WCW: Monday Nitro
August 3, 1998
Denver, CO
Denver Coliseum

The current WCW champs are as follows:
WCW World Champion: Bill Goldberg (7/6/1998)
WCW U.S. Champion: Bret Hart (7/20/1998)
WCW World Tag Team Champions: The Giant & Scott Hall (7/20/1998)
WCW World Television Champion: Booker T (6/14/1998)
WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Chris Jericho (7/13/1998)

Pretty dope Goldberg video to begin things. We don’t even see the Nitro intro yet!

HOUR NUMBER ONE! Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Larry Zbyszko. Hold up, that’s not Larry Z. Bobby Heenan is at the broadcast booth because Zbyszko was called into a meeting by Time Warner executives. Schiavone speculates the meeting has something to do with the gag order placed on him by nWo Hollywood and Dusty Rhodes last week. Heenan had his ear to the door and suspects Tony is right.

NITRO GIRLS~!

We see “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” highlights of Hollywood Hogan and Eric Bischoff taking over the show before Diamond Dallas Page shows up and helps security escort them off the show. Hogan called Jay Leno out for a fight in Sturgis, so DDP thinks he and Leno with Kevin Eubanks in their corner should face Hollywood Hogan and Eric Bischoff. If it means Leno agreeing to the fight and will never have to see that moron [Bischoff] again, he agrees to the match. ROAD WILD! JAY LENO! YEAH.

Back in the Denver Coliseum, DDP meets Gene Okerlund in the ring. Heenan thinks Leno ought to be careful because he could end up watching the Mike Douglas show from Jack Paar’s house. HA. DDP says there won’t be much of Hollywood “Scum” Hogan after Road Wild. As for Eric Bischoff, the same goes for him because there’s nobody in this country who doesn’t want to see Jay Leno smack him like a little girl. DDP is training with Jay and he’ll be on the Tonight Show tomorrow night. At Road Wild, Sleazy E and Scum Hogan…you will FEEL THE BANG!

• Diamond Dallas Page vs. The Barbarian (w/Jimmy Hart)

The Barbarian comes out for a scheduled match, but Jimmy Hart is calling out to DDP to come get some. DDP is soaking up the love from the Denver crowd and then decides to run back to the ring to get him some. Off comes the shirt, and there’s NO TAPE ON THE RIBS! It’s only been like eighteen months. Barb goes for the ribbies, but DDP won’t have it. Since the ribs don’t hurt, the balls do as Barbarian takes over. Why does Jimmy Hart hate DDP? Anyways, Barbarian continues to hammer down on DDP. The crowd is so into this man. DDP stops a corner charge and puts Barb down with a lariat. Jimmy Hart takes a bump off the apron. DDP ducks the Kick of Fear and has to POWER Barbarian down into the DIAMOND CUTTER at 3:27. ½*

More “Tonight Show” highlights. Now Jay Leno brings out a Hollywood “Scum” Hogan midget.

LARRY ZBYSZKO HAS RETURNED! Schiavone questions him about the meeting. Since he’s a commentator, he’s not supposed to leave his post and get involved. Dusty Rhodes apparently showed Time Warner execs some edited footage of Larry Z’s actions. Zbyszko explained himself saying that the only times he ever got involved was when someone kept him from doing his job. He can continue being a commentator or he can leave and go play golf. He felt it was actually Time Warner’s duty to keep people who did not belong at the announce position away from the announce position. And that’s that.

Let Us Take You Back: Nitro, 7/27/98. Brian Adams calls out Goldberg for a WCW world title match. Next thing you know, Goldberg’s locker room was trashed and tagged. Goldberg comes out to respond and says the nWo Hollywood crossed the line. Brian Adams – YOU’RE NEXT. And yeah, Goldberg beat him. In other news, DDP tells Hollywood Hogan that you should never hunt something you can’t kill. He calls out Hogan and we get the match. DDP lands the Diamond Cutter on him, but the nWo Hollywood boys jump him for the DQ. The nWo Wolfpac came out to help DDP. Goldberg came out to get him some more of the nWo Hollywood boys. Once the ring is clear, Goldberg is left all alone – with the GIANT. The Giant grabs Goldberg and delivers a massive CHOKESLAM.

ROAD WILD! AUGUST 8! TRAVIS TRITT! T-R-O-U-B-L-E!

