Slobberknocker Central Monday Night Recap #119 February 23rd, 1998 WCW Monday Nitro: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Three Hours. Location: Sacramento, California. HOUR ONE Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Larry Zbyszko. - Show kicks off with comments from various WCW wrestlers describing their feelings over Scott Steiner's decision to join the NWO. Nice touch by WCW to have Bret Hart add his input. - After some chatter from the announcers they cut to Mean Gene Okerlund in the back trying to get some words from Rick Steiner. Steiner ignores him. - LEX LUGER vs. CURT HENNIG (w/ Rick Rude) Lex gets on the mic and challenges Scott Steiner to come out to pay for his joining the NWO. Hennig comes out instead and the match starts. The match only goes a minute or so when OWEN HART RUNS OUT! Wait a minute ... that's not Owen Hart. IT'S SCOTT STEINER ... now wearing light colored tights and short, blond hair. He looks just like Owen Hart (except that he's much, much bigger). The next few minutes sees Luger nearly Rack Steiner, Buff Bagwell comes out, then Rick Steiner, then other NWO members, then Sting, then numerous WCW mid-carders. It sounds exciting, but in reality it's the old "stand around and see if anyone's hurt" routine we've often seen. - Nitro Girls. In connection with ticket sales beginning for a Nitro at the Target Center here in Minnesota, Governor Arne Carlson will apparently be naming this Friday "Ric Flair Day". - DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE vs. HAMMER (w/ the Flock) DDP wins quickly with the Diamond Cutter. The rest of the Flock runs in, but then run away when Chris Benoit appears. - NWO limos pull up to the building. "Hollywood" Hogan is seen telling someone not to get out of the car yet. He and Bischoff then head to the ring, where Hogan kills a few minutes whining. Of note, Hogan gripes about Nick Patrick taking a WCW bribe, and announces a match to take place later in the show between Scott Hall and Sting. He also challenges Randy Savage to a Steel Cage Match at WCW Uncensored. Savage appears in the crowd and accepts the challenge. Hey ... instant PPV main event. Why don't they just cut out all the fuss and tell us now who's going to win? Zbyszko puts some spin on the encounter, saying it looks like the two are battling over who is going to lead the NWO (even though the actual dialogue barely even suggested such). - ULTIMO DRAGON vs. KAZ HAYASHI Hayashi looked about twelve years old. The Dragon wins with his Sleeper. - Nitro Party Video. - CHRIS BENOIT vs. RAVEN Not a good match (though not necessarily bad, either). Most of the match (no DQ, as usual) revolved around the two fighting over a chair. Billy Kidman then runs in, earning Raven a DQ in the "no DQ" match. What's worse, the bell actually starts to ring before the ref even makes a signal, and he hurriedly waves his arm, making it look like he called for the bell. The high point of the ensuing brawl comes when DDP runs in and he, Raven and Benoit get in a three-way poundfest. Looks like another Triangle Match coming up (that WCW won't do because they don't do Triangle Matches). HOUR TWO Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Larry Zbyszko. - Nitro Girls. - CHRIS JERICHO vs. LENNY LANE Jericho wears Juventud Guerrera's mask to the ring. He works the crowd a bit over the mic before the match. Lane gives the usual rookie jobber supreme effort, earning big pops for a few moves and reversals, but Jericho eventually manages to maneuver him into the Lion Tamer. - They replay a clip of Scott Steiners appearance earlier in the show. - RICK STEINER (w/ Ted DiBiase) vs. VINCENT Steiner wins in about two minutes, taking his frustrations out on Vincent. Larry Zbyszko actually calls Vincent a "good wrestler". Amazing. - Bobby "the Brain" Heenan replaces Larry Zbyszko at the desk. - YUJI NAGATA (w/ Sonny Onoo) vs. SATURN The announcers spend almost the whole match talking about Booker T. They also mention that Rick Martel suffered a torn something-or-other and will be out several weeks. As he heads to