Slobberknocker Central Monday Night Recap #113 January 12th, 1998 WCW Monday Nitro: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours+. Location: Jacksonville, Florida. HOUR ONE Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Larry Zbyszko. - A quick look at last Thursday's Thunder and the moment Sting spoke. They then show the closing moments from last week's Nitro and the tension between Kevin Nash and Randy Savage: something that went virtually unmentioned on the Thunder broadcast. Cut to the parking lot, where Mean Gene Okerlund awaits the arrival of the NWO in their black limos. Most of the NWO, with the notable exception of Savage and Scott Hall, pops out of the first limo to arrive. Okerlund asks Nash about Nitro last week. Nash says he just put the fire out before Savage tried to take a swing at him. Hogan says it's all family business and has been taken care of. Bischoff says there's no problems in the NWO. Nash closes things out by mumbling that Savage doesn't want any part of him. Yes, I said Hogan above. Two minutes in they kill any hopes some folks out there had of Hogan showing up on RAW tonight. That'll teach ya to believe everything you read! - BILL GOLDBERG vs. JERRY FLYNN Goldberg destroys Flynn in about a minute, pinning him after the Jackhammer. - Nitro Girls. They show the new Nitro Girl, named "Whisper". I haven't been paying attention: did they add one, or replace one? - BLACK CAT vs. MARTY JANNETTY Black Cat is a porky Mexican/Japanese wrestler. Jannetty comes out to one of the generic music themes that WCW has been using for years. Jannetty wins fairly easily with the Rocker Dropper-renamed the "Show Stopper" for WCW usage. He also used a Superkick, which I'm guessing they call the "Icon". - Mean Gene is out to greet a second limo, this one bearing Savage, Elizabeth and Scott Hall. Mean Gene asks Savage what he thought about the comments Kevin Nash made. Savage flies off the handle and demands to know what Nash said, threatening to nail Okerlund if he doesn't get some answers. - CHRIS BENOIT vs. DEAN MALENKO Great match ... piss-poor commentary. Sting, Savage, the title controversy, Ric Flair, Bret Hart, Souled Out ... these are all things the announcers discuss instead of the match. Since they didn't call the action, I will: Malenko drives Benoit into the corner off the initial lock-up. The ref calls for a break. They circle. Malenko grabs the arm and goes to work on a wristlock. Benoit reverses it, then slides into a full nelson. Malenko escapes, but Benoit holds on to an armbar. Malenko escapes by taking Benoit down to the mat, cradling for a pin attempt. Benoit kicks out of the cover and the two are quickly back to their feet, circling. It should be noted that Raven and his Flock are shown at their usual ringside seats. Benoit grabs Malenko's hands, drops to a sitting position and flips Malenko over into a near pin. Malenko pops out, with both men going back to a standing position. Malenko then grabs Benoit's head, spins around through an arm hold and down into a leg takedown, dropping Benoit to the mat. He applies a front facelock. Benoit gets to his feet, but Malenko drags him over and covers for a two count. Benoit kicks out and the two again get to their feet, circling one another. Malenko delivers a standing drop-kick as they attempt another knuckle lock. Benoit is quick to his feet. More circling, a tie-up and Benoit applies a headlock. Malenko drives Benoit into the ropes, breaking the hold. Across the ring Benoit goes and the two collide, with Malenko being forced to the ground off Benoit's shoulderblock. Malenko crawls to the ropes. Benoit follows and lays in a kick, then a shot to the chin, which drives Malenko into the corner. A stiff chop and another kick follows. Malenko manages to take Benoit off his feet, hoist him back up and perform a side suplex. Malenko covers for two. After the kick out, Malenko applies a headlock. Benoit breaks the hold with a side suplex of his own. Benoit picks Malenko up and whips him into the ropes, catching him coming off with a clothesline. He covers for a two count. After a chop to the chest and another pin attempt, Benoit applies a grinding headlock. Malenko gets up and sends Benoit into the ropes. Malenko ducks, Benoit hops over him and Malenko catches him the second time across with a hip-toss. He then grabs an arm and ties it up with his legs in a compact scissors move. The referee makes a few one counts when both of Benoit's shoulders are down on the mat. Benoit gets to his feet, keeping Malenko wrapped around his arm, and holds him in position for a near three count. Malenko pivots, bringing his shoulders off the mat. Benoit continues to hold Malenko