WCW: Monday Nitro
November 16, 1998
Wichita, KS
Kansas Coliseum

The current WCW champs are as follows:
WCW World Champion: Bill Goldberg (7/6/1998)
WCW U.S. Champion: Diamond Dallas Page (10/26/1998)
WCW World Tag Team Champions: Rick Steiner & Kenny Kaos (10/26/1998)
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!

A motorcade arrives to the Kansas Coliseum. Tony only assumes it’s POTUS hopeful Hollywood Hogan. Security forces the camera away as we go back to the arena.

• WCW Cruiserweight Champion Billy Kidman (c) vs. Juventud Guerrera

Feeling out process to start over a headlock. Tony informs us that this crowd is JACKED. Juvi charges into a Sitout Spinebuster, which I believe he calls a BK Bomb now since he’s too bulky to do the Shooting Star Press these days. Juvi takes a breather on the floor after that one. Back in, Kidman hits a slingshot legdrop and then cranks on a chinlock. Guerrera elbows out and headscissors Kidman out of the corner. He gives Kidman another tilt-a-whirl headscissors and goes to the corner for a ten-count punch. Flying bodypress gets 1-2-NO! Kidman backdrops Juvi on the apron and dropkicks him to the floor for a plancha. Back inside, Kidman covers for two. Back to the chinlock. It’s odd seeing Kidman play the heel in this match. When Juvi starts to fight out, Kidman levels him with forearms up against the ropes. He charges, but Juvi hits the mat and that causes Kidman to go flying over the top rope to the floor. Juvi flies down on top of Kidman just for fun. Back in the ring, Guerrera delivers a tail-bone bruising springboard legdrop. Delayed cover gets two. Kidman charges into a spinebuster and then takes a wheelbarrow face slam. Next up, YOU CAN’T POWERBOMB KIDMAN! That gets two. Juvi tries another wheelbarrow, but Kidman counters into a release German! Another nearfall for Kidman. Guerrera flips out of a German and drills Kidman with a Juvi Driver! Cover, 1-2-NO! Juventud cannot believe it. Kidman lowblows Juvi off a top rope hurracanrana attempt and deliver the Super BK Bomb! Oh man. SHOOTING STAR PRESS? Nope. Juvi trips up Kidman and sets him in place for the 450 SPLASH! That connects and gets the 1-2-3! (12:09) And Juventud Guerrera wins his third and final WCW Cruiserweight championship. These two just had great chemistry together. Kidman reluctantly at first hands over the belt, but he’ll get his rematch at World War 3. ***¾

Hit the show intro nearly twenty minutes into the show. Why not. No, more like why bother?

Get your WCW Mastercard! Personally, DDP carries the Nitro Girls.

They take us back to last week involving the Steiner brothers and their issues. Of course, JUDY BAGWELL is Rick’s partner. Naturally, Buff sells for his mother. They got one big pop for her in one southern town and now she’s got a tag belt wrapped around here.

• Wrath vs. Raven (w/Kanyon)

This could be a good match, but Raven refuses. Kanyon tries to change his mind, but it doesn’t happen. Since Raven won’t wrestle, Kanyon will and Raven walks out.

• Wrath vs. Kanyon

WHO’S BETTA THAN KANYON? Wrath runs him down with a clothesline and hits the MELTDOWN. No pinfall because it’s not really a match.

• Kanyon vs. Glacier

With Kanyon left laying in the ring, out comes HEEL Glacier for the next match. Wrath sticks around and gives Glacier a MELTDOWN as well. I mean, he is the most over of the “Blood Runs Cold” guys. Commercials! When we come back, both Glacier and Kanyon are still out cold. Ref Mickey Jay starts a ten-count. Kanyon rolls over onto Glacier for a two-count. The fight goes out to the floor. Wrath delivered more punishment to these two during the commercial break as the crowd wanted Goldberg. Glacier gives Kanyon a suplex on the floor. They play around with the steel steps as Kanyon delivers the legdrop bulldog off the apron onto the steps. Back in, that gets two. Kanyon flies down into a CRYONIC KICK from Glacier, but somehow Kanyon kicks out at two. Rolling Back Elbow from Glacier connects. He tries another, but Kanyon sees it coming and catches Glacier with a head kick for two. Kanyon heads up top again, but gets caught in a Northern Lights suplex for another nearfall. Crowd is chanting “boring”, which ain’t good. FLATLINER by Kanyon gets the win. (let’s say 4:15) Boy, is Kanyon on a winning streak now? ¾*

