WCW: Monday Nitro
May 11, 1998
Kansas City, MO
Kemper Arena

The current WCW champs are as follows:
WCW World Champion: Hollywood Hogan (4/20/1998)
WCW U.S. Champion: Bill Goldberg (4/20/1998)
WCW World Tag Team Champions: The Outsiders (2/22/1998)
WCW World Television Champion: Fit Finley (5/4/1998)
WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Chris Jericho (1/24/1998)

With no NBA playoffs tonight, WCW is back at it with a three-hour show. Not only that, but this is the go-home Nitro to set up Slamboree. Let’s see what WCW has in store.

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

In case we missed the ending of last week, they replay Bret Hart and Brian Adams standing back and laughing at WCW and the nWo Wolfpac fighting it out.

Gene Okerlund brings out Bret Hart to hopefully explain himself. Gene tells us that Bret Hart will face Randy Savage at Slamboree for the first time ever, but then says this isn’t the first time they have been in the ring together. HUH? Bret calls Savage a “chicken” and says Savage has been ducking him for years, but now he’s here in the WCW. At the Slamboree, Bret will prove to Savage and everybody else that he’s the best there is, was, and ever will be.

NITRO GIRLS~!

• Disco Inferno vs. Barry Horowitz
  

In an even shorter match than the last time Horowitz was on Nitro, here Disco beats him with a swinging neckbreaker (because the Chartbuster is out thanks to the Disciple) in 1:38.

Despite being in the nWo Wolfpac, Randy Savage comes down to the ring to his old nWo theme music. He dares Bret Hart to try and put the Sharpshooter on him at Slamboree. But as for tonight, he wants Hollywood Hogan in the ring. Huge “Hogan sucks” chants. Savage calls Hollywood Hogan some silly names to get him to take the bait.

• Juventud Guerrera vs. Kidman (w/Reese)
  

These two boys start running the ropes. Nobody hits any sort of move until Guerrera snaps off the tilt-a-whirl headscissors. As Kidman bails out, Guerrera wipes him out with a springboard body press. Back in, a slingshot legdrop gets two. Kidman fires back on Juventud by giving a facebuster from a powerbomb position. At first it looked like Guerrera gave Kidman the YOU CAN’T POWERBOMB KIDMAN move, but no. Juventud catches Kidman coming off the top rope with a dropkick and then hits a spinning heel kick. Springboard body press gets two. They do a nice rollup sequence that ends with the Juvi Driver for 1-2-NO! While Kidman keeps hold of the referee, Reese appears in the ring and gives Guerrera the CHOKE BOMB to set up the SEVEN YEAR ITCH for the win. (3:51) Afterwards, Reese carries Juventud in his arms back to the locker room with a victorious Kidman on Reese’s back. Good little match. **

Eric Bischoff comes out to the ring on a motor bike to finally respond to D-Generation X showing up at WCW headquarters and the CNN Center looking for him on a Monday afternoon when they know he’s at an arena getting ready for Monday Nitro. Bischoff calls out Sean Waltman saying he will never get an apology from him. Since Waltman is just a puppet for Vince McMahon, Bischoff proposes that Vince show up for a fight in his backyard of Worcester this Sunday night at Slamboree. Bischoff doesn’t think Vince has the guts to show. He’ll be waiting for ya, Vinnie Mac, and Bischoff will knock you out. BOMBSHELL.

NITRO GIRLS~! Alex Wright interferes. Get the hook.

• Scott Norton vs. Yuji Nagata (w/Sonny Oono)
  

A furious Norton runs through Nagata and wins with the SHOULDERBREAKER at 1:46. Oono is shown cheering for Norton at the end, but he probably just doesn’t want to get beat up.

They take us back to last week when Curt Hennig defected to the nWo Wolfpac. They cut off the clip when Konnan starts talking. THANK YOUUU.

• Hugh Morrus (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Jim Powers
  

Powers bum rushes the show, but he’s promptly slammed and given the NO LAUGHING MATTER to send him back to the showers in :27. How does a guy come back to fight again next week losing that quickly? Geez.

