Slobberknocker Central Monday Night Recap #161 December 14th, 1998 The Opening Word: The only thing of real note coming off the weekend was the PPV, Rock Bottom. I really enjoyed about the first half to two-thirds of the show, then was mostly bored throughout the final two or three matches. Just not enough surprises or "oomph" for my tastes. Steve Austin was reportedly injured during the match, and spent a few hours at the hospital after the show. Coming into RAW tonight it was assumed he wouldn't be there. Jim Ross is recovering from his illness and may be back on the next live RAW Monday after next (the 28th). Speaking of Austin, if you haven't picked up the issue of Rolling Stone featuring him you're really missing something. It took me a while to track down because many places locally had replaced it with last week's issue (it being the latest), but I did manage to finally find one. In addition to the usual bio stuff there's a great narrative of a night spent with Austin, drunkenly riding around in the wee hours of the morning looking for some hell to raise. It's written in that "gonzo journalist" style Rolling Stone is known for, though in this case the interview subject is clearly wilder than the interviewer! Locally we're starting to see more copies of the TIME Magazine with Jesse Ventura on the cover. The issue was a sell-out here in Minnesota, so they've printed tons more and are shipping them out. That probably kills any collectible value, but I just wanted one to have and read the article, which is okay--nothing major. Included is a brief essay from Minnesota humorist Garrison Keillor, who says something to the effect of "Minnesota is a multi-billion dollar corporation ... and the people of Minnesota just hired the janitor as the new CEO." I've also stumbled across a copy of WCW's Magazine for the first time since late last year. Used to be I couldn't turn around without seeing it at gas stations, grocery stores, etc. Then suddenly it disappeared--no one was carrying it. Now it's back--at one grocery store, anyway. Of course you all know what this means? New WCW pics for the Gallery. I couldn't be bothered to read the thing, but it looks like it's improved in the last year. I dare say it's better than the WWF's magazine now (though that's really like comparing an ugly rock to a slightly uglier rock). Speaking of the Gallery ... I'm working on it. The people who run the site are baffled as to why it won't allow access. On to the shows ... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WCW Monday Nitro: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Three Hours. Location: Tampa, Florida. HOUR ONE Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Larry Zbyszko. - Clips from last week open the show, highlighting the main event non-match. Technical problems garble the audio for the first minute or two. They go to a commercial after some Nitro Girls, hype, and a clip of the Giant from last week. - SCOTT PUTSKI vs. RAVEN No match. Raven gives one of his "what about me?!" speeches. Kanyon then comes out and reveals (despite Raven's protestations) that Raven was a privileged child growing up in a wealthy home. - EDDIE GUERRERO (w/ That Guy) vs. VILLANO V Eddie has the Villano beat in this so-so match, but offers him a spot in the Latino World Order instead of pinning him. The rest of the LWO comes out to present him his t-shirt. Rey Mysterio leaves the gathering before everyone else, and any fan watching this continuing angle would have to ask why Eddie would pick someone like the Villano over Mysterio? - WRATH vs. AL GREEN I don't think we've seen Green on Nitro since he got a World Title shot against Goldberg. Well, now he's 0-2. Meltdown. - "Mean" Gene Okerlund brings Eric Bischoff out for comments. Bischoff tells us how tough he is, saying his right fist is deadly, but his left really scares him. Ric Flair then runs out and chases him off. Flair proceeds to do his usual Crazyoldman(tm) interview, going in to such a lather that at any moment he looks like he could have a heart attack ... ... which is exactly what happens. "Mean" Gene closes out the segment, while unbeknownst to him, the announcers, and most of the crowd (but not the cameraman), Flair has slumped into the corner behind Okerlund, holding out his left arm stiffly and clutching at his chest with his right. "Mean" Gene turns, sees Flair, and observes "this man has hurt himself!" The announcers speculate that Flair has maybe re-injured his shoulder--yet it's obvious that he's showing all the signs of a heart attack. The actions stops and the announcers clam up for most of the next few minutes, as Arn Anderson comes out, followed by paramedics. Dusty Rhodes comes out and "Mean" Gene barks for the cameras to be shut off. They aren't. Flair is loaded onto a gurney and wheeled to the back, where an