C

WCW: Monday Nitro
March 30, 1998
Chicago, IL
United Center

The current WCW champs are as follows:
WCW World Champion: Sting (2/22/1998)
WCW U.S. Champion: Diamond Dallas Page (12/28/1997)
WCW World Tag Team Champions: The Outsiders (2/22/1998)
WCW World Television Champion: Booker T (2/22/1998)
WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Chris Jericho (1/24/1998)

HOUR NUMBER ONE! Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Larry Zbyszko.

NITRO GIRLS~!

They take us back to the end of Thunder where Hollywood Hogan and Kevin Nash were having some communication issues.

• High Voltage vs. Mike Enos & Wayne Bloom
  

It’s a match full of power moves traded between these two teams, but a meaningless match as the Giant comes out and CHOKESLAMS all four of them for a no-contest at 3:57. He gets on the mic and tells Piper that if he wants “mean”, he’s got “mean”.

Gene Okerlund brings Roddy Piper out to the ring. Roddy wears a Chicago Cubs hat and brings the Giant with him. Okerlund officially calls Piper the commissioner. Piper plays to the crowd and yells out, “God bless Harry Caray!” No more bats in WCW until the bat match at Spring Stampede! He calls Hogan and Savage ex-lovers again. Tonight, Kevin Nash will have to pick a partner that cannot be Hogan to face Sting and Lex Luger. Umm, perhaps his partner that he holds the TAG TEAM TITLES with? Piper also puts himself in a match with Hollywood Hogan for tonight and outs E. Harrison Leslie as Brutus Beefcake, the Zodiac, or the Boogie Man (the Booty Man gimmick was too stupid for Piper to say out loud, I suppose). He needed a cheat sheet to remember all of his gimmicks. They must be VERY concerned with it being a post-WrestleMania RAW and everything.

• Saturn (w/the Flock) vs. Fit Finley
  

We see Raven is carrying around the U.S. title. Finley takes Saturn to the mat to start. Saturn fights up and kicks him around. Finley fires back with a stiff lariat and slams Saturn’s chest on the apron. They trade shots on each other back inside the ring. Saturn hits a T-bone suplex, but Finley comes back with the Finley Roll for two. Finley misses a corner charge and receives the Head and Arm Suplex to set up the RINGS OF SATURN for the tapout at 3:43. Sounded like Saturn is calling out Bill Goldberg on his way to the locker room. Stiff little contest. *½

Gene Okerlund hypes the WCW Hotline. Right now there is a head on collision between Hollywood Hogan and Kevin Nash. Will there be a breakup? Mike Tenay has the inside scoop!

Starburst Fruit Chews presents On the Road with Scott Hudson: This Thursday on Thunder, we will be at the Ice Palace in Tampa Florida!

Hollywood Hogan, Eric Bischoff, and others from the new World order make their way down to the ring. Kevin Nash is conspicuous by his absence. Hogan looks forward to burying Piper in the ring tonight. He reveals E. Harrison Leslie as the Disciple here tonight. Hogan says the Disciple is the man who controls all the people who worship the ground he walks on. Riiiight. As Hogan brings up Kevin Nash, Kevin Nash comes out. Hogan says he can’t use anybody in the nWo as his partner for tonight. Nash references what Randy Savage said earlier about a whole group of people who will stab Hogan in the back at a moment’s notice. Nash says Hogan doesn’t have to worry about him because Nash will shoot him right between the eyes. Hogan tells Nash that they need to watch each other’s back at Spring Stampede (he still won’t call the show by name) and will work out their problems afterwards. As for tonight, Hogan says Nash has no partner. Well, Nash begs to differ and tells Hogan to spend the rest of the evening trying to figure out who it is, BROTHER. The nWo look real confused as we go to commercial.

NITRO GIRLS~!

The CFO of the Chicago Bulls is in attendance. How exciting!

• WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Marty Jannetty
  

Jericho says he wants to pay tribute to the end of Dean Malenko’s career. Mmm bop, and it’s gone! Marty looks strong against Jericho until Jericho blocks the ROCKER DROPPER and applies the LIONTAMER for the quick win at 1:21. After the bell, Jericho starts reading his list of the 1004 holds he can do. #1, ARMDRAG. #2, ARMBAR. #3, the MOSS-COVERED THREE-HANDLED FAMILY GREDUNZA. Let’s go to commercials. ¾*

When we return, he’s up to 712! How long was that commercial break? Cue the pyro!

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

Jericho is still reading and he’s starting to get blown up here. Prince Iaukea comes out to stand up for his trainer Dean Malenko and gets Jericho to leave.

• Prince Iaukea vs. Glacier
  

Another quick little match. Glacier runs down Iaukea with shoulderblocks to start. He hits a back suplex and poses up in the corner, which leaves him vulnerable for an electric chair drop. Iaukea springboards into a powerslam though. Pretty cool. Glacier comes off the top rope, but lands right into a NORTHERN LIGHTS SUPLEX for the win in 2:04. ¾*

NITRO GIRLS~!

