Slobberknocker Central Monday Night Recap #130 May 11th, 1998 WCW Monday Nitro: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Three Hours. Location: Kansas City, Missouri. HOUR ONE Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Larry Zbyszko. - Last week's closing moments are replayed. The footage is shown again after the announcers lay on the opening hype. For some reason Nitro has gone back to being rated "TVPG". - "Mean" Gene Okerlund interviews Bret "Hitman" Hart. "Mean" Gene intimates Hart's upcoming PPV match with Randy Savage won't be the first time in which Hart has faced Savage. This directly contradicts past statements by Hart and WCW (yet ironically enough is the truth). Hart ducks the question and makes the claim that Savage left (the unnamed WWF) to come to "Where the Big Boys Play". Hart promises dire things in Savage's future. He gets a pretty much standard heel response from the crowd, earning his greatest boos when launching into his "Best There Ever Is .. " spiel. Hart again avoids explaining why he joined "Hollywood" Hogan's camp. - Nitro Girls. - BARRY HOROWITZ vs. DISCO INFERNO Horowitz gets in about a minute's worth of offense before Disco hits an Atomic Drop, then a swinging neckbreaker, followed by the pin. During the match Schiavone, talking about Booker T. and Chris Benoit for no apparent reason, announces that those two will face later this evening, with the winner going on to face Fit Finley for the TV Title at Slamboree. Remember this tidbit, folks. - Randy Savage comes to the ring to deliver comments, taking so long to get there that his theme music actually plays all the way through. Savage says Hart is the only reason that Hogan beat him for the title. Savage says he'll beat Hart at the PPV "or die trying!" Is that a promise? Savage then challenges Hogan to a match for tonight's main event. A healthy "Hogan sucks!" chant breaks out. - Schiavone mentions Thunder returning to TBS this week: just in time to get killed by the last ever episode of "Seinfeld". - JUVENTUD GUERRERA vs. BILLY KIDMAN (w/ Reese) A good match, though all the two did was trade high spots in rapid succession for a few minutes. Neither bothered to sell anything as they went rapid-fire through a number of admittedly impressive moves. Kidman then grabbed onto the ref, allowing Reese to come in and powerbomb Guerrera. Kidman then hit the Shooting Star Press and covered for the pin. How on earth did the referee not hear the thunderous thud as Reese slammed Guerrera to the mat? How many times have these two fought lately, by the way? This would be a good feud if WCW actually billed it as such. Instead when these two lock up all the announcers can talk about are the problems these two have had with OTHER people. After the match Reese, in a show of strength (and likely to get the rumor mill churning), carries Guerrera out of the ring area while Kidman rides on his back. You know, I'm starting to buy into all those homoerotic rumors circulating about the Flock. - Eric Bischoff rides his motorcycle to the ring. Once in the ring he mentions Vince McMahon, saying he's been sending his "wannabes" down to talk to him. He accuses McMahon of sending them when he knows Bischoff won't be there. He then trashes Sean Waltman (X-Pac), giving him a "bite me!" in lieu of an apology. (What apology?) Bischoff goes on to challenge Vince McMahon to appear at Slamboree this Sunday, saying he'd knock him out if McMahon showed his face. The crowd reaction was mixed to all this. Minutes later tens of thousands of TV viewers will flip the channel to hear McMahon's response. You think that's what Bischoff was hoping would happen? I guess nobody's that interested in seeing Bischoff put himself over without it benefiting someone else (other than WCW itself, in a somewhat tangential way). - A Nitro Girls number is once again broken up by Alex Wright, who is yet again led out by security. Take your time angle, we can wait. - SCOTT "FLASH" NORTON vs. YUJI NAGATA (w/ Sonny Onoo) Norton continues his push intended to make him feel better for his upcoming job to Bill Goldberg. Norton shoulderbreaks his way to the easy win. Onoo seemed to be rooting for Norton during the match. As they went to break Schiavone started talking about Curt Hennig, then stopped in mid-sentence. Sounds like he started reading the copy for the next segment. - "Mean" Gene hypes the WCW hotline. Schiavone then picks up where he left off talking about Hennig. Footage of Hennig joining the Wolfpack is shown. - HUGH MORRUS (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. JIM POWERS Total squash. Morrus wins in about 30 seconds with a bodyslam and moonsault ("No Laughing Matter"). It's action like this which made WCW's appearance on MTV such a smashing success! (*snort!