ambulance awaits. The announcers say it would be wrong to speculate about what happened, then speculate that maybe his shoulder is injured. They cut away from this just long enough to show Bam Bam Bigelow entering. "Mean" Gene comes to the booth and says it's Flair's shoulder. (Great ... another "real, or angle?" scenario. I say angle, and that's the assumption I'll operate on from here on out, rather than play "if/then" for the rest of this Recap. If I'm wrong then so be it, but I don't think I am. Let me just offer as evidence the incredible presence of mind--and outright nerve--it would take to cue Bigelow's entrance if Flair were really ill--possibly on the verge of death for all they knew--and being loaded into the ambulance.) After the ambulance has left they pick up with Bigelow, who has stumbled across Scott Hall. Hall, who as part of the Clique was responsible for Bigelow leaving the WWF, flashes Bigelow a crotch-chop. Bigelow attacks, and is himself in turn attacked by Kevin Nash. Then Goldberg shows up. Before all is said and done security and the Championship Committee has stepped in and the main event which didn't happen last week is again on for this week. HOUR TWO Hosted By: Schiavone, Tenay and Zbyszko. - "Mean" Gene, the professional that he is, is back out to interview Cruiserweight Champ Kidman. Kidman offers Rey Mysterio another title shot. Mysterio comes out to accept, and the two are hopeful that they can settle this issue between them without the LWO interfering. - REY MYSTERIO, JR. vs. KIDMAN Great match--no winner. After five minutes or so the LWO runs in and stomps both men flat. They replay the Bigelow/Hall/Nash/Goldberg brawl from earlier. - Chris Jericho and Ralphus hit the ring. Jericho, with a pad, easel and marker, outlines just exactly how Konan cheated to beat him for the TV Title. A Konan look-alike comes out and reenacts the things Jericho describes. According to him it took a pair of brass knux, a chain, a snow shovel, and a facesmash on the belt, all in route to scoring the pin. Jericho also claims he had hold of the ropes, but the ref missed it. Overall this was funny, but pales in comparison to the imitation done over on RAW just a few minutes earlier. Before the above bit unfolds, Tony Schiavone reads off a list of symptoms Flair is exhibiting: pain in his chest, shortness of breath, pain in the left arm. Yeah, that's sounds like an injured shoulder to me. - EMERY HALE vs. BARRY WINDHAM Hale, who showed a tiny bit of promise in his debut outing against Lex Luger, here shows little more than the ability to take a steady ass-whipping. Windham scores the pin following a suplex off the turnbuckles. - NORMAN SMILEY vs. SATURN I'm still trying to figure out what happened to that supposedly bottomless talent pool in WCW that Smiley is now getting a noticeable push. Smiley steals the win here in one of the screwiest endings imaginable. Ernest Miller and Sonny Onno come out. Saturn knocks both out, but in the process wipes out the ref (who actually is hit by Smiley, who was himself nailed by Saturn). Miller then comes in and knocks out Saturn with a kick. The second ref comes in and makes a super-fast three count. Turns out this is the ref who Saturn gave the Death Valley Driver to last week, and he did this to get revenge. Smiley celebrates with his little "slappin' da butt!" dance. The announcers say that WCW guarantees there will be no run-ins during tonight's main event. - "Mean" Gene interviews Bret Hart, who says the same damn thing he's been saying for the last several weeks (months, years). It was announced earlier that Hart would face Diamond Dallas Page tonight in a U.S. Title rematch. DDP comes out, but is jumped from behind by the Giant, who whacks him with a chair. The Giant then knocks the large aluminum "WCW" down from next to the entryway, hauls DDP up, and chokeslams him through the stage below! (Now that rocked!) Hart pretends to look concerned for DDP, whose carcass can bee seen twitching amidst the broken timbers. HOUR THREE Hosted By: Schiavone, Tenay and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. - Wade Boggs is in the crowd again, as well as some Tampa Bay Buccaneers players. - In the back Disco Inferno is telling Konan that Kevin Nash says he (Disco) is in the Wolfpac. Konan tells him that he (Disco) sucks. Konan then comes out with a couple of local sports figures. - KONAN vs. STEVIE RAY (w/ Booker T.) Stevie or Booker--that's all Konan has fought recently. Stevie tries to knock K-Dawg out with his slapjack, but Booker stops him. A few moves later and Konan dumps Stevie gourd-first to the mat and scores the pin. - Eric Bischoff comes out looking all serious and remorseful. The fans boo anyway, due in no small part to them playing his NWO theme music as he comes out (d'oh!). Bischoff announces that Flair has