WCW: Monday Nitro
September 28, 1998
Rochester, NY
Blue Cross Arena

The current WCW champs are as follows:
WCW World Champion: Bill Goldberg (7/6/1998)
WCW U.S. Champion: Bret Hart (8/13/1998)
WCW World Tag Team Champions: The Giant & Scott Hall (7/20/1998)
WCW World Television Champion: Chris Jericho (8/10/1998)
WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Billy Kidman (9/14/1998)

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

NITRO GIRLS!

Hollywood Hogan, Scott Hall, Brian Adams, and Eric Bischoff head to the ring. Scott Hall seems much more sober tonight than he has in recent weeks. Since Hogan doesn’t have the world title to play air guitar, he has to do something with his hands so he shows us how he would chop down a mountain with the edge of his hand. Bischoff thanks all the people for giving him their money before turning it over to the Hulkster. He tells the people he took a “hillbilly organization” that was used to seeing tens of thousands of dollars of revenue a night to HUNDREDS of thousands of dollars of revenue. Cue the Dr. Evil reference. He made WCW think they were great and now that’s he got everybody where he wants them, he lets the stupid wrestling fans know they are just as gullible as all the wrestlers that he is going to start plucking off one at a time. When he meets that goof Warrior at Halloween Havoc and proves to him that all the running and hiding only delayed the torture he’s going to endure, that will be the first step towards Hollywood regaining the “nWo” world title. Now Hogan tells a story about going into the hood (I have no idea) and apparently these people in the hood told him he should take out either Sting or Bret Hart. He’s barely able to talk at this point, but Hogan challenges one of them to a match tonight and he doesn’t care which one it is. To wrap it up, he makes some joke about having a hard dick and mentions how tight he is with the Nitro Girls before saying he’s just too SWEEEEEET. HOLLYWOOD HOGAN RULES THE WORLD, BROTHERS.

• La Parka vs. Super Calo

It’s been several months since we’ve seen both of these guys so it’s good to see them back on WCW TV. Tony even realizes this fact. I don’t recall La Parka coming out in his mariachi outfit, which is pretty cool. He throws his sombrero at Super Calo as the bell sounds. La Parka does his strut and gets blasted for being too cool. They go from corner to corner and Calo does a floatover. La Parka wants to low blow him with a mule kick on the way down. When he misses, he just turns around and kicks Super Calo in the nuts. AWESOME. La Parka charges into the corner and eats boots several times. Too much strutting too as Calo catches him with a flying headscissors. La Parka boots down Calo, but charges and runs into the ringpost. Down on the floor, Calo wipes him out with a dive off the top. MORE AWESOME. Back in, Calo flies into a dropkick from La Parka for two. La Parka puts Calo in the tree of woe and nails him with a spinning heel kick. He calls for the end and heads up top, but he’s taking too much time and flies down into a boot. Calo chops him back and ends up on the floor. He catches La Parka up top trying to kick him, but Calo yanks his leg on the top cable. With La Parka now sitting up top, Calo does a double springboard headscissors for 1-2-NO! A headscissors out of the corner puts down La Parka, but Calo tries it twice and gets drilled with a spinebuster. As Calo staggers up to his feet, La Parka comes off the top with a CORKSCREW MOONSAULT PRESS for the three-count. (5:32) I’ve missed these two. La Parka isn’t able to celebrate his win because Super Calo BEATS THE SHIT OUT OF HIM with the chair La Parka brought with him to the ring. HEEL SUPER CALO IS EVEN MORE AWESOME. **½

Gene Okerlund brings out the WCW U.S. champ Bret Hart to respond to Hollywood Hogan’s challenge. Bret has waited a lifetime to get a shot at Hogan. He and Sting have agreed Bret should have the match against Hogan because of how many years Hollywood has ducked him. Bret will prove tonight he’s the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be. He wants to prove to the people once again that he can be just as great of a hero as Ric Flair and Sting. All he wants is one chance to prove that to them and lets Hogan know he’s going to kick the living crap out of him – FOR THE PEOPLE.

• The Disciple vs. Sick Boy

Please explain to me why the Disciple is coming out to the nWo Hollywood theme if he’s been kidnapped and converted over to the “OWN”? As he holds up the “OWN” vest he’s wearing, Sick Boy nails him from behind. Now that there’s no more Flock, HAS SICK BOY GONE OVER TO THE NEW WORLD ORDER? Disciple acts like he’s super pumped up like the Warrior. He NO-SELLS and beats his chest just like him. The APOCALYPSE ends Sick Boy in 2:00. CRINGE.