NITRO PARTY VIDEO! Wow, teenage girls wrestling in chocolate pudding? Yikes.

WCW/nWo Revenge for N64! GET ADDICTED.

They air a video package concerning Hollywood Hogan’s announcement that he’s running for POTUS. Hogan (with the nWo B&W behind him) appeared on the Don Imus radio show at Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia. He gives a check to Don’s charity. Hogan says the American people want a President with no hidden agendas and he’s the man that can make the right decisions for America.

• Sonny Oono vs. El Gringo

Sonny Oono comes out wearing a karategi. Apparently Sonny worked out a deal with El Gringo before the match and it’s not working out the way he hoped. Next thing we know, El Gringo unmasks to reveal it’s KAZ HAYASHI. Umm, okay. It looks like Sonny Oono is surprised. The crowd is confused. ERNEST MILLER appears and saves his manager with the FELINER. Miller slaps some sense into Oono and gets him back in the ring to cover Hayashi with one foot on his chest for the win. (1:32) This must be a WCW Saturday Night feud. Miller comes back in the ring and picks up Oono like he just won the World War 3 battle royal. N/R

Get your Sting and Randy Savage VHS tapes today!

NITRO GIRLS!

• Dean Malenko & Steve McMichael (w/Arn Anderson) vs. Stevie Ray & Horace (w/Vincent)

Horace and Malenko start the match here. He beats Malenko into a corner, but Malenko fights out with a back suplex. He puts Horace on the mat with a kneebar, but Horace finds the ropes. Tag to Mongo, he gets caught in the nWo corner and beat down. I can’t think of another matchup I’d like to see more than Stevie Ray versus Steve McMichael. Holy criminy. Malenko takes over for a shot at the Texas Cloverleaf, but Stevie Ray fights him off and tags Horace. He gives Malenko a suplex, but Malenko finds a running dropkick. McMichael tags in and “runs wild”. He calls for the Mongo Spike, but Vincent trips him up. Horace elbow drops Mongo and covers him. In comes Malenko, he gets double-teamed while Arn Anderson slugs Vincent. Meanwhile, Stevie Ray nails Mongo with the Slap Jack. Anderson gets in the ring and starts beating up the nWo with a tire iron to end this once and for all. (3:44) People really love and miss seeing Arn Anderson in the ring. Match was horrible though. Doug Dellinger comes out asking Arn for the tire iron, but Arn won’t give it up. Don’t mess with Arn. He might reach for the Glock. ½*

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

After the break, we hear that Steve McMichael has been sent to the hospital while Arn Anderson has been escorted out of the building.

Gene Okerlund introduces RIC FLAIR. Of course, Wichita goes nuts. He brings up Eric “No Manhood” Bischoff as the cause of Horsemen problems. Flair threatens to chop him so hard, he’d have four nipples. He re-introduces BARRY WINDHAM to the WCW audience. Unfortunately even though Windham was on WWF TV six months earlier, Windham gets almost no crowd reaction since most wrestling fans in 1998 weren’t wrestling fans in 1988. It’s not clear what his role will be. Is he a member of the Four Horsemen again? It seems that way. ERIC BISCHOFF interrupts and the crowd can’t wait to boo him. Bischoff reminds Windham that he fired him a few years ago and doesn’t mind doing it again. As for Flair, he doesn’t have the power to hire anybody using Ted Turner’s money. Flair tells Bischoff he’s using his own money to hire Windham. To make it worse, Flair says Barry will tear up Bischoff’s girlfriend tonight. WOO! With that said, Bischoff is fine with Flair wasting his own money. Flair calls out to Liz to “get ready” because BW is in town.

