WCW: Monday Nitro
November 30, 1998
Chattanooga, TN
UTC Arena

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 (11/22/1998)

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

Meltzer says Mike Tenay missed the show tonight due to “laryngitis” after the Brian Hildebrand house show the night before, which was acknowledged on the air. Apparently, Lee Marshall was in the building and wasn’t used despite wanting more airtime as he’s apparently been sucking up to the right people lately on the WCW Hotline. Doesn’t he leave WCW pretty soon? I’m sure stuff like this happening helped his decision to bounce.

Before we even get started, clips are shown from POTUS hopeful Hollywood Hogan’s appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Are you surprised? Hilarious to now see Hogan and Leno be best of buds after they WAGED WAR on each other almost four months ago over in Sturgis, BROTHER. Anyways, without even seeing the whole clip, Hogan announces his retirement and talks about how we should have handled that nasty Saddam Hussein back in ‘91 brothers when Hulk was slamming that nasty Sgt. Slaughter to regain his WWF title at WrestleMania VII, BROTHERS. At the time, Bill Clinton is trying to save his legacy as POTUS by ordering the U.S. military to bomb Iraq – again.

We transition out to the parking lot to show nothing is happening out there. Yep.

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The nWo B&W boys have made it to the building. With no Hogan around, it appears Scott Steiner is the man to lead the crew right now as he’s at the head of the line. Bischoff is back there somewhere. The camera follows the nWo B&W crew straight to the ring. In fact, we can confirm that Steiner is the man in the nWo now because Bischoff introduces him as the heir apparent to nWo B&W. WHOA. Steiner wants the crowd to bow their heads for a moment of silence for the greatest champion ever – Hollywood Hulk Hogan. Hulk has in fact made Steiner the new leader of the nWo B&W. Hulk is the originator of the 24 inch pythons, the largest arms in the world, and the biggest star ever. It’s only logical that Scott would be the new leader because now he has the largest arms in the world and the greatest body in professional sports. He calls the nWo B&W a band of thieves and they will take care of business the way the nWo has always done it. First order of business – dismantle Scott Hall. You see, he left the nWo, but the nWo is 4-LIFE. I mean, he did kind of start the whole thing, Mr. Steiner. You’ve been here like less than a year. Steiner then announces he’s teaming with Horace Hogan against Scott Hall and whoever will be his partner. The nWo B&W is going to BURY Scott Hall tonight.

Promotional consideration paid for by Slim Jim, Tiger SportsFeel Electronic Games, Mag-Lite flashlights, “Superman” for N64, the CLUB, and You Don’t Know Jack: tabletop version.

NITRO GIRLS!

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

Jericho sends Ralphus back to the locker room. He takes an armdrag and a clothesline from Konnan before getting Konnan’s gonads in his face. Konnan gets him down with an armbar. Jericho escapes, but gets slapped across the face and stomped in the corner. Holy crap what is happening. Jericho runs down Konnan with a shoulderblock and tries a monkey flip, but Konnan stomps him on the face and a seated dropkick connects. Jericho hotshots Konnan to take control and connects with his springboard dropkick to take Konnan off the apron. To the floor we go, Jericho wipes out Konnan with a plancha and dumps him into the steps. Back in, we get the C’MON BABY pin attempt for two. Jericho works a chinlock and grows weary of the hold by then stomping Konnan. He heads up top and eats a boot on the way down. Rolling lariat by Konnan. Fisherman’s suplex gets two. Jericho sneaks onto Konnan with a jawbreaker and clotheslines him down for a Lionsault for 1-2-NO! Konnan sees a floatover coming over in the corner and double-leg spinebusters Jericho for two. Jericho counters a German suplex into the LIONTAMER, but Konnan is basically in the ropes when he’s turned over. Jericho grabs his TV belt to leave. When ref Mickey Jay tells him it ain’t over, Jericho goes to whack Konnan with the TV title, but Konnan ducks and mule kicks Jericho to hit the K-FACTOR on the TV title. Cover, 1-2-3. (7:11) We have a *new* WCW TV champ and I do not like this. Jericho is CLEARLY miles ahead of Konnan. The fact that Kevin Nash and Lex Luger run out to celebrate with him tells the story, too. I know people want to say that this was Jericho dragging Konnan to his best match in a long time, but I just don’t see it. He’s a very clunky worker by this point due to injuries or whatever. *½

To celebrate Konnan’s win further, they replay his music video. What’s the name of the song again? Nobody knows.

