WCW: Monday Nitro
June 15, 1998
Uniondale, NY
Nassau Coliseum

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: vacant (6/4/1998)
WCW World Television Champion: Booker T (6/14/1998)
WCW Cruiserweight Champion: vacant (6/11/1998)

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

• Big Apple Street Fight: The Barbarian & Hugh Morrus (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Public Enemy
  

Public Enemy suck up to the crowd wearing New York Islanders jerseys. It’s a total trash can fight for the first few minutes. Morrus and Barb do one of my favorite spots: the backdrop into the POWERBOMB onto a trash can. More garbage wrestling if you will. Jimmy Hart takes a suplex into the ring. Morrus and Barbarian struggle with going through a pair of tables at ringside. Rocco Rock leaping into them doesn’t cause them to budge, but Johnny Grunge using Jimmy Hart as a battering ram does for some reason. BOOM. With Rocco Rock lying on top of Barb, ref Nick Patrick counts the pinfall. (5:26) Welcome to Nitro, folks. ½*

They show Mike Tenay taking time out of his busy day of cocaine and strippers to talk with the marks outside the building. Some mark is grilling out in the parking lot like a total mark.

Time to play the Nitro intro video. Giant, Lex Luger, Rick Steiner, and Booker T all appear despite only two being apart of WCW and one of them active.

NITRO GIRLS! Tygress is mentioned making her debut tonight.

When we come back, Gene Okerlund brings out Randy Savage to the ring. Gene makes a point to say how big a reaction he got in this building. If DDP wants to be in the nWo Wolfpac, he has to get through Randy Savage tonight – INSIDE A STEEL CAGE. Okay, that actually makes a ton of sense. I was wondering why they had a cage match so many months after Halloween Havoc, but now I get it.

Still shots of the Tag Team Match from Hell last night at the Great American Bash.

• Chris Benoit vs. Fit Finley
  

A HUGE “Finlay sucks” chant goes up here in Long Island. You can tell Finlay’s trying not to smile. Finlay works a headlock to start and pulls the hair a lot. The crowd reactions in this match are great. Benoit comes back with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Finlay falls out to the floor, but Benoit chops him back in the ring. Finlay goes to the eyes and short-arm clotheslines Benoit down for two. Full-body slam sets up a sit-down chinlock. Benoit escapes with an electric chair drop as we go to break. AND WE’RE BACK! Finlay slams Benoit’s chest on the apron and elbows him across the throat. Benoit kicks and chops back, but Finlay thumbs Benoit in the eye again. Hotshot and a European uppercut gets two. Finlay charges into the ringpost, so Benoit follows up with a pair of Germans. Ahh, couldn’t get the third one. Snap suplex leads to the Swandive Headbutt, but Finlay moves. Finlay hits a pump splash as the crowd chants USA, but then they seem to remember that Benoit’s Canadian and stop. Finlay heads up for another one, but Benoit dropkicks him out to the floor. A snap suplex from the apron brings Finlay back in the ring. Benoit runs into a knee for the Finlay Roll. TOMBST-no! CRIPPLER CROSSFACE! Finlay taps out. (9:52) Super fun match and the crowd was into everything. Great finish, too. Plus, Benoit needed this win. ***¼

Afterwards, Chris Benoit wants Booker T to come out and face him so they can clear up some business. Well, he gets Booker T. Stevie Ray follows his brother for backup. While Booker wears a nice shirt and tie, Stevie Ray is wearing a derby hat looking like Stymie from the Little Rascals. Benoit and Booker put each other over for being the toughest opponent they have faced. When Benoit offers Booker any support he needs at any time, Stevie Ray takes offense and says they will show the world how good Harlem Heat still is tonight. Stevie Ray feels Benoit is trying to make a statement about him and beats Benoit down to the mat. Booker can only do so much to stop his brother when STEVE MCMICHAEL RETURNS to save his Horsemen brethren. Booker finally holds Stevie Ray back and tries to get him to calm down while the crowd is going ballistic with “WE WANT FLAIR” chants. Benoit gets on the mic and says what might be the coolest thing he’s ever said: “I’m not here for the nWo red. I’m not here for the nWo white. What I’m here for…” and he holds up the Four Horsemen sign. More “We want Flair” chants as we go to commercial.