the ring for his match I notice Saturn has a stud in his tongue. I then remembered the line from Pulp Fiction about tongue studs. Ewwwwwww! Dull match. The Rings of Saturn earn their namesake the win. - BOOKER T. vs. RENEGADE Awful match. After a brief bit of competitiveness the match degenerates to Booker T. performing all his big moves-all of which fail to earn him a pinfall. They then blow the finish when Renegade reverses a whip into the corner. He goes for the handspring elbow, but Booker T. meets him with a leg lariat-except that Renegade lowers his head and the leg misses. Renegade still sells the move anyway. Booker then picks him up, whips him into the ropes and catches him with another leg lariat, this time covering for the pin. - KONAN vs. LIZMARK, JR. Konan wins with the Tequila Sunrise. After the match he makes some rude comments aimed at Juventud Guerrera-who he refers to by his real name. (Word is the Mexican wrestlers are upset that Juventud had to lose his mask as part of such an underplayed angle. I'm betting he'll now feud with Konan, and Konan will put him over cleanly as a way to boost luchador morale). HOUR THREE Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Bobby Heenan. - VICIOUS & DELICIOUS vs. HIGH VOLTAGE Lots of displays of power moves, but much of the match looked in slow motion. HV showed they still have some talent, but didn't look all that improved by their recent lengthy tour of Japan. V&D win the battle of steroid freaks when Bagwell hits one of the jobbers with the Buff Blockbuster off the top (as Norton held the man up). Actually one of the better matches of the show, but since I could care less about anyone involved don't expect much praise from me. It's just hard to watch a match involving guys who look like they might explode at any minute due to metabolic stress. The crowd was solidly behind the NWO team. - EDDIE GUERRERO vs. DISCO INFERNO The first match of the night which piqued my interest. I paid off, delivering a fast paced, high impact match. Eddie did some great heel stuff, making fun of Disco's dancing moves. He gets (what I felt was) the upset win when he lands the Frog Splash, then covers Disco for the pin. - Nitro Girls. Schiavone, hyping upcoming Thunder and Nitro locations, loses his train of thought when the Nitro Girls take off their shirts. Mean Gene then interviews J.J. Dillon. Dillon squashes any controversy over the finish to SuperBrawl by saying he was the one who sent Nick Patrick to the ring to replace the ref in the Hogan/Sting match. He then calls out Patrick and welcomes him back as a full-time WCW referee. Anyone else feel like WCW just spent two months yanking us around for no reason? - BRAD ARMSTRONG vs. RIC FLAIR Brad wears a shirt to the ring that says "Armstrong Curse". I figured there should be the word "equals" in the middle. I'm guessing the "curse" has something to do with cocaine and a being a lifelong jobber. I'm sorry, but I watched this match and I watched Flair and all I could think of is past matches where guys like Verne Gagne and Baron Von Raschke came out of retirement for the 400th time or so to wrestle their "last" matches. Flair just looks so slow, old and flabby. Most of the moves in this match were limited to and evolved from simple "running-the- ropes" routines, where the two traded shoulderblocks, armbars, Irish Whips and so forth. The only way they could get a rise out of the crowd was a stretch where they traded very stiff chops. Armstrong did a drop-kick, which was the highest impact move of the match. Flair wins with the Figure Four. - After a look at how the Giant sustained his neck injury, Mean Gene interviews him in the ring. The Giant vows to return and put a hurt on Kevin Nash. - Okerlund interviews Bryan Adams. Adams puts the badmouth on Bret Hart. Hart comes out and the two tangle. More NWO members arrive (including Curt Hennig) but Ric Flair comes out to even the odds. After the NWO have left Flair digs deep down in his bag and does that one thing left he can do well: a great interview. Hart challenges Curt Hennig to a match