Slobberknocker Central Monday Night Recap #160 December 7th, 1998 The Opening Word: The WWF held their UK-only PPV "Capital Carnage" this past weekend. Reviews I've read say the action was good, but little happened in the way of storylines and such. Jacqueline got her top pulled off, much (I'm assuming) to the delight of the fans. Marc Mero wrestled in what was described as his final "contractually obligated" match. Stephen Regal, who was supposed to wrestle X-Pac for the European Title, was pulled from the card as part of the ongoing problems--whatever they are--that he's currently suffering. That meant X-Pac got to face the Rock, and lost by DQ when Triple H interfered. Steve Austin won a "Fatal Four Way" match in the main event. Last year's UK PPV, "One Night Only" is available on video, so I'll assume the same will again be true here for this one--probably by late January or early February. My niece, Shakota, turns one year old this week (Monday). Some of you may remember the announcement of her birth on the website. A bright spot on what is otherwise a somber day here in the States (Dec. 7th--Pearl Harbor Day). Big WCW news over the weekend was the Giant getting arrested last Thursday following Thunder. A hotel clerk accused him of exposing himself to her. Latest word is that he was released when the police could find no evidence to back the charge up. Hard to say if any of this will affect the Giant's status in WCW (hell, look at Scott Steiner: he's going on trial for trying to run over a guy with his truck, yet he's just been made leader of the NWO!) The Giant's contract runs out in January, and while a jump to the WWF is still possible, it's starting to look like he's going to stay after all. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WCW Monday Nitro: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Three Hours. Location: Houston, Texas. HOUR ONE Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Larry Zbyszko. - Monster crowd tonight: over 31,000 in the Astrodome. Record size wrestling for the city. Mike Tenay breaks the news that Goldberg will face Bam Bam Bigelow tonight in a non-title match. - In a move which is the living definition of cheap heat, they show a clip of Scott Steiner beating up the WCW mascot, Wildcat Willie, taped before Nitro went on the air. - They play the Hulk Hogan "tribute" video which they debuted on Thunder last week. Voiceovers suggest that Hogan is the greatest wrestler ever. I have nothing nice to add to that, so let's move on ... - Scott Steiner comes out and delivers a vile interview, saying the only thing that ever came out of Texas were "steers and queers" ("queers" getting bleeped). The crowd absolutely hated this, and chanted for all manner of people to come out and stop him. Eventually they settled on a "Goldberg!" chant. Steiner now draws as much heat as Vince McMahon, though I think most fans actually love to hate McMahon. Steiner they just want to go away. (No wait--that's just me.) Steiner makes a point of mentioning Roddy Piper, which may be a hint that he's coming back soon (though Steiner's been dropping Piper's name for a few months now, throughout the feud with his brother Rick). - DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE vs. KENDALL WINDHAM It's almost a full half-hour into the show before these two lock up. DDP with the Diamond Cutter in about a minute. At one point during the match Larry Zbyszko calls DDP "Paul Diamond". - They run a special video profile of Nitro Girl Tigress (or Tygress ... whatever). I don't mean to sound like a pig, but until these Nitro Girls either 1) get nude, or 2) become players in the game, I'm just not gonna care about 'em. They're just part of the scenery as far as I'm concerned. They might as well do a special video of the pipe which the fireworks shoot out of. - NORMAN SMILEY vs. PRINCE IAUKEA I think I've said this before, but some wrestlers just don't have the "look" to be in the business. Smiley looks like NFL QB Warren Moon, not a pro-wrestler. Smiley wins with a submission move of some sort. - "Mean" Gene Okerlund interviews Eddie Guerrero. Eddie calls Rey Mysterio a "turd", which surprisingly doesn't get bleeped. Silver King then comes out and ... and ... and I quit paying attention. Sorry. - SILVER KING vs. REY MYSTERIO, JR. Silver King joined the Latino World Order on WCW Saturday Night (if they hadn't told me I'd have never known). Mysterio gets the pin rather easily. WCW Champ Goldberg and Terry Taylor of the Championship Committee arrive backstage. Kevin Nash confronts them, declaring that Goldberg's match against Bigelow will never take place. HOUR TWO Hosted By: Schiavone, Tenay and Zbyszko. - WRATH vs. RENEGADE Renegade blows his handspring elbow shot en route to a Flatliner