Slobberknocker Central Monday Night Recap #134 June 8th, 1998 WCW Monday Nitro: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Three Hours. Location: Auburn Hills, Michigan. HOUR ONE Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Larry Zbyszko. - I'm going to be honest with y'all right upfront: I was not impressed with Nitro this week. My cable conked out roughly an hour into the show. I was able to tape RAW off my satellite dish, though, which forced me to stay up waaaaaay late to watch and tape the Nitro replay. By the time 3:00 AM (my time) rolled around I felt like I had been watching Nitro for eight hours. In a way I had, though it was the show itself which sapped my will to live every minute it went on and on and on. As a result of what did (and mostly didn't) happen, I'm going to really blow through Nitro's results this week. I have no desire to sit through this show again, and will use the fast-forward button extensively. I may miss a few small details, which is a bit unfortunate since that's all there was to the show this week anyway: small details. The larger picture is every bit as muddled and bizarre as it usually is. - Michael Buffer is in the ring working over the crowd. The NWO's theme music then kicks in and out walks "Hollywood" Hogan and Dennis Rodman. Just like that. No hype, no emotional build-up, nothing. The crowd, home of the Detroit Pistons, where Rodman used to make an ass of himself several years back, could barely care less. Hogan makes the usual opening statements, followed by some wisdom from Rodman. Well, actually he just sputters "hey ... hey hey hey hey!" a few times. Eric Bischoff wisely takes the mic from him and tries to draw some heat for him. It fails. The crowd is barely inspired enough to boo. WCW had three major surprises scheduled for this summer and one of them just fizzled like "Godzilla" at the box office. Speaking of which, Hogan and crew will go on to call Rodman "Rodzilla" for most of the following show. Of course we were all eagerly awaiting Rodman's return, right? After all, it's only been something like ELEVEN MONTHS since he last appeared in a WCW ring! - They replay Sting's joining the Wolfpac last week. The opening sequence follows, that in turn followed by a Nitro Girls number. Mike Tenay, in a pre-taped segment, talks to some fans outside the arena about Diamond Dallas Page. "He's too sweet!" Says one fan. When asked another question the fan shrinks into his shell and repeats his first answer. Damn fine journalism there, Tenay. - Kevin Nash and the Wolfpac hit the ring. Long story short, they offer DDP a spot (which spot?) and a red-and-black NWO shirt. DDP never answers the offer, but Hogan and crew do. Sitting up in a skybox, Bischoff shows Rodzilla how to turn off the arena lights. As if that wasn't stupid enough, the audio techs throw in a loud "bzzzzzt!" noise to accompany the action--like Rodman just somehow wiped out the entire power grid on the eastern seaboard. Ooooh ... they turned off the lights! How evil! - Konan, in the back with J.J. Dillon, demands to know why he isn't doing anything about the NWO. Dillon essentially says it's none of his business. Konan says to not come complaining to him when the Wolfpac does the same to the NWO. What, are they going to T.P. Hogan's limo? - JERRY FLYNN vs. YUJI NAGATA (w/ Sonny Onoo) Yeah, a full thirty minutes have passed, so I suppose it's time for a match. Couldn't it have been a GOOD one, though? Nagata wins with the Nagatalock submission. During the match Schiavone announces that WCW's public relations department has a major announcement to make this week on Thunder. Schiavone points out how unusual it is for the PR people to make an announcement (as opposed to the fictional "Executive Committee"). - Tony Schiavone interviews Chris Jericho. Jericho has a letter purportedly from Ted Turner. Having not read it yet himself, he decides to read it live over the air for the first time. After some kind words from "Mr. Turner", the letter goes on to inform Jericho that he's a whiner, and that this being WCW the ancient NWA rule Jericho dug up has no bearing. Dean Malenko is still the Cruiserweight Champion. Jericho whines like Bischoff after 5:00 PM on a Tuesday afternoon. Funny segment. - Clip from Thunder of Lex Luger inviting DDP to join the Wolfpac. Ooh, will he or won't he? God knows western civilization can't progress until they see DDP put on a new shirt. - Another clip from Thunder. Son-of-a- ... I saw it the first time, you know?! They show us