Kevin Nash and Konnan come to the ring through the crowd. Nash claims that two years ago Hollywood Hogan jumped on the nWo gravy train started by Nash and Scott Hall as it was leaving the station. Nash knows that Hogan and Bischoff have been walking around with their chests all pumped up because they got some Viagra, but they will need more than that against the nWo Wolfpac. They know Hogan is coming to KC and all Nash wants is for Hogan to look him in the eye and admit defeat so this whole nWo breakdown doesn’t have to go any further. It’s no longer the new World order, it’s Nash’s World Order. Nash and Konnan then school Hollywood Hogan on how to properly use the gangsta rap lingo they have been using since the beginning. If Hogan doesn’t do it right, just don’t do it at all.

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

• Ultimo Dragon vs. Johnny Swinger
  

This is the first we’ve seen of Swinger in a while. Another short match as Dragon does his headstand spot and not much else. Chavo Guerrero Jr. comes down to ringside as Dragon stops Swinger up top and takes him out with a flubbed headscissors and the DRAGON SLEEPER for the win in 2:04. Eddie Guerrero appears and gets in between Dragon and his nephew. He shoves Chavo and gets shoved back. Eddie gets on his knees and dares Chavo to punch him on the face, but then Dragon applies the DRAGON SLEEPER on Eddie! Chavo gets Dragon off his uncle, but then Eddie gets up and knocks Dragon down to put the boots to him. Chavo pulls Eddie off the Dragon and Eddie heads back to the dressing room pissed off.

Out comes Dusty Rhodes through the tunnel. Larry Z says Dusty is so big, he could be in both nWos at the same time. HA! Meltzer claims Zbyszko still held a grudge against Dusty for the way he was booked in Crockett in the late 80s. Tony and Mike incorrectly state that Dusty won his first NWA world title in Kansas City, but once Tony went down that road I suppose Tenay had to stick with him. Dusty seems to be taking the side of the nWo Wolfpac telling Hogan that Nash will be in his face by the end of the night. He also defends Scott Hall saying that Hall has some personal problems, but he will be at Slamboree. Although he seems to be with the nWo Wolfpac, he tells Randy Savage to “stop bitching”. Other than to confirm Hall’s return at Slamboree, I’m really confused by what Dusty is saying here.

• WCW U.S. Heavyweight Championship: Bill Goldberg (c) (82-0) vs. Len Denton
  

Tenay refers to Denton as a “veteran grappler” alluding to his former gimmick. This ain’t Portland, pal. Goldberg destroys Denton with the Spear and the JACKHAMMER in :52.

Clips are shown of MTV’s Ultimate Music Video Feud where the event really didn’t go as planned thanks to rain. Diamond Dallas Page is seen choking out Raven with the bull rope much like what we saw last week on Nitro.

Gene Okerlund brings out JJ Dillon and Raven to the ring. Raven has filed a grievance against Diamond Dallas Page claiming WCW is an “unsafe working environment”. Is this a rib on Shawn Michaels? After speaking with Raven’s attorney, JJ Dillon has decided to allow four riot control officers to keep Raven protected at the expense of WCW. Are you happy now, Raven? Absolutely he is. The riot control officers come down to the ring to watch over Raven. The Flock head to the ring as well – naturally without Saturn. As for the guy who keeps interfering in the Flock’s business, Raven says he will find out who this guy is and he will feel Raven’s pain. Raven has decided to fight Diamond Dallas Page again – but this time it will be in a Bowery Death Match which will happen inside of an enclosed steel cage. The man who can’t answer a ten count will lose. As for internal strive inside the Flock, Raven calls out Saturn. Well, here comes Saturn who gets called a big loser. Hammer gets held back from jumping Saturn, but then the Flock beats up Hammer? Saturn gets in the ring and drills Hammer with the Death Valley Driver. Raven then declares Saturn is his enforcer who will stay in the Flock forever. So much for *that* stipulation. Jerry Flynn (?!) appears out of nowhere and attacks Saturn while the riot squad stands there doing nothing. WHAT IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW?

• Saturn (w/The Flock) vs. Jerry Flynn
  

Is this an impromptu match or what? Saturn takes Flynn’s kicks, but then Kidman snaps Flynn’s neck on the top rope into the DEATH VALLEY DRIVER for the win in :52.

