Monday Nitro #189
Date: May 24, 1999
Location: BI-LO Center,
Greenville, South Carolina
Commentators: Bobby
Heenan, Tony Schiavone
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
The
big story tonight is the return of Hulk Hogan, which somehow sounds
like a breath of fresh air. Randy Savage has been pushed as a
killing machine because he wants the title, but he's gone back and
forth on being good or evil in the last few weeks. He helped the
heel Page keep the title for reasons that aren't clear, then he
feuded with Flair as a face, and then just started going after Nash
without ever having a big evil moment. Either way he's dragging the
company through the floor, but to be fair almost everyone else is
too. Let's get to it.
We open with an In
Memory Of graphic for Owen Hart and a three bell salute.
We recap the Steiners
becoming the super evil brothers and squaring off with Sting and
Luger last week.
Recap of the main
points of last week's show and Thunder with Savage beating up five
guys on his own.
Bigelow
is yelling at Raven and Saturn and reminds them about getting a
partner. DDP runs up with a 2x4 and the champions get beaten down.
Old guys over young guys again.
Nitro Girls.
Tony says his thoughts
and prayers are with the Hart Family.
Van Hammer vs. Chavo
Guerrero Jr.
Both
guys are already in the ring so I don't see this lasting long.
Hammer is now just a basic big man and looks a bit like a biker. He
throws Chavo around to start hammers away in the corner. A big boot
drops Chavo but he comes back with a dropkick and drop toehold. That
earns Chavo a press slam but he slips down the back into a sunset
flip for two. A suplex and legdrop get the same for Hammer but Chavo
escapes the cobra clutch slam. Chavo tries a Thesz press and gets
caught in a bearhug, followed by the Flashback (Alabama Slam) for the
pin. Total squash.
Video on Randy Savage.
DJ Ran.
Gene
brings out a banged up Disco Inferno who is wearing sunglasses to
cover up a black eye. He didn't care for Savage's “traveling show
of pimps and ho's” attacking him on Thursday and says he can get
Savage in touch with Nash. Savage has been going after the young
talent in the company and thinks it's because Randy is afraid of
them.
This brings out Ernest
Miller of all people to dance and tell Disco to be a man. Disco
wants Cat out of his face (would he prefer DJ Ran all up in his
area?) and the fight is on. Nick Patrick comes out but is quickly
knocked to the floor so I don't think this is a match. Miller goes
after the eye with a show and other referees come down to get Disco
out. We cut to the Black and White locker room for the “Miller is
talking about you” bit with Norton, because that's still a thing.
Norton chases Miller off.
Mike Tenay goes into
Flair's office.
Video on Nash.
Flair and Anderson are
with El Dandy and offer to elevate his status for a loss to David
tonight. Buddy Lee Parker comes in and asks for the office and
secretary he was promised. Instead he's given a Gold's Gym
membership and an offer to fight Benoit tonight. Parker takes it and
says he won't lay down again.
Gene
brings out Mike Tenay who has an update on the Randy Savage
situation: he's getting the World Title shot at Great American Bash.
Ric Flair storms out and talks to a woman in the audience, saying her
mom rode Space Mountain twenty years ago and maybe she'll get to
tonight. As for business, Savage has injured Charles Robinson and
Flair is thinking about banning the top rope elbow as punishment.
He's the ONLY man in WCW with power so Bischoff and Piper can tell
their stories walking. Now it's time to make some future stars.
Flair loses his voice while saying this, maybe realizing how bogus
what he's saying is.
El Dandy vs. David
Flair
During
the entrances, Tony announces that the Tonight Show match has been
canceled, meaning Nash may be here tonight. Dandy gets taken down by
a shoulder and clothesline as David can barely even run the ropes
properly. He avoids a dropkick though and backdrops Dandy with ease.
A nice looking suplex gets two but Dandy smacks him in the face.