Time to pick things up a bit. Gene Okerlund introduces Ric Flair down to the ring. Flair now has to FOCUS because he’s got something to say to Eric Bischoff. He knows Bischoff thinks he’s old, but it’s all the old guys (and he names off a bunch of them) that make Bischoff who he is. Flair says he’s disappointed in Barry Windham, but he’s MAD AS HELL at Bischoff because he got no guts, no class, no responsibility (huh?), and he’s an abusive, power, asshole. A “power” asshole, eh? Basically, if Flair is so old, Bischoff should be able to beat him. Regardless, Flair is calling him out for tonight – tomorrow – or next week. It doesn’t matter – COME JUMP ON THIS OLD MAN.

“Nitro Party” winner comes from North Dakota. Good for them. Just an unwatchable segment.

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SCOTT HALL walks out with no music and wearing an Outsiders t-shirt. Hmm, I wonder who his partner will be. Hall is out to answer Scott Steiner’s challenge. Unfortunately, Hall doesn’t have any friends left, so I guess he’ll fight both Steiner and Horace. Well, KEVIN NASH shows up at the tunnel and waves at his buddy. Even though they haven’t seen eye-to-eye in a while, if Hall agrees to be his tag team partner, Nash drops a “Tombstone” reference and tells Hall he’ll be his Huckleberry. Tony creams himself over Scott Hall and Kevin Nash getting back together. WHY?

• Kanyon & Raven vs. Steve & Scott Armstrong

Raven looks like he just woke up from a drug binge. He starts whining about his mother and Kanyon has had enough. Kanyon tells Raven to “get over it”, but the Armstrongs take over. Scott lands a gourdbuster on Kanyon and gets a nearfall. Raven is still slumped down in the corners. Kanyon lays out Scott with a pancake slam off the shoulders. He turns his attention to Raven who then stands up and walks out of the match. While he gets the FLATLINER on Scott, Kanyon keeps looking down the aisle calling out to Raven and gets rolled up by Steve for the win. (3:35) THE ARMSTRONGS WIN. I guarantee you this won’t matter in seven days time.

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

Gene Okerlund brings out Bret Hart to the ring. Bret tries to make the claim that DDP has put a bounty out on him. Dean Malenko “injured his groin” last week and the crowd groans. The doctors say Bret can’t wrestle DDP tonight. Hey wait, here comes Diamond Dallas Page through the crowd. He jumps in the ring to call Bret “scum” and to say after all that talk last week about hurting people until he got his chance at DDP, now he’s ducking the man as soon as he gets the match he said he wanted? It’s a fair point. Bret brings up the “doctor” excuse again as to why he can’t wrestle tonight. Page calls Bret a ”damn liar” and some other stuff to set up a “BANG” from the crowd. He likes to bang people if you haven’t noticed. Bret says if DDP feels good about defending the U.S. title against a “cripple”, then fine but let’s make it a “No DQ” match. Hmm. Yeah, that makes sense.

They take us back to last week’s Nitro when DDP and Bret Hart brawled. When Bret walked out with his tail between his legs, DDP challenges him to a match for this week.

• WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Billy Kidman (c) vs. Eddie Guerrero

Tony informs us this is a rematch from WCW Saturday Night when Eddie was able to beat Kidman in a non-title match. Eddie slaps Kidman across the face, turns around, and then takes a dropkick to the back of the head. Guerrero punches and chops back, but Kidman monkey flips Eddie into the ropes. As Kidman takes a ride out to the apron, he shoots back in with the shoelace headscissors. Kidman gets launched in the air and dropkicks Eddie to the floor. He tries a pescado, but Eddie catches him in mid-air and throws him into the steps. Kidman gets sandwiched between the steps and the ringpost for a dropkick. OUCH. Guerrero sends Kidman back inside for the Hilo from the apron. He delivers a shoulderbreaker and armbars the shit out of Kidman as we go to commercial. When we return, there’s more armbars from Eddie. He then takes Kidman to the ringpost and posts the arm. Brainbuster connects and he heads up top, but he wastes too much time and gets crotched for a headscissors. Oh, but Eddie blocks and lets Kidman crash and burn. But wait, YOU CAN’T POWERBOMB KIDMAN! Eddie gets mad, but Kidman still lands the Tornado Bulldog. Kidman fires himself up with a bunch of stomps on Eddie. BK Bomb gets two! He tries another, but Eddie counters to a flying headscissors. Guerrero hits a Tornado DDT and heads up again, but Kidman is there to stop him and brings Eddie down with a superplex. Slow cover gets two. Ref Charles Robinson gets whacked as Kidman is trying to put Eddie on the top buckle for a flying headscissors. As Kidman drags Eddie over to a corner for the Shooting Star Press, JUVENTUD GUERRERA runs down and gets kicked off the apron. Rey Mysterio (still wearing the 6XL LWO t-shirt) sneaks around ringside and delivers a springboard dropkick that hits Eddie. SHOOTING STAR PRESS to Guerrero! Rey puts Charles Robinson back in the ring to count the pinfall. (10:08) The rest of the LWO chase out Kidman and Mysterio. Good match as Eddie is just always off the charts, but this LWO thing feels kinda same right now. ***

