Slobberknocker Central Monday Night Recap #157 November 16th, 1998 The Opening Word: A domain registry problem left the Slobberknocker Central website unreachable for most web surfers over the weekend. I can assure you this was no ratings ploy, and anything you missed over that span of time will be uploaded again for free tonight, just as SCOOPS is doing their update. Har, har. Anyway, if you E-Mailed me about anything after last Wednesday (other than to complain about the site being down) you should probably write me again. I didn't receive any E-Mails over that time (ah ... peace and quiet) and I'm not sure if any that were already sent will make it through. NBC's "Exposed: Wrestling's Greatest Secrets" will air again this Saturday night. Check your local listings so you'll know when and where to avoid it. Nothing else I can think to mention, other than to again plug the site so you can see the PPV review (my own and others that the usual readers will submit). I'll also mention that the TIME magazine with Jesse Ventura on the cover has been a complete sell-out here in Minnesota. I couldn't even find one myself, and I checked the morning they came out. That's how fast they sold. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WCW Monday Nitro: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Three Hours. Location: Wichita, Kansas. HOUR ONE Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Larry Zbyszko. - During the opening hype "Hollywood" Hogan's "Presidential motorcade" is shown arriving. Mike Tenay insists on calling Hogan's security guards "Secret Service Agents". What a dick. - KIDMAN vs. JUVENTUD GUERRERA Last week Juvi and Rey Mysterio had a big match to see who would get the Cruiserweight Title match at the PPV. Mysterio won. So in keeping with that, Juvi gets a title shot anyway. It the little details such as those which keep me disinterested in what few angles there are in this division. Throw in the non-existent character development and you have guys I don't care about in angle-free, four star matches. This one? Great, as usual, and I barely watched any of it besides the last two minutes. Guerrera wins the title after hitting the Firebird/450 Splash. You know, if I could quit watching now, I'd declare this the best Nitro of the year. - RAVEN (w/ Kanyon) vs. WRATH Tenay says there's a history of mental illness in Raven's family, and that maybe he needs some professional help. Raven gets on the house mic and says that he refuses to wrestle, since WCW can't tell him what to do. Kanyon takes over and begs Raven to wrestle. When Raven walks away Kanyon does his little "who's better?" thingy. Wrath attacks, hits the Meltdown and walks out. Larry Zbyszko pathetically uses the situation to squeeze in another reminder about his non-existent ongoing "gag order" angle with Dusty Rhodes. (Any day now he'll go back to badmouthing Louie Spicolli again.) Glacier then comes in for his match. Wrath passes by him on the way out, turns around, comes back to the ring and lays him out with a Meltdown as well. Wrath beat on both men during the commercial break, which they show afterwards. The crowd chants Goldberg's name. - KANYON vs. GLACIER With both men still out the ref starts a ten count. Kanyon rolls over for a cover, but Glacier kicks out at two. From there Kanyon goes on to win with the Flatliner. - They replay the Hogan crap from last week. They then show footage of Hogan and Eric Bischoff appearing on a radio show in Atlanta with Don Imus last week. Some part of the Ted Turner organization had been late in giving Imus some money promised for his cancer charity. Hogan was there to present the check. Of course Jesse Ventura's name was mentioned. Schiavone, in his capacity as TV commentator, is taking Hogan's Presidential run totally serious, saying he's interested in hearing Hogan's political views. Tenay and Zbyszko spare themselves the ridicule such a stance will generate by treating Hogan as the jack-ass he is. - SONNY ONOO vs. EL GRINGO "El Gringo" is a masked wrestler who, it is quickly revealed, Onoo paid to make him look good. The guy doesn't, though, and it turns out that Kaz Hayashi is the one underneath the mask. Ernest Miller then comes in, knocks out Hayashi when the ref isn't looking, and Onoo covers for the