Original Airdate: February 1, 1999
From Minneapolis, Minnesota; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Mike Tenay, with Larry Zbyszko (first half) and Bobby Heenan (second half)
Earlier today, Curt Hennig and Barry Windham arrived (in a Caddy!), ready to get their spot in the (endless; confusing) tag title tournament to stick it in the nWo’s ass
Earlier today, the Nitro Girls were practicing, when Scott Steiner showed up to harass Kimberly. After she, again, rebuffed him, she ended up taking a spill ‘by accident.’ Gosh, it feels like everything was happening ‘earlier today.’ We should just watch that show instead
Gene Okerlund brings Konnan and Rey Mysterio Jr out, and they want a piece of Kevin Nash and Lex Luger. Rey saying that he watched Kevin and Lex wrestled ‘when he was a little boy’ feels like some lowkey shade
Over at the airport, the nWo b-team guys are stranded because all the rental cars are sold out. Does this shit town not have taxis? Stop making excuses, and get your asses to the building already
Nitro Girls. But, without Kimberly, who was hurt on Earlier Today. Tony notes that the Nitro Girls “help us each in every week.” Help you do what, big guy?
Backstage, Ric Flair gives Eric Bischoff his demeaning assignment for the evening: he’ll man a dunk tank for the employees of the building
WCW World Tag Team Title Tournament First Round Match: Curt Hennig and Barry Windham v Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit: We’re pretty deep into this episode (about a half an hour, and seven segments), nice to finally get a match. Hennig and Benoit start, and they posture. Curt with a chop, but Benoit blocks a whip into the ropes, and Chris unloads in the corner. Tag to Malenko for a few turnbuckle smashes, and he takes a turn pounding Hennig in the corner, but runs into a boot on a charge. Curt goes for a hold, but Dean swings with punches to shake him off, and Curt ends up in the wrong part of town. A tandem backelbow gets two, and Chris snap suplexes Curt for two. They spill to the outside, where all four guys slug it out, and inside, Chris cracks Hennig with a chop for two. Back to Malenko with a leg lariat for two, as we see Scott Dickinson in the crowd again this week. The Horsemen work Hennig over, but Benoit misses a baseball slide on the outside, and Curt is finally able to tag out. Windham with a jumping clothesline for two, and a gutwrench suplex is worth two. They cut the ring in half on Benoit, until Dean is able to catch a hot tag, and he runs wild. He delivers a backdrop and a vertical suplex on Windham for two, and then passes back to Benoit, but Chris fails to cut the ring in half. That brings Hennig in to slug it out, but now everyone wants a piece, and Roseanne Barr the door! Windham hits Malenko with a floatover superplex, but they’re not legal so no count. Anyway, Benoit breaks it up with a flying headbutt drop on a covering Windham, but it knocks him loopy as well, and allows legal Curt to deliver a bridging fisherman suplex at 11:03. This was good, classic tag wrestling and had a good finish! Though, with this tournament, any finish is a good finish. ** ¼
Outside, JJ Dillon is the first to lineup to dunk Bischoff
The b-team arrive at the building, and immediately stooge off on Vincent to Kevin Nash, blaming him for the transportation issue. They make their way to the dressing room, which is stocked like a trout pond
Okerlund brings Ric Flair out, and he thinks the nWo is on the ropes. Even ‘Virgil.’ That draws Scott Hall and Disco Inferno out to protest Ric’s decision to make Chris Benoit the top contender for the WCW United States title, and Hall thinks it should be him. That draws Benoit out, and we have a brawl. The Horsemen clean house, and Ric books Hall against Benoit for tonight
Kenny Kaos v Van Hammer: They just kind of kick the can a bit, before Hammer powerslams him at 2:28. As soon as the bell rings, an unnamed guy, wrapped in barbed wire, comes out and attacks Hammer with a kendo stick. He’s the same guy that we saw at Raven’s house a while back, best known as ECW’s Sandman. Sadly, most of the crowd doesn’t seem to have a clue who he is. He calls himself ‘hardcore’ and the ‘king of extreme,’ before calling out Bam Bam Bigelow. DUD