They air another NITRO PARTY~! I guess we’re WAY passed the point where it matters that WCW encourages the fans who are strong nWo fans, right?

• Juventud Guerrera vs. El Dandy
  

Stiff shoving and slapping match to start. Dandy misses a running senton and gets blasted with a couple headscissors takedowns. He baits Juventud out to the floor though and nails him on his way back inside. He takes control of Guerrera for a few moments, but then the JUVI DRIVER comes from out of nowhere for the win in 2:56. *

• Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Kaz Hayashi
  

Bobby Heenan joins the commentary table to add some intrigue to the Kevin Nash “mystery partner”. They have a nice little exchange trading armdrags and such. Hayashi escapes a chinlock and whiffs on a springboard crossbody. They flub a hurracanrana spot, but Hayashi makes up for it with a NICE missile dropkick. German suplex by Hayashi gets a nearfall, but Chavo lands the TORNADO DDT and gets the win. (3:51) Since Uncle Eddie isn’t around, Chavo plays the nice guy and helps Hayashi up to his feet. *½

• Raven’s Rules: Raven vs. Buff Bagwell (w/Scott Norton)
  

Raven sits down in the corner and cuts a promo on DDP. He spent three years up in Barbed Wire City and DDP could have called in a favor and got him into WCW, but he didn’t. The Snake told Raven that DDP would turn on him when he became successful. Raven says he should have listened. Things are different now though. Quoth the Raven – the U.S. champion – FOREVERMORE. This is a weird match though, right? First match for Buff since he hurt himself earlier in the month. This crowd is giving Raven a fit. He and Buff do a brief back and forth until DDP appears through the crowd and chases Raven THROUGH the crowd. Buff wins by countout at 1:41.

After he’s done running off Raven, DDP takes over Bobby Heenan’s seat and talks on the house mic. He sums up the DDP-Raven saga. It is true that Raven helped him when they were younger, but DDP helped him as well. He says Raven’s dad didn’t pay him enough attention when he was a kid, but so what. DDP’s whole life has been turning negatives into positives since he was a little kid, but Raven had it all growing up and now all he does is turn positives into negatives. This is essentially DDP’s “Hard Times” promo.

• Disco Inferno vs. Kidman
  

Kidman beats down Disco before he gets launched up in the air. He turns Kidman inside out with a clothesline and puts the boots to him down in the corner. A hiptoss battle takes Kidman over the top to the floor. Kidman headscissors his way back inside and delivers the springboard bulldog for two. Slingshot legdrop connects and Kidman celebrates. He hits a few more moves, but misses a flying splash. An atomic drop and a running elbow smash gets two for Disco. Swinging neckbreaker gets two as well. He misses the flying sledge though and runs into the BK Bomb for 1-2-NO! Disco catches him coming off the ropes though and since the Disciple now has the Chartbuster finish, he debuts his NEW finisher: THE PILEDRIVER. And it’s a beauty, too! Kidman is done. Cover, 1-2-3. (5:16), Hey, Disco has looked GOOD for the last several weeks. Too bad he doesn’t get rewarded for it. **½

HOUR NUMBER THREE! Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Bobby Heenan.

• Curt Hennig (w/Rick Rude) vs. Jim Neidhart
  

Rick Rude kicks Mike Tenay out of his seat. Neidhart hammers on Hennig in between calling out Rick Rude to come get him some. While Anvil has Hennig in a bearhug, Rick Rude leaves the table and shoves down the ref. Let’s call it there. (2:33) Neidhart gets double-teamed and handcuffed to the middle rope just like Davey Boy Smith a week ago. Speaking of Davey Boy, he runs down to the ring to help his brother-in-law. Brian Adams appears and stuffs Bulldog with one of his usual awful piledrivers. The nWo continue to stomp Bulldog and Neidhart until Bret Hart runs down and saves the day. This would be a great build to a match if they didn’t make it seem like it was Bret Hart and those loser brothers-in-law of his he’s always having to help out. Imagine if they had the Hart Foundation actually take on the nWo B-team? It would be pretty fun, I think. There was a Meltzer rumor at the time that Rick Rude wanted to buy out the rest of his Lloyd’s of London deal and come back to wrestling. ½*

Once again, Doug Dellinger gets Neidhart out of the handcuffs with a key. They always keep a spare! WHAT? Why doesn’t he just clip them with bolt cutters and handle getting the cuffs off completely backstage? Bret gets on the mic and tells the world that he will tear the nWo down brick by brick until he gets to Hollywood Hogan.