loss. I probably shouldn't look for any symbolism here, but it's worth noting that the Renegade was a Hogan creation, brought into WCW in 1995 to make fans think it was the Ultimate Warrior. Now Hogan is gone and Renegade gets squashed (though to be fair the Renegade has been jobbing for more than a year now). Speaking of the Warrior, what happened to that guy? I don't like to say "I told you so!" (I'm such a liar), but the Warrior in WCW sure turned out to be every bit the bust I said he would, didn't he? By the way, for some weird reason the Renegade has Marc Mero's music. They replay the Nash/Goldberg confrontation. - DISCO INFERNO/CHAVO GUERRERO, JR. vs. HORACE/STEVIE RAY Before the match Disco comes out and calls on Konan to help him make a "big announcement". Konan comes out and says he has no idea what Disco is talking about. Disco says that Kevin Nash says that he (Disco) is now a member of the Wolfpac. Konan just shakes his head and walks away as Disco heads to the ring. Easy win for the NWO team as they double-team Disco, putting him away with a spike piledriver off the turnbuckles. No post-match stuff involving Disco, so if there is an angle involving him and the Wolfpac, WCW's taking their sweet-ass time in developing it. - Kevin Nash comes out to essentially repeat what he told Goldberg, drawing only slightly more cheers than boo's in the process. Nash says he's made tonight a "Three Way Dance". - Last week on Nitro they hyped the TNT movie "Houdini". This week they hype the next made-for-TNT movie, "Hard Time". Lo and behold, though, this one actually stars "Rowdy" Roddy Piper as the bad guy! - GLACIER vs. PERRY SATURN Ernest Miller (in an outfit seemingly borrowed from Dennis Rodman) comes out before the match to badmouth Saturn. The match itself is blah, with Glacier winning via DQ when Miller and his manager Sonny Onoo interfere. The ref's decision makes no sense, so Saturn gives him the Death Valley Driver. - LEX LUGER vs. EMERY HALE Emery Hale? I don't know if he's an ex-football player or a Power Plant trainee, but he's big, muscular, not a very good wrestler, but does seem to have some promise. Luger, wrestling the whole match looking very bored, lets himself get beat up for a few minutes before coming back and putting him away with the Torture Rack. - CHRIS JERICHO (w/ Ralphus) vs. BOBBY DUNCUM, JR. All the fat guys in the audience are dressing like Ralphus. Jericho gets to do his bit on the microphone, and actually steals this match by reversing a powerbomb attempt into a roll-up (putting his feet on the top rope for leverage). These two will go at it again this Thursday on Thunder, which was taped last week. HOUR THREE Hosted By: Schiavone, Tenay and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. - SCOTT PUTSKI vs. THE GIANT The Giant in seconds with the chokeslam. Afterwards he challenges DDP to a match at Starrcade. (What was it I said about him last week? Hmm?) The WCW trainer is taping up Konan's fists. The NWO referee is also there and he wants his fists taped. Konan says he's going to tape him up Wolpac style. - THE HORSEMEN (w/ Arn Anderson) vs. KANYON/RAVEN Kanyon can't get Raven to come out from behind the curtain. Kanyon tells him he's the only one who's stood by him when everyone else walked away. Kanyon then comes to aisle, whining as he does, blaming all his recent woes on Raven. He tells Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko and Arn Anderson that he won't fail this week because he's not going to wrestle, though he will face one of the three this Thursday on Thunder. After some more badmouthing Arn whips out a crowbar and chases Kanyon into the ring, where Malenko pounds on him a bit. The crowd during all of this is virtually dead, making very little noise. After the commercial "Mean" Gene is in the ring to interview the Horsemen. Ric Flair and Steve "Mongo" McMichael also come out. Flair, on his running theme of tradition, rattles of the names of past wrestling legends who sweat and bled to get Eric Bischoff where he is today: * Paul Bosch. Dead. * Terry & Dory Funk. In ECW and the WWF. * The Brisco's. In the WWF. * Harley Race. Last seen on the NBC wrestling expose. * Dick Murdoch. Dead. * Dusty Rhodes. Hey, he's in WCW. * Jose Lothario. Last seen in the WWF. I assume Flair mentions all these guys because of what they mean to Texas wrestling. Still, one has to admit that it's an unusual list of names to be throwing around in relation to WCW. Flair goes on to call Bischoff a "jackass", and tells him he "sucks" (I think). Both get bleeped. A hot interview, but really nothing that new from what he's been saying for almost four months now. - They play that goddamn Konan music video again. That's the third time on Nitro now. It's been on Thunder