Slobberknocker Central Monday Night Recap #133 June 1st, 1998 WCW Monday Nitro: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Three Hours. Location: Washington, D.C. HOUR ONE Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Larry Zbyszko. - The program opens with a nice clip of the "evolution" of Sting, from a bleached-blonde all-American kinda guy, to a dark, brooding anti-hero. True to WCW's latest run of luck the video feed suffers some kind of difficulties and midway through the clip's original music craps out and is replaced with the Nitro theme music. Whether or not Sting will join the Wolfpac, NWO, or stay with WCW is the focus of tonight's show. The usual Nitro opener follows. - A white stretch limo pulls up to the arena. J.J. Dillon, Diamond Dallas Page and Goldberg exit from the vehicle. A replay of Luger's comments to Sting from Thunder follow. - Nitro Girls. - JERRY FLYNN vs. "THE CAT" ERNEST MILLER I'm no martial arts expert. I've watched "Enter the Dragon" a few dozen times, have about twenty Jackie Chan movies on tape, and used to play "Dungeons & Dragons" with a karate black belt ... but I'm no martial arts expert. That all being said, even I can tell that nothing done in this match remotely resembled what is loosely referred to as the "martial arts". For about four minutes these two kick each other. Miller then does an okay looking slam from a Fireman's Carry, followed by a spinning heel kick which didn't even come close to hitting. Flynn, incapacitated by the Cat's toejam odor apparently, lays down for the three count. - A black stretch limo pulls up--this one filled with the red-and-black Wolfpac. Following the commercial break they hit the ring. Kevin Nash and Lex Luger deliver comments, aimed at convincing Sting to join their crew. "Hollywood" Hogan and the Giant are challenged to a match against Luger and Nash. Larry Zbyszko reacts with incredulity at how over the group is with the fans. It should be noted that the "Wolfpac" identity is being pushed much stronger than their "NWO" affiliation. In fact, I don't think anyone even called the group "NWO" during all this. This is a smart move by WCW. I'd assume new t-shirts are hurriedly being designed and produced. Bret Hart's comments to Sting from Thunder are shown heading to the break. - SATURN/RAVEN (w/ the Squad) vs. PUBLIC ENEMY The match starts out slow, with the P.E. dominating Saturn in the ring. Raven tags in, does one move, then tags Saturn back in. They then do a spot where Raven comes in with a clothesline, but accidentally hits Saturn with it. The two begin to argue, but the P.E. interrupt and the match turns into a disorganized brawl. Rocco Rock jumps on Raven on a table, but it refuses to break (for once not being pre-cut). The legs on one end give out, though. Rocco does it again, putting Raven through the slanted and bowed table. It's all for nought, though, as Saturn plants Johnny Grunge with a Death Valley Driver. Raven scoots into the ring and covers Grunge as Saturn celebrates, earning the pinfall. Schiavone and Tenay talk like this was one of the most brutal matches we've ever seen. In reality, this was about as "hardcore" as a grocery clerk scanning the price off a box of macaroni at the checkout register. After the match Raven badmouths Kanyon and announces he's rehired the Flock (to the chagrin of Saturn). The Flock members hit the ring. Raven adds that he's signed Saturn to face Kanyon at the Great American Bash. - Nitro Girls. This week's Nitro Party Video is shown, though this one doesn't even warrant a full screen. WCW shrinks the picture, with a "Mug Root Beer" logo taking up the rest of the screen. I tell you, any day now the wrestlers are going to be walking out wearing corporate logos plastered across their asses. - ALEX WRIGHT vs. CHAVO GUERRERO, JR. Wright isn't arrested, leaving all those times he was arrested recently going unexplained. (I guess it's pretty easy to drop angles when you don't explain what's going on in the first place.) Chavo continues his "loco" gimmick, wildly going after Wright and ignoring the ref's orders to break. The match spills to the floor for a minute. Once back in the ring Chavo goes for a dive in the corner, but Wright moves and wraps Chavo up in an STF. Chavo immediately taps out, then attacks Wright again. Eddie Guerrero comes out to pull Chavo off. Eddie then says