Luger and Page getting screwed out of the World Tag Team Titles. Nothing says "don't watch thunder!" like all these repeated clips played on Nitro. - HORACE/REESE (w/ the Flock) vs. VAN HAMMER/JUVENTUD GUERRERA Almost 50 minutes have passed and this is only the second match. What do they think this is, RAW? I saw this match twice and I still don't remember what happened. Reese pins Juvi following a match which saw the Flock's team dominate. These two will go on to face at the PPV. Of course Juvi will get the "upset" victory. HOUR TWO Hosted By: Schiavone, Tenay and Zbyszko. - Hogan, surrounded by chicks in his luxury skybox, blathers on about Kevin Nash and how he owes Hogan a boatload of money for all those fines he racked up doing the Jackknife powerbomb (when it was "illegal"). You know things are screwy when the only sign of storyline continuity in WCW emerges during a "Hollywood" Hogan interview. - Schiavone interviews J.J. Dillon, who explains why the Giant didn't have the authority to put the Tag Team Titles on the line against Luger and DDP last Thursday. - EDDIE GUERRERO vs. SCOTT PUTSKI A so-so match, with Eddie looking good and Putski looking like he did before. (You be the judge.) Loco Chavo runs in again, causing the match to come to an end. Chavo's antics are somewhat amusing, but that's no excuse to kill off Eddie this way, not to mention the angle delivering so few quality matches. Even if their PPV match rocks it will have been the only one in this three month old angle. - Kevin Nash and Konan are together in the back making fun of Hogan and his intimate little gathering. Nash says they're selling enough red-and-black shirts to cut Hogan in for a percentage. This is Konan's third on-screen appearance tonight. Obviously WCW hopes some of Nash and the Wolfpac's popularity will rub off on him. More on this later. - Back to the NWO party in the skybox. Bischoff conducts a little interview with the Giant, who rambles on about Sting being a bug or something. These guys need to lay off the booze. - Now it's Schiavone's turn to talk again, this time interviewing Konan (see above), Curt Hennig and Rick Rude. They pound it in to our heads again that Konan will face Goldberg at the PPV. Two things about this: 1) Hennig is obviously going to turn on Konan and rejoin the NWO. 2) How can WCW expect to make Konan popular by shoving him into a match against Goldberg? They did the same with Bret Hart and Ric Flair and Hart STILL hasn't recovered his popularity. Heenan joins the announcing crew. We're somewhere around the 90 minute mark and they've only had three matches. I take back the RAW crack from above. RAW was never this bad. - CHRIS BENOIT vs. BOOKER T. A better match than their least two, though still not better than the first one. I think. Hell, they've all blurred together at this point. Booker T. wins with a leg hook roll-up following a shove into the corner. Benoit followed in, but Booker jumped over him, reversed direction and hooked his arms with his legs, rolling him up somewhat like a Sunset Flip. Nice finisher. Stevie Ray appeared again during the match to give Booker a pep talk. After the match Benoit kicks Booker, venting his frustrations. Stevie Ray makes the save. I sure hope Stevie's setting up a turn on Booker T. I'd hate to see a Stevie Ray/Benoit feud. Benoit and Booker are now tied at three wins apiece in their series. Booker will win match seven this Thursday. - Nitro Girls. I'm pretty sure I left out an appearance of theirs above. I hope you'll all forgive me. Nitro Party Video follows. - Hogan now has Bret Hart in his skybox party. Hart smirks as Hogan does a number of Randy Savage imitations. Then for no reason Elizabeth sits in between them and starts snuggling with Hogan. I think I'm gonna be sick. Of course how or why this happened is NEVER explained. We're all just supposed to accept the fact that Liz has turned on Randy and joined the NWO ... again. - Since the above was such an earth shattering event, they decide to replay Booker's victory over Benoit. Are the guys in the control truck even following what's going on? They also continue the hype for the PR Dept. announcement this Thursday. If it isn't about the Ultimate Warrior, then Ric Flair either re-signed, or Karl Malone will be coming in. - FIT FINLEY vs. NORMAN SMILEY That's it ... I quit. ... ... ... Okay, I'm back, but you all owe me. Rather than take my word that this was a mind-numbingly dull match, I'd just point out that the crowd, bored to the point of coma, chanted "Bor-ing!" and did the wave. Smiley's nickname is "Magic". He must be to have altered the space/time continuum the way he did in order for this six minute match to seem so very much longer than it was. Finley wins with the Tombstone Piledriver. Two hours in and we've had five matches. YOU do the math. HOUR THREE Hosted By: Schiavone, Tenay and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. - Schiavone interviews Sting. Sting's wearing red facepaint instead of white. (He debuted this look last week during his run-in on Thunder.) You'd think that after two years of not talking Sting would have something important to say. Instead he "whoo!"