• Eddie Guerrero (w/Spyder) vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

If Rey wins, Eddie will leave him alone. If Eddie wins, Rey must join the LWO. They trade wristlocks to start. Rey monkey flips Eddie and nearly send him out to the floor. Mysterio lands a cool springboard headscissors. Guerrero then charges Rey, but gets caught in a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Eddie crawls over and hugs the ref crying for safety and then finds solace with Spyder on the floor. Crowd is all “EDDIE SUCKS”. Back in, Rey catches Eddie with an armdrag and works the arm. Eddie overpowers Rey and tries to get the pinfall, but Mysterio fights up and hits the springboard moonsault DDT. It’s never been quite as beautiful as when they did this at Halloween Havoc 1997, but it’s still cool. Rey tries a corkscrew moonsault press and Eddie acts as though Rey landed on his knee. Is he playing possum? Rey charges into a flapjack, but catches Eddie charging him and backdrops him to the floor. Mysterio lands an Asai Moonsault to the floor. Eddie is shown still selling the knee. Back inside, Rey gives Eddie a springboard dropkick that sends him all the way out to the floor. Rey does a fake dive on Spyder, but Spyder trips him up. While Spyder distracts ref Mickey Jay, Guerrero delivers a nasty powerbomb and goes for the pin. Meanwhile, JUVENTUD GUERRERA flies in with a springboard legdrop and hits Rey by mistake. Eddie dumps out Juventud and easily climbs up top for the FROG SPLASH to get the win. (4:55) Boy, doesn’t Juventud feel like a dummy. The Latino World Order boys head down and put the LWO t-shirt on Rey – despite basically being totally out of it. **½

People from WCW and the nWo will be appearing on QVC this Tuesday night at 11PM EST!

This month’s WCW/nWo Magazine has pics from Fall Brawl! The Nitro Girls appeared on the Dating Game. Plus, an interview with Scott Steiner! It’s only $26 bucks a year!

We get an interview with Judy Bagwell from a hospital. Wait, when did Scott Steiner do anything to her? Anyways, she’s pleading to get her son “Marcus” back and to end the “Buff Bagwell” era. Did the WCW brass realize what a stupid idea her being in a WCW WORLD TAG TITLE MATCH on a PPV is?

• Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Scott Putski

Bobby Heenan takes over for Larry Z for the rest of the show. As Putski gets going, Chavo retreats over to Pepe and then catches Putski by surprise with a running forearm smash. Putski stops him with a clothesline and a suplex. Backstage, we hear there’s a disturbance. BAM BAM BIGELOW has arrived in WCW and gets out of a Cadillac looking for Goldberg. Tony calls Bigelow one of the most dangerous men ever in wrestling. Since he can’t find Goldberg in his dressing room, he heads to the ring and DESTROYS Chavo and Putski to kill the match. (3:16) Bigelow gets on the mic and yells for Goldberg to get his ass out here. Say what you will, this isn’t the worst idea in wrestling. We see JJ Dillon, Eric Bischoff, and a whole bunch of policemen and security head out to the ring. Dillon chastises Bigelow for interrupting a live TV show and since Bigelow won’t leave, the police and security attempt to get him out of here. Next thing we know, here comes GOLDBERG to answer the challenge. We have an awesome and huge pull-apart brawl. Again, this starts out GREAT. Bischoff is PISSED that this is even happening. He blames Dillon for this whole thing and wants to talk with him backstage. Commercials!    

When we return, we catch Eric Bischoff calling JJ Dillon a “screw up” and fires him on the spot. Dillon gives Bischoff the old “you can’t fire me because I quit” line. Looks like we’ve reached the end of JJ Dillon as an on-screen authority figure.