Diamond Dallas Page meets Gene Okerlund in the ring to respond to Randy Savage’s challenge. Okerlund mentions DDP was at game six last night of the NBA finals where Jordan put up 45 and hit the final shot as a Chicago Bull. When DDP is done proving himself to Savage, he’s coming for Hollywood Hogan and Dennis Rodman. He says you probably already know who it is, but DDP has already picked his partner who will help him bang Hogan and Rodman. It’ll be quite a foursome!

They replay the chairshots on DDP from Hogan and Rodman. Tony addresses the rumor that Karl Malone is coming to wrestle in WCW. He can neither confirm nor deny that this will happen, but there will be a major announcement tonight.

NITRO GIRLS!

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

Roddy Piper starts the second hour and sucks up to NYC. He’s tough enough to make Rush Limbaugh lose weight and put Howard Stern on the Disney Channel. Boy, is this a hot crowd or what. Piper confirms the cage match will happen tonight and since there’s no referee crazy enough to work that match, he’ll do it. It’s gonna be a wild one!

• Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. High Voltage
  

While this isn’t a title match, Chono and Tenzan have with them the IWGP tag belts they had just won. Tenzan connects with his Mongolian chops on Rage. Chono comes off the top with the flying shoulder tackle. So much double-teaming going on here. High Voltage cleans house as we go to commercial. When we return, Rage is in trouble with Tenzan. Kaos has enough of Chono sticking his nose in the match as they go to the floor to brawl. Tag to Kaos, it looks like they might be able to put away Chono with the Hart Attack followed by a Boston crab and second-rope legdrop. They encounter some miscommunication though with a flying tackle. While the crowd is watching something happening elsewhere in the building, Chono drills Kaos with the MAFIA KICK to wrap this up. (7:54 shown) Solid enough, but way too long as the crowd just stopped giving a crap probably four minutes back. *½

Still shots are shown of Sting defeating the Giant last night at the Great American Bash.

Speaking of the nWo Wolfpac, here they come. After Kevin Nash and Konnan go through their introductions, they give Sting his own entrance as he comes out to announce who his partner will be as WCW tag team champs. He feels Nash, Luger, and Konnan all have amazing credentials. However, we’ll know who his choice is before their title defense later tonight. No matter who he picks, it’ll be just – too – sweet.

Still shots are shown of Raven’s involvement during the Kanyon and Saturn match from last night at the Great American Bash.

• Kanyon vs. Sick Boy (w/Lodi)
  

Of course Kanyon can do a ton of moves, but he doesn’t really connect with the audience. Sick Boy connects with his springboard dropkick. Kanyon comes back and delivers the FLATLINER for the win in 3:25.

Next up, Curt Hennig and Rick Rude stop at the top of the ramp to talk. As we see, Hennig is wearing the nWo Hollywood t-shirt now. They skipped out on the nWo Wolfpac because Hollywood Hogan is where the money is at. They joined the crew just so they could stab Konnan in the back. Goldberg should be very happy he didn’t have to face Curt Hennig last night. Rude doesn’t see what the big deal is about 100 wins when Hennig has over 3000 wins and three world titles. Sooner or later, Hennig will get to Goldberg and he’ll find out how defeat feels. The crowd chants for Goldberg. Hennig runs down all the people he’s put down over the last year and Goldberg is next.

More still shots from the Great American Bash. They show Goldberg beating Konnan and Hennig jumping ship over to nWo Hollywood.