• WCW World Television Championship: Booker T (c) vs. Chris Benoit
  

This is a rematch from last week that was a “ten-minute draw” that lasted about 7:30. Crazy tight tie-up to start here. After Benoit gets a rollup on Booker, he chops him back into a corner. Booker fights out with his 110th Street Slam, which they aren’t calling anymore. Benoit’s head really bounces hard off the mat. Benoit comes back with a desperate German Suplex and then a snap suplex as well. He hammers Booker with a back elbow for a two-count. Backbreaker gets two. Benoit pulls back on the arms and sticks his knees into Booker’s shoulder blades. OUCH. When Booker starts to escape, Benoit lands a back suplex for two. Time for the Rolling Germans, but Booker avoids the third. They end colliding though both going for crossbody blocks. Booker hits a back suplex and SPINAROONIES up to his feet for the Harlem Side Kick. He head up top, but Benoit is there to stop him. Booker knocks Benoit back down and tries the Missile Dropkick, but Benoit swats it away! CRIPPLER CROSSFACE, but Booker is in the ropes. Chicago really wants a title switch tonight. They trade blows in the center of the ring until the bell sounds to signal another “ten-minute” time limit draw. (9:34) Chicago is PISSED. Ref Nick Patrick has a hard time getting them separated, but the tension builds. Fantastic match between these two. Much better than last week, better than any match at WrestleMania 14, and easily Booker’s best match to date. ***½

NITRO GIRLS~!

• Ultimo Dragon vs. Psychosis
  

Psychosis and Ultimo Dragon do some back and forth lucha libre, but it’s really not important because the Flock attacks Psychosis for injuring Lodi last week. That’s a DQ. (2:14) Dragon helps Psychosis out as they stand tall to take us into commercial. ½*

• Bill Goldberg (66-0) vs. Ray Traylor
  

Holy crap Goldberg is over. Traylor is more than ready to sell for this guy too. Nobody goes down for shoulderblocks, but then Goldberg stops short on the third try before coming off the ropes and drills Traylor with a clothesline. Heenan loves it. Traylor hits the Spinebuster, but Goldberg pops right up and drills him with the Spear. Jackhammer? No problem. There’s win #67. (2:21) Just amazing how loud this crowd gets. Saturn has to held back by the rest of the Flock to keep their rivalry going. This is the last time we’ll see Ray Traylor on Nitro or Thunder. Of course, we won’t see him in the WWF until October. Probably just enjoying a good long sabbatical with his family before going back to work. ½*

• Sting & Lex Luger vs. Kevin Nash & The Mystery Partner
  

Sting and Luger come out before Nash’s partner, but they get blindsided by RANDY SAVAGE. Gee, what a shocker. He gives Sting a PILEDRIVER on the floor! Meanwhile, Luger is being choked down in the corner. Savage gets in the ring as he and Nash point at each other to show that they are in fact partners. He is just a mad man right now. He is everywhere. When he’s not beating up Luger, he’s beating up Sting. When Sting finally gets in the ring beating up Savage, that fuels a comeback from Luger on Nash. As Sting and Savage head back out to the floor to brawl, Hollywood Hogan shows up and gets posted by Sting! Meanwhile, Luger has Nash in the TORTURE RACK. The Disciple sneaks passed the ref and jabs Luger. WHAT? He then delivers the APOCALYPSE to Luger! Disciple puts Nash on top of Luger and ref Charles Robinson turns around to count the pinfall. (6:28) Word on the street is, Sting suffered an injury to his hip during this match. Not sure at what point though. Roddy Piper appears and gets an early start on beating up Hollywood Hogan. Disciple of course helps out Hogan as they double-team Piper back through the tunnel as we go to commercial. *

• Hollywood Hogan (w/The Disciple) vs. Roddy Piper
  

When we come back, Piper beats Disciple and Hogan out from the tunnel and down into the ring. LOTS of punching from Piper. Hogan low blows Piper when the ref isn’t looking, but then Piper low blows the ref when he is looking. More punching and clawing and choking. Piper eventually gets the SLEEPERHOLD on Hogan, but the Disciple is right there to break it up for the DQ. (5:05) AHH, that Disciple guy is so annoying. He gives Piper the APOCALYPSE. Nash heads down and holds up Piper to get nailed, but of course Piper ducks and Hogan nails Nash. Now Nash is mad. DOWN COMES THE STRAPS! As Nash starts shoving Hogan even with Disciple standing in his way, the Giant comes down and scares all three of them away and helps Piper up to his feet. CRAP.

More trash talking between Hogan and Nash as we close the show. This crowd is still humming.

No Thunder this week due to a Braves game. Until next time, so long for now!

WCW/nWo Spring Stampede LIVE ON PPV premieres April 19
from the Denver Coliseum in Denver, CO.
MAIN EVENT
WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Sting (c) vs. Randy Savage
WCW U.S. Heavyweight Championship: DDP (c) vs. Raven
WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Prince Iaukea
Bat Match: The Giant & Roddy Piper vs. Hollywood Hogan & Kevin Nash
Davey Boy Smith vs. Curt Hennig