They take us back to Road Wild and Fall Brawl PPVs to show us the BS that Buff Bagwell and Scott Steiner have been trying to pull to get out of wrestling Rick Steiner to pump us up for the Rick Steiner versus Scott Steiner “NO DQ” match for Halloween Havoc.

Tonight however, Bill Goldberg takes on Chris Jericho – for real this time. WHAT A NITRO, FOLKS!

NITRO PARTY video airs with some Mormon kids from Utah, so you know it’s WILD.

NITRO GIRLS!

• Scott Steiner (w/Buff Bagwell) vs. Lenny Lane & Nick Dinsmore

Steiner cuts a promo before the bell saying he is the proof that all men are clearly not created equal. You can imagine how this match goes as Steiner destroys both men before putting them in the DOUBLE STEINER RECLINER. You could call it the ONE MAN DP, but let’s not get too crazy. That’s enough for the tapout in 2:33. Steiner sells a back injury, but of course no one believes it. Trainer Danny Young comes down and helps Buff get Steiner to the back.

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

The lights dim, the music plays, a familiar voice says something I still cannot comprehend, and out comes the Warrior from out the tunnel. He’s doing a slow walk to the ring now which I think is a huge improvement to his entrance. He still does his crazy “running back and forth on the apron” thing though. Speak to him, Warriors. He knows his Warriors were disappointed over Wargames. Warrior says a fan who tries to get in the ring a “lost Warrior”. He feels the reason Hogan is scared of him is because Hogan sees in Warrior a small piece of who he used to be. Warrior tells Hogan to find out who he needs to be come Halloween Havoc. He mentions something about becoming “full blown” and that Hogan will face the Ultimate Challenge once again. To close, Warrior wants to feel the power of the WARRIORS. Since he’s getting booed (here in McMahonLand) and probably doesn’t even know what he’s talking about anyways, I’m assuming they cut this short.

Gene Okerlund meets with Buff Bagwell to find out what’s happening with Scott Steiner. Buff says Scott took a ride in an ambulance, but Gene isn’t buying it. Buff asks Gene if he’s calling him a liar. The Chucky laugh starts up again while Buff even acts confused as to where the laughter is coming from. When asked if Scott will be ready for Halloween Havoc,  Buff has no idea because he’s CLEARLY no doctor. Suck it up, Rick Steiner, because you just might not get what you want.

• Ernest Miller vs. Psychosis

The Cat has LOADS of charisma, but I think he’s still got “go away” heat. He gives Psychosis five seconds to leave or he’ll get a beaten. Psychosis isn’t scared or just doesn’t understand English. Miller says he’s going to whoop Psychosis even harder since he can’t understand English. Yeah, that’ll show him. He puts the mic down and gives Psychosis a thrust kick right in the windpipe. Psychosis starts dropkicking the legs low and throws Miller to the floor for a plancha. OUCH. Back in, a missile dropkick hits Miller for two. Miller then catches a spinning heel kick and slams down Psychosis. Weird how Psychosis is wrestling this like he’s so much smaller than the Cat, but of course they aren’t that much different in size. Psychosis misses the Guillotine Legdrop and turns around into the FELINER for the win in 3:19.

Gene Okerlund brings out Alex Wright who grabs the mic away from him and starts yelling in German. He calls Gene a “bald midget” and starts putting down Rochester. He says the people of Rochester are a bunch of losers – just like the British Bulldog. Wright feels he’s the greatest European wrestler and challenges him a second time since last week’s Thunder. He’s better looking, much better wrestler, and even better dancer. They hit his music and starts dancing.

• Disco Inferno vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. (w/Pepe)

Rematch from Thunder when Juventud Guerrera cost Disco Inferno the match due to Disco forging his weigh-in papers. Whatever. Chavo cuts off Disco with an armdrag, but then Disco shuts down a second armdrag with a side slam. He walks over and threatens Pepe, but continues to stomp Chavo instead. Chavo comes back with a LOU THESZ PRESS and pounds on Disco like he’s Stone Cold. Don’t threaten Pepe! To the floor, Chavo wipes out Disco with a pescado and then heads back in the ring to ride Pepe. Back inside, Chavo lands an atomic drop and a clothesline for two. He runs into a back elbow in the corner and the tide turns for Disco. He slams Chavo a couple times and lands the flying elbow for two. Chavo comes right back with a running forearm in the corner followed by a Springboard Bulldog. He starts pounding on Disco some more. As the ref stops Chavo, Disco grabs Pepe and jabs Chavo in the throat for the three-count. (4:40) Of all things, Juventud Guerrera is already on the ring apron to protest. He springboard dropkicks Disco and headscissors out to the floor. As Juventud helps Chavo, Disco runs back in and plants Guerrera with a PILEDRIVER. Hey, he’s had it coming for a week now. **

Four Horsemen hype video. Imagine putting the Figure-Four on someone in a brawl.

