first with a clothesline, and he hangs Rey in a tree of woe for more abuse. Guerrero misses a baseball slide and ends up crotched on the post, and Rey recovers with a flying bodypress on the floor once Eddie is up. Rey rolls him in for a springboard flying dropkick, but Guerrero sidesteps. That allows Eddie a cravat cradle for two, and he rattles Rey with a turnbuckle smash, before pounding him in the corner. Rey returns fire, but a cross corner whip gets reversed. Eddie charges in, but Rey alley-oops him into the corner to block, and uses a rocker dropper. Rey with a flying headscissors to send Guerrero back to the outside, and Rey uses a baseball slide into a headscissors on the floor! Rey with a springboard flying somersault seated senton for two, but Eddie reverses the cradle for two, and hits a flapjack. Eddie with a powerbomb for two, but Rey blocks a second use, and uses a headscissor takedown for two. A reversal sequence ends in the referee getting bumped, and Guerrero hits a dazed Mysterio with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Cue the LWO, but the interference backfires. That allows Rey a springboard flying sitout facebuster, but there’s no referee. Billy Kidman is out to back up Rey, but a swing at Guerrero accidentally hits Mysterio, and Guerrero schoolboys at 15:21! The finish was a little too overbooked for my tastes, but I get that they’re building to a pay per view with this TV match, so I can’t really fault it. And what an incredible match, too. Both guys were going hard here the entire time, and doing a lot of unique stuff, without being repetitive. I honestly enjoyed this more than some of their more famous and high profile outings, and didn’t want it to end. **** ¼
Goldberg hype video
Scott Steiner is out, and introduces hometown favorite Mark McGwire. Of course, it’s Buff Bagwell in costume. I can’t believe the crowd actually bought Scott’s bullshit for even a second. Scott notes that he’s one of Mark’s biggest fans, and yeah, duh. They then outright accuse Mark of doping, and they burn his jersey. Or, well, they try to, but they can’t get it to light. So then Buff just stomps it instead. This wasn’t a good TV segment, but I could see it being a good dark segment for cheap heat with the live crowd
Prince Iaukea v Norman Smiley: Prince is fired up at the bell, and schoolboys for two, before Norman tags him with a backelbow. Smiley with some chops, and he stops to do lots of dancing. How does that make him a babyface, but makes Alex Wright or Disco Inferno a heel? Crowds are so fickle. Prince with a Samoan drop for two to break up MTV Spring Break, so Smiley tries for a crossface chickenwing, but Prince blocks. Prince tries a whip into the ropes, but Smiley counters to the chickenwing at 1:47. DUD
Barry Windham v Van Hammer: Barry dominates in the corner early on, and he delivers a vertical suplex, before Ric Flair attacks him for the DQ at 0:39. Ric tunes him up as the crowd goes wild, so the nWo run out, but the Horsemen cut them off at the pass! Funny moment here, as they brawl into the section of the large dome hosting this show that’s been cordoned off, and it quickly turns into an empty arena match. A bunch of nWO guys end up getting arrested, but Flair and Arn Anderson manage to peel away. They go back to the ring, and Ric cuts a fiery go-home promo for Starrcade. That draws Bischoff out again, so Flair lunges for him, but officials get in between them before they can engage. Huge brawl, huge heat, great promo, great segment! DUD
Booker T v Jerry Flynn: This will be a big cooldown after that last segment. Booker puts this away at 2:19. Not a major piece of business, but all it needed to be to bring the crowd back down to earth after the previous segment. DUD
Lex Luger v Kenny Kaos: Kaos doesn’t have a tag belt with him this week, and I’m still honestly not sure what the status of the title is at this point. I guess it depends on whether Judy Bagwell was getting her hair done that week. Luger with the torture rack at 3:33, following a random distraction by Robbie Rage, despite Luger already gearing up for the rack before he ever showed up. DUD
Nitro Girls
WCW Television Title Match: Konnan v Alex Wright: Disco Inferno is out ‘with’ Konnan, but Konnan tells him to get lost, so Disco offers to take it to Kevin Nash together after the match. Alex dominates with a few holds and takedowns early, but Konnan hooks him in a cradle for two - reversed by Wright for two. Konnan manages an armdrag to send Wright to the outside, and Alex teases walking out, before ultimately getting back inside. Alex gets Konnan down and uses the champ’s necklace to choke him, which is fair game, if you ask me. There was a reason Razor Ramon always took his shit off before the bell. Wright works a toehold, but Konnan escapes, and lands a seated dropkick for two. A rolling clothesline gets another two, and Konnan grounds his challengers in a keylock. Konnan with a sitout facebuster and the tequila sunrise at 8:01. He’s got an over hook, but the TV title feels wasted on Konnan. Afterwards, Wright throws a tantrum, like Chris Jericho’s gimmick a while back. And, speaking of Jericho, Chris sneaks up and attacks Konnan with the title belt while Konnan is distracted by Alex’s flip out - then steals the belt to end the segment. ¼*
Disco is back out, and since Konnan is too beat up to go and take it to Nash, Disco wants to prove his right to the colors by making an open challenge to any member of the nWo. That draws Giant out, and we’re on…
Giant v Disco Inferno: Disco tries to throw down with the big man, and it goes very badly, very quickly. Giant toys with him for a bit, but a clothesline misses. That allows Disco to try for the jawbreaker, but Giant casually blocks, and hits the chokeslam at 2:57. Afterwards, Giant cuts a promo on Diamond Dallas Page, but that draws DDP out in the crowd to respond, giving us a little push for the Starrcade match. DUD
Bill Goldberg v Scott Hall: The WCW World title is not on the line here. Goldberg pushes him around at the bell, so Hall goes for the arm, but Bill shrugs it off. Hall grabs a standing side-headlock, but Goldberg whips him into the ropes for a shoulderblock, as Kevin Nash makes his way out. Goldberg responds by hitting Hall with a front-powerslam, but he goes to jaw at Nash, and Scott attacks. Hall with a ropechoke, and a fallaway slam follows, but Bill pops up. Goldberg hits the spear, so Nash pulls Hall out of the ring before Bill can try for the jackhammer. And, just then, Bam Bam Bigelow hits the ring to attack Goldberg for the DQ anyway at 2:55. DUD
BUExperience: Both shows were very good this week. Nitro did a great job of hyping Starrcade, and had easily the best match of the night, by far. Hell, it was the best match in Nitro’s entire history to that point (and maybe ever). The rest of the actual wrestling wasn’t good at all, but the angles generally were, especially the Flair/Bischoff stuff.
Call it a push this week.
Monday Night Wars Rating Chart
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