at Thunder. He closes out the segment giving an NWO fan at ringside a "down there!" pelvic thrust. - Michael Buffer does the ring introductions. - STING vs. SCOTT HALL (w/ the NWO) ... but first the entire NWO (minus Hall) comes to the ring. Bischoff gets on the mic and kills a minute or so babbling. Bischoff calls Sting out, saying if Sting does come out the NWO will leave the ring. Sting comes out, so the NWO start to leave the ring. Suddenly another Sting appears and beats on the real one with a baseball bat. It's Scott Hall, wearing a Sting mask. Sting is dragged to the ring, thoroughly beaten and spraypainted NWO on his chest. Randy Savage runs in, but he too is overwhelmed and beaten down. Hogan sprays "HH" on Savage. They group flees when Lex Luger runs in wielding a steel chair. Barely shown or mentioned during all this is the arrival of the NWO's latest addition: Brutus Beefcake, sporting long hair and a thick beard and mustache. For once ... I'm speechless. - This Thursday: Hart vs. Hennig. - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: Long, slow show. There were a few things of interest, and the usual "big" Nitro moments where the NWO beat people up, but otherwise this was a poor show. After a rocky, uneven start, I think Thunder has actually surpassed Nitro as the WCW show to watch each week. Yet again the biggest problem is the three hour running time, which forces us to watch awful jobber matches and tons of highlights clips. I keep hearing that it's Terry Taylor who books Nitro and Kevin Sullivan who books Thunder. Either Taylor has lost his touch, or he's being given little to work with. I suspect the latter. After all, Bischoff and Hogan set up all the angles involving "Hollywood", Savage, Sting, etc. In addition, all the major developments in the DDP/Benoit/Raven & Flock/Saturn/Booker T./Martel angles seem to be saved for Thunder. With the cruiserweights seeing much less airtime for various political reasons, that just leaves mid-carders and jobbers for Taylor to work with to fill the bulk of each three hour broadcast every week. Brutus Beefcake ... I'm just at a loss for words. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF RAW is WAR: Live/Taped: Taped 2/17. Length: Two Hours. Location: Waco, Texas. WWF RAW Hosted By: Jim Ross, Michael Cole and Kevin Kelly. - A video package brings us up to speed on the trials and tribulations in recent weeks of the Legion of Doom. - LEGION OF DOOM vs. THE NEW AGE OUTLAWS The usual LOD match: starts good, then really slows down until the finish. Animal hoists Road Dog up on his shoulders and Hawk nails him off the top with the clothesline (i.e. the Doomsday Device). Animal covers for the pin, but Hawk is slow getting out of the ring, tying up the ref and preventing him from making the count. Billy Gunn runs over and nails Hawk, knocking him from the ring. As the ref checks on Hawk, Gunn nails Animal with his Tag Title belt. Road Dog covers Animal and the Outlaws get the win. After the match the LOD get into a shoving match. Animal takes Hawk down to the mat and starts punching him. Several refs enter the ring to separate the two. Animal leaves, but then runs back in for some more. The crowd goes quiet, while the announcers react with distress that the legendary LOD have perhaps split up for good. After the break they announce that the two have continued to fight backstage. - KEN SHAMROCK vs. JEFF JARRETT (w/ Jim Cornette) An okay match, with Shamrock getting the win when Cornette accidentally whacks Jarrett instead of Shamrock with the tennis racquet. Shamrock applies the ankle submission, but Jarrett is already out cold. The ref, having accidentally been hit by Shamrock moments earlier, comes to his senses and sees the unconscious Jarrett, checks him and gives Shamrock the win. When Shamrock is slow to remove the hold the ref gets in his face, which nearly prompts Shamrock to rough him up. On the way away from the ring Jarrett tells Michael Cole that maybe it's time he and Cornette went their separate ways. - Jerry "the King" Lawler is in the back to get comments