Anderson sneaks in for a spinebuster, setting up the Figure Four for
the win. Again, it really doesn't look like the guys are throwing
the matches, making this story a bit confusing.
Gene
brings out Buff Bagwell who agrees that Savage is scared of the
younger guys. Savage can come after him anytime, but tonight it's
about getting the TV Title. I could get behind a young vs. old
story.
Here's a five minute
package on Eric Bischoff's rise to power in WCW and joining the NWO.
We're nearly halfway through this show and have seen two matches but
we have time for a guy who presumably has no power.
Battle Royal
Ciclope, Kaz Hayashi,
Prince Iaukea, Johnny Swinger, Juventud Guerrera, Villano V, Damien,
Kidman, Psychosis, Lash Leroux, Blitzkreig, Evan Karagias
The
winner gets a shot at Rey next week. Juvy falls down on the way to
the ring. I guess he tried to watch the show and started falling
asleep. It's a huge brawl to start with everyone sending everyone
else to the ropes for attempted eliminations. Damien slams
Blitzkrieg and Villano gets knocked down by something the camera
misses. Iaukea works on Kidman near the ropes as Leroux is almost
put on by Psychosis.
Ciclope gets taken down
but not out by a top rope hurricanrana. Blitzkrieg takes Leroux out
with a hurricanrana of his own but falls outside for a double
elimination. Good timing too as the ring was too full. They keep
slugging it out on the floor as Kidman clotheslines Iaukea out.
Since this is WCW though, here's Hugh Morrus to come in and destroy
everyone in sight. Everyone jumps on him but he's able to throw out
Damien, Swinger, Psychosis, Ciclope, Kaz and Evan.
That leaves Juvy and
Kidman in the ring, because Heaven forbid anyone other than those two
get pushed against Mysterio. Kidman goes after Morrus as Juvy bails,
but for once Morrus is able to powerbomb Kidman in half. No Laughing
Matter cruses him again and Morrus goes up for a second, but Rey runs
out and dropkicks Morrus to the floor. There's no bell, but since
Kidman is the only guy left in I'm assuming he wins. Either that or
WCW just managed to have a battle royal end in a no contest.
Rating:
F.
For failure because there's no other word to describe it. The
cruiserweight division is a disaster right now as no one but Juvy,
Rey and Kidman are consistently pushed and now Hugh Morrus, a jobber
to the stars, beats up about six guys with ease before another runs
away from him? On top of that, we're now heading towards Kidman vs.
Mysterio AGAIN? Assuming Rey even has a challenger that is. What a
mess.
Here's
Piper to really get things going. We get some standard cheap heat
with mentions of the local baseball team and Piper saying he's had
about fifty fights in this town and two or three of them were in the
ring. Piper doesn't care for Bischoff's apologies but his real issue
is with Randy Savage. Well of course it is. He lays down on the mat
and calls out Savage but gets the girls instead.
Piper asks Miss Madness
how she won the title before asking George where Savage is. She says
he's being honored and Piper makes Slim Jim jokes. He yells at all
of them until Flair comes out for a save, earning him a beating.
This brings out Page and Bigelow to lay out Piper for some reason.
Page says Flair owes him, so Flair gives him a Tag Team Title shot at
Great American Bash. Ric also makes another match between him and
Piper for the show because....oh you know the drill by now.
Benoit
and Malenko are in the back watching what just happened. Dean wants
to know where their title shot is and thinks you have to be over 45
to get a push around here. Dean Malenko: wrestling's smartest man.
Benoit thinks Flair is for Flair and Dean says every man is for
himself. That might do it for the Horsemen.
Video on Luger and
Sting's history together, going back a long way.
Piper is getting his
ribs taped up and says he wants Flair/Page/Bigelow vs. himself and
two partners. Gee I wonder who they'll be.
Tony
says WCW is partnering with Tommy Boy Records to merge wrestling and
music. They're about fifteen years too late but that's WCW for you.