Time for nWoooooo NIGHTCAP! Eric Bischoff and Elizabeth head over to the fake Tonight Show set. Bischoff does a bunch of Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky jokes. It’s 1998, folks! “What do Monica Lewinsky and Jay Leno have in common? They both suck at their job!” Stuff like that. Hollywood Hogan is the special guest tonight. They show the “unedited” footage of Hollywood Hogan and Eric Bischoff taking over the Tonight show. Hogan calls what he did to Leno as the “shove heard ’round the world”. Hogan claims DDP is a back stabbing liar. He and Bischoff are going to bust up DDP real bad. He feels real sorry for Jay Leno because Hogan and Bischoff showed NBC how to get ratings. When they left the Tonight Show set, the NBC execs were begging Hogan and Bischoff to return to host the show – not that Jay Leno guy. He also feels sorry for Kimberly because she should have taken out a real big insurance policy on DDP because that’s the only way she will cash in on that loser. Hogan calls Bischoff the “Master of Disaster” and how he’s going to kick Jay Leno’s chin off his face. If he’s smart, Leno won’t show and leave DDP all alone with the nWo Hollywood. See you at ROAD WILD, brothers. This was essentially just a Hollywood Hogan promo at a talk show setting.

We get a special look at Bret Hart. All Bret wants is some respect around here.

• Psychosis vs. Tokyo Magnum (w/Disco Inferno)

Disco introduces Alex Wright to the ring? NOPE. It’s TOKYO MAGNUM. I guess they have worked out a deal. Psychosis won’t stand for this. Wait a minute, SCOTT NORTON COMES OUT AND POWERBOMBS THE CRAP OUT OF BOTH GUYS. (:21) Scott Norton gets on the mic and issues an open challenge to anybody at WCW. Crowd calls for Goldberg. Next thing we know, Jimmy Hart is trying to stop HUGH MORRUS from coming out. Morrus walks right into a POWERBOMB from Norton. And with that, Norton seems satisfied and heads back to the locker room.

Talk turns back to Bret Hart. They replay his promo from last week where he told us he wouldn’t join the nWo Hollywood because he has so much respect for Sting. Bret claims getting involved in Sting’s match on 7/20 when they lost the WCW tag belts to the Giant and Scott Hall wasn’t his fault, but it was STING’s fault. Bret tells Sting to learn from defeat and win the next thing. Bret is your friend, Sting. Later in the night, Sting got Bret all distracted before he got beaten up by nWo Hollywood. We then see Sting trying to put Bret in the Scorpion Deathlock, but Bret gets away and heads for higher ground.

ROAD WILD! AUGUST 8! STURGIS! TRAVIS TRITT!

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

NITRO GIRLS~! SEND IN NITRO PARTY VIDEOS~!

Gene Okerlund brings out the WCW world champ Bill Goldberg to the ring. He asks for comments on the Giant. ROAD WILD! PAYBACK TIME! There’s going to be an nWo battle royal and Goldberg is coming for the Giant. He doesn’t care who he has to go through to get to the Giant – even STING. Well, Sting is ready to fight somebody and he comes out to go nose-to-nose with Goldberg. The Giant comes out the tunnel and he’s followed by some other nWo Hollywood boys. Giant tells Goldberg that he doesn’t have to wait until Sturgis because he can come get him some right now. nWo propaganda papers are falling from the ceiling into the ring that say “Goldberg is next”. Goldberg then leaves Sting in the ring, fights through the nWo B-team, and chases after the Giant. Meanwhile, Bret Hart comes out and tries to get in Sting’s face. Sting avoids him and follows after Goldberg.

Get a “Big Sexy” t-shirt for only $20 plus S&H.

In the back, we see Sting standing over an unconscious Lex Luger. When security is taking care of Luger, Sting leaves clearly looking for somebody.