pin. Onoo is claiming he's undefeated, and that he's WCW's Asian Champion, or something like that. After the match Onoo is squinting really badly, or at least that's what I thought until I realized his eyes are always that way. (NOT a blatantly ethnic slur! If you see the show you'll know what I mean.) Man, am I gonna get hate mail now ... - HORACE/STEVIE RAY (w/ Vincent) vs. THE HORSEMEN (w/ Arn Anderson) A few months back, when analyzing the reformation of the Four Horsemen, I said it would really suck if all it leads to is tag team matches involving Malenko, Mongo and Benoit battling the NWO scrubs. Well, here it is a few months later, and here we are with said scrub matches. Not a terrible match, but that just means it wasn't as dreadful as I'd have expected. In particular when Mongo and Horace were in the ring together I figured we'd see the worst battle since "King Kong versus Godzilla". It wasn't that bad though. "Godzilla versus Megalon" maybe. The NWO get the win after Stevie Ray knocks out Mongo with his slapjack (the foreign object, not the move). Arn then comes in and nails him with a tire iron, (right there proving Arn is cut out to be a Horsemen, while Mongo isn't), causing the DQ. Doug Dellinger comes out to get the iron away from Arn. After the break we learn Arn has been kicked out of the building, while Mongo has been carted off to the hospital. HOUR TWO Hosted By: Schiavone, Tenay and Zbyszko. - "Mean" Gene Okerlund interviews Ric Flair. Typical "whoo!" stuff until he finally brings out Barry Windham! Windham says he and Flair represent tradition. Eric Bischoff comes out, notes that he fired Windham a few years ago, and says he'll be happy to do so again. He tells Flair that he can't spend Ted Turner's money. Flair says he can spend his own money. I take this to mean ... nothing, actually. Nice to see Windham back. Now lets see if they do something with him. (By the way, WCW is spelling his name "Wyndham". I have no idea why.) - EDDIE GUERRERO (w/ Some Mexican) vs. REY MYSTERIO, JR. This is, what, their third meeting in the last week? The announcers say they don't know who Eddie's bodyguard is, so I'll ignore him too. Once again Mysterio has to join the Latino World Order if he loses, and finally the law of averages catches up with him, as he loses due to failed interference by Juventud Guerrera. Juvi tries to hit Eddie with a legdrop when the ref isn't looking, but Eddie misses, and Rey is hit instead. Juvi and Rey swapped similar miscues last week on Nitro and Thunder, I think. This all now adds "tension" to their match at the PPV this Sunday. Or something. Eddie and the rest of the LWO put their t-shirt on the groggy Mysterio. Schiavone calls this "an incredible turn of events". Guerrera, even though he's right there, doesn't bother to tell the ref what happened. With Mysterio now LWO, what are the odds of them interfering to help him win the title from Guerrera at the PPV? - QVC will be selling WCW/NWO merchandise next Tuesday at 8:00 PM Eastern. - Bobby Heenan is in the house. - They play a video sent in by Judy Bagwell, with comments from her in a hospital bed. It seems Buff Bagwell gave Scott Steiner the okay to attack Judy, his mother. Since it seems hard to believe that WCW would actually condone the claim that one of their wrestlers physically attacked a near elderly woman, I have to assume this is part of a swerve whereby Judy will turn on Rick Steiner at the PPV and side with her handsome, wealthy son Buff. God, how I wish Steve Austin would have come in and hit her in the head with a bedpan. ("Oh, I'll take it from here nurse! *Clang!*" Bobby Heenan, for his part, makes two or three jokes involving the word "bedpan" also.) - CHAVO GUERRERO, JR. vs. SCOTT PUTSKI Who cares, right? As the above match is going on they cut to the back, where an unidentified car has pulled up to the arena. Out pops Bam Bam Bigelow! Bigelow (who signed with WCW last week--keep it to yourselves) roars into the arena in search of Goldberg. Doors are slammed, furniture is tossed, cusswords are bleeped out ... the whole nine yards. Bigelow eventually hits the ring and lays out both scrubs in the ring. Bam Bam calls out Goldberg, which draws a huge reaction from the crowd. Eric Bischoff, J.J. Dillon and several security guards