*) - Kevin Nash and Konan make their way to the ring through the crowd. (No surprise since RAW is about to start). Nash says he and Scott Hall formed the NWO two years ago, adding that Hogan then jumped on the bandwagon because of his poor movie career. Nash says they broke into Bischoff's office and that they know for certain that Hogan is flying into KC tonight. "Big Sexy" says that the "NWO" now stands for "Nash World Order". He then advises Hogan on how to say "4 Life!" and "Too Sweet!" HOUR TWO Hosted By: Schiavone, Tenay and Zbyszko. - ULTIMO DRAGON vs. JOHNNY SWINGER Johnny Swinger?! What, was Barry Darsow unavailable? Did Marty Jannetty miss a flight? Rick Fuller have Jury Duty? Scott Putski in jail? How in the hell does Johnny Swinger get a match in the second hour of Nitro going head-to-head against a Vince McMahon/Dude Love interview? Quick match, with Ultimo getting the win via Dragon Sleeper (but only after he and Swinger messed up a huracanrana off the top). Chavo Guerrero comes to the ring to root the Dragon on about 20 seconds before the finish. He and Dragon then mutually admire each other. Out comes Uncle Eddy, who isn't pleased with the company Chavo is keeping. Eddy slaps him, drawing a shove in response. Eddy drops to his knees and taunts/begs Chavo to do it again. The Dragon steps in and slaps on the Dragon Sleeper. Chavo shoves the Dragon off. Eddy then moves in and lays the boots to the Dragon, but Chavo shoves him away as well. Is it just me, or is the whole point of this lengthy, ongoing angle to show that Chavo is a nice guy and Eddy is a jerk? Do they actually NEED an angle to do that? I'll also repeat what I've been saying for weeks: what is it with Eddy that he's not wrestling anymore? I don't think he's even doing matches at house shows. - Dusty Rhodes comes out. Worse than that, he speaks. He says Nash is going to get his hands on Hogan. He says Hogan and Bischoff are messing up the "table" that he set. He bashes Bischoff for firing Syxx. He claims to have taken Scott Hall in and given him "shelter". By this point I stopped paying attention and--except for cheering at the mention of Nash's name-- so had the crowd. - BILL GOLDBERG vs. LEN DENTON Len Denton!?! #83. - They show the ONLY highlight from the "MTV Ultimate Music Video Feud": 20 seconds of Raven and DDP fighting. - "Mean" Gene interviews J.J. Dillon, whom announces that Raven has filed a "grievance" against WCW for providing him an "unsafe working environment" in reference to the fan run-ins and attacks on the part of DDP. Raven is out also and acknowledges this, saying that it's a breach of his contract and that WCW has to do something to protect him. Dillon says WCW will provide him four guards in riot gear. Said guards come to the ring. Raven vows to find out the identity of the fan which keeps attacking him. He also challenges DDP to a "Bowery Death Match" in a Steel Cage at the PPV. (How long until one of those guards turns out to be DDP? Any bets?) Raven then calls his Flock to the ring. He also calls out Saturn, demanding that he explain why he couldn't beat Hammer last week in the "Loser Leaves the Flock" match. They all then turn on Hammer and just like that Saturn is back in--Hammer's out. Jerry Flynn runs in to help Hammer, which doesn't make too much sense because those two are supposed to fight. That leads to ... - SATURN vs. JERRY FLYNN A minute long match (if even that) which ends with Saturn applying the Rings of Saturn for the win. Going to the break they replay some of Bischoff's challenge to McMahon. (I'm surprised he didn't just come back out and say it all again.) - They show how Fit Finley beat Booker T. for the TV Title. Bobby Heenan joins the announcing crew. - FIT FINLEY vs. RAGE (w/ Chaos) I was under the impression that Benoit would be getting the title shot this week. Instead Rage gets it. ... ... ... ... Has Rage EVER won a singles match? How does he rate a TV Title shot? Rage wrestles like a bear slapping a salmon, only pulling off one decent move: a bouncing kneedrop from the apron to the top turnbuckle to the mat. He then turns the ref around so he can't see the upcoming interference. Chaos climbs to the top, but Booker T. runs out and knocks him off the ropes. Those two begin to fight, but then Chris Benoit comes out and joins the brawl. Finley, meanwhile, grabs Rage and hoists him into a Tombstone Piledriver. J.J. Dillon and security come out to break up the fight. Dillon then orders that Benoit and Booker, who are "scheduled" to face different opponents tonight, will instead face each other. The winner faces Finley at the PPV. Nice surprise announcement ... too bad Schiavone messed up and gave it away during the first match of the