and hoists him over his head, taking him completely up and over and dropping him to the mat. The crowd is really starting to get into it and for a brief moment the announcers are forced to pay attention to the match at hand. Benoit hoists him up and takes him over with a snap suplex. Malenko gets his foot on the bottom rope, breaking the three count. Benoit sends him into the ropes, but Malenko holds on, foiling Benoit's follow-up drop- kick attempt. Benoit crashes to the mat. Malenko picks him up and lays in a shot in the corner, then whips him to the opposite, following with a running clothesline. He picks him up in a suplex, but Benoit lands behind him on his feet and holds on to Malenko's head, He reverse suplexes him, but Malenko also escapes, drops behind and takes him over with a belly- to-back German Suplex. Malenko grabs Benoit's legs and applies the Texas Cloverleaf, but Benoit cradles him in a small package, nearly getting a three count (and in the process becoming one of the first men ever to devise a reversal to the Texas Cloverleaf). Back on their feet Benoit throws a punch, but Malenko hooks the one arm and tries to hook the other, attempting a backslide. Benoit whirls away and grabs Malenko's arm, attempting to apply the Crippler Crossface. Malenko slips out of Benoit's signature move by scrambling to the ropes. Benoit stomps Malenko, then whips him into the ropes. He bends over for a back bodydrop, but Malenko holds on to the ropes. He hooks both of Benoit's arms for a powerbomb attempt, but Benoit stands up, reversing the move. Malenko goes up, but releases the hold, slides down Benoit's back and essentially Sunset Flips him into a pinning position. Benoit rolls through it and cradles Malenko for a two count. Back to their feet, Benoit works on Malenko in the corner. He whips him across and follows, but Malenko catches him coming in with a high knee. He then leaps on Benoit's head, attempting a forward headscissors, but Benoit knocks him off. Malenko slams facefirst to the mat. Benoit slaps on the Crippler Crossface. Malenko holds on for a few moments, but eventually taps out, signaling the submission. Raven runs in and stomps on Benoit from behind. Malenko, now freed from the hold gets to his feet and stares at Raven. Saturn then runs in and nails Malenko, slapping the Rings of Saturn hold on him for good measure. - Before the above debacle has barely even calmed down they cut away to Mean Gene, who has J.J. Dillon out for comments. After a review of some footage from Thunder, then last week's Nitro, Dillon announces he's fining Randy Savage $5000 for laying his hands on a WCW official: Eric Bischoff! Savage runs out and demands that Dillon take it back. Dillon holds his ground, even sticking out his big chin for Savage to take a swipe at. Bischoff runs out to hold Savage back, saying he'll pay the fine for him. - Nitro Girls. - Mean Gene interviews Diamond Dallas Page in the ring. Page doesn't have much to say (since he doesn't have a major feud going on right now), so he gets the privilege of announcing that this Thursday's main event will be himself and Lex Luger against Randy Savage and Kevin Nash. Oh now come on! - SATURN vs. BOOKER T. Saturn gets the pin in this okay match, but he did so with his feet on the ropes. Rick Martel and a second ref are quick to come out and tell the first ref what happened. The ref restarts the match and Booker gets the pin after the Harlem Hangover. Booker thanks Martel for the assist, asking him what he'd like in return. Martel asks for a TV title shot. Booker agrees. Look for Martel to win the belt this Thursday, next Monday or at the PPV: wherever the match happens. - Mean Gene brings out Nick Lambros, Vice President of WCW, along with the Giant. Lambros announces that Kevin Nash and the NWO has to post a $1.5 million bond to assure that he will show up at Souled Out for his match with the Giant. If they fail to post the bond, or Nash doesn't show, Nash will be barred from WCW for a year. Lambros further adds that Eric Bischoff is cut off from spending any more of Time Warner and Ted Turner's money. Bischoff, Hogan, Nash and agent Henry Holmes comes to the ring. Bischoff introduces Holmes, who is Hogan's agent in real life, and Holmes announces that Nash is his newest client, and that he and Hogan will cover the $1.5 million bond. Furthermore, they demand that WCW match that amount, stipulating that the Giant must not in any way mess with Nash before the PPV match. The Giant asks if all this guarantees that Nash will be there. They say yes. The Giant quickly confers with Lambros and the stipulations are agreed to. Nash, who had been down on the floor during all this, suddenly jumps