Bam Bam Bigelow v Hak: They still haven’t named him, but humor me. Hak attacks with the kendo as soon as Bam Bam slides into the ring, and he dominates him. Hak with a bulldog on a chair, and he wraps the barbed wire on a turnbuckle pad. He tries whipping Bigelow into it, but gets blocked, so he hits him with the kendo instead. Hak with a slingshot legdrop, but he wastes time playing to the crowd, and Bigelow recovers with a DDT on a chair. Bigelow whips him into the wire, and adds an avalanche on it, before coming off the top with a flying headbutt drop. Bam Bam scoops him up from there, and the over-the-shoulder piledriver finishes at 6:12. Quite the debut for Hak. DUD
Outside, more Eric dunking
Lex Luger and Miss Elizabeth mock Goldberg. Via video package. And Microsoft Word
Nitro Girls Calendar ad
Nitro Girls
Outside, Scott Dickinson shows up to dunk Bischoff
Outside, Diamond Dallas Page arrives at the building, and hears from Billy Kidman what happened to Kimberly. Fuckin’ yenta. Page storms into the Wolfpac’s locker room to find Steiner, but he’s not there, so he cuts a promo on the other guys instead. But it turns out, Scott is in the next room with a naked woman, who may or may not be Kimberly. Kevin Nash deploys Vincent to go and tell Page that Steiner will meet him in a match anytime, and to add a slap to the face to make sure the message gets across. Vincent then immediately delegates the order to Disco
DDP hits the ring, and demands Steiner come out and answer for what happened. Instead, he gets Disco, who tells Page that Scott will see him at SuperBrawl. And then slaps him. That ends very badly for Disco Inferno
Backstage, the Wolfpac applauds Vincent for being smart
Outside, Page rips out of the building in a Cadillac. Looks like the same one Hennig and Windham pulled up in earlier. That, or Cadillac is now the official sponsor of WCW. Which I kind of like, it’ll be like the Sopranos on here
WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Billy Kidman v Lash Leroux: Heenan doesn’t show up for the mid-point change-up, so Larry sticks around. They get right into trading off, and it spills to the outside quickly, with Lash in control. He tries springboarding off of the steps, but Kidman dodges, and Lash takes a spill into the crowd - scaring the shit out of a security guy in the process. Love it. Kidman dives after him, and then hits a flying bodypress for two on the way back in. A reversal sequence ends in Lash hitting a butterfly powerbomb, and he chokes the champion down. Kidman hooks a schoolboy for two, but gets reversed into the ropes, and Lash pop-up flapjacks him. Lash adds a series of jabs and a clothesline, and he grounds Billy in a chinlock from there. Kidman escapes, and tries a flying frogsplash to turn things around, but Lash dodges, and goes back to the mat with a keylock. Lash with an overhead suplex for two, and he takes Billy up for a rana off the top, but takes too long showboating, and Kidman counters with a sitout spinebuster off the middle. Both guys stagger up for a slugfest, and Kidman hits a rebound clothesline for two. A reversal sequence sees Kidman cradle for two, but Lash shoots back with a falcon arrow for two. Side suplex, but Kidman blocks, and bulldogs him for two. Vertical suplex, but Lash blocks, and slams him. Powerbomb, but Kidman counters with a facebuster on the way down, and that allows the champion to go up with a flying shooting star press at 7:46. Good action here, and a great way to introduce Leroux to the bulk of the audience. ** ¼
Outside, we find Heenan, and he’s trying to kiss Bischoff’s ass at the dunk tank, but trips over himself, and ends up accidentally dunking him
Somewhere, WCW World Champion Hollywood Hulk Hogan is riding in his limousine with Chuck Zito
Backstage, Gene catches up with Booker, who is ready to get his career back on track, now that he’s recovered from his injuries
WCW Television Title Match: Scott Steiner v Chris Jericho: Scott uses his power to hammer the challenger, and a press-drop leaves Jericho in trouble. Jericho manages a series of strikes to fight back, and a springboard dropkick knocks Steiner to the outside. Chris follows, but Buff Bagwell is right there to nail him, and Scott whips him into the guardrail. Scott uses a chair out there, then feeds Jericho the post, before letting Buff get another cheap shot in. Jericho manages a flying backelbow on the way back in, but Scott quickly shakes him off, and hits a clothesline. An elbowdrop follows, and a powerbomb is next. A small package gets the champion two, so he grounds