his family is proud of Chavo again, and that he doesn't want to fight him at the PPV. Chavo is amusing, but I don't like this angle because they've destroyed too much of Eddie's credibility in order to raise Chavo up to a level which is below where Eddie was in the first place. Chavo has been moved up a few notches from "jobber", but now Eddie has dropped firmly into the middle-to-lower end of the mid-card pool. Chavo, after he beats Eddie at the PPV, can go on to challenge for the Cruiserweight Title. Eddie, on the other hand, will require lots of time to get back up to the level of challenging for any kind of title. They also haven't exactly established that Chavo *can't* beat Eddie, so his win at the PPV (assuming he does win) doesn't mean nearly as much as WCW would like it to. - Since RAW starts in about a minute it's time for Tony Schiavone--already in the ring--to bring out Randy Savage and Elizabeth. (Let me just note at this point that I switched over to RAW. I never switched back. The Recap for Nitro, from this point on, comes from watching it on tape 24 hours later.) Savage calls out "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. Piper comes out and asks Savage what his problem is with him? Savage says he wants a piece of Piper after they beat "Hollywood" Hogan and Bret Hart at the PPV. (Didn't they already do this last week on Thunder?) Piper, after a lengthy setup, compares Bret Hart to Washington mayor Marion Berry. He also works in a reference to D.C.'s pro hockey team. Piper points out that Hart has never worn an NWO t-shirt. Savage says he doesn't give a damn about Hart, his underwear, or Piper himself. Zbyszko sums it up by saying "Piper picked a peck of pickled problems!" Say that one five times fast. HOUR TWO Hosted By: Schiavone, Tenay and Zbyszko. - Schiavone interviews J.J. Dillon. He says Sting may not be as cool as he would if he joined the NWO, but that if he stays with WCW he'll be their franchise player. He adds that he'd like to see Sting beat Hogan and bring the World Title back to WCW. Another black limo pulls up, though they cut to commercial before anyone gets out. Post-break we see it's Hogan and his NWO crew. The announcers make a big deal about Dusty Rhodes being with them. They go straight to the ring. Hart, Eric Bischoff and the Giant are among the assemblage. Bischoff expresses his love for Hogan. Hogan does his usual bluster. A thunderous "Hogan sucks!" chant breaks out. Bret Hart then takes over and, as an answer to the question of his allegiances, unbuttons his shirt to display a "Hollywood" Hogan t-shirt beneath. (Note: it's still not an actual NWO shirt.) It's amazing how much of WCW's booking revolves around who is wearing what shirt. - Nitro Girls. - KONAN vs. LENNY LANE Not a bad match, but not an exciting one either. Konan wins easily with the Tequila Sunrise. Virtually none of the commentary during the match pertained to the match itself. If the announcers don't care, then why should I? A promo heading into the break informs us that Bill Goldberg's t-shirt is now available to order. Before you could only get it at house shows. - Curt Hennig and Rick Rude come out to rag on Goldberg. Rude starts to deliberately call Hennig "Perfect", but Hennig stops him, saying they don't need a lawsuit on their hands. Hennig, on crutches, says his knee is bad and he'll be out for the next ten days (at least). He calls out Konan and asks him if he can take his place in house show matches against Goldberg over that time. Konan agrees. Hennig warns Goldberg that he'll be back and ready for their match at the PPV. Nice to see them actually devote some airtime to developing this feud. (Well, not THAT nice.) - EDDIE GUERRERO vs. FIT FINLEY Note what I said about Guerrero above. He wrestles competitively here, though doesn't seem to have too much chance of winning the match. He is in control of the bout, however, when Chavo suddenly runs in. The ref stops the match. Chavo chases Eddie from the ring by demanding that Eddie hit him. - Nitro Girls. - In a funny pretaped segment, Chris Jericho roams the corridors of power in D.C. looking for the info he needs to get his Cruiserweight Title returned to him. Often he's denied entrance by security guards. He holds up his "Conspiracy Victim" sign on street corners. The funniest bit occurs when he explains to a lady at a bus stop bench