WCW: Monday Nitro
July 20, 1998
Salt Lake City, UT
E-Center

The current WCW champs are as follows:
WCW World Champion: Bill Goldberg (7/6/1998)
WCW U.S. Champion: Vacant (7/6/1998)
WCW World Tag Team Champions: Sting & Kevin Nash (6/15/1998)
WCW World Television Champion: Booker T (6/14/1998)
WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Chris Jericho (7/13/1998)

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

NITRO GIRLS! Hello, Fyre. :D

Out comes Scott Hall to the ring – all by himself. Even though he’s wearing a B&W nWo t-shirt, he’s still wearing the red and black gear. The crowd boos him when he tries to do the survey. Man, they are all over him. He makes a “Gilligan’s Island” analogy for some reason and in that analogy, he’s goofy Gilligan. Bad analogy, pal. BAD analogy. Hall says Nash isn’t even a man anymore due to all the whining and crying. He feels Nash isn’t even half the man Hollywood Hogan is. When Salt Lake City gets all over him, Hall says at least Hogan is a man. Tony is getting triggered. The nWo B&W is just too sweet though.

Tony announces that Bret Hart and Diamond Dallas Page have been chosen as the two top contenders to the U.S. title and will square off tonight to crown a new champion.

Let Us Take You Back: Nitro, 7/13/98. They replay some of the Hollywood Hogan and Scott Hall stuff that led to Kevin Nash getting turned on – AGAIN – by Hall. Ugh.

• Stevie Ray vs. Johnny Boone
  

Stevie Ray doesn’t have the TV belt because it’s with Booker T and his attorney, but he’s still here to beat up one of Booker’s top contenders. Mmhmm. During the beat-em-up, Chavo Guerrero Jr. comes out holding the TV belt. At least I think that’s the TV belt. The SLAPJACK ends Boone. (2:02) When Stevie Ray starts to chase after Chavo, Chavo drops the belt and runs away on his wild steed Pepe. Stevie Ray picks up the belt and tries to hide it from the camera.

Let Us Take You Back: Nitro, 7/13/98. Hollywood Hogan comes out and turns over Buff Bagwell in his wheelchair during a conversation with Rick Steiner.

Gene Okerlund brings out Rick Steiner. His arm is now out of a sling. Instead of challenging Hogan, he challenges his brother Scott to a match at Road Wild. Buff Bagwell gets wheeled out to say what he wanted to last week. He forgives Rick for the injury and stands up to hug when SCOTT STEINER comes running out and whacks Rick in the back with a steel chair. Buff looks like he’s going to stop Scott from hurting Rick further, but then he’s given the chair from Scott and HITS RICK, TOO! Oh my gosh. Buff pulls off the collar and his t-shirt to show an nWo B&W t-shirt underneath. Well, it looks like Buff is back. Imagine had they held off turning Buff heel again. He might have actually drawn some money here instead of a cheap heel turn.

After the break, Gene Okerlund brings out the WCW cruiserweight champ Chris Jericho for an interview. He wants to address all the Jericholics about the mental anguish and abuse he’s been suffering at the hands of Dean Malenko. He brings up a conspiracy between Dean Malenko and Arn Anderson to get him beaten up. Jericho says he’ll give Malenko one last shot at the cruiserweight title next week on Nitro in San Antonio.

Over at the announce booth, Scott Hall interrupts things. He throws the toothpick at Larry Zbyszko and wants to talk some more about Kevin Nash having a vagina.

Outside the arena, someone has wrecked their car into the side of the building right by a sign that says “Star of the Show”. Tony is confused – as are we.

• Steve McMichael vs. Sick Boy (w/Lodi)
  

Our esteemed commentators explain the car outside is Eric Bischoff’s attempt at humor on Jay Leno. Mongo destroys Sick Boy and wins with the MONGO SPIKE in 1:29.

Let Us Take You Back: Thunder, 7/17/98. They replay Dean Malenko asking Arn Anderson to bring back the Four Horsemen and Arn Anderson’s response. Let it be, Dean. Let it be.

NITRO PARTY VIDEO!

It’s now time for the Eric Bischoff Show. He’s got a full band and everything – even a Kevin Eubanks type. Bischoff tells some Jay Leno jokes and the crowd is booing ALL of this. It just keeps happening. Way to lose a bunch of viewers going into the second hour.

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

Let Us Take You Back: Thunder, 7/17/98. Highlights of the Kevin Nash interview. When they experience technical difficulties, they then show Scott Hall taking the tape from the production truck and throws it at Kevin Nash – who is just standing right there. WHAT. They start to fight outside the building and the next thing we know, we’ve got a giant nWo fight happening out in the parking lot.