from Animal. Lawler asks what it's like to split from a man who's like a brother to him. Animal says he has no brother. Hawk suddenly rushes in, yelling "who's got no brother?!" The fight reignites, with Lawler and a lockerroom full of mid-carders caught in the middle. Order is restored when Hawk is shoved out the door. - THE DISCIPLES OF APOCALYPSE vs. THE TRUTH COMMISSION (w/ the Jackyl) Urgh! Fast forwarding to the finish, Kurrgan pins either Skull or Eight Ball with a weak-ass claw to the head. More face slapping follows as Sniper isn't too happy with the Jackyl. He goes after him, but Kurrgan takes him down with the claw. Recon tries to pull him off, but winds up with a slap to the face from the Jackyl. Who cares?! During the break, confirming all my fears, it looks like Carrot Top will indeed be part of WrestleMania, as he cuts a promo for his movie and the PPV involving the Head Bangers. - Shawn Michaels, Chyna and Hunter Hearst Helmsley are interviewed via satellite from Shawn's home in San Antonio. In essence Shawn promises to wreak havoc starting next week, and he guarantees that he'll defend the belt at WrestleMania. - Sunny sashays to the ring to do some announcing. - TAKA MICHINOKU vs. BARRY WINDHAM (w/ Jim Cornette) Cornette admits that he took advantage of Michinoku's lack of English to sign him to a match with the heavyweight Windham. After a minute or two of Barry absolutely destroying Taka, Windham covers Taka for a two-and-a- half count. Suddenly the lights go out and Kane appears. The NWA contingent flees, leaving Taka lying in the ring. Kane scoops the youngster up, chokeslams him back down, then Tombstone Piledrives him. Paul Bearer takes the house mic and challenges Stone Cold Steve Austin to a match against Kane on RAW next week. WWF WAR ZONE Hosted By: Jim Ross and Jerry "the King" Lawler. - Michael Cole heads out back to get comments from the Outlaws. Billy Gunn brags about splitting the LOD up. Road Dog babbles a few comments, admitting he's already half drunk. The two hop into a blue sports car, refusing to answer any more questions. Cole wraps the interview, but the whine of a chainsaw is quickly heard. Gunn backs the car into a garbage dumpster, which has mysteriously appeared to block their way. Chainsaw Charlie pops out from nowhere and begins whacking the spark-spitting chainsaw against the car door. Cactus Jack runs up and bashes the windshield with baseball bat. Gunn is eventually able to pull out and he and the Road Dog make their escape. - The "American Dream" makes his return to the WWF, only in the guise of his son Dustin Rhodes (or should that be Dustin in the guise of the "American Dream"?) Anyway, Dustin does a very passable impression of his father, Dusty Rhodes, in a pre-taped segment where he talks about "his feuds" with Ric Flair and Terry Funk. His personal estimation at how many times he was World Champion rises from 5 to 2000. Old WWF footage of Flair, Funk and Rhodes himself in his polka-dot gear accompanies the piece. The "Dream" says he'd like to go back in time to when he was just "the common man". Cut to the arena, where "DustyDust" enters to the Dream's old WWF music. Dustin is wearing the polka-dot outfit (with pillows stuffed into strategic locations). He also has a number of fake scars glued to his left arm and forehead. - JUSTIN "HAWK" BRADSHAW vs. "DUSTYDUST" No Luna at ringside. DustyDust starts off with all the old Rhodes mannerisms-none of which seem to impress Bradshaw. He then lays into him with the patented Dusty offense, but cries in pain when the limp-wristed blows do more damage to himself than Bradshaw. It's almost all Bradshaw from there out. DustyDust comes back with an attempted "Flip Flop Fly", but Bradshaw catches him with a quick clothesline and covers for the pin. On the way out Dustin tells Michael Cole that "Stardust" isn't as good as "Goldust", and that he'd best hang up these tights. (I hear "FlairDust" is coming next. Yow!) Cut to the back, where Kevin Kelly tries to get a word with Hawk as he leaves, but Hawk blows right by him. - STEVE BLACKMAN vs. ROCKY