how Dean Malenko tricked him by wearing a mask and entering the battle royal at the last PPV. After being denied entrance to the White House he winds up in the Library of Congress, where he apparently finds the info he needs. Back in the arena Jericho comes out and demands that Dillon face him. Dillon doesn't come out. With the angle now ground to a screeching halt, Jericho awaits his opponent for tonight's match. - CHRIS JERICHO vs. JUVENTUD GUERRERA A good match, though one where it seemed like Guerrera had little chance of winning. It was nice to see them acknowledge that the two have faced each other a dozen times in recent month, though, as Guerrera manages to see the Lion Tamer coming and get to the ropes to break the hold. They then do a sloppy huracanrana on the floor (Guerrera leaping from the apron onto Jericho's shoulders). The match then ends when Reese of the Flock runs in and levels Guerrera, as part of an angle WCW has spent almost zero time explaining. Jericho spots the unconscious Guerrera, reenters the ring and covers for the pin. Juventud will apparently face Reese at the upcoming PPV. The two were supposed to fight at the last PPV, but WCW did almost no set-up for the match, then scrapped it without any explanations. HOUR THREE Hosted By: Schiavone, Tenay and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. - A video segment highlights the "Best of Seven" series between Chris Benoit and Booker T. Benoit leads the series 2-to-1, having beaten Booker last week in matches on Thunder and WCW Saturday Night. Booker won the first match on Nitro last week. - CHRIS BENOIT vs. BOOKER T. Benoit wins in what I feel was a match a step down in quality from their encounters last week on Nitro and Thunder (I didn't watch the Saturday Night match). After just a couple minutes of even back-and-forth action Benoit pulls a Crippler Crossface out of nowhere and gets the win. Benoit now leads the series 3-to-1. - They replay the Sting video which opened the show. - SCOTTY RIGGS (w/ Sick Boy) vs. DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE Total squash for DDP, which is understandable when you consider that behind Sting, he's WCW's biggest remaining star. Now's no time to make DDP work for a win. Sick Boy tries to interfere and gets a Diamond Cutter for his troubles. - Here comes a jobber to the ring, meaning it's time for ... - LA PARKA vs. GOLDBERG Goldberg, coming to the ring, stands between two of those sparkler cannons which flank the rampway, letting the sparks shower over him. They then blow off more fireworks than that used at the top of each of the hours. I like it. The crowd starts into a huge "Goldberg!" chant, with the match almost ending before they can say his name three times. La Parka's only offense is a chair shot, which Goldberg no-sells. Win #94. - Michael Buffer does the intro's ... - "HOLLYWOOD" HOGAN/THE GIANT vs. KEVIN NASH/LEX LUGER Bleah! After a couple minutes of "action" Hogan grabs his title belt and whacks Nash from behind. The ref calls for the bell. Sting then drops from the ceiling. (Veeeeeery slowly. The cameraman actually gives it away by going to a wide view too soon. They then cut to a shot looking up of Sting dropping ever so slowly to the floor.) Sting enters the ring and removes his trenchcoat, revealing a black-and-white NWO shirt. The crowd groans, as Hogan and the Giant start doing the happy dance. Hogan and Sting embrace. Sting then decks Hogan with a clothesline! After a bit of effort he tears off his NWO shirt, revealing the black-and-red NWO Wolfpac shirt underneath. The announcers, who had bemoaned all night the fact that Sting might join the Wolfpac, are now suddenly thrilled that he's joined them. (I guess they're just so happy he didn't join the NWO. Well, not the NWO, but the NWO "Hollywood". Or ... whatever.) Luger hoists Sting in the air as the NWO, at ringside, stand there pointing and shaking their fists. "We're outta time!" exclaims Tony, and the show ends. - This Thursday: Match #5 between Benoit & Booker T. - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: The Nitro formula is easy to figure out these days: big opener, which sets the tone of the show, followed by peaks at the start of the second and third hours, with a big finish closing out the show. Everything in between can pretty much be skipped, unless you're really into the