come out to get him out of the ring. Goldberg also comes out, himself accompanied by a security team. The ring fills as the two titans are held apart. I wouldn't say this was "great", but it was easily the most interesting thing that's happened in WCW in ages. (That hissing sound you hear, by the way, is more of the air being let out of ECW's balloon.) After the break Bischoff fires J.J. Dillon. Dillon also quits. Take your pick. - SATURN vs. KONAN Saturn badmouths Konan before the match. The LWO come out during the match to help Konan, but he doesn't want their help. Then ... Who cares. They cut to the back via split-screen to show Bischoff explaining that Bigelow doesn't work for WCW and can't wrestle Goldberg. Goldberg comes out of his dressing room and demands to wrestle Bigelow later tonight, grabbing Bischoff by the jaw to drive home his demand. Bischoff relents. Schiavone: "I ... this is--this is ... this is MIND BOGGLING! This is INCREDIBLE!! This is UNBELIEVABLE!!! It's ... it's Bam Bam Bigelow and Goldberg ... TONIGHT!!!!" Saturn wins by DQ when he's attacked by the LWO. Konan attacks the LWO, Saturn attacks Konan, Saturn attacks the LWO, Konan attacks Saturn ... HOUR THREE Hosted By: Schiavone, Tenay and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. - Buff Bagwell and Scott Steiner come out, followed by some bald guy who they've hired to be their personal referee. He has colored stripes painted on his bald head, and blows on a whistle continuously, a la ECW's Bill Alphonso. The usual lengthy heel mic work from these two. They bring out some guy in a dress, claiming it's Scott Steiner's mother. Steiner gives Buff permission to beat "her" up, returning the favor of Steiner beating Bagwell's mother up. Buff beats "her" up and pins "her". Rick Steiner runs out, chases the two off and rips the wig off his "mom's" head. It's a guy, naturally. Scott Norton of the NWO then sneaks up behind Rick, grabs him and holds him, while Scott and Buff lay in a weak-ass beating (I've seen rain fall harder than some of Scott's kicks). This probably ranks at #6 on the list of "Lamest Things I've Ever Seen On Nitro". (And no, I'm not gonna list the top five. Don't ask. I will say that "Chucky" made the list. "NWO Nitro" also. And "NWO Nite Cap". And "President Hogan". "Roddy Piper's 'Family'" too. Okay, so I did list the top five. I didn't tell you what number each was, though. Hah! I win! My head hurts.) - BOBBY DUNCUM, JR. vs. CHRIS JERICHO (w/ Security Ninja) Duncum is a second generation wrestler with a cowboy gimmick. He wrestled for ECW briefly last year. Think of a blond Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw. Jericho wrestles tough, but Duncum eventually gains the upper hand, so Jericho walks away from the ring and gets counted out. "Tough-as-nails champion", "cowardly heel" or "comedy relief"--you make the call. - "Hollywood" Hogan finally puts in his appearance. Schiavone and Tenay act like this is an ongoing major media event, when the reality is the noise died down last Monday when the mainstream press realized this was all a dumb joke. Hogan brings out a Monica Lewinsky look-alike, saying she's his new intern and campaign assistant. She pulls a cigar out of her blue dress for Hogan. Hogan, who said last week that he didn't smoke (as representatives from "Cigar Smokers Magazine" looked on) said he'll enjoy it. Let's blow through the rest of this: Bischoff comes out ... Scott Hall comes out ... Hall asks Bischoff where his "head is at?" ... Hall nails Bischoff ... Hogan nails Hall ... Kevin Nash comes out ... Hogan and Nash vow to get each other at the PPV. - BRET "HITMAN" HART vs. CHRIS BENOIT Same Hart finish as last week (DQ for using a steel chair). Dean Malenko comes in to make the save. Hart also attacks Malenko when his back is turned. This time Diamond Dallas Page makes the save, and talks a little trash about Hart over the house mic. This means I'll have to hear what a coward DDP is in Hart's Calgary Sun column this weekend. DDP was limping. No idea if it was legit or not. (Apparently Benoit's injured elbow hasn't healed all that well. Looks like this attack will be used to explain Benoit's necessary upcoming absence. This may also explain why Barry Windham was brought in for the Horsemen, and why DDP