Bam Bam Bigelow has apparently paid for a ticket to tonight’s event, and also for two security guys to stand behind him.

Eric Bischoff and Barry Windham head out to the ring to answer Ric Flair’s challenge. Barry is wear an unbuttoned jean shirt under his leather jacket, which is an odd choice. A friend of Eric’s in Cody, Wyoming told him we need another hero. This man may or may not be an old timey miner fellow, but nevertheless his old mountain man wisdom still rings true. Maybe Eric’s friend is just a huge Bonnie Tyler fan. I DON’T KNOW. What I do know is Barry Windham’s shirt just looks strange to me. I don’t understand. That hero isn’t Hollywood Hogan like you may expect, it’s Dean Malenko. Out he comes with Arn Anderson, Chris Benoit, and Steve McMichael standing behind him. Anderson reassures Malenko that they have his back before he heads to the ring alone and reminds Malenko if he gets a chance, smack Bischoff in the mouth. Bischoff gives the “injured” Malenko the opportunity that if he beats Barry Windham tonight, Ric Flair can get his hands on Bischoff. After Malenko agrees to the match, Bischoff makes DUSTY RHODES the special referee. Wow, it’s been a minute since we’ve seen this man. He comes out wearing his nWo B&W t-shirt. Malenko refuses to shake Dusty’s hand once he’s in the ring. Dusty assures us that justice will be swift and the call will be right down the middle live and in public if you will. No shenanigans, folks! May the best man win. Eric calls him the “DUSTMASTER”. Cringe. Fans, we’ll be back.

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NITRO GIRLS!

• Wrath vs. Bobby Blaze

Bobby Heenan joins us for the remainder of the show. SMW legend Bobby Blaze appears in his one and only Nitro match after toiling away on the C-show over the last year. And just like that, the MELTDOWN ends Blaze in 0:28. See ya on Thunder, Bobby!

We check in with Bam Bam Bigelow. He’s still angry!

Ernest Miller and Sonny Oono head down to whoop somebody. Perry Saturn appears and he wants some of Miller. Saturn and Miller talk some smack. Miller says if Saturn can beat Oono, Saturn can have his match with the Cat. When Oono freaks out, Miller reminds him of their plan. Okay then, here we go.

• Perry Saturn vs. Sonny Oono (w/Ernest Miller)

Saturn grabs Oono and gives him a Falcon Arrow. Down goes Miller off the apron. As Saturn covers Oono, Miller pulls ref Scott Dickinson out to the floor. While Miller and the ref argue, GLACIER appears and gives Saturn a CRYONIC KICK. He puts Oono on top of Saturn for 1-2-NO! Miller again distracts the ref and throws in a chain. Oono goes to slug Saturn, but Saturn pulls him into the DEATH VALLEY DRIVER. The ref counts to three, but then sees the chain and DQ’s Saturn. (1:14) Saturn, just go ahead and pack your bags and head on over to the WWF already. You’re better than this. ¼*

A white limo drives up to UTC Arena! WHO IS INSIDE THAT LIMO? We’ll be right back.

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When we come back, we catch the WCW world champ Goldberg coming out of that white limo in his street clothes. He gets a police escort straight to the ring. That means it’s time for his contract signing with Kevin Nash for their match at Starrcade on December 27. Hey look, Terry Taylor is officiating this contract signing. Bam Bam Bigelow is mad he’s not getting the title shot! Despite being the challenger, Kevin Nash comes out second with his nWo Wolfpac bros Konnan and Lex Luger. Hey Konnan, where’s that TV belt you just won? Nash is playing mind games with Goldberg. As you can imagine, he doesn’t take anything seriously. Okerlund – being an expert on contract law – makes sure Nash signs everything. Bigelow jumps the rail and the boys in blue are there to stop him. Looks like some arena security are there too. They manage to force him up the aisle and out of the arena. Back in the ring, they gives us a shot of Goldberg looking ready to get him some of Bigelow.