Back to the show, Gene Okerlund brings out the Four Horsemen (with Arn Anderson), which means we finally get to hear “MEANNNNNNNN (WOO!) Gene”. Immediately, Eric Bischoff, Doug Dellinger, Stevie Ray, and some of Rochester’s Finest head to ringside.  They are here to arrest Arn Anderson for felonious assault against Stevie Ray on last week’s Thunder. Eric is getting TONS of heat for destroying this segment. Tony points out the obvious which is that Rochester police can’t arrest a man for a crime committed in Norfolk. The Four Horsemen get escorted out of the ring and out of the building and told the Waffle House is right down the street. Arn isn’t leaving in handcuffs. Bischoff continues to talk down to Flair saying he used his son as an excuse to get out of working and feels Flair is living through his son Reid’s wrestling career. He hopes Reid Flair can get it done because Ric Flair never will. Bischoff feels nothing but love for the people of Rochester and thanks Stevie Ray for holding back ripping the Four Horsemen apart.

There’s so much happening right now with Chris Jericho. He’s got Ralphus who is the Jericho Personal Security as it reads on his shirt, he’s got Kenny Powers the Jericholic Ninja, some other redneck boomer guy who is part of his security in a ripped up t-shirt that reads “¡Viva Los Jericho!, and Jericho himself is wearing the TV title around his waist and a t-shirt that reads “Jericho – 1 Goldberg – 0”. He walks and talks his way to the ring with his entourage surrounding him.

• Goldberg vs. Chris Jericho

Is this really happening?  Goldberg’s music plays, the fireworks go off, and HERE’S GOLDBERG. He’s got the fake Goldberg over his shoulder that Jericho used at Fall Brawl. Is he dead? He leaves the little man laying inside the ring. Jericho shoves Kenny Powers and the other redneck into a double spear as he and Ralphus get the heck outta Dodge. Goldberg grabs the redneck and gives him a JACKHAMMER. He heads to a corner and calls for Jericho to come back, but there’s no Jericho in sight. He’s like a wild lion who just destroyed two gazelles. I’ve been watching too many Attenborough documentaries lately.

Gene Okerlund brings out Diamond Dallas Page to the ring. I was wondering when we would hear from him. He runs through the crowd and the poor Rochester police try and keep up with him. Okerlund makes a comparison of DDP’s match with Goldberg to the rivalry between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. DDP is getting JACKED TO THE MOON over his match with Goldberg. DDP starts talking about the Four Horsemen, and the nWo Wolfpac who are 4-EVER, and the nWo Black and White is 4-LIFE. DDP is all by himself, he’s black and blue, and he’s 4-REAL. BANG!

• Scott Hall (w/Vincent) vs. Kidman

Vincent brings a drink with him, but refuses to give it to Hall until after the match I guess. Hall is wearing one of the tag belts. Somebody throws a drink at Hall and he visibly gives them the middle finger. His survey question this week: taste great or less filling? Why is the Cruiserweight champ Kidman wrestling Scott Hall? Kidman takes the toothpick to the face and then mocks Hall for his drinking habits. Hall shoves him back in the corner and chops the crap out of Kidman. He then heaves Kidman across the ring and asks Vincent for a drink, but Kidman schoolboys him for two. Kidman delivers a dropkick and then gives him a crucifix into a sunset flip into the ropes. Hall then stands up and turns Kidman inside out with a clothesline. He continues to beat down Kidman and applies an abdominal stretch. He tries the 1-2-3 Kid out of the hiptoss, but flips around and lands on his feet for Hall to catch him for a chokeslam. He calls out to the Giant, or as he calls him “G-Money”. Hall takes the drink away from Vincent and takes a break. Kidman wipes out Vincent with a pescado and then punches Hall in the gut to do a spit take into the crowd. Whoops. Kidman knocks the drink out of his hand. Back inside, Kidman hits a missile dropkick and a springboard bulldog. Flying body press to Hall gets two. Kidman runs into a Fallaway Slam. Hall goes for the Outsider’s Edge, but YOU CAN’T POWERBOMB KIDMAN. Cover, 1-2-NO! Vincent reaches in and gets nailed, but Hall nails Kidman from behind and hits the OUTSIDER’S EDGE for the win. (6:14) There were a few hopeful spots and I wouldn’t say this exactly derailed Kidman’s ascent, but this was certainly not the 1-2-3 Kid moment from 1993 and Kidman didn’t need this loss and Scott Hall didn’t need *this* win, so at the very best both guys look exactly the same after the match is over. *½

