Monday Nitro #188
Date: May 17, 1999
Location: Five Seasons
Center, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Commentators: Bobby
Heenan, Tony Schiavone
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
After
taking last week off, we're ready to get the fallout from Slamboree.
I'm sure people have been on the edge of their seats to see if Nash
has given the title back yet or to see the return of Eric Bischoff so
we better not waste much time. The other major story coming out of
the pay per view is Flair losing control to Piper and then being
fired after a screwy ending. Let's get to it.
We
open with Flair and company arriving at the building. They head to
the office and Robinson replaces Piper's name with Flair's.
Here
are Flair and the entourage to the ring as I feel we have a theme
going here. Anderson starts things off, saying the Horsemen will get
the Tag Team Titles back tonight. Flair tells us what everyone knew
at Slamboree: Bischoff had no authority to change the decision so Ric
is still the boss. If Ted Turner doesn't get Bischoff out, Flair is
going to let Jane Fonda (Turner's wife) ride Space Mountain.
As for tonight, it's
Flair/Robinson vs. Savage/Gorgeous George and Nash is defending
against DDP. This brings out Page to endorse Flair as President and
accuse Nash of having Bischoff in his pocket. That's a pretty empty
pocket if you listen to what Flair just said. Page says he has his
own backup (fans: “GOLDBERG! GOLDBERG!”): Bam Bam Bigelow.
We're having a new champion tonight because Flair says so.
DJ Ran.
We get a sitdown
interview with Bischoff, who talks about WCW being #1 for 88 straight
weeks. Now things are more competitive though so he needs to get
back on track. He's learned from his mistakes and won't make them
again.
We
get a video on Kevin Nash challenging Bret Hart for a match on the
Tonight Show. Meaning a ring would be set up in the Tonight Show
studio and the match will air on NBC one night at 11:30.
More Eric, this time
talking about him not being sure if he had authority at Slamboree,
but knowing it was the right thing. Nick Patrick was right too.
We
cut back to the announcers....who throw it back to the Bischoff
interview. WCW gave him the big break he needed in 1993 and now it's
time to give back.
Piper and Bischoff
arrive.
Tenay is now on
commentary.
Bret
Hart will be on the Tonight Show tomorrow night to respond to Nash.
However, he will NOT be on WCW TV anytime soon.
Clips
of Gorgeous George vs. Charles Robinson.
Cruiserweight Title:
Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Evan Karagias
First
match and it's only forty minutes into the show. Rey is defending
and the ring looks bigger than usual. They start off awkward with
Rey sending him into the corner but stumbling, followed by Evan
messing up a Flair Flip and having to jump to the apron instead.
Evan misses a springboard spinwheel kick and gets covered for two
before hitting a springboard cross body for two of his own. Rey
knocks him into the corner for the Bronco Buster before a top rope
hurricanrana retains the title. I waited 40 minutes for a two minute
opener?
We
go to Flair's office and in walks.....Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker? Ric
offers Parker an office and a secretary if Parker lays down for David
tonight. See, every promoter has pushed their kids and Flair is
going to push David down the fans' throats until they're sick of him.
His words actually. Parker agrees and Ric brings in Torrie and
David to explain his plan. Flirting with Torrie ensues of course.
Here's Booker T. to
talk about the TV Title situation at Slamboree. He doesn't care
about Stevie Ray, because he wants to fight Rick Steiner for the
title tonight. Not much more to this one.
David Flair vs. Sgt.
Buddy Lee Parker
Robinson
is refereeing in Flair trunks and a regular shirt. For those of you
that don't remember him, Parker is a career jobber who later became
an insane trainer in WCW. He's the guy that told Batista he had no
future in wrestling. Parker grabs a headlock to start and gets one
off a clothesline. They head into the corner where Sarge can hammer
away even more, drawing the Horsemen up to the apron. Flair misses a
horrible elbow drop but Buddy misses a top rope knee drop. The
Figure Four makes Parker give up. Well more like Charles rings the
bell as soon as the hold goes on but whatever. Parker sells the heck
out of the leg.
Charles Robinson/Ric
Flair vs. Gorgeous George/Randy Savage
Why
Flair and Robinson went to the back instead of just staying in the
ring isn't clear, though I'd assume it's so there won't be as much
time to spend on wrestling. Flair grabs the mic and says he wants
George out here at ringside for the next match. Apparently Madusa
will be taking the place of an injured George. So why mention George
in the first place?
Charles Robinson/Ric
Flair vs. Madusa/Randy Savage
Savage
says Flair and Robinson will pay for injuring George's knee.
Robinson struts a bit before locking up with Madusa. She easily
takes over with an armdrag and leg sweep, drawing in the big guys to
stare at each other. Robinson actually springboards off the middle
rope into an armdrag to take her down but Madusa takes his head off
with a forearm.
Off
to Savage vs. Flair for the biggest reaction of the night so far. I
mean it even beats Evan Karagias's pop. Savage hammers away in the
corner but Flair kicks him in the knee and tags in Robinson. This
goes as well as you would expect with Robinson being thrown across
the ring and then getting beaten up by Madusa. A kneeling piledriver
(a tombstone but with Robinson facing the crowd) puts him down again
and it's off to Flair. Madusa takes him down and rides him around
the ring, only to get belly to backed down.
Ric goes after the leg
but gets small packaged for two. Another belly to back sets up the
Figure Four but Savage comes in to break it up. The distraction lets
Madusa hit Flair low and bring in Savage to clean house. Big and
Little Naitch get slammed off the top rope and Madusa beats up Ric on
the floor. Randy goes up and drops the elbow on Robinson, cracking
some of Charles' vertebrae and collapsing his lung in the process,
for the pin.
Rating:
D.
Remember at Slamboree where George and Robinson tried really hard and
had a watchable match? Well this was nothing like that. There were
a lot of botches and near botches with Savage's actually causing a
bad injury. The springboard armdrag does make things a little bit
better though. I mean, IT'S CHARLES ROBINSON DOING A SPRINGBOARD
ARMDRAG.
DJ Ran.
Gene brings out Piper
to talk about the whole presidency ordeal, which is all that seems to
be happening on this show. After sucking up to the Iowa crowd, Piper
has a top ten list for why Flair shouldn't be President. Some of the
highlights, read off a piece of paper:
5. Flair thinks Hilary
Clinton is the Phantom Menace.
8. He made Dr.
Kevorkian want to commit suicide.
10. The Nitro Girls say
he's now the 60 second scab.
Now
Piper wants Bischoff to come out so he can yell about not buying
Eric's apology. Ignore that Eric was out before Piper even said his
name. Gene says Bischoff is still an executive, even though he
doesn't seem to have any actual power. Eric apologizes for what he's
done over the years and vows to turn everything around. This brings
out Savage who demands Bischoff give him a title shot tonight.
Piper
tells Savage to wait his turn so George hits him with the crutch and
Savage piledrives him. Savage slams Bischoff and loads up the big
elbow but Nash comes out to break it up. Randy throws out a
challenge to Nash and thinks Nash should just hand the belt over.
Nash implies that the girls are hookers and says handing the belt
over before was a political move. He accepts the challenge for a
title match at some point in the future.
Clips from the three
main events at Slamboree.
Hardcore Hak vs. Fit
Finlay
Somehow
this sounds like a welcome change of pace. That's how far I've sunk.
This is set up by Hak babbling about being hardcore and Finlay
popping up on the screen to challenge him. They hit each other with
the mic and then a kendo stick before Hak brings in a ladder. Finlay
nails him in the head with it a few times and we take a break.
Back with Finlay being
bulldogged through a table before he hits Hak in the throat with some
kendo stick shots. Finlay flipts him into the ladder in the corner
and goes to hit him low but Nick Patrick won't allow it. Wouldn't
that be within the rules of this match? Finlay beats on Hak even
more and hits his low blow until Knobs comes out to send both guys
through tables. Patrick throws it out and this feud MUST CONTINUE!
Rating:
F.
So hardcore means most stuff is legal but not everything, Brian Knobs
is still getting a push, Hak is still getting paid to pretend he's a
“wrestler”, they're still fighting each other in circles, and now
we're not even getting winners to these messes. This is what I sat
through after an hour of Nash/Piper/Flair/Savage. I'll take the Test
vs. Meat match that was going on over on Raw at this point any day.
TV
Title: Booker T. vs. Rick Steiner
This
HAS to be better. Rick will suck like he has after 1995 or so but
Booker is bound to be.....unconscious in the back. Steiner says
Booker can't beat anyone without his brother and issues an open
challenge to the locker room. Cue Sting for a brawl around ringside
with Steiner in early trouble. We actually get a bell so I guess we
have a title match.
TV Title: Rick
Steiner vs. Sting
Sting
does his bulldog but misses the Stinger Splash. Rick pounds on him
in the corner and on the mat but Sting just pops up. They fight to
the floor, only to have Sting get sent into the post. The floor mats
are peeled back and Rick loads up a suplex onto the concrete. As is
almost always the case, Sting reverses to prevent a probably
concussion and chokes Rick with the TV cable. They head back inside
where Sting hammers away with clotheslines until Scott Steiner comes
out to yell at Sting. Cue Lex Luger to save his buddy as the match
is thrown out with no one actually interfering.
Rating:
D-.
This was much more of a brawl than a match but somehow this might
have been the most entertaining thing all night. Why we need to set
up Rick Steiner vs. Sting and old guys vs. old guys is something only
WCW could answer, but hopefully Booker gets to do something
interesting soon.
Luger and Sting send
the Steiners running as we're flashing back to SuperBrawl I.
Konnan vs. Curt
Hennig
Feeling
out process to start with Hennig doing a random cartwheel before
getting bulldogged down. A basement dropkick does the same and
Konnan hammers away in the corner. Curt comes back with chops in the
corner but gets chopped down as well. Hennig goes to the floor,
tells Heenan he's wearing new boots, and pulls his singlet aside to
seemingly check his nipple.
On
that we go to a break and come back with Konnan hammering away in the
corner. Curt takes him down and stomps at the head a bit which isn't
as interesting as examining his nipples. A VERY lout chop puts
Konnan down in the corner and some choking gets two. Hennig starts
working on the leg with an Indian deathlock as this continues to be
all over the place. The referee breaks it up for Hennig putting his
hands on him so Curt keeps stoming away.
Off
to another leg lock but the referee breaks it because.....why did he
break that hold? Konnan wasn't in the ropes and there's no hair to
pull. Back to the corner for more chops but Konnan comes back with a
catapult into the buckle. The referee goes down and here's Savage
AGAIN to go after Konnan because he's Nash's buddy. At least Savage
explained this one on the way to the ring. Hennig knocks Konnan to
the floor and Savage sends him into the steps, setting up the
HennigPlex for the pin.
Rating:
D.
You know, I'm a pretty big Randy Savage fan and have been for years.
He used to live in Lexington and my uncle worked out at the same gym
that he and Lanny Poffo worked out at. I really like the guy, but
I'm SICK of him on this show! The guy is taking over the show on
this night and it's getting really dull to watch. On top of that the
match was a mess with the guys being on different pages and doing
little more than chopping for most of the match.
Tag
Team Titles: Raven/Saturn vs. Chris Benoit/Dean Malenko
Raven
and Saturn are defending and have Kanyon with them. Dean and Saturn
feel each other out to start until Malenko is sent out to the floor
and Saturn superkicks an invading Benoit down. A big dive takes
Chris out again and Malenko gets caught by something like Total
Elimination but with a clothesline instead of a kick to the face.
Back to Benoit who slugs it out with Raven, who actually gets the
better of it. He puts Benoit on his shoulders for a cross body from
Saturn for two as the fans are finally into something tonight.
Chris
comes back with a hard clothesline and tags out to Malenko, who
quickly walks into a t-bone suplex. The champions hammer away even
more before Raven hooks a chinlock on Dean. Malenko fights up and
brings in Benoit who unloads on Raven with chops. That's fine with
Raven who comes back with Three Amigos and a tag to Saturn for a
guillotine legdrop.
Back
from a break with Dean leg lariating Raven but getting rolled up for
two. Benoit gets two off a snap suplex before hammering away in the
corner. Raven just crawls over and makes the tag to Malenko as the
announcers talk about the Steiners vs. Luger/Sting. Heaven forbid
they talk about the Tag Team Title match right in front of them.
Saturn gets sent to the floor for a brawl with Malenko but has to
sidestep a baseball slide, sending it right into Dean instead.
Back
inside and the Horsemen start in on Saturn's knee as the fans are all
over the challengers. Benoit cranks on the knee and Dean comes back
in to stomp away at it. Now the fans think this is boring because
their minds have been so numbed by Piper and Savage that they don't
recognize a good match in front of them. Saturn comes back with a
release belly to belly suplex and makes the tag to Raven.
Kanyon hands him a
chair but it's quickly thrown to the floor as Raven front suplexes
Dean for a top rope splash from Saturn. Everything breaks down and
Benoit suplexes Raven but misses the Swan Dive. Kanyon gets on the
apron, accidentally allowing Anderson to nail Raven with the tire
iron. Dean goes up but Kanyon shoves him into the Death Valley
Driver to retain the titles.
Rating:
B-.
It's not a great match but this was pure gold after the disaster that
I've had to sit through for the last two hours. Hopefully this moves
Raven and Saturn off to some new challengers and the Horsemen off to
a higher spot on the card so we can get some fresh blood up there.
Good back and forth match here with all four guys hitting each other
very hard.
We
follow the champions all the way to the back where Bam Bam Bigelow is
watching. He and Kanyon jaw a bit.
WCW's
graphics continue to suck as we see Nash with the title superimposed
over his shoulder and his arms crossed. At least tuck the strap
under the arms.
WCW World Title:
Diamond Dallas Page vs. Kevin Nash
Another
PPV title match you don't have to pay for. They slug it out to start
with Nash taking him into the corner for some elbows to the face. A
big clothesline puts Page on the floor but he's quickly back in to
get forearmed in the face. Another clothesline gets two for Nash but
Bam Bam Bigelow comes out for a distraction. Page hits a clothesline
of his own for two and Nash is in trouble. He chokes the champion
with some tape before going to the top for a flying clothesline.