in the ring and gets in the Giant's face, yelling "who's the Giant?!" The Giant just smiles and walks away. HOUR TWO Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. - They show a quick promo package highlighting the Luger/Savage feud. - LEX LUGER vs. HUGH MORRUS Nothing new here: Morrus dominates, Luger hulks up and Torture Racks him for the win. Was Luger ever any good?! Hard to believe at one time he could be carried to a good match. After the match Elizabeth shows up at ringside begging Luger to help her. Tears are shed as she gives him some kind of sob story (which the mic never really picks up). Luger follows her as far as the bottom of the ramp, where he's blindsided by Randy Savage. Savage tosses him from guard rail to guard rail. Liz even gets a smack in. They are eventually chased off by DDP (who sharp eyed fans will notice had apparently clipped himself on some equipment on the run out, causing a patch of blood to spread on his left pants leg). - Nitro Girls. They take quick a look at Scott Steiner's recent "selfish" attitude. - CHRIS JERICHO vs. STEVE "MONGO" MCMICHAEL Kudos to Mongo for not killing himself when Jericho takes him off the top turnbuckle with a huracanrana. Mongo comes back to plant him with the Tombstone Piledriver. Jericho is out cold, unable to do his usual rant until after the commercial break. They show footage of Juventud Guerrera winning the Cruiserweight Title on Thunder. - Jericho has recovered and blames the fans for all his losses, saying the stress of being a role model for the fans is what's causing him to win. He then settles down a bit and promises that it'll never happen again (him losing the match ... or his temper?) Rey Mysterio, Jr. comes to the ring for his match. Jericho yells at him for interrupting his "interview time". He then attacks him from behind, slapping the Lion Tamer on. Juventud Guerrera's music starts and out he comes. He leaps to the top rope-only to slip off, which draws a huge gale of laughter from the crowd. Juventud tells Jericho to beat it. He then checks Mysterio out and starts to go to work on him. - JUVENTUD GUERRERA vs. REY MYSTERIO, JR. The match only lasts about a minute. Mysterio tries some moves, but the attack from Jericho took too much out of him. Guerrera puts him away with the 450 degree splash. - They show the Thunder footage of J.J. Dillon vacating the WCW World Title. - "Hollywood" Hogan and Eric Bischoff head to the ring. Hogan kills a few minutes declaring that he'll get his title back eventually. - A Souled Out promo hypes the Flair/Hart match. - Mean Gene brings out Jim "the Anvil" Neidhart. Neidhart says he was at home (licking his wounds from the ass kicking DeGeneration X had given him) watching TV, and that he was bothered by Ric Flair's claims that he was the best. Flair comes out, welcomes Neidhart to WCW, gives him a big build-up in terms of his past accomplishments, then says his being married to one of Bret Hart's sisters isn't enough for him to claim that Bret Hart is the best. Neidhart tells Flair to his face that Bret is the better man. Flair asks him if he'd like to settle things in the ring. Neidhart says he'll go at it and heads to the ring. Flair walks out of the ring area, quickly comes back, enters the ring and knocks out Neidhart with a foreign object. Flair knocks out the ref for good measure, then goes to work on Neidhart's knee. He drags him over to the corner and slaps on the Figure Four around the post, which Tenay identifies as one of Hart's big moves. (Schiavone acts clueless, while Heenan acts like he's never seen the move before. Maybe Schiavone wasn't acting.) Bret Hart runs out and chases Flair off-but not before the two trade a few blows. Flair beckons Hart to the aisle as Hart checks on his brother-in- law. Memorable debut for Neidhart, but not because of anything he did. WCW fans waiting for a big anti-WWF speech only have the British Bulldog left to cross their fingers for. - Souled Out promo. Nitro Girls. Nitro Party Video. - THE OUTSIDERS vs. THE STEINER BROTHERS (w/ Ted DiBiase) Michael Buffer does the ring introductions, announcing the match as a "unification bout" for the WCW and NWO World Tag Team Titles. Yeah, sure. Nash and Hall come out first with Bischoff and Hogan in tow. Hall does his survey, which draws little positive response (the WCW fans now drowning out the morons who think it's cool to root for the NWO). They take a commercial, making it nearly ELEVEN minutes between the time the Outsiders come out and the actual start of the match. (Notable because the show had already run over the top of the hour, meaning that half of this week's 20 minute overrun was wasted on stretched-out filler.) The Steiners