Jericho in a chinlock, hammering him with forearms along the way. Into the ropes, but Jericho manages a spinheel kick for two, and he grounds Scott in a bow-and-arrow. Scott escapes, and suplexes for two, but Jericho manages a chincrusher to set up the Lionsault for two. Scott cuts him off, and uses a pumphandle-slam for two, but he telegraphs a backdrop, and Chris superkicks him. Despite being in control, Jericho randomly decides to bail, but here comes Saturn to force him back in. That allows Steiner another suplex, and the camel clutch finishes at 8:54. Steiner was more enthusiastic here than he has been in a while, which was nice to see. I mean, it wasn’t early-90s Scott Steiner, but he was more into the actual wrestling, instead of just the gimmick. The finish was horrendously nonsensical, though. * ¼
Kevin Nash and Lex Luger are out, and they’re game to face Konnan and Mysterio at SuperBrawl IX - with Rey’s mask against Miss Elizabeth’s hair on the line. This segment was to the point, and worked well
Ernest Miller v Scott Norton: Miller makes an open challenge, and boy does he get an answer. Cat tries to dance into some sticking and moving, but Norton just slaps him down, and takes it into the corner for a big chop. Norton with a cross corner whip to set up an avalanche, and another big chop sends Miller to the outside. Ernest beats the count in, so Norton gives him a short-clothesline, but a criss cross allows Cat a dropkick to the knee. That gives him some breathing room, and he goes after the leg. A leg lariat gets caught in a slam, however, and Norton gives him another thunderous clothesline. Miller tries raking the eyes, but Scott shrugs it off, so Miller goes low, and that gets his attention. For a second, as Norton hits another big chop. Miller with a superkick, but Norton keeps shrugging him off. Miller with a chincrusher, and he manages to bootchoke Scott in the corner a little. Miller tries a cradle for two, but Scott shakes him off. A distraction from Sonny Onoo allows Miller some strikes, but Norton just gets madder, and a powerbomb ends it at 6:12. I enjoyed the story and brutality of this, but it went on for too long, and ultimately felt repetitive. ¾*
Nitro Girls
Okerlund brings Bill Goldberg out, and he wants to get his hands on Bam Bam Bigelow. Not much to this one
Outside, Flair gives the Horsemen a turn to pitch some shots at Eric
#1 Contender’s Match: Scott Hall v Chris Benoit: The winner gets a WCW United States title match against Bret Hart at SuperBrawl. Or, ‘Bret Clarke,’ per ring announcer Michael Buffer. He then outdoes himself, noting that Benoit is the master of the ‘cripple crossface.’ Bret shows up to do guest commentary here, as the combatants posture. Benoit with a corkscrew legwhip and a dropkick to the knee to hobble Hall, and Scott bails. Benoit is on him with a baseball slide, as Bret takes a moment to say hi to his cat at home. Disco Inferno trips Benoit up to allow Hall to recover, but more interference backfires, and Benoit dropkicks him. He goes for the crippler crossface, but Disco gets involved again, so Steve McMichael comes out to kill him. Disco shouldn’t have even been out there after the beating Page gave him earlier, he should have been selling it. Chris with a snap suplex, and he unloads in the corner. Hall fights him off with a fallaway slam for two, and a cross corner clothesline is worth two. Scott goes to an abdominal stretch, but Benoit escapes, so Hall slugs him back down. Chris with a corner whip, and another snap suplex follows. Benoit uses a backbreaker to set up a flying headbutt drop, but Kevin Nash is here. Benoit hits him before he can interfere, but the distraction buys Hall time. That allows Hall to crotch Benoit on the top to prevent another dive, and he brings him off with a crucifix powerbomb at 10:47. Benoit looked unbelievably crisp here. *
Hogan and Zito are still riding around in their limo, wherever the fuck. And then we see what they’re up to, as they’ve been tailing David Flair, and they have him cornered as the show goes off the air
BUExperience: Nothing on this show topped (or even matched) Vince McMahon’s antics in Texas happening over on RAW, but it was a better show overall (and with better in-ring action, to boot). They’re starting to lean a little too heavily on backstage skits, though.
Monday Night Wars Rating Chart
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.