Curt Hennig comes out
and tells Tony to turn him on. His headset you see. Curt doesn't
like rap music but did like beating up Konnan recently.
Video on a Tommy Boy
Records wrestling themed party.
Chris Benoit vs.
Buddy Lee Parker
Hennig
is still on commentary and talks about how young guys like Benoit
aren't respecting the veterans that came before them. A black arm
band can be seen on Chris' arm for Owen. Parker actually gets in a
few shots in the corner to start and I don't see him getting in much
more offense.
As you would expect, he
charges into a boot in the corner and gets caught in the Rolling
Germans. Benoit chops the fire out of him in the corner before
hitting a quick belly to back suplex. Parker comes back with a
powerslam, only to get drop toeholded into the middle turnbuckle.
The Swan Dive sets up the Crossface and Parker taps very quickly.
Rating:
D+.
It's always fun to see Benoit run someone over like this. Parker was
older than dirt at this point and had been getting beaten up for
years now. That's probably why he was such a jerk down in the Power
Plant. The match was just there for Benoit to show how awesome he
was, because somehow that wasn't an established fact to the WCW brass
at this point.
TV Title: Rick
Steiner vs. Buff Bagwell
Before
the match we get a chat from the Steiners. Scott rips on WCW, saying
they suck with Heenan saying “good point.” After bragging about
the Red and Black, we get a perfect Scott line as he calls himself
the US Champion and Rick the United States Television Champion.
Bagwell charges the rings and hammers away at both Steiners, actually
knocking Scott out to the floor. A quick dropkick puts Rick down but
he starts going after Buff's neck to take over. He ties Buff in the
Tree of Woe so Scott can choke away from the floor.
Bagwell
comes right back with a neckbreaker of his own, only to have Scott
trip him from the floor. Scott gets in a few shots and Rick knocks
Bagwell out to the floor with a Steiner Line. The brothers pull the
mats back and Rick actually piledrives Buff on the floor. Things are
about to get even worse with Scott holding Buff's neck across the
barricade as Rick goes up top.....and we've got a Sting monster truck
in the aisle. Lex Luger, in a Sting mask for some reason, is
driving. We cut back to the ring and Sting is there with his bat as
we go to a break.
Rating:
D.
ANOTHER match ends in a DQ or a no contest because Heaven forbid
anyone have to job around here. At least the stuff with Rick was
short, though I'm still waiting on Goldberg to come back and fight
the Steiners for what happened to him at Slamboree. Instead we're
getting Sting and Luger teaming up until Luger turns heel again and
starts yet another feud between them.
Hennig
is still on commentary and ripping on rap, so here's Konnan to start
a fight. They brawl into the ring with Konnan beating the tar out of
Curt.
Mike
Tenay is in the ring and calls out Jimmy Hart and Curt Hennig. Jimmy
wants Mysterio out here right now to explain what happened earlier.
Morrus complains about the same guys having the same matches for four
years now and he wanted to mix it up a bit. Again, they need to stop
saying things that the critics are saying. Rey starts brawling with
Morrus and uses his usual springboard based offense until Jimmy trips
him up. Hugh crushes him in the corner and plants him with a huge
powerbomb. They get a chair but Konnan and Kidman come in for the
save.
Here's
Hollywood Hogan for his big return from knee surgery. He's still in
a big knee brace and on crutches but is being all heelish anyway.
Hogan praises Nash because they're both part of the Pack and says
he's coming for Page. We get a reference to Raw, called the XXX
Porno Wrestling on the other channel. Hogan is the master of
politics and has seen the people talking in the back, so he'll return
soon brother.
Nash
comes out for a chat because Heaven forbid we get another match.
After sucking up to the crowd ala Piper, he gets to the point of
Savage running around like a crazy man after the World Title. Nash
isn't hard to find: he'll be the guy with the big gold belt for a
long time to come. This brings out the girls again with George's leg
hurt again. Why she's wearing high heels while on crutches isn't
clear but at least she looks good.