came back earlier than expected.) - BAM BAM BIGELOW vs. GOLDBERG No match (surprised?) After Goldberg's usual lengthy entrance he's attacked in the aisle by Bigelow. Less than a minute of brawling later, as security is splitting the two apart, Schiavone says they're desperately out of time an they cut away. - This Thursday: Nothing announced. - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: I'll credit WCW for making things interesting this week, but as a whole the show was the usual mix of one or two good matches for their hardcore fans, with the rest of the time crammed with filler and crap. But, no Warrior this week. That's a definite plus. There was a weird pacing to the show too. Not the usual attempt to counterprogram to RAW. It's like they let RAW have their usual big opening, then they did the Bigelow thing halfway through the hour, then just sat back until the last half hour to do the rest of their "big" stuff. (Of course this just may be me thinking that little of what WCW did was really qualified as "big". I dunno.) [NOTE: having read Chris Zimmerman's RAW report (WrestleManiacs.com), which covers the west coast tape delayed feeds of Nitro and RAW, it appears that WCW actually edited the show for them. They cut out about fifteen minutes worth of stuff, so that Bigelow's debut would coincide exactly with the start of RAW. I'd invite you all in joining me as I turn southwest, in the direction of WCW's Atlanta headquarters. Now, raise your right hand. Now extend your middle finger ... ] No "Nitro Extra" this Tuesday. Is it just me, or has the Giant been permanently "demoted" to Thunder? Kevin Nash is one lazy bastard. Couldn't even be bothered to wrestle this week, could he? Why the hell was he even there--other than to run in and save Hall from Hogan? He didn't come out to help his Wolfpac buddy Konan when *he* was in trouble, did he? And Lex Luger and Sting weren't there. What, does Nash just enjoy flying to Kansas for the hell of it? (Of course why do ANY of these wrestlers show up, on either show, when they weren't scheduled for something? What say I just quietly close this can of worms back up.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF RAW is WAR: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours+. Location: Lexington, Kentucky. WWF RAW Hosted By: Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler. - New opening sequence for RAW, celebrating this turning point in WWF history. I guess. It's different from the old one, but similar, featuring a new version of the old theme music. There's now lots of blood, beer, explosions, busted tables, steel cages ... and no Bret Hart. Tonight's show also features new on-screen graphics, matching the new intro. - Vince and Shane McMahon, the stooges, and the Big Bossman make their way to the ring. The two McMahons yuck it up over how gullible all the fans are. The fans call them "assholes". The Rock comes out and, in a lengthy speech, trashes the fans. "Rocky sucks!" makes its expected return from the mouths of the fans. All the aspects of the Rock which used to have "People's" added to them have now been replaced with "Corporate" (such as the "Corporate Eyebrow" and the "Corporate Elbow"). McMahon then directs our attention to the Titan-Tron, but instead of the footage we expected to see, we instead see Steve Austin arriving at the building. McMahon says that's okay, because he wants Austin to see this as well. They then play clips from the last few weeks of RAW, outlining how they set up the fans and Austin. They show Shane "turning" on his father, and signing Austin to a new contract--acts done to lure Austin into Shane's confidence. They show the stuff involving the Rock the last two weeks, showing how they were done to sucker in the fans. (They conveniently leave out the Rock nailing McMahon with the People's Elbow.) Out comes Steve Austin. Austin has in hand his new WWF contract, which guarantees him one shot at the WWF Championship. Austin also has played on the Titan-Tron the clip of Shane announcing that guaranteed shot. Shane quickly explains to his dad that he had to do it to get Austin to sign the contract. McMahon tells Austin that contract isn't worth the ink dried upon it. Austin replies that a 3rd district Kentucky judge (Horn? Horde?) disagrees. Austin