Bret Hart then appears over at the announce booth. He’s ready to fight DDP right now. Next thing we know, we go backstage where Konnan has discovered DDP facedown on the floor clearly in bad shape. Back at the table, Tony asks Bret if he had anything to do with this. Bret Hart has no idea and heads to the ring hoping to win the U.S. title by forfeit. JJ Dillon comes out to confront Bret. NO MIC. It looks like Dillon wants to give DDP some time to regroup. Good grief.

They replay the nWo donnybrook from moments ago.

• Saturn vs. Yuji Nagata (w/Sonny Oono)
  

Load of suplexes thrown here as you might imagine. While Sonny Oono distracts Charles Robinson, RAVEN runs out and EVENFLOW DDTs Saturn. The NAGATA LOCK gets Saturn pinned. (3:23) The Flock swarm on Saturn and hold him up for their fearless leader Raven. Kanyon comes out for the save, but takes forever to do his silly overcomplicated moves that it kills the run-in. The SUPER PILEDRIVER on Kidman was pretty swank though. Raven is long gone. When Kanyon picks up Saturn, Saturn lifts him up for the DEATH VALLEY DRIVER. Stay out of his business! The match, however, is noteworthy for being Yuji Nagata’s final TV match for WCW. *½

Let Us Take You Back: Last week, Bret Hart was destroying people left and right with chairs.

NITRO GIRLS! Kimberly is dancing a little too close to that chubby nine year old.

• WCW World Tag Team Championship: Sting & Kevin Nash (c) vs. The Giant & Scott Hall
  

Bobby Heenan has joined the broadcast crew. After all these years, I love that Nash falls for the toothpick bit. In comes the Giant, they lock up. Giant corner clotheslines Big Sexy, but gets caught with a Big Boot. Sting comes in to clean house and the crowd collectively loses their minds. Hall and Giant calm things down. Back in, Nash tags Sting and Hall starts mocking. Sting stops the arm wrench shoulder blocks and gives Hall a bunch of crotch chops as we go to break. AND WE’RE BACK! Hall and Giant are still perplexed as to how to get things going their way. HUGE “Giant sucks” chants go up. Sting stands up to the Giant and slaps him back. Giant goes for a charge and Sting moves as he lands on the top turnbuckle. Sting kicks him a whole bunch and then gives Giant the Stinger Splash. He tries a second one, but Giant gets his boot up. Sting ducks a bunch of clotheslines and tries a crossbody, but it’s like jumping into a building. Giant doesn’t even budge. Headbutt to the balls and then he tags in Hall. Fallaway Slam gets two. Hall cheats with an ab stretch and gets a HUGE amount of leverage thanks to the Giant. Sting hiptosses out and makes the HOT TAG TO NASH! He pounds Giant until he goes over and tags Hall. This is what Tenay wanted to see. Hall avoids the Snake Eyes, but eats a Big Boot. He calls for the JACKKNIFE, but Giant breaks that up. Sting takes care of the Giant and gets a tag from Nash. A couple Stinger Splashes to Hall and it’s time for the SCORPION DEATHLOCK. While Nash stops Giant from breaking the hold, the unpredictable Bret Hart comes out and brings Sting off the hold. Bret heads out of the ring and while Sting stands up on the second rope in the corner, Hall comes by and nails Sting so he can give him the OUTSIDER’S EDGE for the 1-2-3. (8:40 shown) And with that, we’ve got NEW tag team champs. Certainly a heated match if not much in the way of great wrestling. **

Let Us Take You Back: Earlier tonight, Diamond Dallas Page laying facedown backstage just as Bret Hart comes out wanting to fight him.

• The Great Muta & Masahiro Chono vs. Alex Wright & Disco Inferno
  

More nWo B&W boys to go over to put Hollywood Hogan over. They attack Disco and Wright at the bell. Wright comes back with a spinning heel kick on Chono. Tag to Disco, he eats the YAKUZA KICK to turn the tide. Muta tags in, but he takes a swinging neckbreaker. Disco catches a knee from the apron by Chono as Muta punishes him with a Dragon Screw Leg Whip and applies the kneebar for the tapout. (2:17) Out comes Scott Norton to destroy Wright and Disco some more. ¾*

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

NITRO GIRLS! One of the trainers comes out and interrupts Kimberly to take her backstage to be with DDP. Yay, that gives us more FYRE!