dominate the first few minutes. Then Randy Savage comes out, demanding to know what it was that Nash said about him. Hogan holds Savage back. The match goes on, with Nash tagging in a minute or so later. Nash seems to remember only one move: a kneelift, which he uses repeatedly. He remembers how to do a clothesline just before tagging Hall back in. Momentum seesaws back-and-forth, with Nash (having remembered a few old WrestleMania tapes he once rented) doing a bodyslam and elbowdrop (which he misses). Hall tags back in. With the momentum clearly on the Outsiders' side, Nash actually tags in once again and-remembering moves that Mabel and Sid have used on him-does a Sidewalk Slam. Hall tags back in. Then things get confusing: Hall holds Rick Steiner. Nash comes in for a big boot, but Steiner ducks out of the way. Hall takes the shot, flying back into the referee, knocking him down. Rick clotheslines Nash. Rick powerslams Hall and covers for the pin (but there's no ref). Hogan, outside the ring, beats up Ted DiBiase. Nash then apparently catches Rick with a low blow (which the camera doesn't catch. Either that, or Steiner just fell over and laid there for no reason). Nash covers for the pin. Suddenly Randy Savage scrambles to the top turnbuckle, aiming to nail Kevin Nash with the elbowdrop. Nash rolls out of the way and Savage nails Rick Steiner instead. Savage acts all upset as he leaves the ring. Nash and Hall both Cover Rick and the ref counts to three. New World Tag Team Champions. The show ends with everyone giving a collective "huh?" - This Thursday: Savage/Nash vs. Luger/DDP. - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: Yup, WCW finally did it: tonight they officially killed off tag team wrestling in their promotion. Oh, we'll still have tag team matches, but tonight pretty much signaled the end of wrestlers who exclusively compete as a team. Harlem Heat is dead, Public Enemy and High Voltage have dropped off the face of the Earth, and now WCW looks to have put the final nail in the coffin of the Steiners. Don't get me wrong, I'm not exactly griping here. Tag Team wrestling has been dead in North America for some time, and WCW has lately passed the WWF by leaps and bounds in terms of how dreadful their tag action has gotten. Bischoff has made no bones about his desires to get rid of the established tag teams and instead feature singles wrestlers occasionally teaming up for matches. It's just too bad that the Tag Team Titles, which now are pretty much meaningless, had to end up again around the waists of two guys who'll rarely defend them over the course of the next year. I really think the belts are now just another tool in Bischoff's backstage political power struggles. Think of them as a "shut up!" tool. Luger and the Giant complain too much, Bischoff says "shut up!" and gives them the belts for a few months. Bret Hart complains and Bischoff says "shut up!", then gives the titles to him and Neidhart. (Hell, some would claim that's PRECISELY how the belts have already been used over the last year or two!) A cynic like myself might even suggest that that's what the various tag team titles have ALWAYS been used for: a practice which only changed due to the exciting tag teams of the 80's. With the era of the "tag team specialists" having come and gone, it looks like the belts have gone back to a no longer being awarded based on skill, fan reaction and merit. Your new WCW "Piss-N-Moan the Loudest" Tag Team Champions: the Outsiders. That aside, I've no real complaints about this week's show. They're actually doing a great job of building Souled Out into a PPV which eclipses the almighty Starrcade in terms of quality matches. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF RAW is WAR: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours. Location: Penn State University, somewhere in Pennsylvania. WWF RAW Hosted By: Jim Ross, Michael Cole and Kevin Kelly. - With all due respect to the USA Network: "Atomic Dog"?! C'mon! - D-X deliver pretaped comments from the back of a limo. After throwing off a few shots at Owen Hart and the Undertaker (as well as a jab or two at Bret Hart and Ric Flair) Shawn flashes his ass through the sunroof of the limo. Ay caramba! - Ross mentions that it's the fifth anniversary of RAW on USA. Huzzah! - HEAD BANGERS vs. TRUTH COMMISSION vs. THE GODWINNS vs. NEW AGE OUTLAWS A "Four Corners Match", which means the first team that wins ... wins. Well, duh. The Outlaws come out wearing Florida Gators shirts to taunt the crowd, (since Florida beat Penn State in a bowl game ... or something. Hell, I don't know. The only thing I watch besides wrestling is Mystery Science Theater 3000. Well, that and