also has played a tape featuring Judge Mills Lane (the little bald boxing referee famous for "let's get it on!" who has his own daytime TV show). Judge Lane say he's reviewed the contract and it's his opinion that it *is* both legal and binding. That guaranteed title match, by the way, will happen tonight (as Shane announced two weeks ago). At a full 20 minutes this segment went a bit long, but it served the necessary function of answering some of the lingering questions raised by the PPV, and firmly put the Rock over as the heel he should be. The bit with the judge was funny too (and got a big pop from the live crowd). This doesn't really change my opinion about the PPV, but I am now much more comfortable with the Rock in this new role. I still don't like the Shane turn, though. He's now back to his "yeah, baby!" persona we all hated so much when he was doing the commentary on Sunday Night Heat. - DEGENERATION X vs. THE ODDITIES (w/ Luna and the Insane Clown Posse) Was it SCOOPS who said the ICP had been fired, or were they the ones who denied it? No wait, they're the ones who keep saying we'll see Yokozuna and the Wild Samoans in the WWF any day now. Anyway, six man action, completely forgettable. D-X wins when interference by the Clowns backfires. Gunn pins Golga. The Head Bangers then come out and attack the Road Dog. Moments earlier the deranged Mankind arrived at the building. He heads into the boiler room, yelling "I wouldn't want to be in your shoes, Vince. I'm coming home! I'm coming home!" - McMahon is conferring with the stooges on the subject of Mankind. He tells Pat Patterson to go get him because he's known him the longest. - Ken Shamrock comes out and demands a match with the Big Bossman. You may recall that Shamrock was eliminated from the Survivor Series tournament because the Bossman threw his nightstick to the Rock. At the time we all thought the Bossman was throwing it to Shamrock, and that the Rock had simply "intercepted" the pass. The Rock then used it to knock Ken out. - VAL VENIS vs. MARK HENRY (w/ D-Lo Brown) Another forgettable match, which Venis wins when Chyna appears on the stage, distracting Mark Henry. Val rolls him up from behind for the pin. Chyna has been off getting some kind of jaw surgery, and she looks a bit different now, though it's hard to explain just exactly what has changed. The camera never gets any closer than about 50 feet, so we don't get the greatest look at her. Henry grabs the mic and declares his undying love for Chyna, saying all he wants is one non-sexual date with her. She leaves without giving an answer. Steve Austin is shown in the back drinking coffee. - Pat Patterson is back, having not found the boiler room. McMahon tells him he couldn't find his ass! Jerry Brisco say he knows where it is. "He's sitting on it. Is that what you mean?" "No sir, the boiler room." - GOLDUST/STEVE BLACKMAN vs. JEFF JARRETT/THE BLUE BLAZER (w/ Debra) Ross again goes out on a limb and boldly declares that the Blue Blazer is Owen Hart. He also confirms that Debra is divorced (from Steve "Mongo" McMichael). The first minutes of the match are actually quite good, until the Blazer tags in. Ross calls him a "nugget". The Blazer does a few very basic moves, at which point Blackman takes over and starts killing him. Goldust and Jarrett are down on the floor. Blackman covers for the pin, only gets a two, then is attacked by both Jarrett and Owen Hart! Ross is perplexed at the sight of Jarrett, Hart and the Blazer all in the ring at the same time. Judging by his gut size, I'm guessing that the Blazer was someone like the Brooklyn Brawler this time. Blackman and Goldust win via DQ. Jerry Brisco has returned to report to McMahon: Brisco: "I found the boiler room. There's some weird noises going on down there and ... I'm kinda frightened and I didn't go in." Slaughter: "Brisco, you're such a wuss!" Brisco: "Hey, don't call me a wuss!" Slaughter: "You are a wuss! Why don't you go and bring him up here?" Brisco: "Well, I--the weird noises in there--" McMahon (frustrated): "What the hell am I dealing with?!" Slaughter: " ... weird noises ... " McMahon (to Slaughter): "Why don't *you* go check it out?" Slaughter: "I'd be more than happy to, Mr. McMahon." Brisco: "You go get him." Slaughter: "In