at least twice, aired originally on the Halloween Havoc PPV, and I'm sure has played at least once on WCW's others shows. Hey WCW, how about telling us 1) the name of the group who recorded it, and 2) the actual name of the song? And if the fans like this crap so much then why not go shoot a new one, huh? I mean it looks like this one only took a day to shoot, and maybe cost $20. - KONAN vs. BOOKER T. These two fought two weeks ago, and here they do the EXACT SAME FINISH! Stevie Ray comes in and knocks out Konan with the slapjack, giving him the DQ win. Stevie then tells Booker he should join the NWO. - SCOTT HALL vs. SCOTT STEINER There's no ref at first because the NWO ref has been wrapped up in tape (presumably by Konan, as was teased earlier). WCW referee Mickey Jay comes out to do the match, shoving down the NWO ref as he passes. This also throws the whole "unsafe working environment" angle out the window too. The match lasts about a minute before the other NWO members come in to beat on Hall. Steiner lays some kicks into Hall's gut that are so weak that *I* could stand there and take them all day. Whatever Konan keeps in his lunch box would give you more stomach pain than those kicks. Speaking of whom, Konan and Luger come out to even things up, but the Giant also arrives and tilts things back in the NWO's favor. It's finally up to WCW megastar (and, for all intents and purposes, co-booker with Nash), Diamond Dallas Page make the big rescue. - They replay the Nash/Goldberg confrontation ... again. - "Mean" Gene interviews Bret "Hitman" Hart, who says a bunch of the usual stuff. Hart's got a groin pull, so he's off the Starrcade card. - GOLDBERG vs. BAM BAM BIGELOW A Michael Buffer intro is wasted as no match takes place. Bigelow comes out first. Buffer says WCW has, at Goldberg's request, granted Bigelow a "wrestling license" for this match only. Kevin Nash then comes out and the two start to brawl. Goldberg then runs in and it's a three-way donnybrook, which is almost immediately broken up by a flood of security guards. (Where were these jokers when the NWO was out killing Hall?) Schiavone says they're out of time, so the show ends five minutes earlier than usual. - This Thursday: Taped show. Nothing announced. Not worth watching from the results I've seen. - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: That's twice now that WCW has promised this particular main event and not delivered. Forget my biased opinion--I'll let the true WCW fans decide if they find this an acceptable practice. A few of my regular readers have tried to convince me that WCW has gotten better since Kevin Nash took over the booking (or, to be more accurate, replaced Hogan as the most influential voice on the booking "committee"). I wonder if they feel the same way this week? I thought this show was just dull, dull, dull. I've said repeatedly that because of the wrestlers WCW has chosen to push there's very little they can do to entertain me right now. Well, even if I loved all the guys seen this week I doubt I'd have gotten too fired up about this show. I'd like to know who all these fans are who are "clamoring" to see the likes of Norman Smiley, Renegade and Kendall Windham on a regular basis. I just don't think WCW can claim to have the better Monday night show when so much of it relies on squashes and jobber matches to pad out the running time. I know I'm a broken record here, but three hours is just too damn long. That being said, Starrcade is shaping up to be an okay looking PPV. I won't be getting it, if for no other reason than having no desire whatsoever to see Eric Bischoff wrestle, but otherwise it looks like an okay show. So far. Ask me what I hate the most about WCW right this moment and the answer to that is an easy one: Konan. Kevin Nash didn't wrestle again. You all know the two words I have for that. There were rumors last week that the reason several key guys were being jobbed (like Jericho, Guerrero and Malenko) is because they have yet to sign new WCW contracts. It should be noted that most of these guys fared better last Thursday and this week here. Either that means the rumors was wrong, or WCW caught on and are trying to throw people off. Either way it may surprise many out there to hear that I really have little problem with WCW doing that. After all, it doesn't make sense to push guys who may jump ship. Of course there's a fine line between de-pushing a guy and mistreating him so that he wants to jump. WCW should watch their step here. I'm the last guy who would complain if some of this talent were to jump to the WWF (or even ECW for that matter) though. With all the money involved, I personally don't think anyone's going to jump. Maybe one of them at the most. Which one, if any, is anyone's guess. Have you ever noticed how all of WCW's guys who get arrested get pushed? Scott Hall, Scott Steiner, the Giant ... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF RAW is WAR: Live/Taped: Taped 12/1. Length: Two Hours+. Location: New Haven, Connecticut. WWF RAW Hosted By: Michael Cole and Jerry "The King" Lawler. - Clips from last week open the show. Steve Austin and Mankind will team up tonight to face the Undertaker and the Rock. - Hunter Hearst Helmsley, X-Pac and Chyna hit the ring. Triple H calls out the New Age Outlaws, intent on learning if they've gone "corporate" or not. The Outlaws make their entrance wearing suits and ties. They do their usual entrance, altered slightly to include corporate labels for themselves ("Road Dogg, Esquire", and "Badd Ass, Inc.") They then introduce Commissioner Shawn Michael. Michaels comes out and he and Triple H get into a heated verbal confrontation. Each claims to have carried the other when they were together. Shawn closes out this hot segment by announcing a match tonight between X-Pac & Helmsley and the Big Bossman & Ken Shamrock. Chris Zimmerman of WrestleManiacs.Com usually does detailed transcripts of the interviews and such. I assume he'll do this one, and if he does you may want to check it out. During the break I happened to flip over to the Billboard Music awards on Fox, just in time to see "Stone Cold" Steve Austin come out, rough up comedian Andy Dick, and climb the stage to hand the "Country Artist of the Year" award to Garth Brooks. Unbelievable--the man is everywhere! - Jeff Jarrett (w/ Debra McMichael) vs. D-LO BROWN During this match Michael Cole announces that the reason Jim Ross isn't in attendance is because his mother recently passed away. I'm not being the slightest bit facetious when I say I will miss Ross telling us his momma is watching at home in Oklahoma. My condolences J.R. This, however, creates something of a problem for the WWF this week. See, the way the taped shows work is that they are done the previous Tuesday, then the voiceover commentary is done live from their studio as the show airs (or is taped a few hours earlier in the afternoon before the broadcast). Either way this is done so that the commentary can be current and up-to-date. The problem here is that Jim Ross was present for the taping, so all night sharp-eyed fans will notice Ross sitting there next to Jerry Lawler! Multiple camera angles make it possible for the WWF to minimize the amount of time he's seen onscreen, but he's still there enough times for anyone who's looking to notice. In a reversal of the old saying, Ross may not have been there in spirit, but he was there in the flesh. Anyway, Goldust comes out during the match wearing nothing but a trenchcoat. He flashes Debra, which Jarrett also sees, and Jarrett winds up getting rolled up from behind by D-Lo. Steve Austin is in the back telling WWF official Tony Garea that his situation tonight sucks, since he can't trust Mankind any more than he can the Rock or the Undertaker. - Clips of Vince McMahon speaking before an assembly at Oxford University in England. - THE HEAD BANGERS vs. THE BROOD A few minutes in Luna comes out, as well as the Oddities and Tiger Ali Sing's manservant Babu. A big, match-ending brawl ensues. Mankind is down in the boiler room, expressing his love for someone (or something). Mr. Socko? - Vince, Shane, the Rock and Paul Bearer are having a bull session in the back, working up strategies to combat Steve Austin. - GOLDUST vs. OWEN HART Owen, if you saw Sunday Night Heat, has "come out of retirement" to face Steve Blackman at the "Rock Bottom" PPV this coming Sunday. Like the above Jeff Jarrett match, Debra McMichael comes out wearing nothing but a trenchcoat. She flashes Goldust, but it's Owen who is paralyzed at the sight of the bazooms. Goldust rolls him up for the pin. These two incidents build to the Goldust/Jarrett match at the PPV, which was set up on Heat. If Jarrett wins, Goldust has to strip down to his birthday suit. If Goldust wins, Debra has to. Of course you realize that "Rock Bottom" this Sunday will now be THE GREATEST PPV EVER!!! (Assuming Goldust wins.) - They play the clip from the Capital Carnage PPV of D-Lo Brown prowling the streets of London, followed by some clips of fans at the PPV itself. - The Godfather, two Ho's, and Val Venis hit the ring. The Godfather brings in a fan from the crowd and gives him the two Ho's for the evening. - THE GODFATHER/VAL VENIS vs. THE ACOLYTES (w/ the Jackyl) These four just brawl around at ringside until the ref throws the match out. They show Austin prowling the back halls, making us think something is about to happen. Nothing does. (Happy Luke?) WWF WAR ZONE Hosted By: Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler. - Steve