WCW: Monday Nitro
February 9, 1998
El Paso, TX
Don Haskins Center

The current WCW champs are as follows:
WCW World Champion: Vacant (1/8/1998)
WCW U.S. Champion: Diamond Dallas Page (12/28/1997)
WCW World Tag Team Champions: The Outsiders (1/12/1998)
WCW World Television Champion: Booker T (12/29/1997)
WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Chris Jericho (1/24/1998)

HOUR NUMBER ONE! Your hosts are Tony Schiavone and Mike Tenay. No Larry Zbyszko yet. Neither Tony nor Mike know why.

Time for some VOODOO CHILI. Hollywood Hogan and Eric Bischoff head down to ringside. So, so many signs in the audience tonight. While Bischoff is talking about following the rules of Hollywood Hogan, the crowd plainly wants Sting. By the way, congrats to Hulk for getting that sweet Gawker money. $110 million and more to come? Wow. Back to the show though, Hogan gets on the mic and says he’s sick and tired of everybody saying that Randy Savage is running the nWo. When he and his follow nWo-ites find Savage, he’s going to lace up the boots and give Savage the wrestling lesson of his life. Well, Randy Savage shows up somewhere deep in the crowd. He feels he’s #1 and doesn’t care who is #2. Savage accepts the challenge and says he’s going to treat Hogan like garbage, brotha. He’s going to beat Hogan from El Paso to Juarez. After Savage exposes Hogan, he wants Sting at Superbrawl VIII for the world title. Hogan responds telling Savage to take his lumps for stepping over the line with the boss. So yeah, Hogan versus Savage – TONIGHT. Holy crap.

NITRO GIRLS~!

Before this next match, we see some clips of the oh so EPIC Mongo-Bulldog feud.

• Steve McMichael vs. Glacier
  

During Mongo’s destruction of Glacier, Louie Spicolli comes out to the announce table apparently wearing “his friend” Larry Zbyszko’s clothes and carrying his bag to the arena. Somehow, he doesn’t seem to know where Larry Z is either. Tony doesn’t buy any of his nonsense. Meanwhile, McMichael wins with the MONGO SPIKE. (4:08) Under James Vandenberg’s command, Mortis comes out and attacks Mongo. However, Mongo NO-SELLS his stuff, nails Vandenberg, and drops Mortis with a MONGO SPIKE as well. McMichael gets on the mic saying that’s how you take out the trash in El Paso. He plans to do the same to Bulldog very soon. ¾*

Louie hangs around still waiting for Larry Z.

• Konnan (w/Vincent) vs. Norman Smiley
  

This is the Nitro debut of the Big Wiggle Black Magic Norman Smiley. We have come so far, ladies and gentlemen. During this match, Louie continues to talk about Larry Z and how he’s a legend to look up to. Ugh, just knowing the man has six days to live. So sad. Since Konnan has been facing the Steiners quite a bit for the past several months, now he’s got a situation where he has somebody wiry enough to take all his grapevine holds that he likes to do. The 187 leads to the TEQUILA SUNRISE for the tapout at 4:40. *

Mike Tenay talks with Brad Dillon – the head of GM Motorsports – about the #23 Busch grand national team. They have a new driver named Lance Hooper. Apparently, Pontiac has had their eye on this guy for a while. A WCW car? Winston Cup? Pontiac? This just *feels* so 90s. It’s a good feeling.

NITRO GIRLS~!

Nick Patrick is in the ring waiting for the next match. JJ Dillon comes out and tells him to leave since he’s still under suspension. Patrick pleads his case saying he’s never had a trial or any former charges brought against him. The reason why? Nobody in WCW wants to be behind JJ Dillon. He’s been with the company before Ted Turner bought this company. He believes in WCW and the tape they have shown that says he’s guilty has done nothing but show Nick Patrick doing his job and doing it well. Unless this issue gets resolved soon, there will be lawsuit after lawsuit coming JJ Dillon’s way. Nevertheless, JJ Dillon doesn’t care and some WCW security guards take Nick Patrick out of here. Louie doesn’t approve.