angles. Speaking of which, WCW only has FOUR going on in the mid-card now: Raven's Flock, Chris Jericho's "conspiracy", the Guerrero family feud, and Benoit vs. Booker T. Those four angles fill out the bulk of WCW's shows now, accompanied by jobber matches and DDP and Goldberg squashes (which usually take place in the third hour). The peaks of the show are occupied by the NWO/Wolfpac feud, which now ties up at least 20 people! (when you count the likes of Eric Bischoff, Dusty Rhodes, Vincent and Elizabeth). You all know how I feel about the Benoit/Booker T. situation. It's nice to see these two have some good matches, but I was never that hot about Booker in the first place, and I've lost all interest in Benoit. Seriously. Benoit's greatest feud isn't with Booker T., it's with "booker" Sullivan. Technical skill is a great asset, but Benoit lacks personality, charisma, and has had little airtime given to him to work on these things. Over the last four or five months we've been put into a constant state a readiness whereby Benoit was "on the verge" of winning the TV Title. He's gone no further than that, and has in fact slipped a step back. He's not competing for the title ... he's competing for a CHANCE to compete for the title! Fit Finley has been brought into the mix and in little over a month has gone from a nobody to someone who has a fair bit of fan support, a "tough guy" image and is now more than an equal to both Booker T. and Benoit. Booker T. was barely proven as a singles wrestler and his lengthy title reign made him so big that it was he--not Benoit--who got out of that limo early in the show as a representative of WCW's "elite". Neither Booker nor Finley had to "prove" themselves to get the TV Title. They both got it and were elevated because of it. For some reason Benoit has to prove himself, though. It's a load of bunk and I, for one, am not going to sit around waiting for Benoit to get what he "deserves". It's gone on far too long for that. Benoit fans out there have to realize that no matter how loud they cheer, WCW doesn't care. The Crippler has a year or so left on his contract and I just can't see anything happening in that time to make up for what's been done to him since the middle of 1996. A TV Title reign? Big deal. How about some respect? That's what this is all about: not wins, losses, or even titles. It's about respect. Respect for Benoit and his fans. I respect Benoit, but WCW doesn't, and they don't respect me as a Benoit fan. Therefore I don't respect them. Because of that I simply chose to stop jumping as they dangle him over my head on a string. If Benoit were smart he'd cut that string as soon as his contract is up. If he doesn't, and is comfortable with his situation, then maybe that respect I have for him will disappear along with the interest I once had in him. For the record, I'm betting Booker either wins the next three straight, or wins two, then goes to a draw in the 7th match, forcing an 8th. Match five will be on Thunder. I assume number six will be on Saturday Night. That leaves seven for Nitro next week. A draw there would put the 8th match on Thunder. If there is no match on Saturday Night this week, look for Booker to win in seven (Thunder, Nitro, then Thunder again). Booker should go on to win the belt back from Finley, though my gut is telling me that Finley will probably actually keep it. If Benoit somehow wins the series, put me down now as predicting Finley to win at the PPV. In fact, I'll be rooting for him. As for this week's show, it was okay. As I mentioned above, though, once RAW came on I switched over ... and never switched back. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF RAW is WAR: Live/Taped: Length: Two Hours+. Location: Chicago, Illinois. WWF RAW Hosted By: Jim Ross, Michael Cole and Kevin Kelly. - Still photos from "Over the Edge" are shown. Vince McMahon, in the voiceover, calls Steve Austin's victory "stained", and refers to Austin as the "most undeserving and cold hearted WWF Champion of all time!" - Mick Foley is in the ring, having held a sit-down "strike" starting before the show even went on the air. Foley says he's gotten some bad advice, and has been listening to the wrong people. He admits that Steve Austin thoroughly kicked his ass the night before. He apologizes (to Vince, apparently), then McMahon to the ring. McMahon comes out