-es a lot and says he owns the Giant's butt at the PPV. - Now here comes "Rowdy" Roddy Piper with something to say. He plays up to the crowd by mentioning the names of the local sports teams. (This is the same interview Piper has given for the last fifteen years, with spaces left blank to insert the name of the local sports teams.) Randy Savage comes out and those two go at it again. They then cut to Hogan and his party. Hogan makes remarks about both Piper and Savage, then takes a shot at Savage by giving Elizabeth to Eric Bischoff. America is then sickened by the sight of those two making out. Savage says he's over Elizabeth, but not over Hogan ... or Piper. - A couple hours of Nitro and Thunder clips are shown. Jericho's finding of an old NWA rule is played again, even though the earlier letter reading segment made the entire angle moot. - DISCO INFERNO vs. DEAN MALENKO Malenko gets the near squash win with the Texas Cloverleaf in barely over two minutes. - Nitro Girls. - F***king "Hollywood" Hogan is talking again. Hogan says he has a new star which will take Hollywood by storm. Before anyone can start crying "Ultimate W-" it's Scott Steiner. They then run one of those black-and- white, letterbox squished clips of Hogan and Steiner on the set of "Shadow Warriors", the sequel to "Assault on Devil's Island". Steiner does a poor job of "going Hollywood". Back in the arena Scott joins Hogan's party. Steiner is clearly in over his head with this gimmick. - They run an ad for Goldberg's t-shirt. They then show a Goldberg video package. A "Goldberg!" chant started during the video continues to be played over the arena speakers as they cut back to the crowd shot. This is impressive, until one realizes that it's canned noise being played to the crowd! It's bad enough that this guy is as over as he is. Does WCW have to "cheat" to make his popularity seem even greater? - GOLDBERG vs. CHAVO GUERRERO, JR. Win #99. - The Wolfpac comes to the ring for one last time, bearing a t-shirt for DDP should he decide to join. On cue DDP comes out to the stage. He begins what is supposed to be a heart warming speech detailing why he's made the decision he has. Unfortunately it's interrupted by the arrival of Hogan and Rodman bearing steel chairs, which they use to lay him out. The show ends (yes!) with the Wolfpac checking out the unconscious Page. - This Thursday: Big announcement. Benoit vs. Booker T. match #7. - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: Where do I begin? For starters, how about a Chavo Guerrero Nitro main event? I realize Goldberg is over, but is a jobber squash match starring him worthy of the main event? This was Goldberg's 99th win, meaning win #100 will come against Konan this Sunday on PPV. There goes the supposed match between he and Hogan for July 6th. Of course those two could still fight, but it'll be match 110 or something like that. I would assume Goldberg won't be wres-err, fighting this Thursday. WCW never says anything so who knows? I'm not bothered by WCW using canned noise to cover the crowd. Both they and the WWF have done that many times in the past. What annoys me is that they did it not to cover up poor crowd reaction, but to artificially boost Goldberg's perceived popularity--which is already at an all time high. Next time they won't have to do it because the home crowd has already heard the chant and will do their own the next time out. I don't want to call WCW "Nazis", but they've obviously been doing some research into controlled response. Wasn't the usual brainwashing by repetition enough? (The NWO, Steve Austin and D-X pushes all come to mind.) Has Chavo won a match lately? Yet he'll probably go on to beat Eddie at the PPV. It's hard to call what's being done with Chavo a "push" when he's only won one or two matches in the last few months. They've given him an amusing character, but