• Disco Inferno vs. Yuji Nagata (w/Sonny Oono)
  

Disco is in sequel mode here looking more like “Staying Alive” Disco Inferno than “Saturday Night Fever” Disco Inferno. Yuji pearl harbors Disco to start. Go figure, amirite? Nagata takes Disco to suplex city. When he wants the Nagata Lock, Oono wants Nagata to hurt Disco some more. Of course that fails and Disco hits the CHARTBUSTER for the three-count. (2:58) What will the Japanese media think now that Nagata has just been shamed by a goofy disco dancer? La Parka comes out and drills Disco with a chair to the back to interrupt his dancing. He nails Nagata as well just so he can dance in peace. So this is what Disco and La Parka’s Superbrawl match is all about? There can be only one dancer in WCW? Where’s Alex Wright in all this? *

Anyways, Louie Spicolli leaves to go look for Larry Zbyszko. He thinks maybe La Parka knocked him out with a chair. This guy should be on the WCW announce team – somewhere, somehow.

LUGER VERSUS SAVAGE – NO DISQUALIFICATION. It happens at Superbrawl VIII!

This leads to an interview by Mike Tenay with Lex Luger. He doesn’t care if Randy Savage and Hollywood Hogan beat each other to a bloody pulp, but he’s looking forward to getting a piece of what’s left of Savage at Superbrawl. BRING IT!

HOUR NUMBER TWO! Your hosts are Tony Schiavone and Mike Tenay.

• Eddie Guerrero & Chris Jericho vs. Dean Malenko & Chavo Guerrero Jr.
  

Here we are in the hometown of the Guerreros. Eddie dumps Chavo at the bell, but Chavo’s the one sending Eddie into the guardrail. Back in they go, they trade some serious chops. Chavo delivers a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and dropkicks Eddie to the point where he’s got to tag out to Jericho. Jericho’s still wearing the CW belt and that’s just silly. You can’t wrestle with a belt on! “Jericho sucks!” Chavo snaps off a headscissors and connects with a springboard face slam before he tags in Malenko. What a face pop for Dean. He nails Jericho with the running shin kick and forearms Eddie off the apron to the guardrail! Malenko catches Jericho coming off the middle-rope and turns him over for the TEXAS CLOVERLEAF! But Dean, Eddie’s on the top and he’s going to missile dropkick you from behind. Bam. Down goes Dean. Eddie tags as the chants go up. He nails Dean with a back elbow and then applies an ab stretch while getting a little leverage help from “the paragon of virtue” Chris Jericho. Malenko armdrags out, but gets run down with a clothesline. Jericho tags and together he and Eddie run Malenko down again this time with a double shoulderblock. That gets two. Jericho hits the suplex-YEAH BABY cover. That’s followed by a Hilo from Eddie and a slingshot splash from Jericho for two. Malenko comes back with knee strikes to the face and a suplex. That offensive flurry took a lot out of Dean, allowing Eddie to hit him with a slingshot legdrop out of nowhere. Awesome. Eddie tags as the heels make-a-wish on Malenko. Dean gets a burst of energy and desperately launches Eddie throat-first on the top-rope before he hits a quick back suplex. Jericho cuts off the hot tag and then taunts Chavo. Double-underhook backbreaker gets 1-2-NO! Lionsault misses, and Chavo gets the hot tag. He goes DROPKICK CRAZY on the heels until he misses one and then he gets stomped big time. Malenko catches Eddie in the back with a knee from the apron while Chavo hits a release German suplex on Jericho. Eddie knocks Dean off the apron and then shoves Chavo off the top-rope to the mat. He’s easy pickings for the LIONTAMER. Tappity tap tap. It’s over. (9:04) Motivation was on their side in this one. Everything was crisp and the heat segment couldn’t have been done better. ****

Video package on the recent Steiner brothers breakdown.

• Juventud Guerrera vs. El Dandy
  

They do some wristlock work to start. Juventud shows off with a headscissors. They head to the apron where takes a backdrop over the ringpost and onto the floor. Guerrera shows off again with a nice plancha. Crowd is LOVING Juventud here. Dandy tries to come back and send Juventud into the ringpost, but gets posted. Pair of sunset flips are traded. Guerrera blocks the La Magistral cradle and catches Dandy for the JUVI DRIVER to set up the 450 SPLASH for the win. (3:40) Holy crap big pop for Guerrera. *½

Chris Jericho comes out and attacks Juventud, but he’s quickly kicked back out to the floor. Because he’s such a huge dick, Jericho is wearing the Rey Mysterio t-shirt under his vest. Jericho just came out here to congratulate Juventud on his win and wants to know what the problem is. Guerrera spouts off some Spanish and the crowd reacts. Jericho translates what he says because he’s a multi-linguist. Juventud says he wants a shot at the Cruiserweight title. Jericho thinks Juventud is a flash in the pan just like Dexy’s Midnight Runners. Why should Jericho bother with him? Juventud says he’ll put up the mask if he gets a Cruiserweight title shot. As lucha audiences will do, they start chanting insults at Jericho in Spanish.