• Brian Adams (w/Vincent) vs. Jim Duggan

So Adams goes from a world title match to Jim Duggan. Quite a fall. Duggan goes CLOTHESLINE CRAZY on Adams and sends him to the floor. We see a POLISH HAMMER, but Adams has enough and delivers an inverted atomic drop to stun Duggan. Vincent gets in a shot there. Duggan escapes a chinlock and ten-count corner punches Adams. Vincent grabs Duggan from the apron, but Duggan avoids the big boot and down goes Vincent. Duggan crotches Adams on the ropes and hits the THREE POINT STANCE. In comes Vincent with the 2×4, but Duggan punches him down and whacks Vincent. Adams nails Duggan in the back of the head and stuffs him with the Piledriver for the win in 3:10. Having just watched WWF 1980 where Duggan was a jabroni, you would NEVER know the amount of charisma buried inside that man. ½*

Gene Okerlund knocks on a door that says “WCW Restricted Area” despite looking for Sting and Lex Luger. Bret Hart shows up behind Gene and tells him he feels bad about what happened to Lex. Bret says Lex is a good partner for Sting, but Sting could have the *best* partner in the world and offers Sting that he can trust him to be his partner tonight against the Giant and Scott Hall. If there’s any doubt in Sting’s mind, Bret will prove he can be trusted tonight.

When we come back, Gene Okerlund is sitting on an American Ironhorse bike in the aisle. We’re supposed to believe that Gene rode that bike 350 miles. Well, Gene would NEVER stretch the truth.

We get a special video interview from Raven. He’s like a modern-day Tumblr writer.

Raven, Sick Boy, and Lodi head to the ring. There’s not going to be a match between Sick Boy and Kanyon tonight, so Raven tells ref Mickey Jay he can leave. Raven talks like Kanyon has been so mentally destroyed that he’s joined the Flock as well. Meltzer tells us he’s actually in Los Angeles helping get Leno trained for the PPV. There’s a three-way dance between Kanyon, Raven, and Saturn scheduled at Road Wild. For Saturn’s sake, Raven says he better hope this doesn’t turn into a handicap match. Lodi says he wants Saturn after Road Wild, but then Raven slaps him around and then he and Sick Boy try to break his hand. WHOA. Next thing you know, PERRY SATURN comes out to the ring. Once Raven and Sick Boy split, Saturn makes things worse for Lodi by snapping at his hand some more and then a DEATH VALLEY DRIVER for fun.

Gene Okerlund is back by the same door. Gene catches Bret Hart chatting with Scott Hall. Once Gene calls them out, Hart and Hall separate. Hall disappears and Bret goes into another locker room. .

They play the same clip from the Tonight Show for the third time tonight.

NITRO GIRLS~! Bobby Heenan rejoins us for commentary.

Now Gene Okerlund is in the aisle with WCW executive JJ Dillon. They bring out Dean Malenko for a chat. Malenko takes a mature attitude after losing to Chris Jericho. Next thing we know, out comes the Cruiserweight champ Chris Jericho. JJ Dillon gets Jericho to admit he’s out of control and showing no respect for WCW officials. Since he can’t be controlled, a special referee has been chosen to ref his upcoming WCW Cruiserweight title match at Road Wild. That man is DEAN MALENKO. Jericho is beside himself crying conspiracy again.

• Eddie Guerrero vs. Juventud Guerrera

Juventud had just beat Rey Mysterio on the previous Saturday Night to earn a shot at Jericho’s cruiserweight title at Road Wild that following Saturday. This is in between the Chavo angle and the formation of the LWO for Eddie, as there’s really not anything for him to do. Juvi fires away on Eddie with chops and a dropkick. Eddie stops him with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker though. Juvi comes back with a tilt-a-whirl headscissors and a Flying Spinning Heel Kick that puts Eddie on the floor to set up a No Hands Tope Suicida. Back in, Eddie counters a rana by falling backwards and sending Juvi’s face on the top turnbuckle. Just like that, Juvi counters a powerbomb into a DDT! Awesome! Cover, 1-2-NO! Springboard dropkick connects, as Juvi calls for the Juvi Driver. Eddie slips out and gives Guerrera a DANGEROUS looking shoulderbreaker. That sets up the FROG SPLASH for the 1-2-3. (4:04) In typical WCW form, they job the #1 contender out before his big title match. Some good spots as you would expect. **½

Gene handles another live ad for the American Ironhorse bike.

• Stevie Ray vs. Lizmark Jr.