show! Who says you have to attend every meeting held by the booking committee? Going to the break they AGAIN replay some of Bischoff's challenge to McMahon. - Nitro Girls. Nitro Party Video. - LENNY LANE vs. DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE These two trade punches and kicks, and tease a few pin attempts, before Page hits the Diamond Cutter for the win. DDP accepts Raven's challenge, then calls for him to come out. Raven and his security guards come out as far as the stage. Yet AGAIN they play some of Bischoff's challenge. HOUR THREE Hosted By: Schiavone, Tenay and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. - "Hollywood" Hogan comes out with Bischoff, Brian Adams, Vincent and the Disciple in tow. Hogan runs down his own accolades, including mentioning his work on the new "Assault on Devil's Island" sequel. Long story short after that, he challenges Kevin Nash to come out. Nash does and he and Hogan trade quips back-and-forth. This all leads to Hogan saying he'd never provoke a fight unless he had a big gun. "Whatchoo got?!" asks Nash. Enter the Giant, wearing a black-and-white NWO shirt. The NWO jump Nash, who is able to fend most of them off until the Giant hits the ring. Nash is laid out in short order and "NWO" is sprayed on his back. Savage, Konan and Dusty Rhodes come out to make the save as Schiavone proclaims this one of the most disastrous things ever. After the break they spend a few minutes mulling over all the questions this turns raises, without actually answering any of them. - They show clips of Chris Jericho battling "Bore-Us" Malenko last week. - "Mean" Gene interviews Jericho. Jericho says he's going to retire the Cruiserweight Title since he's retired all the top contenders. J.J. Dillon then comes out to announce that 15 cruiserweights have been signed to compete in a battle royal, with the winner getting a shot at Jericho later in the PPV. Jericho says he likes his odds, since whoever he faces will have been beaten up by 14 other guys first. Jericho then unveils this Dean Malenko poster, only to find that it has been covered with graffiti. Jericho acts distraught, saying someone must have done it when he left it alone in the lockerroom. Out comes Joe Malenko--Dean Malenko's brother, to have a word with Jericho. He accuses him of disrespecting Dean, his father Boris and himself. Jericho says it's all been a misunderstanding. He offers the poster to Malenko and asks him to get rid of it as a sign of good faith. Malenko takes it, leaving himself open for an attack from Jericho. The Lionheart beats on Malenko as they go to break. - In a pretaped announcement Glacier informs everyone that he invented the Cryonic Kick and that he'll deal with anyone who uses the move besides him. Ooooookaaaaay. - GLACIER vs. SICK BOY Glacier wastes little time in putting Sick Boy down with the Cryonic Kick. In the process, though, the ref gets knocked out. Saturn runs in, nails Glacier with a kick of his own, then places Sick Boy on him. Glacier actually kicks out before the groggy ref can make a three count. He nails another Cryonic Kick and covers for the pin. Saturn then comes back in and suplexes Glacier, followed by a Death Valley Driver. Awwww ... just two or three more Cryonic Kicks and this angle would have been perfect! I'm lying, of course. - They replay what happened between Rick and Scott Steiner last week. Lex Luger then comes out and challenges either Scott Steiner or Brian Adams to a match at Slamboree. Luger doesn't care which accepts. Bet on Adams. - CHRIS BENOIT vs. BOOKER T. The usual match between these two: good, but not great. As expected from Benoit match the announcers spend most of the match talking about the NWO, Hogan and so on. Schiavone talks about the feud these two have had, completely failing to mention their TV Title swaps, confirming once and for all that WCW won't be acknowledging them. Back-and-forth action, with Booker T. eventually getting the upper hand. He goes for a high kick but Benoit grabs the ref and pulls him in the way (playing off the match the two had at Spring Stampede). The ref ducks, avoiding the kick. Booker stops to check on the ref, leaving himself open just long enough for Benoit to slap on the Crippler Crossface. Booker taps out and Benoit gets the win. - Michael Buffer does his usual for the main event. - "HOLLYWOOD" HOGAN (w/ the Disciple) vs. RANDY "MACHO MAN" SAVAGE Savage starts off in control, dragging Hogan all around the inside of the ring. Hogan then takes over and moves things to the floor, where he slams Savage into the rail. Savage is tossed back into the ring. After a bit more action the Disciple jumps up on the apron and distracts the ref. In from the other side of the ring comes Bret Hart, carrying the World Title belt. Hart nails Savage. Hogan than covers and gets the three count. In comes Nash to help Savage. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper is close behind. Piper grabs a mic and says Savage is the winner by DQ (exercising those as-yet undefined powers of his). Piper then announces that he will be the special referee in the match between Hart and Savage at the PPV. In a rambling speech he tells the two wrestlers that anything will go in their match. The Giant then comes out and he and Nash stare each other down. A shot of Sting in the rafters adds to the intrigue just before the show fades out. - This Thursday: Nothing announced. - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: An okay show, though one rife with many of the usual faults. For starters, although it wasn't the biggest problem this week, where was the wrestling? Sure, they offer more matches than RAW, and generally better matches, but lately that curve has slipped for Nitro just as much as it has for RAW. For so long WCW fans have argued that one big reason that Nitro was better was because they had better matches. I wonder if those fans still think that way, especially when you compare the number and type of matches they did every week several months ago to how many you saw this week? WCW seems to have cut out much of the decent wrestling to accommodate more angles (or pay more attention to the same few angles). Unfortunately those angles aren't any better than the ones they've been doing for so long. Speaking of which, why did the Giant join the NWO? Doesn't this seem like something they should have saved for the PPV this Sunday? This makes no more sense than when the Giant joined the NWO the first time in 1996, nor his later being dumped by the NWO, for that matter. So let me get this straight: the Giant hates Nash, so he joins the NWO? In other words, his hatred for Nash was so great that he turned his back on Sting, Lex Luger, Rick Steiner, Roddy Piper, everyone else in WCW and all the fans? The Giant's stock really tumbled during 1997 when he basically spent the entire year doing nothing. I'm not so sure this is the way to get him back on track. I don't think too many fans were all that "outraged" by the turn (though he did get a hearty booing from the crowd), and with Nash now essentially playing a babyface role, the prospects of this actually leading to any kind of advancement on the Giant's part looks slim. This whole thing really just comes off as a ratings ploy and a "surprise-for-the-sake-of-surprise"--even moreso than the usual grandstand moves we see on both Monday night shows. I realize it's pretty much standard procedure to turn a guy when things aren't working, I'm just not so sure that the Giant was the best candidate yet for this to happen to. Of course the biggest surprise was that it was the Giant who turned and not Lex Luger. Now THERE'S a guy who's in dire need of a heel turn. Then there's Eric Bischoff's challenge. I thought it was pretty funny. Laughable, actually, when I realized just how big an incentive this was for viewers to switch over to RAW once it started. I also had a quick mental image of McMahon dressed up like D-X in that jeep of theirs pulling up to the arena this Sunday. This was clearly Bischoff's response to the two WWF "invasions" (you'll read about the second below). The biggest difference, though, between these two shots fired by the two sides in this new war is that the WWF's fans have solidly cheered D-X's antics on, while here Eric was mostly booed the whole time he was in the ring. Remember a few weeks back when Vince McMahon mentioned Ted Turner and got a hearty cheer from the crowd? All these things serve to do is galvanize fan support and make the fans feel good about their "side". WCW hasn't seemed to figure out how to do it as well as the WWF does. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF RAW is WAR: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours+. Location: Baltimore, Maryland. WWF RAW Hosted By: Jim Ross and Michael Cole. - Clips from the McMahon/Dude Love/Steve Austin angle are shown. Jim Ross, in the voiceover, asks us fans if we think there's a conspiracy afoot. After the fireworks Ross teases footage of another DeGeneration X "invasion" of WCW. - Vince McMahon comes to the ring to make a few announcements. First off, Steve Austin will wrestle tonight in a tag team match. His partner and opponents go unnamed. McMahon then brings out Dude Love, who is the number one contender and will face Steve Austin at "Over the Edge". Dude comes to the ring sporting a groomed beard, styled hair, sports jacket and tie. He's carrying a copy of the Wall street Journal". In a hilarious speech Dude says he's an