porno). The only good thing about this match is that having eight guys in it means non-stop action. The Outlaws get the quick win when Billy Gunn knocks out one of the Godwinns with a foreign object, then he covers for the pin. - They show a highlight package of the Legion of Doom, using lots of slow- mo footage. Wait a minute ... that's not slow-mo! That's how they really move! Steve Austin is shown pulling up to the arena in his Austin 3:16 pickup. - We're treated to footage shot during the break: it seems Steve Austin came across the Godwinns in the back and laid out both with Stone Cold Stunners. Cut to a live shot of Austin pulling his truck into the arena next to the Titan-Tron (yeah, yeah, *KEE-RASH!* and all that). Austin grants Michael Cole an interview. Cole points out that Austin has picked up where he left off last week. Austin's comments in response are a bit garbled as the USA censors have their work cut out for them. When asked if he's a marked man, Austin rips open his shirt and draws a bullseye on his chest with a marker pen. They then show footage from the card this past weekend at Madison Square Garden, where Austin filmed a promo for MTV's "Celebrity Deathmatch 98", which airs on MTV at the same time as the SuperBowl half-time show. - DeGeneration X's limo is shown arriving at the arena. After a commercial break, they show Shawn Michaels all pissed because a WWF equipment truck is blocking their entry into the parking area of the arena. - KURRGAN (w/ the Jackal) vs. JIMMY CICERO/LANCE DIAMOND Kurrgan quickly disposes of the two jobbers. After the match he comes over to the announcer's desk and with his bare hands rips apart a Penn State football helmet, which has been conveniently located on the desk since the start of the show. Out back Michaels and Chyna have tracked down a WWF flunky to move the truck so that their limo can enter the arena. Suddenly a figure darts from the dark and slides into the open sun roof. It's Owen Hart, and he launches an attack on Hunter Hearst Helmsley, who is still in the limo. Michael and Chyna hop in, the beating sounds increase in volume and the limo pulls away, speeding off into the night. - "Marvelous" Marc Mero comes to the ring. Over the mic he says ... well, I have no idea what he says. the mic doesn't work. Ross quickly covers, saying Mero told him earlier that he's had a change of heart regarding Sable and her coming to the ring. Sable's music starts up and out she comes ... except that now she's a fat, grotesque hag. Oh good God ... it's GOLDUST!!! Arrrgh ... chest pains .... can't breath ... - MARC MERO (w/ "Sable") vs. VADER The match doesn't amount to much. Vader dominates, but Goldust interferes. The real Sable comes out to question Goldust's actions, but Mero chases her off. Vader tosses Mero into the ring steps, then puts him away for good in the ring with a Vaderbomb. Goldust runs in and nails Vader in the back of the head with a pair of coconuts (taken from his bra). Vader wins via DQ. - After a healthy dose of hype for the War Zone they show a live shot of the limo, which has finally returned. D-X is there, but Owen has apparently been dumped out on the interstate somewhere. - The 1-800-COLLECT "Slam of the Week" is a look back at Bam Bam Bigelow smacking Lawrence Taylor at the 1995 Royal Rumble. Could the same happen to Mike Tyson this year? The WWF sure wants us to think so. Quick cut to the lockerroom, where Vader is laid out amongst a pile of garbage. Seems the Stone Cold Stunner has struck again. - MARK HENRY/KEN SHAMROCK vs. ROCKY MAIVIA/D-LO BROWN The match is prefaced by video footage of Shamrock saving Henry from a NOD attack a few weeks back on Shotgun Saturday Night. Maivia then gets on the mic and vows to rip off Mark Henry's shirt. (Henry, you see, has chosen to wear a "Rocky Sucks!" shirt for the occasion.) Rocky, during his diatribe, says "piss", which the USA censor just barely misses bleeping out. Short match. Shamrock wrestles the whole thing, easily dominating both NOD members. Henry eventually wanders into the ring, stands there for a bit, then clotheslines Shamrock! A quick four-on-one stomp and it's evident that Henry has joined the Nation. Rocky lives up to his promise and rips the shirt off Henry-revealing a Nation t-shirt underneath. Rocky leads his newest find up the ramp, where Faarooq awaits on the stage. Faarooq seems less than happy that Maivia has gone behind his back to recruit a new member. Before the break they run an ad for a special "Three Faces of Foley" t-shirt offer: one Mankind, Dude Love and Cactus Jack shirt for $49.95. Or $25 each. Buy all three and save. Operators are standing by. - Rocky officially presents Mark Henry to