to tremendous crowd heat. Foley/Dude Love tells McMahon that he let him down and that he's sorry that he didn't beat Austin. McMahon says if he's going to accept an apology from a loser like Foley, then he'd better get on his knees. McMahon yells this, drawing an even larger fan reaction. Foley says he won't embarrass himself in front of his family, watching at home on TV. McMahon again orders Foley to get on his knees. Mick says Vince underestimated how tough an S.O.B. Austin is. McMahon corrects him, saying he just overestimated how tough Dude Love was. Foley responds by saying it felt pretty good when he whacked Vince McMahon with the chair. McMahon tells Foley to do it again, taunting him to pick up the steel chair Foley had been sitting on in the ring. Mick hoists the chair, ready to nail McMahon. Vince tells him to go ahead, but to remember his children's college funds ... the 20 year mortgage on his house ... the future of his family. "Hit me with the bloody chair!" demands McMahon. Vince says the reason he doesn't fire Austin is because "Stone Cold" makes him rich. "You ... just make me SICK!" Foley, his spirit broken, sits back down on the chair. McMahon, in a calm voice, informs Foley that his services in the WWF are no longer required. Dude Love's music then pops up and Vince dances in front of Foley. Mick looks on the verge of tears as McMahon leaves the ring. The crowd reaction and energy during all this was incredible. I don't know what to call it, but it was one of the best moments on RAW I've ever seen. - They cut to a sloping entryway into the arena. There Kevin Kelly and Darren Drosdov await the arrival of the LOD and DOA, who'll be engaging in a "Chicago Street Fight". Drosdov pukes on Kelly's shoes. He hurls on him again as Hawk and Animal cut an interview. The alley they're in is filled with all manner of foreign objects, including street signs, garbage cans, pipes and steel chairs. Police cars, with lights flashing, block off the end of the entryway. - LOD 2000/DARREN DROSDOV vs. THE DISCIPLES OF APOCALYPSE Things get underway when Chainz pulls up on his Titan bike. Suddenly Skull and 8-Ball jump the LOD from behind. What follows doesn't even remotely resemble a match, but was still entertaining to watch. All six men beat on each other with everything lying on the ground. Garbage is scattered everywhere. Bodies are thrown against the concrete walls. The referee does his best to stay out of the way, while Sunny stands off to the side waving a steel pipe at anything that gets near her. The "match" winds down as bodies begin to drop, piling up on the ground. The last two standing are Drosdov and Chainz. The two battle their way up the ramp, only to be met by the Undertaker, descending down the entryway and into the arena. He grabs Chainz and slams him into a wheeled equipment sled, which pulls away from the wall and rolls down the hill. Sunny, the ref and the cameraman all have to leap out of the way to avoid being run over. The Undertaker slams Drosdov into the opposite wall. With all the participants knocked out the "match" comes to an end. Everyone scatters as the Undertaker makes his way into the bowels of the arena. I wouldn't call this "workrate", but it was fun to watch. After the break he's shown stomping around in search of Vince McMahon. - VAL VENIS vs. PAPI CHULO Venis gets a huge reaction from the crowd coming out. Chulo used to be Aguila, now without the mask. Venis says he's not happy to see the women in the audience ... it's really a gun in his pocket ... and it doesn't shoot blanks. The match is all Venis. A Camel Clutch in which he grinds his groin into Chulo's back draws a reaction. Venis gets the pin following the "Money Shot" off the top turnbuckle. The Undertaker makes his way to the ring. After the break they pick him up in mid-sentence, saying McMahon has pissed him off. He says he came to the WWF because Vince McMahon was known as a guy who gave people breaks. He says Vince let him be himself--be the Undertaker, and that made him a superstar. He says that's where the "giving" stopped, and the "taking" took over. He accuses McMahon of using him as his personal "slayer of dragons", meaning he used him to beat every giant and freak who McMahon's "hand picked champions" couldn't beat. The Undertaker kept McMahon's "kingdom" safe. He admits that he got his opportunities, winning