suffered a minor heart attack, and he apologizes to him (Flair), his friends, his family, and the fans. The fans are about 60/40 cheering and booing him. Fans thinking "angle" will realize that Bischoff is essentially taking credit for Flair being ill. Those thinking "real" will mark this as the most unnecessary spotlight intrusion since Vince McMahon interviewed Melanie Pillman the night after Brian's death. - "Mean" Gene (I'm sick of THAT guy tonight) interviews Booker T. and Stevie Ray. Virtually everything said here was said before on Nitro and Thunder back before Booker got injured. Some woman in the back, claiming to be Raven's mother, is trying to get into the arena. Kanyon shows up and says he'll take her to him, if she gives him $50. - SCOTT HALL vs. HORACE The problems with angles where you make someone look bad (like they've done this year with Hall) is that when they turns things around we often have to sit through tedious matches showing them "climbing their way back up the ladder". With Kevin Nash slated for bigger and better things they just can't throw the two back together as a team again. Hall has to "prove" himself. It's necessary to reestablish his credibility, but usually involves boring-as-all-hell matches. This is one of them. Hall wins by DQ following an NWO run-in. They stomp him into the mat, as well as Disco Inferno, who runs out for the save wearing a Wolfpac shirt. - SCOTT STEINER (w/ Buff Bagwell & the NWO Referee) vs. VAN HAMMER Dear god why is this match in hour three? Squash. Steiner Recliner. Steiner says the reason the NWO has been doing what it's been doing lately is because they want to recruit Lex Luger. Luger comes out. Buff Bagwell points out how Konan didn't include Luger in his video, how Sting abandoned him to go to Hollywood, and how it was Kevin Nash who dumped him out at the Battle Royal at World War 3. Steiner offers Luger an NWO shirt. Luger just walks out with a smirk on his face. - GOLDBERG vs. KEVIN NASH vs. BAM BAM BIGELOW Since that last match was just *sooooooo* necessary, that leaves little more than five minutes for the main event. Bigelow, Nash and Goldberg all practically sprint to the ring, minus the usual introes, so that they can squeeze as much action in as possible. An okay match, actually. Not really good, but a lot is going on. Nash does the most wrestling he's done in ... maybe ever in WCW. Then Scott Hall runs in. He and Bigelow go at it on the floor, while Nash and Goldberg continue to brawl in the ring. The match, which was supposed to have a finish and no interference, ends up with no winner ("we're outta time!") and a run-in by Hall. - This Thursday: Nothing announced. - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: Websites are already reporting that Flair was released from the hospital in fine health, so whether it was real or not, Flair's fine. Konan's presence was cut way back this week, which makes me nominate Norman Smiley as the new "Most Annoying Thing About WCW". I was really getting used to Bagwell being gone. Jericho & the Giant: pushes, or being pushed out the door? Still too early to call. On the other hand, who did Saturn piss off to get where he is today? I dunno, the Flair thing was ... interesting, Jericho was funny, the Giant chokeslam was cool, and the main event was worth watching. Save for some okay Cruiserweight wrestling the rest of the show stunk (or, perhaps to be a bit fairer, was just really just boring and pointless). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF RAW is WAR: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours+. Location: Tacoma, Washington. WWF RAW Hosted By: Michael Cole and Jerry "The King" Lawler. - Stills from "Rock Bottom" open the show. - DeGeneration X's theme music kicks in, but it's not D-X who comes out. Or is it? "The Corporate Team", led by Triple H reprising his role as "The Crock", make their way to the ring. Running through the rest of the cast we have the Road Dogg as "Mr. McMahon"; Billy Gunn (wearing a diaper and carrying a big silver spoon--for his mouth) is Shane "McMahon"; two children (or at least one child and one midget) are "Jerry Brisco" and "Pat Patterson" (differentiated by one wearing a sign for the Brisco Brothers Body Shop; Chyna is the Big Bossman; and X-Pac is Ken Shamrock. The two "stooges" lips are firmly affixed to "Mr. McMahon's" butt. "Mr. McMahon" starts off by saying he's not an asshole (which is poorly bleeped, so that they cut out "not"). He says he's a "scholar and a gentleman". "Shane" says that's right, prompting "McMahon" to ask if he messed his diaper. He also asks "Patterson" how his butt tastes. "McMahon" says he hates being called a "sphincter". "Shane" says he'll show us a sphincter and drops his diaper, revealing his thong divided butt cheeks. "The Crock" tells him to cover that up because