Stevie Ray is still carrying around the TV belt. Gene stops him in his tracks and asks what he’s doing with the TV title. He pulls a legal document out of his butt that says injured Booker T is allowing his big brother Stevie Ray to defend his TV title. Gene doesn’t see where anything has been notarized or looks legitimate whatsoever. He calls Lizmark Jr. the #2 contender to the TV title. Hilarious. Crowd wants Booker. Stevie Ray hangs Lizmark out to dry and bicycle kicks him off the apron to the guardrail. This crowd does not like Stevie Ray. Buncha jealous fruit booties. Lizmark comes back with a flying bodypress for two. He runs into a back elbow and eats a kick from Stevie Ray. Powerslam leads to the SLAPJACK. Well it would have if CHAVO GUERRERO JR. hadn’t come out to ringside wearing Stevie Ray’s gear and claiming Stevie Ray had a notary stamp in his bag. Chavo can finally make his own driver’s license and drive a real car! He can even marry people! Stevie Ray chases after Chavo allowing Lizmark Jr. to win via countout at 3:09. ½*

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

• Curt Hennig (w/Scott Norton) vs. Konnan

With Sting having left the building, Lex Luger unconscious, Randy Savage on the shelf, and Kevin Nash is mad because of how weak the rest of the nWo Wolfpac look on this show going into the PPV, Konnan is all by himself. Rick Rude is also conspicuous by his absence. Konnan runs wild on Hennig to start. Heenan refers to Norton as a “mercenary”. Back in, Hennig fights back and stomps Konnan in the nuts. He beats on Konnan in the corner, but then Konnan reverses a whip and lands the Rolling Lariat. The X-Factor sets up the TEQUILA SUNRISE. Norton gets up on the apron to bring Konnan off the hold. Konnan nails Norton, but then Konnan gets whacked by Norton. Hennig chokes Konnan with his own wife beater and delivers the HENNIGPLEX for the three-count in 2:55. KEVIN NASH is out. Hennig and Norton split while Konnan is still down in the middle of the ring. Some good bumps from Hennig, but that’s about it. ¾*

• Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio

So Tenay explains Rey Mysterio lost a match that would guarantee him a cruiserweight title shot, but he still gets to wrestle the champion in a non-title match. Now you may be asking yourself, shouldn’t the guy who beat Mysterio be wrestling Jericho for the cruiserweight title here? Well, he will meet Jericho at Road Wild for the cruiserweight title, because that man was Juventud Guerrera. Jericho goes right after Mysterio as he comes into the ring. Jericho is baffled by the “Jericho sucks” chants. Three Kick Combo nails Mysterio in the corner. He comes back with a headscissors and we go to the floor as Rey flattens Jericho with a springboard seated senton. Back in, Jericho begs off and eats a dropkick for it. There’s a sliding legdrop and now we MUST go to commercial. When we return, Mysterio hits Jericho with a springboard moonsault press for two. Jericho catches a springboard crossbody and drops Rey with a nasty shoulderbreaker. As Mysterio rolls to the apron, Jericho dropkicks him to the floor and then follows up with a missile dropkick to the floor! Back inside, Mysterio counters a suplex and delivers a standing moonsault for two. Jericho drills him with a clothesline to stop him from following up. He applies some weird wishbone stretch hold for a bit. Mysterio fights back with a headscissors out of the corner and a springboard split-legged moonsault gets 1-2-NO! He tries to slide underneath Jericho, but gets caught and brought back and up around for a German suplex that turns Mysterio inside out. Cover, 1-2-NO! However, Mysterio avoids a springboard body block from Jericho who then goes flying down to the floor. In a way only Rey can do, he headscissors Jericho from the apron back into the ring. Jericho stops Rey with a butterfly backbreaker, but then Rey surprises Jericho with an X-Factor. Mysterio goes for the SPRINGBOARD HURRACANRANA, but Jericho pulls ref Mark Curtis into the move. Jericho blocks a springboard headscissors with a powerbomb and goes for the LIONTAMER. Rey counters that and rolls through into a pinning predicament. Here comes interim ref Dean Malenko who will be in charge of the Jericho-Juvi match at Road Wild to count the fake 1-2-3. (8:54 shown) You’re only the ref for that one match, Dean! Come on. These two seemed a little off here. Don’t know what it was, but I would have to say that they have certainly had better matches. **½

NITRO GIRLS~!

Let Us Take You Back: Nitro, 7/27/98. JJ Dillon comes out and chastises Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell for being dicks and makes a match for Road Wild between the Steiner brothers.