his in-ring credibility is still zero. And, as I've pointed out too many times, they're killing Eddie's credibility in the process. That brings us to Chris Jericho. Yeah, he's funny, but where is this latest focus being displayed in the ring? Chris comes out, talks, whines, but doesn't wrestle. Dean Malenko comes out and gets workmanlike wins defending his title. All the focus is on Jericho, though. Are these two fighting at the PPV? You'd think so, yet they've done little to hype it in encounters between the two. In fact, as far as I know they AREN'T scheduled to face this Sunday. Jericho is obsessed with Malenko, but Malenko has had virtually no interaction with him (save for whacking him with the belt last week). Speaking of the PPV, what is the card, anyway? Here's all the matches I can think of: * Hogan/Hart vs. Piper/Savage. * The Giant vs. Sting. Winner gets both Tag Title belts. * Reese vs. Juventud Guerrera. * Saturn vs. Kanyon. * Finley vs. Booker T. (yeah, or maybe Benoit. NOT). * Goldberg vs. Konan. So what am I leaving out? What is the appeal to this card, by the way? A few potshots aside, Hogan has done virtually nothing to hype his match. He's spent all his time talking about Kevin Nash and his "bony legs". Hart hasn't said much of anything other than sow seeds of dissension between Savage and Piper. Those two have focused on fighting each other, not Hogan and Hart. Nothing has been done with this match to build anticipation for anything other than Piper vs. Savage. I guess Hogan "stealing" Elizabeth is supposed to make this match mean something. I liked the first time they did this angle ... back in 1989! Maybe Hart will turn on Hogan. Yay. Wouldn't surprise me: WCW's averaging one "turn" per week these days. That was teased tonight when Hogan wouldn't let Hart talk on the mic at one point. The Giant vs. Sting has been built nicely, I will admit. I'll also admit I have no idea who's going to win, nor do I particularly care which it is. There's logical reasons for both to win, though logic and WCW have absolutely nothing to do with each other. Anyone who thinks Konan can beat Goldberg should have their head examined. Juvi should beat Reese. If he doesn't, then everyone should say "well ... duh!" Reese is only eight feet tall and weighs half a ton. Guerrera, meanwhile, is only slightly bigger than my four year old nephew. Saturn vs. Kanyon should feature at least one stop sign shot. I'm betting Finley beats Booker T. when Stevie Ray turns on him. Not that I care, mind you. Overall they've built up to a stinker of a PPV, by way of an awful installment of Nitro. Schiavone, at one point during the show, started talking about the Great American Bash, then switched to the Bash at the Beach (WCW's July PPV). From there he mixed the two up, calling next month's PPV the Great American Bash. I've always said it's stupid to have the word "Bash" in the title of two straight PPV's. Maybe Thunder will clear some things up, but I doubt it. Speaking of which, will Thunder break the word on the Warrior, or will they disappoint with an announcement about Karl Malone or something else as innocuous? WCW is supposedly holding a press conference earlier in the day at a sports bar or cafe, which lends credence to the Malone angle. Back to Nitro for a moment. Do you realize they only ran SEVEN matches, totaling roughly 30 minutes? That left TWO-AND-A-HALF HOURS of interviews, flashbacks and commercials. I don't think RAW has ever been that bad in terms of not delivering action: mainly because RAW doesn't insist on running three hours in length. I'm going to go out on a limb and call this the worst three hour Nitro ever which didn't suffer from an outright terrible match. After all, none of the matches here were terrible. It's just that only one was good, while the others wavered from quick to boring to pointless, with too few of them to make up for all the dead air the numerous interviews caused. Oh, and how about that Dennis Rodman? Many of you have probably heard by now that Rodman blew off "Media Day" for the NBA, and skipped out on a Chicago Bulls practice to attend the Nitro airing. Because of this the NBA fined Rodman $10,000. Chicago has also fined him, though they won't announce how much (if any). Rodman had an NBA representative provide a text statement to the press answering a series of generic questions Monday afternoon, which means the NBA won't fine him any more. (Rodman's planned Nitro foray wasn't mentioned.) There's also accusations that Bulls coach Phil Jackson is "coddling" Rodman, and that's why the team may not be fining him. Rodman's teammates are pretty much used to his antics, though this latest incident hardly changes anyone's opinion of him, and some players like Jordan and Pippen are reportedly upset with him. Rodman on Tuesday, instead of facing the press, ran from reporters and hid in the lockerroom after the Bulls practice session. The sports media has been all over this story, with reports appearing all over TV, radio, newspapers and the Internet regarding Rodman's Nitro appearance. Uniformly reaction has ranged from "what are you gonna do--it's Rodman?!" comments, to outright anger. Chicago newspaper and radio sports columnists are calling for the Bulls to dump Rodman after the playoffs, with this "outrage" being the last straw. WCW has gotten a lot of mainstream press over this stunt and almost all of it has been negative. Where they once criticized the WWF for bringing in "convicted rapist" Mike Tyson, it's now they who are being described in such terms as "fake entertainment" (ESPN Sportszone) and "hideous TV show" (Chicago Sun-Times). Some of Rodman's teammates actually got a kick out of Rodman's Nitro appearance, with one of them going on to say he enjoyed seeing Rodman hit "DDT" (sic) with a chair. Karl Malone, Rodman's nemesis and proposed opponent in a rumored upcoming match, said he didn't even see the show: he was out watching a baseball game. So much for being a big WCW fan. I suppose you're all thinking "$10,000 is a lot of money!" Well, here's the kicker to the story: WCW had to cough up $250,000 for Rodman's appearance on Monday night! But it'll all be worth it if WCW wins the ratings war this week, right? Right?! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF RAW is WAR: Live/Taped: Taped 6/2. Length: Two Hours+. Location: Rockford, Illinois. WWF RAW Hosted By: Jim Ross, Michael Cole and Kevin Kelly. - The WWF says good-bye to the Junkyard Dog with an emotional video package. - Mr. McMahon, Pat Patterson and Jerry Brisco make their way to the ring decked out in black tuxedoes. He thanks the fans for making RAW the most watched sports entertainment program in history. (Huh?) McMahon announces that due to his extensive charity work he's been named the "Humanitarian of the Year". He extends the olive branch Steve Austin, inviting him to attend the ceremony later in the show. Jim Ross says he smells a rat. - GODFATHER KAMA (w/ the Nation) vs. KEN SHAMROCK A fairly quick match, with Shamrock getting the win via an anklelock submission in the middle of the ring. The other Nation members run in, with Dan Severn again making the save. The following tense staredown is a bit more pronounced than last time. Shamrock advances to face Nation member Mark Henry at the King of the Ring PPV. - They show a few seconds of footage from the house show last week in Madison Square Garden, which drew sell-out crowd of 19,506 fans, for a gate of almost $400,000 (the largest ever at MSG for a non-PPV wrestling event). MSG will host SummerSlam this year in August. This is followed by footage of the members of DeGeneration X on the streets of New York to hype SummerSlam. Highlights include them cornering an old guy who looks like Ted Turner, and getting a woman to expose herself. Lowlights include them making fun of Pakistani's. - "MARVELOUS" MARC MERO/"DOUBLE J" JEFF JARRETT vs. FAAROOQ/BLACKMAN Mero and Jarrett are accompanied by Jacquelyn and Tennessee Lee. Mero and Jarrett will face each other at the King of the Ring, making sure that some tensions will arise between the two here tonight. Sure enough, a miscue between the two see Mero knocked off the apron, while Jarrett is rolled up from behind by Blackman and pinned. - Another D-X segment follows. A local adult peepshow is declared an official sponsor of SummerSlam. Road Dog does an Irish explorer imitation in a downtown bar. A fan recognizes them and goes bonkers. Guys try wrestling moves on each other. Street folk are instructed in the fine art of crotch-chopping. Road Dog convinces a policeman that "the body was dead before I got there!" More ethnic races are offended. The hijinks continue after a commercial break: Chyna tries on sunglasses and hats in a shop, Triple H tries to get the Outlaws out of the sewer, more people from Pakistan are offended, and a co-ed is talked into exposing herself on camera. (D-X logos cover up the naughty bits on both occasions.) The piece ends with Helmsley remarking that D-X is "over" in New York. - SCORPIO vs. OWEN