• WCW World Television Championship: Fit Finley (c) vs. Rage (w/Kaos)
  

That’s right – Finley is the *new* TV champ. Rage overpowers Finley to start, but Finley wrestles him to the ground and works over the knee. As Finley drags Rage over to the apron to bounce his chest on the apron, Kaos tries to jump Finley and gets wiped out with a lariat. Back inside, the Finley Roll connects, but once again Kaos interferes. This time Finley doesn’t see it coming and gets blindsided by Rage for a powerslam. He hits Finley with another slam and hits a springboard splash, but that’s not going to be enough to beat Finley. Kaos heads up top with the ref’s back is turned, but here comes Booker T to crotch him. Booker starts beating up Kaos on the floor while Finley grabs Rage for the TOMBSTONE PILEDRIVER for the win. (3:22) Seeing an opportunity to beat up Booker T, Chris Benoit appears as referees, security, and JJ Dillon get them to stop it. JJ Dillon “cancels both their matches” for tonight (even though Tony announced at the beginning of the show that they would be wrestling in order to see who gets Finley at Slamboree) and puts them together in a match where there must be a winner to see who faces Finley at Slamboree. Hmm, sounds like some miscommunication about how they were going to get those two together tonight, huh. *½

Just about at the end of every segment for the rest of the show, they will replay Bischoff’s challenge to Vince McMahon to meet him at Slamboree.

NITRO GIRLS~! NITRO PARTY VIDEO~!

• Diamond Dallas Page vs. Lenny Lane
  

Lane gives it a go and fares better than Jim Powers did tonight as DDP BANGS him out of the corner for the win in 2:56. Afterwards, DDP doesn’t want to wait until Slamboree to bang Raven and calls him out. At least buy him a drink first. Raven and his riot squad appear at the top of the ramp, but then return to the locker room to a chorus of boos.

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

Hollywood Hogan comes to the ring with Eric Bischoff, the Disciple, Brian Adams, and Vincent to kick off the third hour. He talks about his movies (“3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain” and “Assault on Death Mountain”). When you’re nWo, you’re nWo for life. He claims Scott Hall and Kevin Nash were looking for the rub in 1996 when they hooked up with Hollywood Hogan. As for Randy Savage, the people *will* see Hollywood Hogan beat him up one more time right here tonight. Back to Kevin Nash, Hogan says Nash has had his fun while he was away, but the fun is over. Get out here and face the music, Big Kev. Well, Nash comes out all alone to face the nWo. He and Hogan trade homosexual jokes because you can still do that in 1998. Hogan wants Nash to (1) apologize to the nWo and (2) admit he got carried away while Hogan was gone filming movies, to admit that Hogan is his champion, to admit Hogan is his leader, and to admit he wants to be back on Hogan’s good side. Nash refuses to apologize and says he’ll run through these three stooges (Adams, Vincent, and Disciple) to get to Hogan. Sensing a fight is near, Hogan tells Nash that he wouldn’t come to a big fight without a big gun and waves to the back. Next thing you know, the Giant wearing an nWo t-shirt starts coming to the ring to help stop Nash. Once Nash gets laid out, Giant tags him just like old times. Konnan, Dusty Rhodes, and Randy Savage start heading down to the ring. The nWo Hollywood crew starts clearing out while the nWo Wolfpac check on Nash. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR SLAMBOREE?

Gene Okerlund is in the ring with Chris Jericho. Welcome to Monday Night Jericho. He wants Gene to refer to him as “Lionheart” Chris Jericho – the man of 1004 holds, the Ayatollah of Rock N Rolla, and the true paragon of virtue for the entire free world. He’s done all he can do as the WCW cruiserweight champion and has decided to retire the belt because no one can beat him. JJ Dillion appears to announce that there will be a 15-man cruiserweight battle royal at Slamboree. The winner will then face Jericho for the WCW cruiserweight title on the very same night. Jericho doesn’t seem the least bit concerned. He unveils the Dean Malenko framed picture he’s been carrying around for weeks and it seems it has been defaced. Jericho doesn’t take any responsibility for this and swears he’ll get to the bottom of it. Next thing we know, Joe Malenko shows up and I feel like some people in the audience thought it was Dean. Now that Jericho is being confronted by a Malenko, Jericho says he loves the Malenko family and admits this has all been a joke. If Joe wants to take this defaced picture of his brother away, he can do so. After Joe grabs the picture, Jericho whacks him from behind with a prosthetic leg intended to represent Rey Mysterio’s knee that was injured. I think we all saw that coming.