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

• Booker T vs. Mike Enos

Booker is still mounting his comeback at this point. He’s not really doing anything – no feuds or angles right now. There’s some minor faceoffs with his brother, but hopefully that doesn’t go anywhere. Booker hits his jumping forearm and delivers the Hook Kick for two. Enos cuts him off with a hotshot and clotheslines Booker to the floor. There’s a clothesline off the apron which was pretty dope. While not terribly interesting, Enos isn’t so bad. Back in the ring, he gives Booker a jumping legdrop and applies a chinlock. Booker elbows out but gets cornered. He reverses a whip and lands a series of kicks. He catches Enos with the Ax Kick and a back suplex sets up the SPINAROONIE into the Harlem Side Kick. The 110^th STREET SLAM ends Enos for the win. (3:27) It’s going to take Booker some time after his injury, but he’ll be back. NOW CAN YOU DIG THAT, SUCKA? ¾*

Outside the arena, Bam Bam Bigelow is still making some noise and there’s plenty of people standing around and screaming behind him.

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Earlier tonight, Konnan became the *new* WCW world TV champion!

We get a special look at the TNT movie “Houdini” starring Johnathon Schaech.

Bam Bam Bigelow is still outside the building causing problems. This is actually pretty awesome.

Tony mentions the Knoxville, Tennessee house show from the night before where Brian Hildebrand (WCW referee Mark Curtis) was paid tribute. He was battling stomach cancer for the second time and was presented with a replica WCW world title belt by Ric Flair at the show. At Hildebrand’s request, the Knoxville crowd got to see Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko against Eddie Guerrero and Chris Jericho, which is no doubt a recipe for an awesome match. I’ve added a Dailymotion link down at the bottom of the recap so you can watch the match. Keep in mind it’s not a WCW TV production.

• Lex Luger vs. Brian Adams (w/Vincent)

More nWo wars here. Now Adams is wearing a weightlifting belt. Luger runs wild, but Adams elbows him back and snaps his neck on the top rope. An inverted atomic drop and a running clothesline puts down Luger. Lex gets dumped out to Vincent for a beating. Back in, Adams puts his knee on Luger’s chest for a two-count. Luger fights back with clotheslines and lands the Bionic Forearm on Adams, but the ref gets bumped. Vincent brings a chair in the ring and goes after Lex, but Adams gets the chair and whacks Luger. Now Lex gets a SPIKE PILEDRIVER on the chair. Cover, 1-2-NO! Are you kidding me? Lex rolls up Adams for a two-count, but then Adams runs him down with a clothesline. Now Vincent gets the chair up on the apron and Luger reverses a whip. Adams puts on the brakes, but Luger still shoves Adams into the chair anyways. TORTURE RACK! Good night, Mr. Adams. (5:06) So you’re telling me the Torture Rack > Spike Piledriver on a chair. Gotcha, WCW. ¾*

NITRO GIRLS!

• Dusty Rhodes as Special Referee: Barry Windham vs. Dean Malenko

Wow, Dean Malenko (well, his father Boris), Barry Windham, and Dusty Rhodes. It doesn’t get much more Championship Wrestling from Florida than this. Tony keeps putting over the fact that Dusty Rhodes and Barry Windham are family – THROUGH AND THROUGH. Windham gets Bischoff’s nWooooo Nightcap theme. Malenko corners Windham and brawls to start. Dusty gets in between Malenko and Windham so that Barry can thumb him in the eye. Windham delivers a gutwrench suplex and puts his hand on Dean’s chest for a two-count. He misses a corner charge, but punches Malenko off the top rope and lands wrong on his injured leg. Windham goes for the leg while Dusty is telling Malenko to give up. While Malenko is in the ropes, Dusty doesn’t force a break and knocks Malenko’s hand off the rope. Windham continues to pound on Malenko’s knee and Dusty calls for the bell. He awards the match to Malenko via DQ. WHAT. (3:08) Umm, I guess he didn’t break on the five count? Bryan Danielson would be very disappointed in Barry here. Dusty can’t help but “boogie woogie” a little bit after the announcement of the decision. Eric Bischoff runs down wanting an explanation. When he gets no explanation, Eric fires him. Windham goes after Dusty when the Four Horsemen appear out of nowhere to beat the crap out of Windham. Before Flair can get his hands on Bischoff, his nWo B&W boys appear and escort him away to safety. Flair says getting his match with Bischoff will be the best Christmas present ever.