intelligent, well-read man who reads Greek tragedies, studies history, is a ladies man, "a surprisingly good dancer for a big man!", and so on. He says he's the "King of the Hardcores" and will show Steve Austin that he's also the "Toughest S.O.B." in the WWF. He and Vince shale hands. Dude then says he's "found (his) smile". He and Vince hug. McMahon continues his announcements, bringing out the special guest timekeeper and ring announcer for the PPV match: Jerry Brisco and Pat Patterson respectively. McMahon then gives a glowing intro to the special referee. He signals to the stage, but no one comes out. McMahon looks slightly annoyed and heads to the back. After a minute or so delay Pat Patterson then repeats the announcement, introducing the special referee as "The 'Best There Was', the 'Best There Is', and the 'Best There Ever Will Be' ... Vince McMahon!" McMahon comes out wearing a sleeveless referee's shirt. He climbs onto the corner turnbuckles and poses a la Steve Austin. Kevin Kelly is waiting in the back to interview Steve Austin when he arrives. Sable comes in but blows by him. They then show a photo of the CNN tower in Atlanta, adding in some computer generated graffiti declaring that "D-X rules! WCW - Suck It!" - Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Chyna, X-Pac and the New Age Outlaws have made their way to the squat brick building which serves as the headquarters for WCW outside Atlanta. Helmsley tells a security guard that the folks inside would like to see them. The guard makes them move out of the way so that people can enter. Helmsley compares the building to the much more impressive Titan Tower in Stamford, CT. WCW's giving away free tickets to Nitro is again mentioned. Jim Ross will later claim that WCW Executive V.P. Nick Lambros called 9-1-1, claiming that 25 people were trying to break into the building. There's talk that charges may be filed. - Kevin Kelly is still waiting for Austin. The steel shutter he's in front of rattles and raises up. Instead of Austin it's Al Snow! Snow has his Head and two tickets to the show. He asks Kelly how to get to their seats. Kelly gives him directions. Snow chews out the Head for giving him incorrect directions. - VADER vs. BARRY WINDHAM (w/ Jim Cornette & the New Midnight Express) A near squash, with Vader overcoming outside interference to put Windham away quickly with the Vaderbomb. - They show a promo for the "MTV Celebrity Deathmatch", which will feature a claymation version of Steve Austin doing color commentary. Ross says this won't be a "wrestling embarrassment", and will happen "rain or shine!" The debut of the new series is Thursday night at 7:30 PM Eastern, just before Thunder and the final episode of "Seinfeld". The show will feature clay versions of Jerry Seinfeld and Tim Allen of "Home Improvement" going head-to-head. The last "Celebrity Deathmatch", which aired during half time of the Super Bowl in January, was one of MTV's highest rated shows this year, and was one of the highest rated shows on all of cable that week. Steve Austin was involved in the promotion of that special. - Steve Austin arrives just before they go to break. Once back they show his interview which took place during the commercial. He basically says "ass" a lot and asks where McMahon is. - HAWK (w/ Animal & Sunny) vs. SKULL (w/ 8-BALL) Quick match, but it still sucked. Skull and 8-Ball pull the old switcheroo and 8-Ball pins Hawk with the ugliest small package I've ever seen. - D-X "invades" the CNN Center. If you've ever seen "Talkback Live" on CNN that's where they were. The footage this time consists of them standing around, with the occasional shot of a security guard thrown in to make things look ominous. They're apparently warned that they can't do any taping because it's not private property. Billy Gunn tells a guard that Ted Turner will let them right up if they tell him they're there. A few passersby are recruited to do the D-X crotch-chop. - The second "Edge" promo plays. - In a goofy, but funny segment, Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw is shown trying to teach Taka Michinoku how to drive. The two first light up huge cigars. Taka then hands a big wad of money over for the lesson (with Bradshaw grabbing a bit more because things are so expensive here in America). Taka mutters a cussword which gets bleeped out. Bradshaw looks shocked. The lesson then proceeds and Taka nearly gets them killed. Bradshaw whacks him with his hat. The bit ends with the two being attacked by Kaientai (formerly Klub Kamikaze). - JEFF JARRETT (w/ Tennessee Lee) vs. FAAROOQ (w/ Steve Blackman) Another quick match. Blackman interferes freely on Faarooq's behalf. Mark Henry and Kama then run in, halting the match. They square off