Nash talks to George,
saying he's seen her wrestle but he's rather see her box. The girls
go after him and break a crutch over Nash's back but it doesn't seem
to have much effect. Savage coming out and nailing him with the belt
does have an effect though. We get the lipstick on the face thing
again which is still kind of stupid.
Roddy
Piper/???/??? vs. Ric Flair/Diamond Dallas Page/Bam Bam Bigelow
After
a break, Malenko (in street clothes) and Benoit come out be Piper's
partners. Piper has his ribs taped up from the attack earlier and
thankfully is sporting a black armband of his own. Unless I missed
it, that's the second of the entire show. Page and Malenko get
things going but Dean wants Flair instead. Once Flair is in, Benoit
wants to fight instead. They take turns chopping each other's chests
off until Benoit backdrops him down.
Benoit
cleans house and clotheslines Bigelow out to the floor as everything
breaks down. Flair finally gets back in and backs into his own
corner, which Heenan calls a bad neighborhood. A thumb to the eye
and chop put Benoit down and the Jersey boys come in to take over.
Bigelow headbutts him down for two before Flair comes in for a low
blow. Page has to break up a backslide but Bigelow misses the top
rope headbutt. The hot tag brings in Piper and here are Raven and
Saturn to go after the Jersey guys for the DQ.
Rating:
D.
FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS GOOD AND HOLY STOP WITH THE FREAKING DQ
ENDINGS! You can't get a clean ending to any main event match around
here and I'm getting sick of it. Also, why in the world did we need
Piper out there? To give former World Tag Team Champions
credibility? Heaven forbid Piper isn't around every two seconds to
make things feel big.
It's
a huge brawl post match with the good guys getting the better of it.
Piper puts Flair in the Figure Four as Benoit stomps on him. Ric
bails and we cut to the back where Hogan is standing over a fallen
Page to end the show.
Overall
Rating: D-.
Oh sweet goodness this got old in a hurry. There were FIVE matches in
three hours. Think about that for a minute. Nothing broke ten
minutes and they can only give us five matches, one being a battle
royal that ended in a no contest? Obviously there were major outside
circumstances to it, but the ratings results for this night: Nitro's
3.1 losing to WWF's 7.2. Nitro hadn't been that low for a regular
show in over two years and Raw only topped that once in the entirety
of the Monday Night Wars. This was a disaster for Nitro and a sign
that things had to change.
Luckily for them, there
actually was a glimmer of hope here. This idea of old vs. new,
albeit the same thing they did with WCW vs. the NWO three years ago,
has something to it as you can see the battle lines being drawn.
Unfortunately some of those lines are just Piper's wrinkles BECAUSE
HE WON'T JUST GO AWAY, but there's something there. Granted I have
have no confidence in WCW because the old guys won't lose once in
awhile but it's better than nothing.
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
Words cannot describe how bad that David Flair/El Dandy match was.
ReplyDeleteWho are you to...well you know
ReplyDeleteSomething tells me you shouldn't give this show an overall rating OR talk about the Monday Night Wars. Everyone was watching Raw because Owen Hart died the night before, and even WCW knew it. It would not surprise me if they punted this show.
ReplyDeleteI'd buy that if WCW wasn't as bad as it was around this point or if WWF was this hot. I believe the Higher Power was supposed to be revealed this week anyway so Nitro was going to get smoked either way. Maybe not this bad but it would have happened.
ReplyDeletehttps://youtube.com/watch?v=9U-M8nnGJxY
ReplyDeleteEl a Dandy isn't a miracle worker.
BI-LO Center. "I may be bi-many things, but lingual isn't one of them." -- Triple H, KOTR '98 Finals commentary
ReplyDeleteThey only dropped .7 though. And they basically stayed around the low 3's from this point on. So the rating wasn't that much of an abberration.
ReplyDelete