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

• Davey Boy Smith vs. Alex Wright

Davey Boy sets the record straight with Alex Wright. He says Alex couldn’t lace his 11 year old son (who is actually 13) Harry’s boots, he’s very popular in Germany, and he tells Alex to “suck it” in German. WHOA. IS DAVEY BOY SMITH THE LATEST MEMBER OF D-GENERATION X? FIND OUT NEXT WEEK ON RAW! They go back and forth trading holds to start. Bulldog does his fancy escape out of a wristlock. He ducks an enziguri and applies a surfboard. What’s gotten into Bulldog tonight? Wright fires back and chops Davey Boy in the corner. He drags Davey Boy to the apron and gives him a double sledge. Wright gives him a slingshot splash for two. He gives Bulldog a snap suplex and heads up again, but Davey Boy is there to slam him down. He meets Wright in the corner for a ten-count corner punch, but Wright drops him down onto the top rope. Bulldog delivers the RUNNING POWERSLAM, but the ref gets whacked. Charles Robinson comes out to seemingly replace ref Scott Dickinson. Wright gives Bulldog a bridging back suplex and both refs count the others guys shoulders down to cause a draw finish. (4:26) Ahh, the “Beware of Dog” finish. These two work pretty well together, but I’m not that interested in who is the “better” European wrestler. **

NITRO GIRLS! Spice gets a dance all by herself. I wonder if any WWF wrestlers wanted to marry her after this.

We get a special video of Kevin Nash – the hip 40 year old white dude who listens to rap music.

• Kevin Nash vs. Brian Adams

Looks like some kid wearing JNCOs joined Nash at the tunnel during his entrance and nobody knows who it is. Tony blames the incident on Eric Bischoff for escorting head of security Doug Dellinger out of the building. Nash keeps an eye on Adams and makes sure to let everybody know he’s in the house. Tony makes sure to let him know the rest of the Wolfpac is here, too. Nash beats the crap out of Adams in the corner to start doing 80% of his moveset in thirty seconds. Heenan calls Nash a “thinking man’s wrestler”. Adam shuts down a corner charge and levels Nash with a flying clothesline. He even dropkicks Nash to the floor. However, Nash makes sure Adams eats the ring steps. Back in, Nash boots him down a few times. Hey look, Stevie Ray comes down and nails Nash with the slap jack to stop the Jackknife for the DQ. (2:40) Hall runs down and joins in on the assault while Vincent and Stevie Ray hold him down. Hall is holding a drink in his hand, but then tosses it aside and starts wailing on Nash. Next thing we know, Lex Luger and Konnan run down to clean house and save their leader’s backside. Was there so much backlash with the Scott Hall drinking angle that this is where it ends? We’ll find out, I guess.

• Lex Luger & Konnan vs. Barry Darsow & Hugh Morrus (w/Jimmy Hart)

So let me get this straight, Luger and Konnan left the ring during the ad break so Barry Darsow, Hugh Morrus, and Jimmy Hart could come out to the ring without an entrance and then Luger and Konnan do their proper entrances. This JNCO kid shows up again to give Lex the “too sweet” and I don’t know who he is. DOES ANYBODY KNOW WHO THIS KID IS? WHERE ARE YOUR PARENTS? IT’S LIKE 10:30PM ON A SCHOOL NIGHT AND YOU’RE PARTYING WITH THE NWO WOLFPAC. Konnan is cringe, right? It’s not just me? This is clearly just a warmup match for Luger and Konnan, but I’m not sure what they are warming for exactly? Nobody has mentioned the tag belts in months. To the finish we go, Darsow stops Konnan’s Tequila Sunrise, but Konnan gives him the K-FACTOR and tags Luger who applies the TORTURE RACK for the win in 2:20. Let’s get to the main event we’ve been waiting to see for DECADES~!

NITRO GIRLS!