Video package for Bill Goldberg. He’s DA MAN.

Bobby Heenan joins us at the 9:30 PM mark.

• Bill Goldberg vs. Steven Regal
  

Tenay calls this Goldberg’s biggest test to date. El Paso is hot for Goldberg. Some controversy surrounding this match. Regal says he was told by WCW management to go out there and have a competitive match with Goldberg. However, this match didn’t seem all that competitive since it’s filled with potatoes and shoot headlocks. For anybody watching, this would expose Goldberg for what he is seeing as how he couldn’t do anything beyond what he normally does. He couldn’t take offense very well and only seemed to be able give it out to people. The crowd wanted the usual minute squash and perhaps Regal didn’t want to give that in return. While Regal is at least a ten year veteran who has wrestled all over the world, Goldberg has been wrestling on TV for about six months now. Besides doing what he does, he has no clue how to “work”. So if Regal was told to go have a competitive match with Goldberg, I might buy that. With Regal’s track record of being a multiple-time WCW champion, it would make kayfabe sense that it would require more than a minute to beat him. Is this Regal going in business for himself to show if he has to go down, it won’t be as easy as a couple takedowns, a spear, and a suplex? With all the blood, sweat, and tears Regal has had to endure to get to where he is today, I can see that being the case as well. (5:01) And hey, it’s 1998. Things are looking up all over the world in professional wrestling. If you lose a job here and you’re a decent enough worker like Regal is, you can get a job basically anywhere else in the business. WCW management shows Regal the door and he’s up in the WWF in just a few months.

NITRO GIRLS~!

Some guy from the University of Kentucky wins a Nitro party pack. They have their own Nitro Girls! What can the UK Wildcats do wrong in 1998?

• Louie Spicolli vs. Chris Adams
  

The sad truth is this is the last match of Spicolli’s life. Spicolli brings Larry Z’s suitcase and Halliburton with him to the ring. Raven and his Flock finally make their appearance and take their seats during this match. Adams hits the SUPERKICK on Spicolli, but then Spicolli picks up the Halliburton and whacks Adams for the DQ. (1:57) Larry Zbyszko arrives and chases Spicolli back to the locker room. Zbyszko tells the camera that the nWo switched his limo driver and took him to the wrong arena. Hilarious! The rib of the year! Larry finishes up saying that the only reason the nWo will allow him to be a recruit is because they can’t get anybody else to join.

Video package for the WCW TV champ Booker T. RE-RE-RE-REMIX.

• Ultimo Dragon vs. Perry Saturn (w/Lodi)
  

Dragon looks strong to start with his chops and kicks. He does the handstand on the top turnbuckle and kicks Saturn in the head. Saturn sees the Kick Combo coming and reverses into an STF! He throws Dragon around for a while and goes to work on the arm to kill some time. When the crowd gets bored, they chant how gay Lodi is. Dragon hits the DRAGON HEADSCISSORS on the top. He goes for the DRAGON SLEEPER, but Saturn is able to thwart the hold. Dragon elbows away a Dragon Suplex and hits Saturn with a quebrada for 1-2-NO! Dragon flips out of a suplex and finally applies the DRAGON SLEEPER in the middle of the ring, but Saturn snapmares Dragon into an inside cradle for the win. (7:08) Actually not a bad little match. While it wasn’t mentioned, the arm work seemed to have stopped Dragon from being able to apply the hold as well as he normally does. **½

HOUR NUMBER THREE! Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Bobby Heenan. Possibly the biggest third hour ever! You know there was that one third hour where Lex Luger won the world title from the nWo and another time when Sting wrestled Hogan, right?

We get some highlights from the DDP versus Chris Benoit U.S. title match interrupted by Raven and his Flock from Thunder this past Thursday.

• WCW World Television Champion Booker T vs. Raven
  

No match. Raven says Booker T has what belongs to Perry Saturn and that’s the TV title, so he has the Flock attack him. Of course they all fail except for Raven himself. This crowd is just so fun. They get all over Raven allowing Booker to come back with the Harlem Side Kick. The distraction from Hammer though allows Raven to get up and hit Booker with the EVENFLOW DDT. Saturn comes in and puts on the RINGS OF SATURN on Booker. FEEL THEIR PAIN, BOOKER T! Where’s DDP at?