When we come back, they show us what happened between Chris Jericho and Dean Malenko last night. Gene Okerlund is with JJ Dillon who has decided to award Jericho back the WCW Cruiserweight title since he won via DQ. Chris Jericho comes out to gloat and receive his championship. By accepting the title back, he must defend the title within 30 days against Dean Malenko. Jericho has the right to refuse any opponent, so that won’t be happening. Even so, he has already beaten Malenko several times because he’s a loser just like his dad. As soon as Jericho gets those words out of his mouth, Dean Malenko appears and knocks Jericho into next week. He beats Jericho backstage until WCW security holds Malenko back. Jericho is last seen running out of the building without his title!

• The Giant vs. Chris Adams
  

The Giant smokes his way to the ring. What a heel a guy could be now in 2017 just for smoking a cigarette. RIGHT? Giant wants to finish his cigarette first, but Adams wants to RASSLE. Still smoking the cigarette, Giant gets annoyed and sticks Adams with the CHOKESLAM for the win in :44. N/R

Hollywood Hogan, Eric Bischoff, and the Disciple head out to the ring. Hogan gets cheered like crazy here. He’s the man and the nWo Wolfpac is just a bunch of crybabies, but who he really wants to get his hands on is Diamond Dallas Page. He and Dennis Rodman are for real and he dares DDP and the “partner of his choice” to meet them at the Bash at the Beach. BRING IT ON. Hollywood is always be 4-LIFE.

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

NITRO GIRLS!

• WCW World Tag Team Championship: Sting & Kevin Nash (c) vs. Harlem Heat
  

So yeah, Sting’s championship partner is KEVIN NASH. He takes a survey and lets Curt Hennig know that if he doesn’t want to be in the nWo Wolfpac, consider himself hunted by the nWo Wolfpac. This is the first match back for Stevie Ray since he lost to Goldberg back on January 5. Sting and Booker exchange some headlocks and hammerlocks. Booker shows signs of his knee still hurting. Tag to Stevie Ray, he abuses Sting until he runs into a boot in the corner and gets taken down with a clothesline. In comes Nash, he buries the knees and chokes Stevie Ray with his boot up in the corner. We take a commercial break and come back to see Nash doing more of the same to Booker. Side Slam gets two. Sting slams Booker for the jumping elbow drop. Pump splash gets two. A splash off the ropes hits knees though. Nash stops a tag and hits a short-arm clothesline before nailing the Bossman straddle. Blah blah blah. Sting misses a Stinger Splash and gets hit with the Sidewalk Slam. Tag to Stevie Ray, he’s got a clothesline and a powerslam. Nash distracts him though as Sting comes up behind Stevie Ray for the SCORPION DEATHDROP for the win. (9:44 shown) And just like that. Clearly they have no future plans for Harlem Heat to have any sort of reunion. *½

Eric Bischoff brings out Scott Steiner for an interview so he can embellish about his movie career and connects how good an actor he is with the heel turn on his brother. WHERE ARE YOU, RICK?

NITRO GIRLS!

• Cage Match with Roddy Piper as special referee: Diamond Dallas Page vs. Randy Savage
  

So RAW has a HELL IN A CELL and so do we. Well, sort of. This cage does have a roof! Total brawl of course as they take turns throwing each other into the cage. This continues on through a commercial break. When we return, Savage blocks a Diamond Cutter with a low blow. Instead, Savage hits the MACHO ELBOW for 1-2-NO! Since he doesn’t get the three-count, Savage decks Roddy Piper and drops him with a PILEDRIVER. With no ref, DDP lands the DIAMOND CUTTER. When Piper wakes up, they both attack him only for Piper to throw them both into the cage. Let’s stop the match here. (10:00 shown) The cage starts to raise as the nWo Hollywood hit the ring to attack everybody inside. Once they are in, the cage lowers back down. The nWo Wolfpac head down to save the day, but can’t get inside. At least Sting doesn’t tear his knee out this time. It takes Nash getting back to the controls so that the Wolfpac can get inside to help. BUT NOW WE’RE OUTTA TIME! *½

Until next time, so long for now.