The World War 3 PPV ad with the Illuminati people airs. The AIRPLANE spot is pretty freaky, no?

• Konnan vs. Saturn

Saturn calls out Konnan for interrupting his match with Eddie Guerrero and the LWO. Something is going on in the crowd that must be more interesting. Saturn ducks the Rolling Clothesline and then turns around to eat it after all. Out comes the LWO scrubs. They surround the ring and beat on the apron to see somebody get their ass kicked. During the match, we go to the split-screen to check in with Gene Okerlund and Eric Bischoff outside Goldberg’s dressing room. Instead of discussing Goldberg, Okerlund asks Bischoff why he fired JJ Dillon. As for Bam Bam Bigelow, he’s not a WCW employee and he won’t be at World War 3. Goldberg walks out of his locker room and demands Bigelow for tonight. When Bischoff says no, Goldberg forces him up against a wall and makes his head nod to let him know what’s happening tonight. Saturn breaks out of a leglock and throws Konnan like a sack of potatoes for two. Konnan hits Splash Mountain for a nearfall. Saturn fires back with a northern lights suplex. Our esteemed commentators continue to discuss Bam Bam Bigelow as the match goes back and forth. La Parka holds Saturn for Konnan and La Parka gets walloped by Konnan for the weak DQ. (7:04) Saturn gets pulled out to the LWO wolves. Konnan tries to help out Saturn, but Saturn clobbers him down and he starts beating up the LWO. He tears into Hector Garza as they fight up the aisle. Eddie Guerrero shows up and pulls Garza back. In the ring, Konnan calls Saturn back to the ring for another fight. Refs and security come out to pull Saturn away from Konnan. ¾*

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

NITRO GIRLS!

We get a video package building the Scott Hall and Kevin Nash rematch set for World War 3.

Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell head to the ring with a silly guy wearing a ref shirt blowing a whistle. He’s HIGH ENERGY.  I love his method of counting a pinfall. Scott Steiner makes fun of the Wichita women and tells the women watching on TV to not adjust their sets. He’s apparently very good at sex. Big Poppa Pump is your hook-up, freaks. Talk turns to Scott saying he got permission from Buff to hit his mother, which translates into Scott being Buff’s friend 4-LIFE. They bring out a man in drag pretending to be Scott’s mom. Scott then gives Buff permission to beat her up. The charismatic nWo ref is back and he counts the pinfall. RICK STEINER comes out and runs off Buff, Scott, and the ref. That leaves the man in drag to get his clothes ripped up. Rick then gets on the mic and tells Scott that wasn’t his mom. REALLY, RICK? Uh oh, SCOTT NORTON shows up and attacks Rick from behind. Scott tells Rick if he show up in Auburn Hills, he’ll end his brother’s career.

They take us back to earlier tonight when Goldberg forces Eric Bischoff to make him a match with Bam Bam Bigelow for tonight.

• WCW World Television Championship: Chris Jericho (c) (w/Ralphus) vs. Bobby Duncum Jr.

Bobby Duncum Jr makes his WCW debut. He’s spent the last several years gaining experience in All Japan because of his last name. After all Jericho has tried to make work with Goldberg, how done with WCW must Jericho feel right now? Jericho grounds Duncum and applies a bow and arrow submission. After a hiptoss battle, Jericho clotheslines him down and hits a senton back splash. Duncum NO-SELLS the C’MON BABY and gets him fired up. He beats Jericho all around ringside. Back inside, a flying clothesline from Duncum gets two. Jericho comes back and tries the Liontamer, but Duncum overpowers him and sends Jericho to the floor with a dropkick. He grabs the bull rope and Jericho decides to take the countout loss. (4:33) Well, they tried to make this work. *½