• Glacier vs. Sick Boy
  

Glacier thinks his Cryonic Kick is the most awesome move ever and will destroy anyone who uses it. Even Tony knows that the “standing side kick” has been used YEARS before Glacier was around. Is this WCW’s way of reviving the push behind Glacier? This is a mess. When Glacier starts kicking, ref Nick Patrick gets hit. Next thing we know, Saturn shows up and decks Glacier with a standing side kick. Oh boy. He puts Sick Boy on top of Glacier for a two-count. Glacier then wakes up and catches Sick Boy with the CRYONIC KICK for the win. (2:07) Saturn returns and gives Glacier the Gargoyle Suplex. The Death Valley Driver puts him down for good though. What a waste. All of this over someone using a side kick?

They replay the Steiner brothers angle from last week. Gene Okerlund brings out Lex Luger to get his thoughts on the matter. He’s mad about his friend Rick who will be out of action for three or four months due to a separated shoulder. Luger wants Brian Adams and/or Scott Steiner at Slamboree and demands JJ Dillon make that happen. And that’s all he’s got to say about that.

• Booker T vs. Chris Benoit
  

There must be a winner and the winner faces Fit Finley over the TV title at Slamboree, sucka. They don’t waste any time. Benoit chops and stomps and pounds Booker down in the corner. He goes for the Crippler Crossface early, but Booker blocks and hits the Hook Kick. After a backdrop and a press slam, Benoit retreats to the floor. Booker stays on Benoit, but gets drilled with a Release German Suplex inside the ring. Benoit is slow to get up, but then delivers a Snap Suplex. He abuses Booker in the corner with chops, but then runs into a powerslam. Booker misses a Harlem Side Kick and crotches himself. Backbreaker by Benoit gets two. A back suplex and a Swandive Headbutt connects. He’s slow to cover and only gets a two-count. Booker kicks back on Benoit to double him over for the Axe Kick. The Spinebuster and the Flapjack follows. SPINAROONIE~! Benoit nearly pulls the ref into a roundhouse kick, but Booker misses them both. While checking to make sure ref Mark Curtis isn’t hurt, Benoit grabs Booker into the CRIPPLER CROSSFACE in the middle of the ring for the submission. (6:38) I love the way their moves just flow together in a way that doesn’t feel choregraphed – just smart wrestling between two guys who have been married to each other for the last six weeks or so. ***

• WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Hollywood Hogan (c) (w/The Disciple) vs. Randy Savage
  

It’s late and you can probably imagine how this one will go. Punching, clawing, kicking, biting, and choking ensues for about six minutes. Hogan misses the LEGDROP and Savage slams him for the MACHO ELBOW, but Disciple shoves him down while the ref is looking at Hogan for some reason. Savage looks for a PILEDRIVER as Bret Hart runs down to the ring and wallops him with the big gold belt. Boy, Bret is HATED in KC. He drops a loogie on Savage’s chest and leaves while telling the crowd to “f— off”. Bret had the ability to get loads of heat in this company and he did get heat, but it’s interesting to think about how much further WCW could have gone with him. Anyways, Hogan covers Savage for the three-count. (6:07) Kevin Nash runs off Hogan and the Disciple to prevent any further damage done to Savage. Next thing we see is Roddy Piper coming up right behind Nash. WHAT’S HE DOING HERE? Piper declares Savage the winner. WHAT? Piper has no love for either Savage or Hart and announces he will be the special guest referee for their match at Slamboree. He mentions the Kansas City Chiefs for a cheap job. What’s with all the Viagra jokes tonight, too? It’s happened on both shows. Piper filibusters until the Giant comes out. Hogan talks him out of whatever he was going to do. STING IS THE RAFTERS. And that’s all she wrote for tonight. ¾*

THUNDER RETURNS THIS WEEK~!

And with that, we are outta here.

WCW/nWo Slamboree LIVE ON PPV premieres May 17 from the Centrum in Worcester, MA.
MAIN EVENT
WCW World Tag Team Championship:
The Outsiders (c) vs. The Giant & Sting
WCW World Television Championship:
Fit Finley (c) vs. Chris Benoit
Winner faces Chris Jericho for the WCW Cruiserweight Title:
15-man Cruiserweight Battle Royal
Special Guest Referee – Roddy Piper
Bret Hart vs. Randy Savage
Bowery Death Match
Diamond Dallas Page vs. Raven
Lex Luger vs. Brian Adams and/or Scott Steiner