Faarooq. D-Lo and Kama try to voice their opinions, but Rocky silences them with a "know your role!" WWF WAR ZONE Hosted By: Jim Ross and Jerry "the King" Lawler. - DeGeneration X makes its way to the ring. (And yes indeed, someone in the WWF production team seems to have been having a bit of fun, as there is indeed a shot of a woman flashing the ring mixed in amongst the barrage of D-X images.) Once in the ring Hunter offers some raunchy college exam advice. Michaels takes over and launches a few shots at Mike Tyson. HHH does a squeaky Tyson voice. Shawn says if Tyson sticks his nose in his business at the Rumble, that he'll do a dance over his face. Shawn then starts to make his announcement regarding the Undertaker's family, but is interrupted by Owen Hart on the Titan-Tron (who is sporting a bloody face). Owen says forget about Kane and the Undertaker, because he has Owen to worry about. Helmsley says Owen talks tough when he's backstage somewhere and challenges him to come out. Owen does, and numerous WWF officials are right behind him to maintain order. - Skull and 8-Ball come out for the next match. Jim Cornette then comes out and says in his latest effort to bring "tradition" back to the WWF, he's brought back the greatest tag team in the history of the NWA: the Rock & Roll Express! Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson come out to the old Rockers theme music. - ROCK & ROLL EXPRESS (w/ Jim Cornette) vs. THE DOA Cornette says the Midnight Express was never able to get rid of the R&R Express, which is why he and they have set aside their differences in this continuing effort to bring quality wrestling back to the WWF. Cornette mentions that Morton and Gibson have beaten his Midnight Express, the Fabulous Freebirds and the Four Horsemen. Cornette adds that they are the current NWA Tag Team Champions, and that this is a non- title match. The match ends fairly quickly when Cornette runs in to whack one of the DOA with his tennis racquet. The ref sees it and DQ's the Express (who had been wrestling the match as cowardly heels). Mentioned during all this is the fact that Jeff Jarrett, who was scheduled to face the Undertaker this week, no-showed due to an illness in his family. On the way to the break Jim Ross hypes the WWF Superstar Line, which has his take on the whole Hulk Hogan situation. In short: there is no situation. Hogan is in WCW and that's where he'll stay. - They show the drum which has the 30 numbers which all the Royal Rumble participants are supposed to draw from at the end of the show, so as to determine the order of participants for the Rumble itself. Lawler then gets Ross to make another mention of the Hogan story on the hotline. This is followed by a pretaped segment showing Cactus Jack on the Penn State football field, taped earlier in the day. Cactus talks about his good friend Terry Funk, who has seemingly gone off the deep end, wears pantyhose on his head and now calls himself "Chainsaw" Charlie. He then vows to do dire things to the New Age Outlaws. All of this is accompanied by barbed-wire, explosive and flaming chairshot footage. Really. - MANKIND vs. GOLDUST (w/ Luna) Goldust comes out dressed as Dude Love. Before this inspired bit of lunacy can go anywhere Mankind slaps on the Mandible Claw. Ten seconds later Steve Austin runs in and nails both with Stone Cold Stunners. - Vince McMahon, from the back, announces that Mike Tyson will be at the Royal Rumble as an "invited guest", and that the WWF hopes to finalize their deal with him there. McMahon further guarantees that Tyson will be on RAW next week as well, and that both parties hope to be able to announce Tyson's participation at WrestleMania 14. Big announcement, but not as big as they'd been hyping all evening long. - Sunny comes out to introduce the next match. - TAKA MICHINOKU/SCOTT TAYLOR vs. LOS BORICUAS A lackluster match with some good moves snuck in. Taka tries to hit Savio Vega with a moonsault off the top turnbuckle to the floor, but Savio catches him and powerbombs him on the concrete. Scott Taylor then winds up being reverse suplexed off the top by Jesus. Los Boricuas win, again proving that the light heavyweights aren't supposed to be able to beat the heavyweights. After the match Owen Hart runs in with one of Hunter Hearst Helmsley's crutches and nails one of the Boricuas, (with debris from the crutch hitting the ref, legitimately injuring his arm). This was in retaliation for the attacking on Owen by Los Boricuas last week. - They take a more in-depth look at the 1995 Rumble, again planting the seeds that something might happen between Tyson and, say, Shawn Michaels, at this year's Rumble. - D-X come back out to make their "big