fact I'll bring him right back here." Patterson (sarcastically): "Oh yes you will, go look." Slaughter: "You watch, both of you." Patterson: "Sure." McMahon then huddles with the Rock, planning strategy for the upcoming main event. - Slaughter is back, apparently unable to find Mankind. McMahon orders the three of them to go down there, and wear riot gear if they have to. WWF WAR ZONE Hosted By: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler. - STEPHEN REGAL vs. THE GODFATHER (w/ 3 Ho's) "Steven" is now "Stephen"--I have no idea why. Lawler sings along with Regal's theme music as he enters. The Ho's look like local "talent". One is barely able to stay in her top, while another is wearing a blue dress that turns translucent when pulled tight. The Godfather does his usual gimmick of offering Regal the Ho's in lieu of wrestling. Two of them display their wares by lifting their dresses, revealing the thongs they're wearing underneath. THIS IS THE GREATEST RAW EVER! The Ho's, really caught up in the moment, lift their dresses so many times that even the director gets bored and cuts away. (I hear TSN in Canada had specially inserted crowd shots shown instead of the repeated butt shots. God bless America.) Regal, saying he may be British but his name isn't "Elton John", picks the "broads". REGAL IS THE KING! As Stephen is leaving with the gals the Godfather makes the crack, quoting Archie Bunker, "England ain't nothing but a place fulla fags!" The two start to brawl and, even though they had been scheduled to wrestle anyway, the referees break them up. Cut to the back, where Kane is wandering around. He comes across a couple of WWF technicians and roughs them up--chokeslamming one of them onto the loading platform of a semi trailer. McMahon is pumping the Bossman up for his match against Ken Shamrock. Shamrock is shown making his way through the back. - KEN SHAMROCK vs. THE BIG BOSSMAN A decent match, with these two really taking it to each other. The Bossman brings the match to an end when he nails the referee. The two keep fighting, as other referees pour in to split the two apart. The fans are really behind Shamrock, perhaps sensing a face turn. That is not to be, though, as Shane and Vince McMahon come to the ring. McMahon tells Shamrock that the two are alike, and that he could use a guy like Ken on his corporate team. Shamrock accepts, which really upsets the fans. He even shakes hands with the Bossman. - A couple of "fans" approach Kane, trying to get his autograph. Kane grabs one by the neck and slams him against the wall. He releases him when a police car can be heard and seen approaching in the distance. - THE BROOD (w/ Christian) vs. LOD 2000 Fast forward to the end of this one, which sees a drunken Hawk come out and start to climb the Titan-Tron scaffolding. Animal and Darren Drozdov walk away from the match, getting counted out. After the commercial we see Hawk all the way at the top, at least 50 feet off the floor. He's depressed over the recent turns his life and career have taken, and wants to end it all. Animal tries to talk him down, and is joined by Paul Ellering, the LOD's first manager. Ellering says he and his family still care about him--that his sons still call him "uncle". Hawk yells down that Ellering was the start of his downfall. Droz begins climbing the scaffolding, with Hawk telling Droz to stay away. Droz reaches the top and, after having his hand slapped away once, pushes Hawk off the top of the screen! Some crashing noises emanate from behind the curtain. Animal and the others rush back to see how he is. Ross mumbles "he fell" as they cut away to commercial. Once back an ambulance is pulling away. A distraught Ellering is being consoled by his current team, the Disciples of Apocalypse. - Michael Cole interviews WWF Women's Champion Sable in the ring. As she's thanking her fans for supporting her Shane McMahon comes out. Some verbal bantering of little note follows, other than to pass along the point that Vince McMahon made Sable, not the fans. - Patterson, Slaughter and Brisco have assembled in the boiler room. They're wearing football shoulderpads and Kentucky University helmets. Slaughter has on his old army helmet. They're carrying plastic pipes and chains. They call for Mankind to come out, saying