Scott Steiner comes to the ring and has decided after a phone call from his mama that he doesn’t want to run with the nWo Hollywood crew anymore. He apologizes to the fans and especially apologizes to his brother Rick. They play his music, but of course it’s Buff Bagwell doing a Rick Steiner impression. He’s more dog than person now. When the joke is over, Buff tells the people they are stupid and should sit down and shut up. Ohh man. Buff beams over Scott’s acting performance as a world class crier. HERE COMES THE TEARS. Wait, here comes Rick Steiner. He whacks Scott with a chair and chases after Buff. Meanwhile, other nWo B-team boys head down to help Scott.

Man, I’m already sick of seeing this Tonight Show with Jay Leno footage.

MORE NITRO GIRLS~! Next thing we know, Voodoo Chile plays as Hollywood Hogan, Eric Bischoff, The Disciple, the Giant, Brian Adams, and Vincent all come down to bully Kimberly. Naturally, they are trying to bait DDP out to the ring. Kimberly takes a swing at Bischoff, but she’s grabbed. DDP runs out and he’s held down by the Giant and Adams. Probably should have picked a better ally than JAY LENO, but that’s just me. Bischoff continues to talk smack. Crowd wants “Goldberg”. Hogan gets on the stick and tells everyone DDP’s wife is “black and white” from head to toe. He then beats on DDP. Since DDP won’t stop wiggling around, Giant gives him a CHOKESLAM. They let Kimberly bend down to embrace her husband. Hogan then tells Kimberly the next time she wants a real man, she needs to come to Hollywood’s house because he’s the only real man for her. He calls himself “daddy”, which is grossing me out. That’s all she wrote. The nWo Hollywood boys decide to leave Kimberly and her husband since the damage is clearly done. Schiavone calls this the lowest point in Nitro history. Heenan informs Jay Leno that he needs to be careful and that Hogan means business. Seems to me like a great time to shill the Travis Tritt Greatest Hits CD.

They replay the Goldberg interview from earlier in the show. From there, we see once again that Lex Luger was found napping or knocked unconscious by somebody in the show. Maybe his blood sugar was low? I don’t know. Anyways, once it was clear Luger was getting help, Sting bounced and we’ve since yet to see him in the building.

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

Instead of the usual survey, Scott Hall tells Kevin Nash to quit acting like a big baby and start acting like a man. Bret Hart comes out alone. No Sting. Commercials! When we come back, we get the OLD BLACK AND WHITE CROW STING coming down from the rafters with the OLD BLACK AND WHITE CROW STING MUSIC and the OLD CROW BLACK AND WHITE STING MAKEUP! Well, that has to be quite confusing to everyone in the crowd. Heenan thinks Sting snapped when he saw Lex Luger knocked out. Hart and Hall do some basic arm stuff to start. Tag to Sting, he punches Giant off the apron and runs wild on Hall. He goes for the Scorpion Deathlock early and Hall scurries to the apron. Sting gets nailed from the Giant and staggers into Hall for a clothesline. Giant tags in and throws Sting around. Whoa, there’s a Russian legsweep. Back over to Hall, he clotheslines Sting and peppers on the back of the head. Sting gets draped over the middle rope for Giant to choke him. The Fallaway Slam gets two. Hall grabs a front headlock and what appears to be a false tag spot gets Hart squashed by Hall and Sting. Giant comes in and puts Sting back down. Sting reverses a corner whip and clotheslines Hall down. He lowblows the Giant because why not and then clotheslines him to the floor. Hall jumps Sting from behind and puts him in a full nelson because Bret Hart is in the ring with Sting’s ball bat. He goes to whack somebody and Hall gets whacked. Okay then. Sting covers Hall and gets the three-count. (6:30) Umm, okay. Afterwards, Giant headbutts Sting down. Meanwhile, Bret grabs his US title and the tag belts as well from Michael Buffer. Schiavone says ref Mickey Jay has reversed the decision because of the ball bat that was used – meaning Giant and Hall win by DQ. WHAT. How could he have seen Bret use the bat? Sting is still getting his ass beat while Bret doesn’t do anything to help out. Oh wait, here comes GOLDBERG. He SPEARS the Giant down as we are outta time. ¾*

Looking back, wouldn’t Hogan and the Giant against Goldberg and DDP been the money match for Road Wild?

Until next time, so long for now.

Here’s a YouTube clip from 83 WEEKS with Eric Bischoff explaining bringing Jay Leno into WCW: