Monday
Nitro #137
Date:
May 18, 1998
Location:
Providence Civic Center, Providence, Rhode Island
Commentators:
Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
It's
the night after Slamboree and naturally we've got more NWO drama and
not much else. The main story is that Sting and Giant won the tag
titles due to Hall turning on Nash, apparently aligning himself with
Hollywood Hogan and the Black and White, despite them keeping him off
TV for months and Nash standing up for him. This would be the third
(fifth if you include Konnan and Hennig) yet to be explained turn in
less than a month if you're keeping track. Let's get to it.
This
is a one hour show tonight due to the NBA Playoffs. On Thunder it
was announced that we would get an hour before the basketball game
and a second hour after, but the second hour was just a repeat of the
first. I'm not sure if it was a last second change or WCW just
making stuff up to get ratings, but at least it's less nonsense for
me this week.
We
open with the stills from last night's main event. I think that was
Nash's official face turn after being a face for at least a month
now.
Here's
Eric in the ring wearing a red velvet crown and siting on a
motorcycle. He says it's good to be king and as he ponders his
future in this sport, he has to look back at the past. His
television record is 98-2 and now his in ring record is 2-0, having
defeated Larry Zbyszko and Vince McMahon. He wanted to beat Vince in
the ring, but apparently that wasn't going to happen. Now he has to
look to the future which holds a record better than Bill Goldberg's.
He's going to chase a dream which started last night. What that is
isn't specified but the music plays and he's done.
Nitro
Girls.
We
get the video from Thunder with Saturn saying he hasn't stolen the
Cryonic Kick because it's a basic side kick that has been used for
thousands of years.
Saturn
vs. Psychosis
Saturn
pounds him into the corner to start but Psychosis slams him down for
two. A dropkick knocks Saturn out of the air and a second one knocks
him out to the floor. Psychosis hits a nice plancha to the floor but
gets caught in a release dragon suplex back inside. The superkick
and Death Valley Driver set up the Rings of Saturn for the quick
submmission.
We
get some stills from Bret vs. Savage last night, focusing on Hogan
interfering, leading to Savage giving up to the Sharpshooter.
Here's
Piper with something to say. This isn't likely to go well. He's
ticked off because of how much interference there was and he'd never
do that job again. Apparently Liz was swearing a lot and it allowed
someone Savage hit him in the back of the head (it was Hart). Piper
wants Savage out here right now and here's Macho himself. For once,
Tony is logical here by saying Piper could watch the tape and see
that it was Hart attacking him.
Piper
says he isn't a guy to apologize but if he was he'd apologize right
now, but since he isn't a guy to apologize he isn't apologizing.
He's watched the tape and saw Hart hit him in the back of the head,
so as Commissioner he's naming Savage as the winner of the match via
a disqualification. This is treated as the biggest news in the
history of WCW but here's Bret Hart to complain. He wants to fight
but doesn't want to do it two on one. Actually scratch that as he's
ready to go but Hogan and pals come out to stop him. The end result
is a tag match at Great American Bash.
Buy
the Randy Savage shirt!
Heenan
replaces Zbyszko on commentary for the second half of the show.
The
announcers talk about the Cruiserweight Title situation for a bit.
We get a post match interview with Dean Malenko with Gene saying he
can no longer call Malenko a loser. Dean says it's water under the
bridge because tonight was the beginning of his new quest. He isn't
done with Jericho because Jericho insulted his family. This title is
for his dad. If Malenko has ever cut a better promo, I haven't seen
it.
Jericho
freaked out after losing the belt last night.
Damian
vs. Juventud Guerrera
There's
no opening bell but Juvy takes over with a quick spinwheel kick but
charges into a boot in the corner for two. A dropkick sends Damian
to the floor but he whips Juvy into the steps to take over. Damian
dropkicks him from the apron but gets caught in a top rope
hurricanrana back inside. Juvy gets crotched on top and Damian gets
two off a kneeling Muscle Buster of all things. Juvy almost no sells
it and gets two of his own off the Juvy Driver. The 450 totally
misses but Juvy gets up and drops a quick elbow for the pin.
Rating:
C-. Botched ending aside this
was pretty fun. I prefer the elbow drop over pretending the splash
worked because it was more or less two feet to Damian's chest and
certainly wouldn't have kept him down. Also it's nice that they're
mixing up the matches a bit with new names like Damian, even though
he isn't the biggest star in the world. It's better than doing the
same pairings over and over.
More
Nitro Girls.
There
seems to be some confusion as to what's next. Tony says we're going
to Gene but here's Goldberg for his match.
US
Title: Goldberg vs. Glacier
Goldberg
blocks a bunch of kicks to start and clotheslines Glacier down.
Glacier misses an enziguri and it's the spear and Jackhammer to make
it 89-0.
Here's
DDP for his weekly interview. Gene lauds him for his win last night
but Page doesn't want to think about how he beat Raven. He did it
for the fans who always jack him up, but now he has a new target.
Page wants to be world champion and hopes he gets to take it off of
Hogan because he hasn't forgotten what Hogan has put him through for
the last six months. Not much from DDP this week but it's a new plot
development.
Here's
the Black and White to close the show. Bret is with them but still
in street clothes. Dusty is there too, despite ripping into Hogan
last week on Nitro. Hogan talks about how great he is and laughs at
the idea of anyone following Nash. Everyone is here tonight because
of Hogan because he controls the money and the talent.
If
there was any doubt to Hogan being great, here's Scott Hall as the
ultimate proof. Hall rubs his fingers together to symbolize money on
the way to the ring, which is probably as good of an explanation as
we're going to get. Bischoff calls out Sting for his explanation.
Giant comes up to Sting in the aisle and gets spat on, causing Giant
to choke Sting down. Nash comes out with a pipe to scare
Overall
Rating: C. This show continues
to prove that three hours simply aren't needed at all. This show
covered almost every major story and gave us some watchable wrestling
at the same time. The ending is all you would come to expect from
WCW as we get about two minutes of storyline development which will
lead to three hours of talking next week. Bischoff mentioning
Goldberg is interesting though as it's the first mention of him from
the NWO. Page going after Hogan might be worth something too.
Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for just $4 at:
http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6
I was at this show and hated it. Sucked to only get the one hour deal and then the dark matches were brutal. Couldn't wait to get home to watch Raw.
ReplyDeleteDusty goes with Hall.
ReplyDeleteI was there as well. They never mentioned at any point that it was a one hour show. The dark match was this elongated joke. I remember screaming at the top of my lungs "Bullshit" over and over again. I remember going out to the parking lot and letting the crew (I think we saw Terry Taylor, Kevin Sullivan and Jimmy Hart) know it was lame to do a one-hour show. That was a major turning point for me as a WCW fan. I had gone to Slamboree the night before, but never went to another WCW show again.
ReplyDeleteYep, to not even fill out the rest of the night with more matches was bullshit. It was def a rip off.
ReplyDeleteI remember being in a complete state of shock when the show ended. I think it was like 9:15 or whatever. It may have even still been light outside. Nobody could believe it. They had the ENTIRE roster there and they just sent us all out like lemmings.
ReplyDelete