• Hollywood Hogan vs. Bret Hart

Wow, no “Voodoo Chile” tonight. Hulk must mean business. Bret limps to the ring still selling a knee injury from Wargames. He doesn’t care – he wants a piece of HOGAN. He even throws the U.S. title down! Whoa, buddy. Bret lets Hogan know he’s a “son of a bitch” to start. The match goes from a stiff tie-up to Hogan trying to chain wrestle Bret down to the mat. Bret maintains control of Hogan’s arm for a bit. Hogan returns the favor and gets Bret down into a cross armbreaker in the ropes. He whips Bret into the ropes for the running clothesline. Bret rolls away from THREE elbow drops and clotheslines Hogan to the floor. They brawl around ringside and head back inside as Hogan begs off. He yanks Bret out to the floor and drops Bret’s bad knee on the guardrail – not once, but TWICE. HOGAN IS THE MAN. He even wrenches the bad knee around the ringpost despite the ref pleading him to stop. Back inside, Hogan channels the spirit of Terry Funk and applies a spinning toe hold with Bret grabbing hold of the bottom rope. It doesn’t matter what the ref says, Hogan won’t let go of the hold. Next thing we know, STING is on his way down. He pulls Hogan off the hold and shoves him back. They start talking smack to each other. Lex Luger and Konnan assist Bret, but Bret wants to go back and fight because of how much he wants Hogan. They bring out a stretcher for Bret and he’s basically being taken away against his will. Sting decides he’s going to take Bret’s place and fight Hogan. Sting starts punching away on Hogan, but Hogan stops him and chops him in the corner. He whips Sting across and delivers a running clothesline. Now Hogan gives Sting a back suplex. He walks over to a camera to say he can beat up the entire nWo Wolfpac by himself. They show what’s happening with Bret Hart on the split-screen as he’s being put into an ambulance. Can you even trust an ambulance anymore? Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell come out from behind the ambulance doors and start beating the crap out of Lex and Konnan. The EMTS split because what are they going to do? Bret gets unhooked from the stretcher and starts hobbling back to the ring, but neither Buff nor Steiner go after him. Meanwhile, Hogan misses the Legdrop on Sting. Bret is coming down the aisle. Stinger Splash to Hogan! He starts to turn Hogan over in the SCORPION DEATHLOCK. Bret gets in the ring and he’s cheering Sting on, but then walks over and drops him with a DDT. (9:54 total) Bret then starts pummeling Sting, headbutts the groin, and then turns him over for the SHARPSHOOTER. The knee doesn’t seem to be bothering Bret anymore. Kevin Nash got knocked out, Lex Luger and Konnan got beaten up, and that means there’s no one left to save Sting. Once Bret is tired of the hold, Hogan tosses him a chair for Bret to crack Sting’s knee. The Rochester crowd has started throwing garbage in the ring. Hogan finally decks the ref Charles Robinson. To make it worse, Bret drags Sting over to a corner for the Ringpost Figure-Four. Nope, nevermind. Bret continues to stomp on Sting anyways. Hey look, Konnan is here. He just needs to get Sting out of there. Lex Luger finally appears and helps his pal Sting while Konnan runs interference. While the ref of the nWo Wolfpac head to the locker room, Bret and Hogan stand tall like they were friends all along. **

What’s hilarious about this whole thing is that Hollywood Hogan ends up looking like the GOAT out of everybody. He just wrestled one of his best WCW matches – bar none. It’s brilliant because when he works hard and actually wrestles, you remember because it stands out. Unfortunately for Bret, nobody honestly could have been hoodwinked by this heel turn because he’s been all over the place since he came to WCW. If they had never had Bret turn heel in the first place to become an “nWo talent scout”, this would have had a much bigger impact. The Ole Anderson heel turn in 1980 Georgia is the benchmark for this type of heel turn. He strung everybody along for a YEAR before he turned on Dusty Rhodes. The reason that heel turn has become so memorable even forty years later is because Ole Anderson kept his intentions CLEAR and CONSISTENT about being a different man, but Bret has never been clear and his character has only been consistently inconsistent since he arrived, so even when he cuts a “changed man” promo with Roddy Piper and wants everybody to give him one more chance to prove how good he really is, nobody would believe a word he says, so the “shock and awe” is lost.

The angle, however, was actually pretty well done for WCW, I must say. I don’t think Lex Luger and Konnan should have came down to grab Sting because it means Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell really didn’t do their jobs, which makes them look stupid. Meltzer says Luger and Konnan were supposed to get in the ring and get beaten up by Hogan and Bret only to be saved by the Warrior, but I don’t see why they need to bring Warrior into Bret’s business because now it makes Bret’s match with Sting coming up at Halloween Havoc mean more. With the reception Warrior received in his one short segment, it’s probably for the best on this particular Nitro episode.

Man, the Four Horsemen looked like they had been neutered tonight, amirite?

Until then, so long for now.

World Championship Wrestling presents “Halloween Havoc”
LIVE on October 25 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada
ONLY ON PAY-PER-VIEW

DOUBLE MAIN EVENT: WCW World Heavyweight Championship:
Goldberg (c) vs. Diamond Dallas Page
DOUBLE MAIN EVENT:
The Warrior vs. Hollywood Hogan
Kevin Nash vs. Scott Hall
No-DQ Match: Rick Steiner vs. Scott Steiner