with Faarooq and Blackman until Jarrett comes in with Steve Blackman's numchuks (nunchukus, whatever). He nails Blackman in the ribs with them, then chokes him. Steve Austin is shown prowling the halls in search of McMahon. - They run a promo for the Brisco Brothers Auto Body Shop which looks just like the type of ad you'd see for your own local autobody shop. I wasn't paying attention and actually missed this the first time around, thinking it was a read ad! (Which it was, more or less.) - Steve Austin hits the ring. He calls for McMahon to come out and tell him face-to-face who his partner and opponents are later tonight. McMahon appears on the Titan-Tron. He asks Brisco and Patterson who Austin's partner and opponents are. They both say they don't know. The three then do the three monkeys "See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil" thing. Austin tells them that they can cover their eyes, ears and mouths, but they can't cover their asses: which is where Austin is going to shove his belt. Sable is shown stretching in preparation for her match. - They show a "best of ... " collage of Val Venis clips as the first hour ends. They immediately go into the next match, foregoing the War Zone opening. WWF WAR ZONE Hosted By: Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler. - SABLE vs. "MARVELOUS MARC MERO Mero hops in the ring ready to go. Sable grabs a mic and says she can't believe Marc is taking it this far. Mero then grabs her and hoists her onto his shoulders, preparatory to delivering the TKO. He then sets her back down and tells her how he could have done it if he'd wanted to. He demands that she apologize for ruining her career. She gives him an apology ... by way of a swift kick to the family jewels! She then picks him up and powerbombs him! As the two leave separately Ross says this one is far from over. Suddenly the Undertaker is right there in Jerry Lawler's face. Lawler backpedals, stammering that it was Paul Bearer and not he who did all the smutty talk about the Undertaker's mother last week. The Undertaker pops him, then hauls him in the ring and chokeslams him. He's about to add in a Tombstone Piledriver when the lights go out and Kane appears. Paul Bearer brags that on next week's show he will offer proof that he is indeed Kane's father. Once the lights come back on the Undertaker gives Lawler that piledriver he had started before. Lawler would be absent for the remainder of the show. - Ross shows he is without a color commentator. Al Snow seizes the opportunity to pop up at that moment and demand to see Vince McMahon. Ross tells Snow he better watch it or he'll be in trouble. Snow asks him what they'll do to him: fire him? "I tried to quit!" he exclaims. Security guys show up to escort him away. Snow runs in the ring and holds up the Head. I can't say as I'm overjoyed to see this gimmick make its way to the WWF. - They show the "parting shot" in the D-X invasion: a computer generated rocket fired from their jeep cannon taking out the CNN tower. Cute. D-X then come to the ring to deliver comments. X-Pac trashes Eric Bischoff, saying he never asked him for any kind of an apology. He also trashes him for making a challenge he knows McMahon will never answer. I guess we're at a stalemate with this stuff. X-Pac tells him to "suck on it!". The rest of the piece involves the group rattling off their usual catchphrases. (The whole thing starting to sound like Scott Hall's "survey".) The group is interrupted by Owen Hart, who says it's time for this crap to stop. Owen challenges Helmsley to a fight. Helmsley agrees. Owen gets as far as the ring before he stops to watch his backup come out: the Nation. - HUNTER HEARST HELMSLEY (w/ D-X) vs. OWEN HART (w/ the Nation) Jim Cornette sits in on color commentary. He and Ross talk about working at the CNN Center years ago. Cornette also makes reference to Bischoff by saying it takes a weasel to make a challenge that can't be accepted. An okay match between these two but it never goes to a finish. After a back-and-forth match the two end up on the corner turnbuckles jockeying for position. Owen then leans in and bites Helmsley's ear. He comes away with blood dribbling from his chin, while in a later shot Helmsley displays a bloody ear. This incites a big brawl between the Nation and D-x, prematurely ending the match. Commissioner Slaughter and his horde of officials have to come out to break things up. - Goldust comes out to the stage carrying his outfit, wig and gasoline container. He dumps the outfit and wig into a steel drum and pours the gasoline over it. He sets it afire, then trashes Vince McMahon for making him into a pervert and losing his father, wife, daughter and dignity. Dustin says Goldust is officially