WCW: Monday Nitro
October 12, 1998
Chicago, IL
United Center

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)

Outside the United Center, Eric Bischoff yells at building security and Doug Dellinger to keep Ric Flair out of the building. He’s an easy guy to spot: big nose, white hair, and goes WOO all the time. He’ll also be surrounded by the ugliest people you’ll ever see, so KEEP THEM OUT.

We quickly go back to last week on Nitro where Sting was being fitted with a neck brace and a stretcher as a result of his backstage brawl with Bret Hart.

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

NITRO GIRLS! Larry Z really loves him some AC Jazz.

They replay Bret Hart’s challenge he made on Thunder for a match with Sting at Halloween Havoc. WILL HE ACCEPT THE MATCH?

More video clips dealing with Bret Hart’s clear heel turn a few weeks ago on Nitro.

They take us back to October 1 when WCW invaded Wall Street to pimp their Mastercard deal. Dr. Harvey Schiller makes an appearance. They go to great lengths with editing to not show mortal enemies within arm’s reach of each other yet acting civil, but a shot of Page and Hogan does make it through.

• Wrath vs. Lodi

You can imagine how this one goes. Wrath hits a jumping shoulderblock and the MELTDOWN ends Lodi in 1:31. MENG comes out and he starts to brawl with Wrath. Before it gets good, we go to commercials. HUH?

• Dale Torborg vs. Kendall Windham

Wow, GREAT use of Torborg. NOT. Our esteemed commentators put him over as part of the racing crew which I don’t understand how that qualifies him to be a wrestler. Apparently, he’s spent some time at the WCW Power Plant, but this is a totally different environment. Tenay even points out this is Torborg’s first real match. Yikes. Windham runs through his offense and goes for the Running Bulldog, but Torborg pushes him off and injures himself doing a Bicycle Kick for the RIDICULOUS three-count. (4:22) Chicago boos all of this, and understandably so. N/R

WCW/nWo Magazine ad – with exciting pictures from the PPV from two months ago!

NITRO GIRLS! Time for the NITRO PARTY PACK WINNER from Black Cat Tattoo in Georgia. The dude is hardcore. He’s shooting pyro off the front steps of his house! Smart!

They take us back to last week when Raven, Lodi and Kanyon take it to Diamond Dallas Page until Goldberg made the save.

Sting is out to answer Bret Hart’s challenge for Halloween Havoc. Forget about Havoc, Sting wants Bret Hart in Chi-Town. OH wait, he’s not done yet. Sting feels Hollywood Hogan, as the motivator behind all darkness around here, he wants to put Hogan in a black box, and calls him out as well. DID SOMEBODY SAY WARRIOR? No, they didn’t. He comes out through the tunnel anyways and it’s about 60% boos. There’s obvious connection between these two. Warrior says he’s watched Sting’s career from afar and has unconditional respect for Sting. He admits WCW is Sting’s battleground and not his, but wanted to come out and extend a request. He has a battle with Hollywood Hogan at Halloween Havoc. Really? I haven’t heard about it. Warrior demands Sting accept him as his partner to fight against Hollywood Hogan and Bret Hart. Same Warrior time, same Warrior place, same Warrior channel. As he leaves, Warrior is actually BOO’ed away. Sting doesn’t say anything back to him and ends the segment.

Another look at Goldberg versus DDP for Halloween Havoc.

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

Hollywood Hogan, Eric Bischoff, and HEY LOOK IT’S THE GIANT heading to the ring. It’s been a few weeks since we’ve seen him around here. Bischoff thanks the guy in the cheap seats for the Miller Lite, but lets us know he’s a Coors Light guy. Hogan refers to Giant as “My Giant” and the reason Giant’s match with Goldberg is No-DQ is because it’s time to end Goldberg’s run because that’s the way Hogan wants it. As for Sting and the Warrior, Hogan just had a talk with Bret Hart and they agree to beat the tails off those “cartoon characters.” Wait, now he’s saying people are calling him “Woody?” He refers to tonight’s main event as the “Ultimate Encounter” because when you’re B&W, when you’re with Hollywood, you’re with him 4-LIFE. Schiavone says Sting and Warrior teaming up for the first time in twelve years.

On the way to the back, some redneck “security officer” working for WCW yells to Bischoff that the Four Horsemen made it into the building. Tony can’t believe they got in, but as Larry Z admits, it’s not like there’s only one door to get into the UNITED CENTER. We follow Bischoff out of the building where we see security watching a white limo pull up. When you think limos, you think Ric Flair – at least I do. I make sure to WOO every time I see one driving on the road. So Ric Flair and the rest of the Four Horsemen get out of the limo and Bischoff starts yelling at them to leave. Next thing we know, Flair has Bruce Wirtz MacArthur with him who is apparently a member of the board who owns the United Center. WOW. He tells Bischoff that the United Center might be owned by the Chicago Bulls and the Chicago Blackhawks, but tonight the United Center belongs to the Four Horsemen. He admits Bischoff has a lease to the building, but MacArthur owns a skybox with ten beautiful women and cases of champagne, so he tells Bischoff to step aside. Bischoff threatens to sue everybody, but nevertheless MacArthur and the Four Horsemen head to their skybox. WOO!