he doesn't want to smell what he's cooking. "Shamrock" says all this talk of sphincters is putting him in the zone, and that it's "five knuckle shuffle time!" "The Bossman" then does the nightstick twirling routine, halfway through turning it into a drum majorette baton whirling imitation. "The Crock" then says if you want to talk about sphincters, there's only one man who can shove his Corporate Head up his own Corporate Ass. He adds that when he isn't doing that, his Corporate Lips are planted on Mr. McMahon's Corporate Sphincter. "Now hold on there!" says "Commissioner Shawn Michaels", played on this occasion by Jason Sensation. "Michaels", carrying a basketball, says you can't say "sphincter" on Monday Night RAW. He then drops the ball, prompting "The Crock" to observe that he's ... dropped the ball. "Michaels" says if you want to talk about ass-kissers, you have to talk about him: "H-B-Gay! And you wanna know why HBK never lays down for anybody? Because he's always ... bending ... over!" (Big "ooh!" from the crowd.) "Mr. McMahon" shakes his head in agreement. Joining the rest in the ring (after another "dropped ball" gag) "HBGay" makes another sphincter joke. "Shamrock" repeats his one line, then goes after "HBGay", who huddles in the corner and begs off. "The Crock" then wraps up by saying if the Corporation isn't down with what D-X is saying, they have two words for them. The "SUCK IT!" yelled by the crowd is maybe the loudest heard yet. Out comes the real Michaels, Rock, Bossman and Shamrock, all of whom are not amused. Michaels says to teach D-X a lesson he's forcing the New Age Outlaws to grant a Tag Title rematch to Shamrock and the Bossman. Also Triple H will have to face the Rock. The Rock says he's going to kick Helmsley's "monkey ass" around the ring. Triple H points out that before he was injured, it was *he* who kicked the rock's ass on TV every week. Michaels says that Helmsley is just a "mid-carder for life", and that he only hangs around main eventers--he's never been in one. Triple H reminds the Rock that the last time they met, he beat him and won his title (at SummerSlam). Sufficiently goaded the Rock agrees to put the Title on the line. He then does the bit, debuted in the UK last week, where he rattles through Hulk Hogan's, Ric Flair's, Randy Savage's and Bret Hart's catchphrases all before getting to his ("if you smell what the Rock is cooking!") I'm not sure I can adequately describe how funny this whole thing was. - The members of the Corporation are shown in the back planning strategy. - VAL VENIS/THE GODFATHER (w/ 2 Ho's) vs. THE BROOD A quick, good match, which Val wins for his team when he pins Christian with a bridge suplex. Gangrel, frustrated at his team's loss, gets on the mic and says the next time we see the Brood there's going to be a "bloodbath". - Comments from Steve Blackman re: Owen Hart and the Blue Blazer. - THE BLUE BLAZER vs. GOLDUST Another quick match, which sees Goldust gain the momentum and set the Blazer up for the Shattered Dreams groin kick in the corner. Jeff Jarrett then runs in and attacks Goldust, giving him a DQ win. Jarrett dumps Goldust to the floor. Steve Blackman runs out, nails Jarrett, then knocks the Blue Blazer down with a kick to the chest. Moments later the mask is pulled off and the Blue Blazer is finally revealed to be ... Owen Hart. I know you're as shocked as I am. Jarrett comes back in and covers Owen's head with his shirt, like when a Mexican wrestler loses his mask. Head for the hills: Mark "Sexual Chocolate" Henry is NEXT! - The Outlaws are in the back jawing with Shamrock and the Bossman. Referees hold the two teams apart. - MARK HENRY/D-LO BROWN (w/ Terri & Jacqueline) vs. THE J.O.B. Squad Mark Henry has a Barry White-esque theme song now. Henry tells the crowd that he's a lover and not a fighter. He then tells a "bedtime story", saying he got lucky in his date with Chyna. Henry claims to have captured the entire encounter on video. "She wore me out!" exclaims Henry. Yet another brief match, which D-Lo and Henry win by making good use of their ladies. As Terri Runnels distracts Al Snow, Duane Gill and the Blue Meanie, Jacqueline nails Bob Holly in the face with a drop-kick off the top turnbuckle. Mark Henry performs a powerslam and covers for the pin. In case you haven't seen it yet, Holly has a new buzz haircut, which makes him look just like Chris Candido. - THE NEW AGE OUTLAWS vs. KEN SHAMROCK/THE BIG BOSSMAN At the PPV Road Dogg wrestled most of the match for his team, making the eventual "hot tag" to Billy Gunn. Tonight the opposite takes place. Gunn takes a lengthy beating until he tags Road Dogg in. Things go along from there until Shawn Michaels tries to interfere. Gunn, who had been tagged back in, grabs Shawn on the apron. Shamrock comes up behind him. When Gunn turns Shawn whacks