• Scott Hall & Kevin Nash vs. Scott Steiner & Horace (w/my favorite nWo ref)

Hall is a LONE WOLF and gets no music. He waits for Kevin Nash so it looks like they both walk down to the Wolfpac theme. TELL ME WHO HAS THE GUTS TO COME IN THE RAIN TONIGHT. The highly charismatic nWo referee is *your* referee for this match. Hall wins “rock paper scissors” to start the match against Horace. Oddly enough, it’s just like old times with the Outsiders. Hall throws the toothpick and shoulder butts Horace to set up an armbar. Horace fires back with a clothesline with Steiner barking commands from the apron. Hall blocks a hiptoss and chokeslams Horace before doing his mocking of the Giant. There’s a big “suck it” to Steiner. Horace tags out and Steiner starts yelling and pointing fingers. Tony gets handed a note and lets us know that legal counsel has signed a match between Ric Flair and Eric Bischoff at Starrcade LIVE on PPV. Bischoff won’t be able to “weasel” out of this one. Tony is SUPER excited. Steiner pounds on Hall and gets a couple fast two-counts. Hall blocks a belly to belly superplex and hits a STEINER BULLDOG for a SLLLLOOW two-count. Well, it’s not that much slower than Nick Patrick’s count. Steiner low blows Hall and dumps him out to the floor with Horace. Nash runs over and boots Horace away. Back inside, Steiner continues to abuse Hall and yells at Nash. The crowd *does* want Nash here. In comes Horace, he applies a front headlock on the mat. Hall gets up and backs Horace over to Nash for a hot tag. The nWo ref doesn’t like it and won’t “allow” the tag, but Nash runs through him and everybody nWo black and white. As Nash goes after Steiner on the floor, Hall grabs Horace off the second rope for the OUTSIDER’S EDGE. Hall and Nash yell at the nWo ref to count, but I don’t think he wants to deal with Steiner afterwards. Since he won’t count, Nash gives him a JACKKNIFE POWERBOMB. Out comes ref Billy Silverman to count the pinfall. (7:25) I think this match got over what it was intended to do: get the Outsiders back together hoping to pop a rating and make Nash look unstoppable. **½

Bigelow is still doing the same thing he was doing last time we saw him. Fifteen minutes left in the show, you think they’ll DO anything with this?

A camera is following a running Goldberg out to where Bigelow is standing, and a long brawl erupts. Now Doug Dillinger and a bunch of cops and security separate the men. Goldberg makes it through the security *again* and spears Bigelow. Yeah, let’s take a commercial break now. Heenan is beside himself. Tony keeps mentioning the “grassy knoll” tonight.

• No-DQ Match for the WCW U.S. Heavyweight Championship: Diamond Dallas Page (c) vs. Bret Hart

Bret comes out in Bret clothes – leather jacket, a Bret Hart t-shirt, and jean shorts. Heenan says Bret is wearing Rey Mysterio’s pants. He low blows DDP and hammers him in the corner. DDP turns the tables and stomps Bret down in the corner. Now DDP applies a ringpost Figure-Four when THE GIANT runs down, stomps DDP, and throws him into the ring. Crowd calls for Goldberg. There’s a CHOKESLAM to DDP. Bret takes his time and decides to let Giant sit DDP on the top turnbuckle, stand him up on the top rope, and give him a SUPER CHOKESLAM. Bret hugs the Giant and locks in the SHARPSHOOTER on DDP. I think Page is done. His arm drops once, twice, and three times to give Bret the win and the U.S. title for the third time. (4:14) Not much more than an angle to get the U.S. title onto Bret and switch DDP’s attention to the Giant. Why is Bret the champion again though? Isn’t he *actually* injured? ½*

Until next time, so long for now.

WCW/nWo PRESENTS STARRCADE
LIVE ON PPV from the MCI Center in Washington, DC on Sunday, December 27!
MAIN EVENT: WCW World Championship: Goldberg (c) vs. Kevin Nash
Ric Flair vs. Eric Bischoff