dead. Finally! Sure is nice to have Vince McMahon to blame all these things on. - TERRY FUNK/2 COLD SCORPIO vs. KAIENTAI Before the match they show clips of Funk's match with Cactus Jack from last week. Yamaguchi San comes to the ring waving a variation of the Japanese flag. Togo, Teiho and Sho Funaki are nowhere to be seen. Yamaguchi does an anti-American speech, wrapping up by saying you'll never know where or when his guys will appear. The trio of Japanese wrestlers then crawl from under the ring and attack Funk and Scorpio. This is a 2-on-3 handicap match. This one was a mess. Funk and Scorpio has to constantly battle all three Japanese. Eventually Bradshaw and Taka run in to even things up, causing the match to be thrown out. Going to the break they show McMahon in a dressing room speaking to an unseen individual, who will serve as Steve Austin's partner later on. - Al Snow, locked out of the building, bangs on the door to be let in. Security shows up to escort him off the property. - Rocky Maivia and the Nation hit the ring. Rocky says it's time for him to reignite his feud with Steve Austin, and that Austin better have Godzilla as his partner, or he'll lay the smack-down on him. Austin is pacing in the back. Cut over to the dressing room, where Patterson and Brisco are helping McMahon warm up. Things suddenly become much clearer. - "STONE COLD" STEVE AUSTIN/??? vs. ROCKY MAIVIA/D-LO BROWN (w/ the Nation) Austin comes to the ring by himself. Over the P.A. system we then hear Vince McMahon introduce Austin's partner: himself! McMahon comes to the ring flanked by Brisco and Patterson. This was a wild one. Austin clears the ring, then slams Patterson and Brisco together. They retaliate later by stomping on him when he's down. Austin catches Rocky with a brutal looking clothesline on the ramp. Austin himself takes a nasty toss into the ring steps and guard rail. Things settle down in the ring, where Rocky delivers the People's Elbow. McMahon only offers to make the tag when Austin is down and on the far side of the ring. Rocky slaps on a headlock, but Austin escapes and applies a sleeperhold. McMahon then comes into the ring, which draws the referee over to his corner. McMahon argues with the ref, allowing D-Lo to come in and attack Austin. Hah! Great stuff! D-Lo then loudly slaps his hands together, making the ref think the tag was made. D-Lo then nails a high flying elbow off the turnbuckles. Rocky tags in and wears Austin down as McMahon smugly looks on. Austin breaks loose, but he and Rocky knock each other out with simultaneous clotheslines. D-Lo comes in and nails a legdrop. He the tries a Frog Splash but Austin moves. Austin crawls over to make the tag ... ... but flips Vince off instead! He then rallies back and catches both D-Lo and Rocky with a series of forearms. He stomps Rocky down in the corner, then moves aside as D-Lo tries a splash. He covers for a pin attempt, but moves as Rocky tries to drop an elbow. Austin tosses Rocky out of the ring. He then catches D-Lo with as Stone Cold Stunner, only to turn around and be met with a clothesline from VINCE MCMAHON!!! Patterson and Brisco immediately enter the ring and the two stomp Austin to the mat. They then hoist him up for McMahon to deliver another shot, but Austin kicks McMahon in the gut, dropping him to the mat. He shakes off Patterson and Brisco as well to the deafening roar of the crowd. Suddenly Dude Love slides in and tries to slap on the Mandible Claw. Right on his heels is Dustin Rhodes, who pulls Dude Love off Austin. Behind him is Hunter Hearst Helmsley, then X-Pac, and others begin to flood the ring in a massive melee as the show fades out, having run about a minute over its usual time. - Next week: Proof that Kane is Paul Bearer's son. Comments: I almost died when McMahon leveled Austin with that clothesline. It just came totally out of nowhere and was arguably the biggest surprise put on by either show this week. Then Dude Love runs in, followed by Dustin Rhodes, followed by D-X and you had one of the wildest TV finishes since back when NWO run-ins were still something of a novelty. I like the fact that McMahon is doing all that he's doing in order to put Steve Austin over as the biggest WWF Champion ever (unlike another wrestling executive I won't name, who seems content attempting to pass himself off as a genuine bad-ass). Again the wrestling was weak, but I think we've long passed the point where we've come to expect that. Simply put, that's not what RAW is about these days. Here the focus is on the storylines and most of them great. That being said, there were some interesting moments in the ring this week. The one that sticks with me the most is how solidly Steve Austin has inherited the "best wrestler in the U.S." mantle from Shawn Michaels. Austin is showing virtually no signs of his injuries from last year and is wrestling with an intensity that's unmatched by hardly anyone else these days. Austin is clearly the hardest working main-eventer in the business since Shawn Michaels. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bottom Line: I'm almost amazed at how entertaining RAW was this week, yet how little the WWF actually did for it to be that way. Half a dozen surprise wrestlers were expected to show up and the only one that did was Al Snow. We still have Val Venis, The Edge, Steven Regal, Steve Williams and John Tenta all yet to come. There's also talk that WCW may have fired Davey Boy Smith, meaning a return by him isn't out of the question. The whole Ric Flair situation is still up in the air. There's even late reports that Rey Mysterio Jr., who was rumored to have signed a contract extension with WCW last week, may have not signed that extension after all and may still be looking to get out of WCW. To round out the comings-and-goings rumor mill, Bill Goldberg signed a three year deal with WCW, Sid was in a car accident, Ahmed Johnson no-showed an NWA show, and the Ultimate Warrior is still no closer to signing with WCW. Did I miss anybody? Hakushi, Madusa, Jacquelyn, Craig Pittman, Stevie Richards and Debra McMichael are all names we'll be keeping an ear open for in the coming months. The thing they all share in common is that they are rumored to be WWF bound. Unbelievable! Anyone else sense that something major may be going on between WCW and Scott Hall? I know they keep mentioning him on TV, but here it is the next-to-last live TV show before the PPV and he still didn't show. Now the complexion of the match he was supposed to return for has changed completely. He and Nash were supposed to face the Giant and Sting. Is there any chance of that match still happening? When Randy Savage joined the NWO Sting cut off all ties to him. It seems a no-brainer here that the same will again happen, and a Giant/Sting now feud seems likely. With Rick Steiner injured, and Lex Luger fighting Brain Adams at the PPV, the only possible replacement to have that match still happen is Roddy Piper. Of course if Hall never shows then there could never have been a match anyway, right? So doesn't it seem that maybe part of the Giant's turn was to change the tag match at the PPV to a straight-up match between Nash and the Giant? Hall, meanwhile, is quietly forgotten. Just to run down the rumors regarding Hall, he returned about a week ago on the house show circuit and reportedly is quite out of shape, having put on 10 pounds or so. There's a further bizarre rumor that Hall got drunk in a bar and tried to pick a fight with Larry Zbyszko. Once again speculation has arisen that Hall is trying to get fired so he can go back to the WWF. Despite all this, though, WCW advertises him as part of a major match at the PPV. Suddenly the match is changed at the last moment to the point where he may no longer be included. Something's up and if I had to guess, I'd say we're seeing another scenario similar to what's going on between WCW and Ric Flair. Here's the line-up for Slamboree: * Kevin Nash & Scott Hall vs. Sting & the Giant. (???) * Randy Savage vs. Bret Hart. * Raven vs. DDP. Cage Match. * Fit Finley vs. Chris Benoit. TV Title Match. * Bill Goldberg vs. Scott Norton. U.S. Title Match. * Lex Luger vs. Brian Adams. * Cruiserweight Battle Royal. * Chris Jericho vs. Battle Royal winner. So what am I leaving out? Nash vs. the Giant, or a replacement for the Giant in the previously advertised tag team match. Maybe they'll dump Sting and add Hogan, giving those two the shot at Nash and Hall's World Tag Team Titles. There's a thought. I'll be pretty damned surprised if it isn't Dean Malenko who wins the battle Royal. Just looking at the above line-up it seems pretty apparent that there might be one or two good matches from a "workrate" standpoint, one good "hard core" brawl, and a whole lot of matches which involves issues which have little or no chance of being resolved here. If anything this card screams out "watch Nitro tomorrow night!" The absence of Hogan seems as good a sign as any that this is just a throw-away PPV--and WCW knows it. RAW beat Nitro in the ratings this week: 4.7 to 4.3. I'm neither happy nor sad with either number, though I am still pleased that both shows continue to do so well. It's no surprise, though, that my own pick as to who was better this week was ... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- This Week's Winner: RAW. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "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 130 of the "Monday Night Recap", May 11th, 1998.