• Alex Wright vs. Fit Finley

Looks like Finley has some new tights. I like it. This is another fight over who is the best European wrestler. Wright calls everybody in the arena “morons”. He says Finley ended Alex’s father Steve Wright’s career, so tonight Alex is going to end Finley’s career. Finley immediately takes Wright to the floor, chokes him with his leather jacket, and drives Wright back into the edge of the ring apron. Back in, Wright sunset flips back inside for a one-count. He runs down Finley and slams him real good. Finley gives him a short-arm clothesline and hotshots Wright. He then misses a corner charge and lands on the apron. He flies back inside, but Wright brings a boot up to block him. Finley comes right back with a lariat, but Wright catches him coming off the ropes and launches him onto the top rope. A rollup by Wright with his feet on the TOP ROPE gets the win. (1:59) Davey Boy Smith shows up at ringside and jumps Wright as he and Finley double-team him, but then Finley turns on Davey Boy as the war to the claim of who the best European wrestler in WCW is continues. ¾*

We check in at MacArthur’s skybox to see all the schmoozing going on. There’s an ongoing joke about Larry Z not joining his own family in their skybox, but he’s real interested in going up to MacArthur’s skybox.

• Chavo Guerrero Jr., Psychosis & Super Calo vs. La Parka, Ciclope & Villano V

Super Calo and La Parka do some strutting to start. Calo takes a nasty clothesline from La Parka that turns him inside out. Several miscommunication issues with La Parka and Villano V. It’s all happening faster than I can type. Calo takes Villano V to the floor for a somersault splash off the apron. La Parka tries a dive off the apron, but just ends up tripping and falling to the floor. In comes Psychosis who wipes out Psychosis with a tope suicida. Ciclope takes out Psychosis with the same. Here comes Chavo to take out everybody with a springboard splash. Back inside, Calo misses a springboard moonsault. Psychosis breaks up a pin from Villano V with a GUILLOTINE LEGDROP. In comes La Parka, he hits a corner clothesline on Psychosis. He struts away and runs into a boot, but then catches Psychosis with a powerslam. Chavo prevents the pinfall and gives La Parka a suplex for two. Ciclope breaks up the pin and delivers a spinebuster into the walking horse submission. Psychosis breaks up the hold with a spinning heel kick. La Parka stops Psychosis. Psychosis and Ciclope end up on the floor. The rudos whip Chavo and Calo into one another, but they come back and dropkick La Parka and Villano V to the floor for STEREO TOPE SUICIDAS! Back inside, Ciclope lands a nice jumping reverse back kick. Ciclope falls through the ropes and splats on the floor. Psychosis heads to the top and hits a SENTON BACK SPLASH to Ciclope. Hey look, the Latino World Order are heading down to ringside, and boy do they look confident. Back inside, Chavo hits Ciclope with the TORNADO DDT for the win. (5:31) Fun little car crash match at times. Not a true standout Nitro trios match though. **½

Just as a reminder, Eddie Guerrero’s LWO currently consists of Hector Garza, El Dandy, and Damien. El Dandy and Damien hold up the Mexican flag. Eddie tells these six guys that Eric Bischoff clearly doesn’t respect Latinos and their traditions. No new World order guy wrestles with the heart these guys do. Eddie claims Bischoff takes advantage of the poor economics in Mexico, gets away with paying these guys peanuts, and disrespects them. Eddie fires up the six guys who just wrestled and lets Bischoff know the LWO is the future of wrestling whether he likes it or not. Looks like Psychosis accepts a t-shirt, but I’m not sure about the rest of the guys. Chavo Jr. grabs Pepe and heads to the back. He doesn’t seem to care one way or another.

NITRO GIRLS!