• Ultimo Dragon vs. Tokyo Magnum
  

We check out this teacher versus student match. When Tokyo wants to dance at the bell, Dragon teaches him that is *not* what you should do by blindsiding the crap out of him. After running the ropes, they wind up in the corner where Dragon does the headstand kick. Here comes the Kick Combo. More kicks from Dragon, but Tokyo manages a hurracanrana out of the corner for two. Magnum comes flying off the top, but Dragon catches him with a dropkick and follows up with a Brainbuster and the DRAGON SLEEPER for the win. (2:27) This ends up being Ultimo Dragon’s final match in WCW. Dragon suffered an arm injury that required surgery and after a WCW-hired physician cut several nerves in his arm, rendering the limb virtually useless, Dragon was fired. In 2002, he underwent surgery to repair the damage done and returned to the U.S. working for WWE in 2003 where he was able to live out two of his dreams: wrestle in MSG and compete at a WrestleMania. *½

Let Us Take You Back: Earlier tonight, Scott Hall and the Giant defeated Sting and Kevin Nash to win the WCW world tag titles thanks to interference from Bret Hart. Is it just me or are they showing way more “earlier tonight” moments than usual?

• Scott Norton (w/Vincent) vs. Jim Powers
  

More nWo B&W ownage. They seem to be building up Norton for Goldberg. Some power moves from Norton lead to the POWERBOMB to Powers for the win at 2:31.

They show a video of Hollywood Hogan destroying people over the last two years. Why?

This leads to Hollywood Hogan and the rest of the nWo B&W coming out to the ring. Hogan says everything is good between him and Scott Hall. He wants everybody to give Hall and the Giant a round of applause for winning the WCW tag belts. Hogan admires Buff Bagwell and Scott Steiner’s level of worship for him. Oh my gosh. He calls Goldberg a paper champion. He says that the Great Muta and Masahiro Chono flying in only to pay homage to Hogan because the nWo B&W is universal, brother. Now that Eric Bischoff has proven tonight that he’s the funniest man in the world, Jay Leno can take a backseat to the man who will take over late night TV. Hogan also mentions Bret Hart and says he’s ready to fight DDP tonight and become the U.S. champ. After tonight, everyone will know that the nWo B&W is just too sweet.

Let Us Take You Back: Earlier tonight, Eric Bischoff stole Jay Leno’s monologue and nobody cared.

Let Us Take You Back: Thunder, 7/17/98. They show the ending of the main event including Curt Hennig and Scott Hall against DDP and Konnan.

• Konnan (w/Antoine Carr of the Utah Jazz) vs. Eddie Guerrero
  

Konnan sucks up to the Utah fans with the center of the Jazz, which only means something to the live crowd. Heenan thinks he’s Isaac Hayes with those sunglasses on. Eddie catches Konnan with a running dropkick at the bell and follows up with a clothesline, but then Konnan launches Guerrero a few times to send him out to the floor. The ref gets in between Eddie and Carr and the crowd BOOS. Back in, Konnan gets the X-Factor for two. The Rolling Lariat gets two as well. Chavo Guerrero Jr. comes out imitating Konnan. When Konnan gets distracted, Eddie grabs him for a Brainbuster. Eddie takes Pepe away from Chavo and goes to whack Konnan, but misses. Hey, there’s the bell. (4:29) Konnan steals Pepe from Eddie and whacks him instead. What a mess. *

• Lex Luger vs. Curt Hennig (w/Rick Rude)
  

Hennig can’t hang with Lex to start. When Luger grabs him from inside the ring, Hennig snaps Lex’s neck on the top rope and starts kicking him in the ribs. The Hennig neck snap gets two. Luger starts to NO-SELL some chops, but then gets poked in the eye. Luger breaks up a sleeperhold with a back suplex. After a series of atomic drops, Hennig bumps into ref Charles Robinson. Lex hits the Bionic Elbow and calls for the Torture Rack. In comes Rude, he gets the TORTURE RACK instead. That’s one match you never got to see since as workers, they were never in the same promotion at the same time aside from 1987 when they were both heels. Hennig nails Luger in the ribs and applies the HENNIGPLEX while Rude grabs hold of Luger’s ankle. Ref Charles Robinson wakes up just in time to count the pinfall. (5:24) Man, the nWo B&W are so undefeated tonight. *½

• Vacant WCW U.S. Heavyweight Championship: Diamond Dallas Page vs. Bret Hart
  

Just as it looks like Bret Hart might win the U.S. title by forfeit, DDP comes limping out to the ring against doctor’s orders with his ribs taped (still) and his right knee taped. Bret runs through his moves and while DDP avoids one shot at the SHARPSHOOTER, he can’t avoid the second time he locks it on as Bret wins by submission. (2:52) Hollywood Hogan is followed by the rest of the nWo B&W to celebrate with Bret Hart in the ring to close the show while DDP does a stretcher job. N/R

No Thunder this week due to the Goodwill Games on TBS. Next up will be Nitro in San Antonio! Until then, so long for now.