that they love him. Mankind pops up and waffles Brisco with a trash can lid. Slaughter breaks the plastic pipe over Mankind's back. From there he beats on all three with some steel rods, throws them around, etc. Funny for what it was, but not terribly authentic looking given the cheap weapons they had, and how obviously easy Mankind was taking it on the pensioners. Fox should show a tape of this Thursday. They could call it "When Senior Citizens Attack". - Vince, Shane, Shamrock and the Bossman come to the ring. Vince gets on the mic and ... and ... I'm sick of hearing from him tonight. Let's get to the match. - THE ROCK vs. "STONE COLD" STEVE AUSTIN Given that this is probably your next WrestleMania main event, you knew they wouldn't give away too much here. As expected we get six minutes or so of great action, leading up to a wild finish. Mankind comes out to attack McMahon, but he's cut off by the Bossman, who holds him so that Shamrock can beat on him. In the ring, Austin tries for the Stone Cold Stunner, but Maivia blocks it. The Rock then goes for the Rock Bottom, but Austin escapes with an elbow shot to the head. He then ducks a clothesline, kicks, and hits the Stunner. 1 ... 2 ... the ref is pulled out by Shamrock. Austin decks Shamrock and hustles the ref back into the ring. Before he can try another cover he has to contend with Shamrock up on the apron. Meanwhile, coming down the ramp is the Undertaker and Paul Bearer. The Undertaker is carrying a shovel, which he uses to nail Austin. The ref calls for the bell. The Undertaker tries to hit him again, but he's stopped by Bearer. Rocky makes his escape with the McMahons, while Austin staggers to his feet and flips the Undertaker the bird as the show fades out. - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: The same as other recent shows: some good wrestling, some bad, and all wrapped up in a great storyline as the show progressed. The thing with Hawk was weird. Dumb, yet strangely compelling. Presumably Animal will eventually see the light, dump Droz, and the LOD will have a glorious reunion--maybe even with Ellering back in a managerial role. Suicide generally isn't a "fun" topic, and fortunately the WWF didn't play this for laughs. Ratings, yes, but it was meant to be dramatic rather than a joke. At least there weren't any monster trucks involved. The Blue Blazer angle is starting to stink like expired milk. With this being Austin's last chance at the title, I'd say the odds are good that he'll try to win the Royal Rumble, the winner of which receives the mandatory title shot at WrestleMania. Leading up to then we should see the Rock defend the belt against Mankind, while Austin settles his score with the Undertaker. I'm not sure yet how Ken Shamrock fits into all this. Nor Kane, for that matter. I'm really surprised he didn't show up at the end of the show. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bottom Line: World War 3 is this Sunday. The main attraction is the annual 60 Man/3 Ring Battle Royal. Generally amusing to watch because of its sheer chaos, it's also a nightmare to follow as they usually show the action via triple split-screen. There's little in the way of good wrestling or booking, until they maybe get down to the last ten men or so. In other action Goldberg will be facing someone--probably Bigelow. Juventud Guerrera will defend the Cruiserweight Title against Rey Mysterio, I guess, and Rick and Scott Steiner will tangle in some way or another. Things are left a bit confusing after tonight, so we'll have to wait until Thunder to get everything sorted out (and even then what eventually happens on Sunday may come out as something totally different). Kevin Nash and Bret Hart seem to be the front-runners to win the Battle Royal. My gut tells me that Hart will steal the win, while the Nash and Hogan issue seen this week explodes into a full-blow feud. Of course Hogan could walk away with it also. Whoever wins it will get the match against Goldberg at Starrcade in December. Local ads in Washington D.C. are already hyping a Goldberg/Nash main event, so take that for what it's worth. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "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 157 of the "Monday Night Recap", November 16th, 1998.