HART (w/ the Nation) Here, as in the earlier Kama/Shamrock match, the other Nation members were barred from ringside. A good match between these two. Things are pretty even between the two until Scorpio misses a moonsault. He comes up favoring his knee. Owen then catches him with a chop block from behind, works on the knee for a few more moments, then slaps on the Sharpshooter for the win. My only knock against this match is that it was relatively short. This could have been great if it were in the next round and they'd been given ten minutes or so. The Undertaker is shown arriving at the arena. After the break he roughs up a security guard while searching for Vince McMahon. The Undertaker is barely recognizable in shades and a ponytail. - DARREN "PUKE" DROSDOV vs. CHAINZ Before the match they show footage courtesy NBC of Drosdov playing for the Denver Broncos in the NFL. They show the infamous puke shot, where Drosdov tossed his cookies during the course of a game. Them match itself isn't that great, featuring little more than punches, kicks, whips and headlocks. It was quick, though. Drosdov misses a splash attempt in the corner, allowing Chainz to apply the Death Valley driver for the win. Suddenly the Undertaker appears. Both wrestlers in the ring are quickly taken out with chokeslams, much to the delight of the crowd. The Undertaker clears the bodies from the ring and, like last week, yells for McMahon to come out. He's still in the ring following the commercial break. McMahon appears on the Titan-Tron, but ignores the Undertaker while talking to George Martin and Darnell Autry, NFL players who will be presenting him with his humanitarian award. The Undertaker stalks off to the back in search of McMahon. - D-X hits the ring. They go through their usual routines to work up the crowd. Triple H is then interrupted by LOD 2000, who come out and demand the Tag Team Title shot which is due them by their win at the "Over the Edge" PPV. Helmsley instantly agrees to a match on behalf of the Outlaws. The Disciples of Apocalypse then ride out, saying that they're due a title shot because of their past win over the NAO. Helmsley says his boys can't defend against both teams, so both are out of luck. Commissioner quickly arrives on the scene and rules that both teams are the number one contenders, and that the Outlaws will defend the belt in a "Triple Threat Match". Before the beak they show the Undertaker in the back busting up anything he can get his hands on. Everything, that is, except McMahon. The first hour ends as Mark Henry approaches the ring. The tally for the first hour includes four matches, totaling only about fifteen minutes of in-ring action, but all had clean finishes--a rarity for RAW. WWF WAR ZONE Hosted By: Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler. - MARK HENRY vs. VADER I figured this match would be terrible. It wasn't, though I wouldn't call it good either. All power moves, with lots of punches and slams. Henry scoops Vader up at one point and carries him like a man half the size he actually is. He then slams him down with authority. Wow. Henry also does a nice looking powerslam, catching Vader coming off the turnbuckles. Here comes the Undertaker again! Both men are chokeslammed, with the crowd noise going way up when Vader takes the ride. The Undertaker gives another shout out to McMahon before leaving the ring. - They recap Sable's loss to Marc Mero, which forced her to leave the WWF. - DAN SEVERN vs. D-LO BROWN A quick match, not bad, but not really one which played to D-Lo's strengths. Severn dominated most of it, getting the win with an armbar submission. Both men were animated enough in the applying of the hold that the audience popped a bit for the finish. Owen Hart then ran in to attack Severn, with Shamrock following out (hobbling because of his bad ankle) to return the favor did by Severn earlier. Shamrock chased Owen away through the crowd. - They show a special tribute video devoted to Sable. Remember when Shawn Michaels was out and they played that special video for him? Same idea here, though this one makes you laugh more than cry (though I doubt that's the intention). - VAL VENIS vs. DUSTIN RHODES Had this match happened a month or two ago it'd have been a masterpiece in perversion. "The girls love every inch of this guy!" notes Lawler. Ross asks him if he has "Venis Envy"? Venis, in the match, does his grinding Camel Clutch, along with other similar antics. Again I wish it had been Goldust in there. Man, that'd have