Scott Steiner comes out solo to the ring. Buff Bagwell is nowhere to be found. Bobby Heenan joins the table and replaces Larry Z. I guess he’s going to go hang out at one skybox or another. Steiner makes a Sammy Sosa joke and says he finally got Sosa to admit that Chicago sucks and he needs to leave if he wants to win a world championship. I mean, Steiner is right. The Atlanta Braves did in fact sweep the Cubs in three games to go to the NLCS. Moving on, he lets all the women in Chicago that there’s not one woman in this city he can’t satisfy. Big Poppa Pump is your hook-up – Holla if You Hear Me. Speaking of women, Buff’s mom comes up. He says he finally convinced Buff that when he’s in Scott’s world, Scott is actually the “stuff” and to keep his mom out of the nWo’s business and at home watching dishes and moping floors. Scott continues to say there’s no problem between he and Buff because Buff understands what an athlete he is and that they are real tight. Wait, then why is Buff and “Judge” Judy Bagwell coming down to the ring? Scott seems to be warning Buff not to do something stupid. Judy is eating up this attention. Buff says they do have a problem, but Scott knows Buff he can break his neck real easy. Buff has realized his mom was right that all of this has gone too far and it’s Scott’s fault. Scott threatens Buff, but Bagwell thinks they should go one-on-one tonight in Chicago. Scott yells at Judy and calls her an “old bag”. She turns around and Scott points in her face saying he should have slapped her last week. He tells Buff to control his mom or he’ll put this “old scallywag on the mat”. Buff jacks Scott’s jaw, but then Scott low blows him. Steiner then hotshots Buff obviously to hurt his neck. He yells at Judy to bring him some more Bagwell sons because they will go down and anybody else who stands up to him will go down as well – because Scott is nWo and he’s 4-LIFE.

• Juventud Guerrera vs. Prince Iaukea

Disco Inferno comes down and says nobody paid to see these two guys wrestle – they came to see him DANCE. Now hit his music! He hops up on the apron and starts to dance, but Prince Iaukea knocks him down. While Juventud and Iaukea start their match, KIDMAN shows up and chases away Disco with a chair. Iaukea finds a flying sunset flip out of the corner for a two-count. Crowd is pretty much silent and then it turns to boos. Juventud fights out of a chinlock and lands a Rocker Dropper for two. He misses a jumping dropkick and gets hit with a suplex from Iaukea for two. Disco Inferno comes back out to ringside. Guerrera flips out of a back suplex and delivers a springboard dropkick. He has a hard time kipping up, but still makes it happen. Time for the Juvi Driver, but instead Juvi goes up for the 450 Splash. Disco shoves him down, but Guerrera lands on his feet. Iaukea decks Disco, but then turns around into the JUVI DRIVER for the win. (4:00) Kidman comes down to beat Disco back to the locker room. Crap match. Nobody cares. ¼*

Kevin Nash is IN THE HOUSE now in a FUBU jersey because we’re in Chicago and not somewhere like Columbia, SC. Scott Hall has made him lose his last nerve. Before he was a wrestler, Nash reminds us he was a bouncer, and one thing he does well is “beat up drunks.” Is that what bouncers do? He yells out to Scott Hall that it’s “LAST CALL”. Well, Hall comes out with a drink in his hand. He tells Nash to make it a double and a sixer to go. If it’s a fight Nash wants, he can SUCK IT. NOBODY GIVES KEVIN NASH A CROTCH CHOP. He runs as best he can after Hall to the outside area and finds him leaving the building in a limo. Nash gets in his Cadillac sedan and chases after him.

• WCW World Television Championship: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Raven

Our esteemed commentators try to paint Raven as being on a “downward trend” as of late. Way to put over your world television championship! They end up on the floor where Jericho whips Raven into the guardrail. A chair gets wedged in the corner as Raven takes a bump into the chair and down to the floor. Jericho follows out and misses a charge into the ringpost. Back inside, Raven delivers a drop toehold to the chair. Jericho escapes the Evenflow DDT and applies the LIONTAMER for the win. (3:40) Heenan – “He’s not the same Raven. That’s a different bird!” ¾*

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

Gene Okerlund finally gets some work here tonight. He brings out Rick Steiner to the ring. They start talking about his match with Scott Steiner at Halloween Havoc when we hear the Chucky laugh again. He appears on the screen and makes fun of Gene for calling him a “dummy.” They talk back and forth and it looks like Rick is threatening to beat up a doll. Chucky says Rick has been playing with dolls his whole life – at least according to Rick’s mom. Chucky isn’t his type because he’d tear Rick apart and let dogs chew up the rest of him. He’s only here to tell everybody to go see his new movie “Bride of Chucky” which opens October 16. Holy crap this segment is getting booed. Chucky has some advice and tells Rick that if he messes with Scott (who will be part of his next project), he’ll be messing with Chucky and his Academy award. Chucky won’t just get lucky, he’ll get EVEN. Now Tony understands who is behind the laughter. This is the Robocop moment of my generation.

Tomorrow, WCW and the nWo take over QVC. Spend money! Subsidize this garbage! LET THE POWERS THAT BE KNOW THAT THEY’RE DOING THE RIGHT THING!