Austin comes out to deliver a few comments regarding his boot and the Undertaker's ass at the PPV (well, not quite, but you get the idea). The lights then go out and the Undertaker's music plays. As his entrance video runs on the Titan-Tron a large metal "T" with an "X" over it--the Undertaker's symbol--descends from the ceiling. The Undertaker's voice tells Austin that he will be "sacrificed for the Ministry of Darkness", whatever that is. Crossed bolts of lightning then fire from the ceiling and set this "cross" on fire. More on this later. Mankind, with a garbage sack full of something, is prowling the halls. - STEVE BLACKMAN vs. TIGER ALI SINGH (w/ Babu) Blackman's okay, while Singh is just so-so. The two combine here for a dull match, which Blackman wins with the dreaded kick to the chest. The Blue Blazer then runs in, but trips coming down the ramp. Blackman beats on him until he is attacked by Owen Hart. Michael Cole raises my eyebrow by correctly identifying Owen's upside-down headlock as the Dragon Sleeper. Mankind has found Steve Austin's dressing room. - They show some photos from Steve Austin's "Rolling Stone" spread. If you're trying to track it down it's the one with singer Jewel on the cover. - MARK HENRY (w/ D-Lo Brown) vs. DARREN DROZDOV (w/ Animal) This one goes by fast, with Chyna coming out to watch. Droz holds Henry for her to hit, but she doesn't. When he complains about it she pops him instead. Henry then catches Droz with a powerslam, followed by a big slash and the cover for the pin. D-Lo's excited that Mark won, while Mark is just happy that Chyna helped him. It should be noted that Chyna's buns were hanging out of her shorts, making this THE GREATEST RAW EVER!!! (You're all getting sick of that, aren't you?) A camera backstage eavesdrops on a corporate strategy session involving the Outlaws, Commissioner Michaels, Ken Shamrock and the Big Bossman. - DEGENERATION X (w/ Chyna) vs. KEN SHAMROCK/THE BIG BOSSMAN Clocking in at over ten minutes, this was a good match. I forgot to mention earlier--Commissioner Michaels made this match no DQ so that if the New Age Outlaws wanted to interfere they could. Sure enough, Shawn and the Outlaws come out late in the match. A chair winds up in the ring and Shamrock prepares to nail Triple H with it, but is stopped by Billy Gunn, who wants to do the swinging himself. Shamrock gives him the chair, at which point Gunn winds up and nails him instead of triple H! Shamrock collapses to the canvas (as Jim Ross looks on). Gunn and the Road Dogg rip off their corporate clothes and offer two words to Mr. McMahon. Michaels is hopping mad heading back up the ramp. Mankind departs from Austin's dressing room, minus the garbage bag. - D-X is in the back celebrating their big double-cross. Steve Austin returns to his dressing room, only to find the sack left behind by Mankind. In it are several bottles of beer, and a note from Mankind telling him to enjoy them. Austin pops one open. - "STONE COLD" STEVE AUSTIN/MANKIND vs. THE ROCK/THE UNDERTAKER The Rock comes out first, followed by the Undertaker and Paul Bearer. Mankind then comes out and is jumped by the other two. Finally Austin comes out and the match gets underway. In order to preserve this Sunday's PPV match-ups, Austin usually squares off against the Rock, while Mankind goes at it against the Undertaker. There's a lot of brawling at ringside early in the match, and much fancy editing is needed to keep it from being totally obvious that Jim Ross is there. Austin and the Rock fight in the crowd, as Mankind an the Undertaker battle in the ring. Things then settle down a bit, with Mankind doing most of the work for his team. The Rock nails him with the Corporate Elbow. Austin finally can't take it any more and comes in, only to be met by the Undertaker. As they spill to the floor, Ken Shamrock and the Bossman run in. The ref calls for the bell, ending the match. Mankind is handcuffed to a turnbuckle in the corner. The Undertaker and Austin, meanwhile, are fighting in the crowd. Back at ringside Austin chokes the Undertaker with a camera cable. The Undertaker breaks loose by grabbing the ring bell and bashing Austin in the head with it. He then lays in a chairshot for good measure. With Austin out cold the Undertaker hoists him onto his shoulder and carries him up the ramp, where he's met by a couple of his dark robed Druids. Eerie chanting is heard as Austin is laid upon the metal object which the Undertaker set on fire earlier. Austin's arms and legs are tied down. Coming to he tells the Undertaker "I'm going to get your ass, you sonavabitch!" The whole thing is then hoisted back into the air, with Austin hanging--literally crucified--in front of the Titan-Tron. The Undertaker rolls