been a sick match! A low blow delivered by Dustin draws a crowd reaction, as does a follow-up Atomic Drop. Dustin nails his criss-cross bulldog, then covers for a two count, with Venis barely able to kick out. That's all we see, unfortunately, as the Undertaker puts in yet another appearance and chokeslams the two. The crowd loved it, though I thought it was one run-in too many. - In a bit of ambush advertising they pass off a Super Soaker commercial as a wrestling related segment. Dok Hendrix, hyping something or other, gets hosed by D-X. A cameraman is then forced to read the ad copy for the squirtgun. - The competitors come out for the "Triple Threat Match". They then cut to the back, where the Undertaker has cornered Commissioner Slaughter. Slaughter refuses to tell where McMahon is. The Undertaker clobbers him, then proceeds to tear off his tuxedo. During the commercial break the USA Network runs a promo for their new fall line-up, which features the addition of "Hercules" and "Xena". While showing clips of all the prominent shows on USA they include a brief shot of a wrestler being slammed on RAW. This marks the first time, that I can recall, USA featuring RAW alongside their other shows in a promo. TNT has long featured Nitro as one of their top shows, and it's about time USA followed suit. It's probably no coincidence that USA and the WWF recently signed a new three year deal, which should keep RAW on Monday nights for some time to come. - NEW AGE OUTLAWS (w/ Chyna) vs. LOD 2000 (w/ Sunny) vs. the DOA Triple H and X-Pac have seats up on the stage, holding up various signs at the start of the match: "Down where?/Down There!"; "I'd rather be in Chyna!" and "Where's Rocco?" This match has that dumb rule where anyone can tag anyone else in, so that even tag team partners can be in the ring at the same time. The match really dragged, going almost ten minutes. The Outlaws, who have looked really good in recent matches, had nothing to work with here. True to the stipulations, Road Dog and Billy Gunn are eventually both tagged in at the same time. After a tease of them going through the motions of preparing to battle, Road Dog drops to the mat and allows Gunn to pin him. Like that the two retain their tag team titles. D-X celebrates their way up the ramp as the LOD and DOA blubber to the ref. Cut to the back, where several carloads of policemen have arrived. After the break they're shown surrounding the Undertaker. - The ring is all decorated for McMahon's fancy award presentation. Al Snow shows up at the announcer's desk top ask Jerry Lawler about that meeting with McMahon that he promised him. Lawler says it'll happen, as he surreptitiously signals for security. Snow is once again hauled away. Inspirational music plays as McMahon greets his guests in the ring. They cut to the back a few times to show that the police and security guards have the Undertaker effectively held at bay, preventing him from going to the ring. Steve Austin then comes out, wearing his usual attire accented with a black necktie. McMahon complains that this was a "black tie affair". Austin points out that he's wearing a black tie. Kevin Kelly kicks the affair off by describing the charities which Martin and Autry represent. George Martin starts off, saying that he has the "dubious" pleasure to present McMahon with his plaque, since McMahon's donation to his charity was much less than promised, and that the check bounced twice before clearing. He hands McMahon the plaque, adding that his favorite WWF superstar is "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Austin gives Vince a hearty pat on the shoulder as McMahon sheepishly accepts his plaque. Darnell Autry then does the same, saying he can't recall his charity ever actually receiving a check. McMahon assures him it's in the mail, or some such similar promise. Autry as well says Austin is his favorite wrestler. Vince gets on the mic and explains why he deserves these accolades, pointing out his efforts this evening to patch things up between he and Austin. He finishes up by saying these plaques, along with his many others, will someday be displayed in the WWF Hall of Fame. Austin, meanwhile, has been maneuvering around to the back of McMahon. He suddenly fishes in McMahon's back pocket and comes up with a big wad of cash. He counts it as McMahon protests. "On behalf of the cheapest son- of-a-bitch in the world, I donate this money on behalf of Vince McMahon!" He hands the money to Autry. McMahon immediately goes into a huddle