Eric Bischoff storms to the ring to yell about Bruce MacArthur and the Four Horsemen. He continues to order JJ Dillon and Doug Dellinger to come out to the ring. Bischoff wants to crash MacArthur’s skybox and takes Dillon and Dellinger with him. We catch up with them and MacArthur answers the door once Bischoff starts pounding on it. MacArthur tells Bischoff he’s hosting a private party, so Bischoff slowly explains tonight it’s his building. MacArthur defends himself and explains the United Center belongs to the Four Horsemen tonight. Well, Bischoff starts to shove MacArthur back and security swarms him so fast, he doesn’t have a chance to do ANYTHING but comply. Ric Flair comes out and starts cheering on the security. Off comes the jacket. WOO! He is loving this. Looks like Bischoff will be getting escorted out of the building. Next, we see MacArthur and Flair come out of the skybox. Some chick is smooching on MacArthur while Flair is being Flair. WOO! MacArthur breaks free and throws up the four fingers to the crowd. Our esteemed commentators are as happy as they can be. They cut to Bischoff being carted around by security. Do they even know where they are going? They change course there. An unmarked car complete with flashing red light speeds away with Bischoff inside. Commercials!

• No DQ Match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Bill Goldberg (c) (149-0) vs. The Giant

Looking for win #150 as Tenay calls this a potential “milestone” victory. These two first wrestled on Nitro on 8/17 and Goldberg won by DQ, which triggers the no-DQ rules. Can Goldberg pin the Giant this time? Giant shows up with the WCW tag belt around his waist, which looks ridiculous on him because of how comically small it looks. Giant backs Goldberg into a corner and slaps the chest, but Goldberg NO-SELLS. Giant pushes the ref aside and DROPKICKS Goldberg down. He takes Goldberg from corner to corner and hits a Russian legsweep. Giant headbutts and delivers turnbuckle smashes until Goldberg STANDS STRONG and returns the favor. Reverse kick by Goldberg gets Giant staggered for a BODY SLAM!  Clean pick up and slam, too. No hiptoss. As Goldberg sets up for the Spear, STEVIE RAY shows up and blasts Goldberg with a chair. No effect. Goldberg kicks Stevie Ray back, but then turns around into a CHOKESLAM. DDP shows up and breaks up the pin. Stevie Ray gets BANGED. Giant picks up DDP for a Chokeslam, but Goldberg runs down Giant in mid-move with a Spear! That’s it. Giant and Stevie Ray head to the back as Goldberg wins a no-DQ match by countout – if you can believe that. (2:47) These two will have one more match and before it’s all said and done, you know what Goldberg wants. Not as good as the first match. Too many shenanigans. ½*

NITRO GIRLS!

• Hollywood Hogan & Bret Hart vs. The Warrior & Sting

Stay tuned after Nitro for the debut episode of “Mortal Kombat: The Series”! Anyone remember this show? Hogan and Bret share entrances while Sting and Warrior do their own thing. Much different response for Warrior this time around. Tenay gives the backstory of Sting and Warrior’s history. Hogan wants Sting to start. Schiavone calls Hogan a “coward” for not wanting to get his hands on Warrior. Hogan pounds on Sting, but misses a clothesline and gets caught from the other side. Sting lands an inverted atomic drop and wails away on Hogan in the corner. Tag to Bret, Sting gets him in a corner and does the ten-count corner punch. Hogan nails Sting from behind allowing Bret to hit a low blow. The ref is busy with Warrior who has yet to take off his jacket due to his torn bicep injury. Bret lands an elbow drop and then headbutts the groin. Flying elbow gets two. Warrior gets drawn in again as Hogan low blows Sting and rakes the back. He chokes away on Sting and taunts the Warrior. Back over to Hart, he lands a DDT on Sting for two. Russian legsweep and a legdrop follows. Sting counters a suplex with an inside cradle for a nearfall, but Bret is right there to lower the boom on him. Backbreaker by Bret connects, but he misses a flying elbow. HOT TAG TO WARRIOR! He nails Bret with three clotheslines and calls for the Warrior Press Slam, but Hogan nails him from behind. Warrior backs Hogan into a corner as the rest of the nWo in the building head down to jump Sting and Warrior for the DQ. (5:40) The ring fills up with smoke and the nWo throws Warrior out of the ring hoping he wouldn’t disappear. Sting clears out the nWo with a ball bat – leaving Vincent behind to take the SCORPION DEATH DROP. Warrior starts whacking the nWo with Hogan’s weightlifting belt and sends the whole nWo back to the locker room. *

Can anybody explain to me what just happened at the end of that main event?

Until next time, 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
WCW U.S. Heavyweight Championship: Bret Hart (c) vs. Sting
Kevin Nash vs. Scott Hall
No-DQ Match: Rick Steiner vs. Scott Steiner