the WWF on two occasions, but that both of those reigns were short. Why? Because McMahon didn't want someone like the Undertaker representing the WWF. The Undertaker says he still stayed loyal, even when all of McMahon favorites left the WWF for more money in "greener pastures". How was he repaid for all this? By being forced to face his brother. Paul Bearer was allowed to air all his dirty laundry, all so the WWF could get higher TV ratings. He says that even after all that, he still never "lost his smile" or left. He still stayed loyal. The Undertaker says that all ends now, and that it's time he got his shot again. He says he has nothing against Steve Austin, and respects him, but that he'll go through him to get the WWF Title. The Undertaker orders McMahon to bring his "pencil-neck-geek-ass" to the ring. McMahon comes out. He says he'll give him an answer, but that he gets his say first. He mentions the Undertaker chokeslamming him on RAW last week. He accuses him of hovering over him like a vulture at the PPV. "What have you done for me lately?" asks McMahon. About the Undertaker's family, McMahon asks him if Paul Bearer was telling the truth when he called his mother a whore?! Huge crowd reaction, and Vince just barely stops the Undertaker from turning him into a smear on the mat by saying he'll give him the answer he wants. Vince tells him if he want to be the number one contender to the title he will be if he wins a match tonight ... against his brother Kane! Another incredible segment. The Undertaker's delivery was a bit ragged, but it was still probably one of the best interviews he's ever done. McMahon is hands-down the "Heel of the Year". - They recap how Marc Mero beat Sable, forcing her to leave the WWF. - STEVE BLACKMAN vs. "MARVELOUS" MARC MERO Before the match Mero brings out his new valet: Jacquelyn. Wow! Ross calls Mero an idiot for trading Sable for Jacquelyn. The match itself is thoroughly dominated by Blackman. He gets Mero down for a pin, but Jacky puts Mero's foot on the ropes. She then hops up on the apron to argue with the ref and Blackman. Mero uses the distraction to nail a low blow. He then Samoan Drops him in the corner, then puts him away with the "Wild Thing" (Shooting Star Press) off the top. Mero advances to be one of the eight wrestlers who will compete in the tournament at the King of the Ring PPV. Ross makes a big deal out of how Mero grabs Jacquelyn's butt when he picks her up in the air to celebrate his win. - They show footage of Steve Austin in the studio on the Mancow Mueller syndicated radio show. - This week's Edge promo is shown. WWF WAR ZONE Hosted By: Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler. - DEGENERATION X vs. THE NATION This is a six-man elimination match. D-X is over huge with the crowd. Hunter Hearst Helmsley and the New Age Outlaws will take on Rocky Maivia, Owen Hart and D-Lo Brown. Rocky draws a ton of heat as usual. Commish Sgt. Slaughter forces Chyna and X-Pac of D-X and Kama and Mark Henry of the Nation to leave the ringside area. Good match, with the action coming very fast and the eliminations taking place in rapid order. D-Lo is the first one to go, pinned by Billy Gunn. Maivia comes in to face Gunn, then the Road Dog. Rocky puts the Dog down with the "Rock Bottom" (modified chokeslam) and pins him. Owen Hart then scores the pin on Billy Gunn after Gunn accidentally hits his head on the post. Triple H is all by himself, but Chyna makes her way to the ring as they cut to a commercial. Maivia and Hart work on dismantling Helmsley. Maivia delivers the People's Elbow, but Helmsley kicks out of the cover and battles back to score a surprising clean pin on the Rock following a Pedigree. Down to Owen and Hunter, Owen nails an enzuguiri kick to the back of the head. Suddenly Ken Shamrock runs in from the crowd and attacks Owen! The ref calls for the bell. Owen and Shamrock slug it out until the rest of the Nation comes back out. Dan Sever, dressed in street clothes, then comes out to help him. The Nation members scatter. Shamrock and Severn give each other an uneasy stare as Severn leaves the ring. Helmsley then comes up behind Shamrock, demanding to know why he interfered in his match (just as Owen Hart and the Nation are declared the winners of the match via DQ). Helmsley and Shamrock begin to brawl. The ring fills with referees to