him in the head with the Bossman's nightstick. Shamrock then applies the ankle submission. With Gunn knocked cold he doesn't respond to the ref raising his arm three times. Winners, and new TAGteamCHAMPIONSoftheWORLD, Ken Shamrock and the Big Bossman. (Too bad Mr. McMahon wasn't out there, because, you see, according to him, being unconscious doesn't count as a submission, and thus a title cannot change hands.) WWF WAR ZONE Hosted By: Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler. - Vince and Shane McMahon are out to grace us with their presence. Vince starts off by saying how disgusted they are to have tasted Mr. Socko in their mouths (at the PPV). Mankind will pay dearly. He's also miffed at Kane for interfering in the "Buried Alive" match. McMahon announces that both Kane and Mankind are in the arena, and the two will have to face tonight in a match. They then turn their attention to a rolling drum filled with balls. McMahon says that now that Steve Austin has qualified for the Royal Rumble, they will draw his number of entry in the 30 man competition. McMahon draws a ball, opens it, and declares that the piece of paper inside reads #1. Shane cuts his dad off and says that in the spirit of the holidays they should draw again. Shane draws a ball, opens it, and reveals that it too reads #1. McMahon then stacks the odds against Austin more by offering a $100,000 bounty to whichever wrestler throws Austin out over the top rope ("courtesy one of Shane's trust funds.") That settled, McMahon says Austin will have his problems with the other 29 other competitors, though one in particular should be able to handle him. McMahon says someone will make their WWF wrestling debut at the Rumble, and that this wrestler--equal in skill to Austin--is the only one who could save "Ted Turner's Dubbya-See-Dubbya!" Before one can even begin musing over names, a spotlight flashes on the entryway and Shane McMahon introduces ... Vincent K. McMahon! With McMahon officially entered in the Rumble, they go ahead and draw his number. Vince says he hopes he's #2, but Shane looks at the number and says it's #30. Mankind appears on the Titan-Tron and says this is all well and good, but he'd rather wrestle Vince McMahon himself on RAW tonight. Being accused of having no "testicular fortitude", Vince looks mad enough to accept the challenge. - Back from the break we see McMahon telling his stooges that despite their advice to the contrary, he's actually thinking of facing Mankind tonight. They think he's nuts. I do too, but I'm loving every minute of this. - JEFF JARRETT (w/ Debra) vs. STEVE BLACKMAN Jarrett's guitar is on top of a pole in one corner. Whoever climbs to the top and retrieves it can use it. Some nice wrestling between these two. The finish comes when Debra enters the ring and distracts Blackman by taking off her top! Blackman suitably distracted, Jarrett retrieves the guitar. He then goes to use it, but Blackman ducks. The two scuffle over the guitar, knocking out the ref in the process. Owen Hart then runs in with another guitar, waffles Blackman, and rolls the ref back in the ring to make the three count. Tiger Ali Singh, in his dressing room, is distraught over the fact that someone has written "bloodbath" on the wall. Patterson and Brisco aren't interested, and tell him he'll have to face Gangrel as scheduled. Vince has made up his mind: he'll do it, though if Mankind wants a fight, they'll do it McMahon's way, not his. - Cortez Kennedy of the Seattle Seahawks is in the crowd, along with a few other players. Take that, Nitro! Vince, ever proud of his rock-hard geriatric physique, gives us a quick look at his chiseled upper body, before Shane spots the cameraman and chases him out. - TIGER ALI SINGH vs. GANGREL Singh's manservant Babu (Pablo Marquez) was deported last week back to his home country, due to some kind of outstanding charges against him there. No match. The lights go out and Singh is chased up onto the stage. When the lights come back on Singh is left laying their all alone, covered in what looks to be blood. Eh. Kane is shown somewhere in the back. - MANKIND vs. KANE "No Holds Barred" match. The two only fight for a few minutes before McMahon, dressed to fight, comes out to answer Mankind's challenge. McMahon tells Mankind if he wants him, he'll be waiting out in the parking lot. Mankind leaves the ring, presumably earning a countout loss during the commercial break. - Kane, trapped in a straightjacket, is being wheeled to an ambulance by the Big Bossman and some Tacoma paramedics. Footage shot during the break shows Kane being attacked by the Bossman and Ken Shamrock, then surrounded by the men and wrapped in the jacket. Cut to the parking lot, where Mankind is beating the crap out of Vince McMahon! He slams Vince into a chainlink fence. He slams him into a steel