MAIVIA (w/ the Nation of Domination) A fairly solid (albeit unspectacular match). D-Lo tries to help Rocky get the win as Faarooq distracts the ref, by tossing Blackman's nunchucks in the ring, but D-Lo (very unrealistically) blows the toss and Blackman catches them. One quick whack and Blackman covers for the upset pin. Non-title match, though, so Rocky retains his belt. After some arguing Faarooq summons the NOD and they all leave Rocky alone in the ring. - Kevin Kelly gets a few comments from Luna in the lockerroom. Luna promises to beat up Sable if and when she shows her head. Luna looks like demonic version of Gwen Stefani. I notice she has a tongue stud. I think of her and Saturn. Double ewwwwwww! - They show stills from "No Way Out" of Kane beating and injuring Vader. - THE ROCK & ROLL EXPRESS (w/ Jim Cornette) vs. THE HEAD BANGERS Commissioner Slaughter heads to the ring with referee Earl Hebner in tow. He approaches NWA referee Tommy Young and requests that he leave the ring: that Hebner will referee the match instead. After much protesting by Cornette and Young, Young leaves the ring. Cornette promises to contact the NWA president and get a lawsuit against the WWF filed. As you'd expect, Hebner often misses or simply allows over-the-top-rope tosses, which would have caused referee Young to stop the match. Jim Cornette eventually nails one of the Head Bangers with his racquet, but the Banger just falls on Ricky Morton and gets the pinfall. The Head Bangers are the new NWA World Tag Team Champions. - Pete Rose is FINALLY announced as the big sports celebrity who will also appear at WrestleMania. He makes a weak joke comparing his lifetime batting average to Steve Austin's "3:16". ("He must have a hell of a stroke!") - A LONG video chronicling Steve Austin's "Road to WrestleMania" is shown. This was okay, but probably should have been saved for four or five weeks from now. (I have a feeling we'll see it again anyway, during the "Free For All" of the PPV.) - MARC MERO (w/ Sable) vs. OWEN HART Mero sends Sable back to the lockerroom before the match. She comes back out a minute or two into the match (which wasn't bad, by the way). After the ref gets hit Mero lays in a low blow on Owen. He then puts him in the TKO, but Owen counters it by spinning through it, landing on his feet and applying a DDT. Owen turns Mero into the Sharpshooter and gets a rare, clean RAW main event win. Luna runs out, barely held back by Dustin. The ring fills with officials to keep the two women apart. Sable pushes Mero down, forcing Goldust to come over and hold her back. Mero takes offense to Rhodes laying his hands on Sable and jumps him. Those two then have to be pulled apart. Rhodes finally gets Luna up the ramp. Sable grabs a mic and yells "you better get your ass back here, you little bitch!" Luna knocks Dustin down the ramp and nearly gets by him, but he scoops her up and goes back up the ramp. Sable is in hot pursuit as the show ends. - Next week: Austin vs. Kane? D-X & Tyson in the house. Comments: My ... god ... it's ... a ... feud! After all this time of trying to figure out what to do with Mero and Goldust, they finally wake up and say "hey, let's let them fight each other!" Only this time instead of the IC Title being on the line, it's all because of their hot tempered women. Works for me-especially if a "Hot Oil Bikini Match" is in the cards. Sunny as the ref? "3.0" buyrate ... no doubt about it. Seriously, this was an okay show. Not really great, but it kept everything chugging along to WrestleMania. There were a few okay matches, with only the Truth Commission match being a real stinker. The half hour of outright crap was far easier to bear then the two hours or so of crap on Nitro. That seems to be my new standard lately: which show has less crap. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bottom Line: I'll sure be glad when RAW is live again. (Next week, thank god.) I'd even be gladder if Nitro went back to two hours. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 119 of the "Monday Night Recap", February 23rd, 1998.