pull the two apart. I'm annoyed that the match didn't go to a clean finish, though it was a good match anyway, and the post-match brawling was wild. - Vince McMahon is shown in the back talking to Paul Bearer. The two shake hands, then Vince shakes Kane's hand. Ross declares that Vince has signed a deal with the Devil ... or vice versa. - "DOUBLE J" JEFF JARRETT (w/ Tennessee Lee) vs. FAAROOQ Before the match Lee say the WWF doesn't know anything about justice, so he brings out Jarrett's new bodyguards: Southern Justice. AKA the Godwinns. Looks like the rumors about the two were partially true. The two are now dress like hired goons in suits and sunglasses. Crap, by any other name, still stinks as bad. In maybe the only low point of the show thus far, Jarrett gets a quick win over Faarooq when Southern Justice distracts the referee. This allows Tennessee Lee to throw Jarrett his belt. Jarrett nails Faarooq with the buckle, tosses it back to Lee and covers for the pin. At least it was quick. Jarrett makes it into the King of the Ring tournament. - Like the Pat Patterson and Jerry Brisco videos of recent weeks, they do one for Vince McMahon, focusing on his family and the WWF's efforts for charities. - TAKA MICHINOKU (w/ Justin Bradshaw) vs. SHO FUNAKI (w/ Yamaguchi-san) A disappointing match. Both men hit some okay moves, but nothing we haven't seen before, and Michinoku wins much too quickly and easily, earning the pin following the Michinoku Driver. Bradshaw makes sure Taka isn't beaten up afterwards. During the match Al Snow shows up at ringside dressed as a Japanese photographer (though his clothes looked more Chinese to me). Both he and the Head wear bamboo hats. He and the other Japanese photographers at ringside take pictures of each other. Security eventually comes along and takes Al away. After the break we see Snow outside in the parking lot chewing out the Head for another dumb idea. - Paul Bearer, in the back with Kane, says he's confident that Kane will beat the Undertaker. - Vince McMahon joins Ross and Lawler at the table for color commentary. Lawler sucks up to McMahon big-time. - MARK HENRY vs. TERRY FUNK McMahon says Henry has promise. He also calls Funk the "King of Hard- core", saying Mick Foley didn't deserve that title. Not a good match, though not terrible either. The action spills to the floor, where Funk tries a springboard splash. Henry catches him and slams him against the post. Funk comes back by reversing a whip into the ring steps. He then nails Henry with a chairshot which the referee has to work really hard to miss. McMahon notes that as loud as those chairshots sound on the outside, they're even louder inside your head. Funk then does a shaky Asai moonsault, catching more of the guard rail than Henry. From there Henry dominates, scoring the pin after several attempts. (Funk gets to go down fighting, kicking out several times before finally doing the job). Cut to the back, where "Stone Cold" Steve Austin is making his entrance. McMahon pales as they go to break. Austin takes a seat at the opposite end of the announcer's desk and for the rest of the show he and McMahon verbally spar with each other. - THE UNDERTAKER vs. KANE (w/ Paul Bearer) Early in the match the Undertaker flips backwards over the rope to the floor and clobbers Paul Bearer. Back in the ring he walks the top rope and nails Kane. Kane comes back with A big chokeslam. The commentary is great, with Austin lauding every blow the Undertaker delivers, while McMahon does the same for Kane. Tempers flare between the two as Austin tells McMahon to shut up. McMahon bellows back "How dare you tell me to shut up. that's my mic--I own it. YOU shut up!" McMahon says he believes Kane was the better man in each of his previous matches with the Undertaker. Jim Ross points out that the Undertaker won those matches. Austin says he respects the Undertaker, and that he'd like to face him. He says he'd also just as soon kick Kane's ass. McMahon says he doesn't really care which one wins, so long as the number one contender goes on to beat Austin for the title at the PPV. Back in the ring the referee gets plastered when the Undertaker is thrown into the corner. Kane goes for a Tombstone Piledriver, but the Undertaker escapes, throws Kane into the ropes, and catches him with one of his own. The Undertaker covers for the pin, but there's