shuttered door. Patterson and Brisco jump Mankind and he pounds on them too. Turning back to McMahon he pulls out Socko and applies the Mandible Claw. He then drags him over to a white Lincoln and stuffs McMahon into the trunk. Suddenly the Rock appears and he attacks Mankind. Dragging him around to the front of the car he slams him on the hood, climbs up after him, and delivers an awesome Rock Bottom, which dents in the hood of the car several inches! The Rock is laying in kicks on Mankind back down on the concrete as they cut away to the last commercial of the show. - THE ROCK (w/ Shawn Michaels) vs. HUNTER HEARST HELMSLEY (w/ Chyna) Chyna is wearing black gloves, a black leather thong bikini, boots and cowboy chaps: an ensemble which satisfies about a half dozen of my own personal kinky fantasies. Awwwooooooooo! The two spill to the floor early in the match. The Rock does the bit he did at the PPV where he puts on the announcer's headset and commentates while he beats on Triple H. Back in the ring the momentum swings constantly back-and-forth. The Rock then gets in a string of offense, culminating in the Corporate Elbow. Triple H kicks out of the cover attempt. He rallies back and takes the Rock to the floor. Shawn Michaels tries to interfere, and as everyone is tied up with that, Chyna sneaks in on the other side of the ring and nails the Rock in the Corporate Jewels. Triple H hits a DDT, covers, 1 ... 2 ... the Rock kicks out. Helmsley then hits the Pedigree, but the ref is tied up with Chyna. Shawn comes in and whacks Triple H on the back with the World Title belt. The Rock covers, the ref is back in, 1 .. 2 ... Helmsley kicks out! Chyna grabs Shawn, which the ref sees, so he goes out to break it up. Suddenly this huge blond guy, dressed in black leather pants, black shirt and sunglasses, comes in from the crowd! Stepping over the top rope (like most guys hovering around the seven foot mark will usually do), he grabs Triple H and plants him into the mat with a pumphandle bodyslam. The Rock covers, the ref comes back in, 1 ... 2 ... 3. Cole and Lawler identify the guy, who looks a little like a smaller version of Diesel, as the roadie for Motley Crue we saw a few months ago. - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: I don't think I'd be exaggerating when I say, from top to bottom, this was possibly THE GREATEST RAW EVER! There was no single huge defining moment, or a "Match of the Year" contender, but as a whole the show just rocked from beginning to end. The only thing that even came close to falling flat was what they did with the Brood, and that had its own interesting appeal (and finally moves their gimmick forward). This show did all the things the PPV perhaps should have done the night before, and it's even more amazing how good it was considering there was no Steve Austin or Undertaker. The big guy's name is Andrew Martin. He's a trainee from the WWF's Funkin' Dojo. The "Motley Crue roadie" thing was just something they did at the time to get a look at him. Standing a full head above Michaels, and a few inches above the Rock, he's quite a big guy (though not hugely muscled and wide like Kevin Nash). I assume he'll be the Rock's and/or Michaels' bodyguard, which really makes the comparison to Diesel apt. I watched this one at home, while my brother watched it from work. We kept calling each other throughout the show to ask "did you see that? That was awesome!" Hell, he even liked what he saw on Nitro tonight, so collectively we came away from the evening two happy wrestling fans. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bottom Line: With Austin and McMahon in the Rumble, a possible Shamrock/Bossman/Outlaws rematch, and maybe a Rock/Triple H rematch, the next PPV is shaping up nicely on paper. Really way to early to speculate too much, though, as we still have Mankind, Kane and the Undertaker's roles to figure out. If I had to guess, I'd actually bet the Undertaker takes several weeks off, coming back after the Rumble to build to another match against Kane at WrestleMania. Starrcade is shaping up to be a hugely important PPV for WCW. Word is that the buyrates for the November PPV's are coming in--Survivor Series and World War 3--and that the WWF's show had almost DOUBLE the buys WCW's did! With so much emphasis being placed on Nash for that PPV, and the TV ratings only holding steady (perhaps dipping slightly) versus the ever expanding ratings for the WWF, WCW may be looking at Starrcade as the show which either makes or breaks Kevin Nash as their main draw. Unless the ratings turn around before then, or the show pops a huge buyrate, we might see some big changes come the new year. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "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 161 of the "Monday Night Recap", December 14th, 1998.