Popular move in this match.
Off
to a nerve hold and a chinlock on Nash as the cameraman slips with no
one near him. A swinging neckbreaker and Russian legsweep get two
each for Page. Nash sends him into Bigelow on the apron and busts
out a rollup for two. A big boot drops Page and here's Bigelow into
the ring to get beaten up as well. Savage runs out to jump Nash and
that's a DQ to retain the title.
Rating:
D+.
Ton of clotheslines aside, this was one of the more watchable matches
of the night. Page is likely on his way out of the main event and
into a tag team with Bigelow, which is about as random of a pairing
as you could ask for at this point in WCW. Yeah they're both from
New Jersey but Bigelow has been in hardcore matches for months while
Page has been World Champion. Bigelow is a decent enough choice for
an enforcer so it's not bad, just odd.
All
three hammer on Nash and the girls hand Savage lipstick to put on
Nash's face. A fan runs in and gets beaten down. Savage drops the
big elbow to end the show.
Overall
Rating: F+.
If not for that tag match, this would be one of the worst shows I've
ever seen. Between the endless Savage vs. Nash stuff that we're
going to have another month of to the horrible Cruiserweight Title
match to hardcore matches being thrown out and Booker being laid out
in the back, this was a very long show to sit through. We're firmly
in the horrible period for WCW now, and the fact that it's only going
to get worse for a long time terrifies me.
Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:
http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6
There is a
ReplyDeleteThere's a rating lower than DUD Matt - ASS. No conf back from that one.
ReplyDeleteIf you suddenly have The Rock available for one night only, what would YOU do with him?
ReplyDelete20 minute promo embarrassing HHH
ReplyDeleteUh.
ReplyDeleteWhat about for SlaterGator and the midgets?
ReplyDeleteI don't know how or why you do this to yourself.
ReplyDeleteDude, there was basically nothing to see on Nitro after 1998 (and that's generous). Seriously, from here on out there is nothing of note. The Horsemen vs. Flock stuff was the ONLY redeeming value in WCW at this point and that was about to end too. You are a warrior and a glutton for punishment reviewing these shows
ReplyDeleteI guess a DDP vs. Nash wankfest was inevitable given their friendship and such.
ReplyDeletehole in my heart, deep as a well, for that poor little boy who's trapped halfway to hell.
ReplyDeleteThis was not a good episode. Still better than raw though.
ReplyDeleteDJ Ran was all up in my area and it was just too much to take
ReplyDeleteHope it's worth the 40 minute rebuttal.
ReplyDelete>Also, it didn't serve much purpose.
ReplyDeleteEntertain the crowd, get people talking, give RAW a memorable moment?
You and DJ Ran shared a prison cell?
ReplyDeleteI told Scott I would. I have no idea why, but I told him I would.
ReplyDeleteMuch appreciated.
ReplyDeleteI would personally love Vince Jordan and Matt Perri debate.
ReplyDeleteBut raw is a chore to watch! He doesn't change the channel because then he couldn't complain!!
ReplyDeleteCause we're sending our love down a well....
ReplyDelete(hands you a flamethrower)
ReplyDeleteI find this works best in treating that issue.
Never understood why savage turned heel here. Savage would literally turn face to heel depending what segment he was in. Bizarre booking
ReplyDeleteAt the time I recall thinking it would be a cool time for Macho and his band of sluts to bring up some young dudes and start a Savage-led stable. Macho had little left to offer in the ring, but was still an awesome persona and had hot trim escorting him out. Young proteges could have benefited for sure
ReplyDeleteBoth of those are ASS like that shitty Emma dance. For shame WWE
ReplyDelete*lights candle*
ReplyDelete*Waves Zippo Lighter, sways back and forth*
ReplyDeleteWhat would I be in for?
ReplyDeleteQuite right. Also, being that I write about that show, I kinda have no choice to stay there and watch. Unless I work in a Monday Night Football recap...
ReplyDeleteJust check the daily update any day. He defends everything wwe does.
ReplyDeleteYou don't have to write about it. I doubt you get paid to wTch and recap it. You choose to watch it. It's a conscious choice you make every week.
ReplyDeletePoint of fact: yes, I do. I choose to do it, regardless.
ReplyDeleteIt still sucks.
The new 10th anniversary edition of "Death of WCW' is out, shows more coverage of how they went to hell and I feel so sorry for what you're going to endure for these recaps.
ReplyDeleteAt least there's long stretches where almost nothing happens at this point, that's a bit easier to recap. Wait until you get 3 hours of Russo nonsense to keep track off.
ReplyDelete