with Patterson and Brisco. The lights go out, the purple lights go on and the Undertaker's music starts up. Here come a group of robed Druids pushing a casket to the ring. Austin eyes the casket, wary of a trap. What he fails to see is Mankind, who emerges from underneath the ring and attacks him from behind. Kane then emerges from the casket. McMahon, down on the floor, cheers the two heels on, then enters the ring to confer with Paul Bearer, who shows up out of nowhere. McMahon has finally struck back! Austin is rolled into the casket just before the show fades off the air. - Next week: Vader vs. the Rock. HHH vs. X-Pac. Comments: Not too bad a show. There was the usual slight drop in quality, I felt, though that may just be my perception because the show was taped (and I knew some of the results). The matches this week weren't stellar, but it also wasn't the load of crud and run-ins we're used to seeing on RAW. (Well, not counting the Undertaker run-ins that is.) They maybe did it one too many times, but I wasn't complaining while watching the show. The ambush at the end was a good development in the angle, as it was time for Austin to take some lumps and show, as he himself always says, that he's not invincible. Eight matches total, with six clean finishes. I'm not sure if the total match time was much longer than Nitro's matches, but the quality was on par for the most part, and done with an hour less airtime. Only the Booker T. match was clearly better than what RAW offered. Here are the match-ups for the tournament at the King of the Ring: * Ken Shamrock vs. Mark Henry. * Marc Mero vs. Jeff Jarrett. * Vader or Rocky Maivia vs. HHH or X-Pac. * Dan Severn vs. Owen Hart. The Vader/Maivia and HHH/X-Pac matches will take place on the live RAW next week. I'd look for Maivia to win, as Vader is in the WWF doghouse because of his excessive weight. Maivia, however, has a bad knee, and may be scheduled to defend the IC belt at the PPV instead. X-Pac may not have medical clearance to compete by the time of the PPV, which means he'll either lay down and let HHH pin him, or something will happen causing the WWF to replace him (Al Snow, maybe?) It's a bit convenient that we have all these natural foes meeting up in the tournament (both Shamrock and Severn facing Nation members), but there are potentially good matches here, and this is one of those cases where almost everyone in the tourney has a chance to win (Mark Henry being the only real exception. Severn's chances are a bit slim as well.) The other six have a fairly solid shot at it. I'm betting on Shamrock, though I need to see what happens next week before I'll commit to that pick. Add in Austin vs. Kane. LOD 2000 vs. the New Age Outlaws and the Undertaker vs. Mankind in a "Hell in the Cell" match and you have--on paper--the makings of the best King of the Ring ever. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bottom Line: RAW narrowly beat Nitro in the ratings: 4.3 to 4.1. RAW had hourly scores of 4.1 and a big 4.5. Nitro started out at 4.3, then dropped to a 4.0 for each of their second and third hours. That makes two weeks in a row that RAW won (three when you take into account the "tie" from two weeks ago, which turned out to be a win for RAW when the more in-depth numbers came out the following week). Throw in those NBA playoff dates and this makes seven out of the last nine or ten weeks that RAW has won. It's a far cry from that 83 week winning streak Nitro had, but it's a start. Nitro had no excuses this week. Nothing else of note was on anywhere on TV. They were live, featured Dennis Rodman and built to a Goldberg main event. WCW's biggest stars were on-screen for two-thirds of the show. RAW was even a taped show, with the results already widely available on the 'Net. Everything except momentum was in WCW's favor and they still only saw their ratings improve by three-tenths of a point over last week's score. RAW, on the other hand, had everything except momentum against them and they only dropped a tenth of a point. I'm figuring Nitro will pull out a win next week, being a post-PPV show and all. It won't be easy, though, with RAW pulling out all the stops to hype the King of the Ring in their last live show before the PPV. Not to sound like Tony Schiavone or anything, but next Monday will be the next "Biggest Monday Night Ever!" in the Monday Night Wars. [Ratings courtesy 1Wrestling.com--as usual.] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 134 of the "Monday Night Recap", June 8th, 1998.