• Hollywood Hogan (w/Eric Bischoff) vs. Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth)
  

WOW. The Steiners and the Outsiders will *follow* Hogan versus Savage. Hogan comes out first too! Savage interrupts his entrance and decks both Hogan and Bischoff. It’s a punching, kicking, choking, gouging, and biting back and forth brawl to start. Hogan connects with a couple clotheslines and drops some elbows on Savage. They give each other low blows and the ref decides not to ring the bell. Back suplex on Savage gets two. They go to the floor for some ringside violence. Savage comes off the top for his patented double sledge, but Hogan moves and Savage eats the guardrail. Oh that looked painful. Hogan finds a chair and goes to whack Savage, but Elizabeth grabs the chair away from him! Savage then runs Hogan into the ringpost and gives him a couple chairshots to the back. In the ring, Savage hits the MACHO ELBOW for 1-2-NO! Buff Bagwell pulls the ref out of the ring for the DQ. (7:48) Of course the nWo do their typical beatdown on Savage. Hogan slaps him around shouting how dare Savage challenge his authority. As the nWo start walking away, Savage shows up again coming after Hogan. It’s a lost cause though since the rest of the nWo have his back – even Scott Hall. This actually was a ton of fun and felt like a fight between two guys looking to show the other one up. **

When we come back, Lex Luger is in full gear and challenges Randy Savage right now. Elizabeth comes out trying to talk Luger down. Just so that we don’t start thinking Savage is a babyface, he attacks Luger from behind. Before he can hit the Macho Elbow, Sting appears and trips him down. He takes Savage for a tour around the guardrails and gives him a SCORPION DEATHDROP in the ring. The nWo come out all excited about seeing Savage suffer. Hogan starts to come in the ring when a giant black net drops from the ceiling onto Luger, Sting, and Savage. What is this, Batman ’66? The nWo enjoy beating the crap out of these three for a bit.

NITRO GIRLS~!

• WCW World Tag Team Champions The Outsiders vs. The Steiner Brothers (w/Ted DiBiase)
  

Total pro-nWo crowd here tonight. Kevin Nash wishes Syxx some positive vibes because when he gets back (and he never does), it’s going to be the year of the WOO. I think that’s what he said. Apparently the nWo attack on Sting from ten minutes ago has left him with an injury. We’ll hear more about that on Thunder, I’m sure. Rick starts the match which is the opposite of what normally happens in the Steiners matches. He punches around Hall and Steinerlines him for two. Tag to Scott, Hall blocks a hiptoss and chokeslams Scott down. After he does his Giant impression, he turns around into a nice Overhead Belly to Belly Suplex. Scott takes a knee to the back from Nash, but turns around and nails him with an elbow. Scott turns around and eats a clothesline from Hall. Nash tags in and does his corner stuff. Back to Hall, he delivers the Fallaway Slam. Bossman straddle by Nash connects. He drills Scott with a Big Boot. Hall applies an abdominal stretch for a few moments. Tag to Nash, he gives Scott the Side Slam for two. He teases the JACKKNIFE a couple times to get the crowd going, but ultimately never does the move. Hall receives the butterfly slam and doesn’t really want to tag his brother, but Hall yanks Scott into Rick anyways and we have an official tag. While the ref tries to get Rick in the ring, Nash drills Scott with a clothesline. Meanwhile, Hall thinks it’s time for the OUTSIDER’S EDGE when Rick comes off the top with the STEINER BULLDOG. Rick punches Nash and jumps on Hall for the pinfall and wins the tag titles! (7:14) Ladies and gentlemen, we have new WCW world tag team champions! Scott doesn’t seem too thrilled at first that his brother scored the pinfall, but eventually he caves in and celebrates with Rick and DiBiase. All seems right with the world again! This would be the last time the Steiner brothers would win a tag team championship together in any major company. **

TOTAL BELL-TO-BELL TIME: 53:38 shown.

Has anybody heard from Bret Hart?

Until next time, so long for now!

WCW/nWo Superbrawl VIII LIVE ON PPV premieres February 22 from the Cow Palace in San Francisco, CA.

MAIN EVENT for the vacant WCW world title:
Sting vs. Hollywood Hogan
WCW Cruiserweight Championship – Title vs. Mask:
Chris Jericho (c) vs. Juventud Guerrera
No-DQ Match: Lex Luger vs. Randy Savage