announcement". Shawn says that in light of Kane's leaving Paul Bearer, that he is welcome as a member of DeGeneration X. The lights go out, but the Undertaker's music starts up instead of Kane's. The Undertaker appears and heads to the ring. He tells Michaels to stay out of his family's business. He threatens to punch a six-inch hole in Michaels' head at the Rumble, then grabs him by the throat. Chyna rushes in, but the Undertaker grabs her and hoists her up, preparing to deliver a chokeslam (which draws a huge pop from the crowd). Helmsley makes the save with the crutch to the back. Michaels then takes over with the crutch, breaking it across the Undertaker's back after repeated shots. The lights go out again and this time Kane appears. The crowd chants his name as he heads to the ring. Once there he grabs Michaels and pulls him off the Undertaker. Helmsley again saves a fellow D-X member from a chokeslam with the crutch. Kane slowly chases the fleeing D-X members up the ramp, stops at the stage, turns, and extends the old "urn salute" to the Undertaker, who has regained his feet back in the ring. The Undertaker returns the gesture (to an overwhelming crowd response). - The ring is filling with the 30 entrants of the Royal Rumble. Shamrock comes to the ring, the Honky Tonk Man comes to the ring, Cactus Jack comes to the ring ... *KEE-RASH!* Steve Austin runs in from the opposite side, knocks over the drum full of numbers and Stone Cold Stuns Phineas Godwinn. He makes his escape up the ramp, but is jumped from behind by Rocky Maivia, Savio Vega and D-Lo Brown. The show ends with Austin getting some of his own medicine as a massive, Rumble-teasing melee breaks out in the ring. - Next week: Mike Tyson. Comments: An all around entertaining show which did well to hype the Rumble, but failed to deliver much of anything in terms of quality in-ring action. Worse than that, much of what they started either never happened, or was cut off before anything came of it: the Rumble "drawing", the Mankind/Goldust match, Vader/Mero match, and so on. All night long they would promise one thing, then deliver something far less. I wouldn't call it "bait-and-switch" necessarily, just massive overhype. I kept hoping the show would settle down and offer something a bit more solid: specifically a match worth watching. Instead the show got crazier and crazier, which this week really irked me. I'm really fired up to see the Rumble, but I'm beginning to worry that the RAW's from now till WrestleMania will suffer from a lack of focus due to Tysonmania. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bottom Line: Here's the list of Royal Rumble participants, courtesy the WWF's own website (in no particular order): * Stone Cold Steve Austin. * Ken Shamrock. * "Chainsaw" Charlie. * Cactus Jack. * Owen Hart. * Mark Henry. * Tom Brandi. * 8-Ball. * Skull. * Ahmed Johnson. * Steve Blackman. * Chainz. * Vader. * Jeff Jarrett. * Head Banger Thrasher. * Faarooq. * Artist Formerly Known As Goldust. * Head Banger Mosh. * Savio Vega. * Hunter Hearst Helmsley. * D-Lo Brown. * Kama. * "Marvelous" Marc Mero. * Kurrgan. * "The Rock" Rocky Maivia. * Blackjack Bradshaw. * Henry Godwinn. * Phineas Godwinn. * To Be Determined. * To Be Determined. One of those last slots can be filled with the Honky Tonk Man. I'd bet Kane is the final "surprise" entrant, though there are plenty of other guys currently in (or associated with) the WWF who could fill that slot: Shawn Michaels, the Undertaker, Flash Funk, Recon, Sniper, Jackal, Jesus Castillo, Jose Estrada, Miguel Perez, Blackjack Windham, Billy Gunn, Road Dog, Bart Gunn, George "the Animal" Steele, Taka Michinoku, Scott Taylor, Aguila, "Brooklyn" Brawler Steve Lombardi, Dory Funk, Jr., Brian Christopher, Ricky Morton, Robert Gibson, Doug Furnas, Phil LaFon, Brakkus, and the perennial favorite, Jerry "the King" Lawler. Hell, there's almost enough left over to do a second Rumble match. More than enough if you add in the regular jobbers (like the Hardy Boys). Given that, the chances of the last entrant being an outside surprise (such as Dan Severn, any other NWA wrestler, MCW, ECW, Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, etc.) are pretty remote. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- This Week's Winner: Nitro. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Slobberknocker Central" and "Monday Night Recap" are copyright 1998 by John Petrie, and all opinions expressed therein are his own, and not those of "Internet Access, Inc". Check the "Slobberknocker Central" main page for info on how to receive the "Recap" free via E-Mail every week. Volume One, Number 113 of the "Monday Night Recap", January 12th, 1998.