back his eyes and raises his arms, as if to call down the lightning and set it on fire again. A voiceover from the Undertaker closes out the show: "Austin ... I've taken you mind, body and soul. The only thing left to do ... is bury you alive!" - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: The end of this week's show was expected to spark a tremendous amount of controversy. The noise over it rose, then abated, amongst the online fans late last week. It remains to be seen, however, if the world at large even takes notice. I personally thought it made a great visual, and was done with a lot more reserve, yet visual flair, than I was led to believe. This wasn't simply Austin being "nailed" to a cross. It was what the Undertaker said it would be: Austin being sacrificed before the "Ministry of Darkness", whatever that is. (Contrary to rumors, Austin did not slump on the cross like Christ. He was awake, struggling, and calling the Undertaker all manner of names. If something like that did happen it wasn't shown.) Yeah, it looked like a cross. It also looked like the symbol of Thor the vikings used, as well as the symbols of the celts and numerous other groups of peoples--well before Christians adopted it as their cross. Obviously the imagery here is meant to invoke the scene of Christ on the cross, but the cross itself, as well as crucifixion itself, predated and followed that one event by thousands of years. If someone was offended by this then I have no argument with that. I would just make the argument that this was meant to invoke simple religious symbolism more than any specific religion. The WWF isn't saying Steve Austin is Jesus Christ. Not being an overly religious person myself I wasn't offended, but that's just speaking for myself. Given the nature of the Undertaker's character, particularly in the past two years, this was really a logical extension of that character, and it was almost bound to happen eventually. He's put people in caskets, buried them, almost set them on fire, and even tried to "embalm" them. Short of hanging and electrocution (which may have been done now that I think about it--we've seen both in wrestling before), crucifixion was about the only thing left. The Undertaker is portrayed as an evil character, and evil characters do evil things. We're supposed to hate the Undertaker for this, and I think the problem some people have is that their hate is too "real", so they aim it at the WWF instead of the character. The way I see it it's all manipulation--that's what wrestling is about. I'm not going to deny or belittle anyone's personal convictions and beliefs, but I have the feeling that most of the people who complained about this--even before it was aired--are people who normally just look for excuses to complain about the WWF, in order to justify their personal dislike of the company. For those few who may have honestly been offended by this angle, though, I'm sorry you felt that way. I have no advice to offer other than to suggest that maybe the WWF isn't meant for you. (I hear TSN in Canada ducked the whole issue by cutting the show off after the end of the match.) Overall I liked the show this week, maybe more than I have for several weeks. The angles clicked (or is that "Kliqued"?), the matches were okay, and it all came together to give the PPV a huge build-up. Going into the show I'd all but decided to skip the PPV. Now I'm not so sure. This latest Austin/Undertaker match could be the hottest one yet, and the Mankind/Rock match has some serious potential as well. The undercard stuff looks like it'll be entertaining, and ... Debra may get NAKED! I may have to blow off someone's Christmas present and get this one instead! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bottom Line: Here is the "Rock Bottom" card as it stands now: * Austin vs. Undertaker. Buried Alive Match. * Mankind vs. the Rock. WWF Championship Match. * Goldust vs. Jarrett. "Birthday Suit" Match. * Owen Hart vs. Steve Blackman. I'm not sure, but I think the New Age Outlaws may be facing Shamrock and the Bossman. There was supposed to be an eight-man match involving the Head Bangers, Oddities and Insane Clown Posse, but word is that the ICP quit (or was fired) from the WWF. I should have the full card listed on the website by Friday (or check with the WWF's site before then). My brother and I have this theory: the Undertaker's going to beat Austin at "Rock Bottom", thus preventing him from "qualifying" for the Royal Rumble. After that the Blue Blazer suddenly goes on a winning streak, taking out his opponents with Stone Cold Stunners. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "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 160 of the "Monday Night Recap", December 7th, 1998.