no ref. Here comes Mick Foley, wearing the mask and tights of Mankind! He grabs the Undertaker and slaps on the Mandible Claw. McMahon, with almost a smile on his face, says "I don't know why he's here. I fired him!" The Undertaker escapes from Mankind, only to fall victim to a huge chokeslam from Kane. Moments later the referee recovers and Kane earns the upset pin. McMahon has a "cat who ate the canary" look on his face. Kane drops to the floor in front of the announcer's desk, points to Austin and makes the classic sign of the title belt going around his own waist. McMahon says he can't wait until Kane kicks Austin's ass at the King of the Ring. The Undertaker and Mankind brawl up and down the ramp as the show ends. - Next week: More King of the Ring matches. Comments: From top to bottom an entertaining, highly charged show. One of the best this year. There was some good wrestling, a few surprises, and the McMahon/Austin angle somehow managed to get even hotter than it already was. There are some intriguing matches coming up for the King of the Ring tournament: Shamrock vs. Kama, the Rock vs. Vader, HHH vs. X-Pac(!), Severn vs. D-Lo and Owen Hart vs. 2 Cold Scorpio. That last one could be a great match, while the HHH/X-Pac pairing raises some eyebrows. Al Snow, rumored favorite to win the tournament, isn't even listed in the brackets at this time. (That could change, though.) There are already rumors that the Undertaker will fight Mankind in a Hell in the Cell match at KOTR. Throw in Austin vs. Kane, the KOTR tournament, a probable HHH vs. Owen Hart match, Maivia maybe defending the IC belt, the LOD vs. the New Age Outlaws, and you have the makings of a pretty good PPV. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bottom Line: RAW clobbered Nitro in the ratings this week, winning 4.35 to 3.75. RAW not only won both head-to-head hours, but also won every single quarter hour rating--some by as many as a full point-and-a-half. The closest the two shows came was during the final fifteen minutes, when Nitro closed the margin to 4.3 to 4.4. I wonder if the phone traffic between Eric Bischoff and Jim Hellwig has suddenly increased? Depending on what source you read, RAW also apparently beat Nitro last week too. Their composite rating was a 4.221 to a 4.220 for Nitro. Other sources have the numbers the other way around. Some claim Nitro won because of their higher share. WCW claims the win because they scored 0.05 points higher than RAW in the head-to-head hours. The WWF, on the other hand, may have gotten the higher score for the second hour of RAW, making it the highest rated hour of all (and thus the "highest rated" wrestling show of the week). Personally I stand by the original assessment--that the two shows, for all intents and purposes, tied with each other. No matter who you give the win too, RAW's victory this week was by a much larger margin. They saw their ratings go up from last week, while Nitro actually lost a half point. It wasn't as big a win as Nitro usually scored last year, but it is much like the numbers were earlier this year, only in reverse, when people were still saying RAW had no chance to overtake Nitro in the ratings. Things should be closer again next week with RAW being taped. It's not as if WCW needs to panic, though. They're still pulling in huge numbers, and live gate totals have never been higher. They've already sold more than 20,000 tickets for the upcoming Nitro in the Georgia Dome, and will do over a half million dollar gate--the highest in WCW history. I may not be wild about WCW right now, but I can't argue with their success. All they need to do is some tweaking here and there to get back on top. The WWF, meanwhile, has turned things completely around. They're doing a great job of introducing new talent, working through injuries, and delivering one of the best main event storylines of this decade. I can't believe it's June already. On a final note, I'd like to say a brief word regarding the death of Sylvester Ritter, known to his many wrestling fans as the Junkyard Dog. JYD in his prime was an exciting and entertaining wrestler to watch. He was also an excellent role model. He died Tuesday morning in a single car accident in Mississippi. He was only 45. He will be missed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 133 of the "Monday Night Recap", June 1st, 1998.