The special security surrounds the aisleway. Hollywood Hogan comes down to “Hail to the Chief”. He’s got the white boa going and the big goofy white sunglasses.  The American flag hangs from the rafters. Red, white, and blue balloons descend from the ceiling. He talks like a wrestling politician, which is exactly what he is. It’s crossing a line between kayfabe and reality and I just don’t like it. He introduces his brand new intern: a Monica Lewinsky look-alike. She hands Hogan a cigar from her cleavage and they embrace. As she leaves, Heenan makes a comment about having to haul her out in a wheelbarrow. WHAT. Out comes Eric Bischoff to the ring. Hogan tells Bischoff he’s keeping an eye on Goldberg because he wants the WCW world title back. Bischoff reminds Hogan that he still has faith in him to do what’s right for the nWo. Now Scott Hall comes out. He doesn’t feel like Eric Bischoff and Hollywood Hogan are living up to the nWo’s slogan about being 4-LIFE. When Hall pushes the issue, Bischoff tells him we’ll handle this backstage. Not liking what he’s hearing, Hall slugs Bischoff. Now Hogan attacks Scott Hall. THIS ISN’T VERY PRESIDENTIAL. Here comes KEVIN NASH. He runs off Hogan. WHY! Hall prepares to defend himself against Nash, but Nash is looking ahead to Detroit.

NITRO GIRLS!

• Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit

This is Benoit’s first “real” match back since he’s been out in June. Bret has been claiming he’s the one who took Benoit out five months ago. Benoit is hot on Bret’s trail to start. He chops the shit out of Bret. I know they had their Owen Hart Tribute classic, but I would have loved to have seen heel Bret versus face Benoit for 20 minutes. A back suplex by Benoit gets two. Bret goes to the eyes and headbutts the groin to send Benoit rolling to the ropes. The backbreaker and the elbow drop off the second rope gets two. Bret continues to be the aggressor until Benoit stops him up top for a NASTY superplex. Benoit follows up with the Swandive Headbutt and covers, but Bret kicks out at two. He clotheslines Bret out to the floor, but Bret avoids a baseball slide and grabs a chair. Benoit punches the chair back in Bret’s face and does the old double snot rocket. I missed this man. Benoit grabs the chair and reaches back to rock Bret, but ref Mickey Jay grabs the chair away allowing Bret to low blow Benoit. Bret then grabs the chair and drives the edge of the chair down into Benoit’s previously injured arm for the DQ. (6:38) Finally, Dean Malenko comes out and kicks Bret out of the ring. Once Malenko turns his attention to Benoit, Bret jumps him again. WHAT A HEEL. When nobody else will help, DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE returns and gets his hands on Bret. He clotheslines Bret clear over the top to the floor to continue the fight at ringside. ***

Bret ends up RUNNING away as DDP stays behind to get hype with the fans. DDP thinks of Bret Hart the same way he does Hollywood “SCUM” Hogan and Macho “SCUM” Randy Savage. They’re all the same animal – just a different kind of scum. DDP says he’s back and he’s JACKED. Looks like we now have DDP versus Bret “HITSCUM” Hart at World War 3.

• Unsanctioned Match: Goldberg vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

Oh good. He’s not an employee here, but the entrance graphic for Bigelow is ready to go. Bigelow meets Goldberg in the pyro and we’ve got a FIGHT. Yep, no match. All they did was make you want to see more.

Knowing the WWF had just delivered Survivor Series, WCW went into their bag of ratings tricks tonight: descension in the nWo, a great cruiserweight match (and title change!), and unexpected wrestlers showing up. However, it didn’t work as RAW had won the night by it’s biggest margin in months: a 5.5 to a 4.3 rating. There was a ton of nonsense on this Nitro episode, but it was better than it’s been lately.

Thunder is next. Until then, so long for now.

WCW/NWO PRESENT: WORLD WAR 3
LIVE on PPV from the Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan on November 22!
MAIN EVENT: 60-Man, 3-Ring Battle Royal – Winner faces the WCW world champion at Starrcade on December 27
WCW U.S. Heavyweight Championship: Diamond Dallas Page (c) vs. Bret Hart
Scott Hall vs. Kevin Nash
Rick Steiner vs. Scott Steiner