WCW: Monday Nitro
January 4, 1999
Atlanta, GA
Georgia Dome

The current WCW champs are as follows:
WCW World Champion: Kevin Nash (12/27/1998)
WCW U.S. Champion: Bret Hart (11/30/1998)
WCW World Tag Team Champions: Rick Steiner & Kenny Kaos (10/26/1998)
WCW World Television Champion: Scott Steiner (12/28/1998)
WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Billy Kidman (11/22/1998)

Oh boy, I’ve been dreading this one. Remember – this card is supposed to have the Kevin Nash versus Goldberg rematch.

We get a video package that makes you feel pretty bleak about the future as they show us what happened in the Goldberg and Kevin Nash match from Starrcade with Nash’s hand held high and WCW world title over his shoulder in the end.

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

NITRO GIRLS~!  Larry Zbyszko is hoping now that Ric Flair runs WCW that Goldberg will get some justice. Good luck with that. Tony announces that HOLLYWOOD HOGAN is in the building and will come out to thanks all of his fans now that he’s retired. It’s so weird the way they talk about Hogan now in a positive light just because he’s “retired” and/or “running for POTUS”. Red balloons and tape drop from the ceiling of the GA dome.

Jimmy Baron gets some rare Nitro time as he is hanging with a Nitro Party winner named Howard up in one of the boxes here in the Georgia Dome. This is why the WWF is winning.

The crowd is chanting for Goldberg which is why they needed to end the streak. Yep.

• Hugh Morrus (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Glacier

Morrus returns after a few months away. In all that time, he’s revamped his look by shaving his head. You can now call him “Stone Cold” Hugh Morrus, if you will. It’s a back and forth match. Just as it looks like Glacier will win since there was miscommunication between Hugh Morrus and Jimmy Hart, Morrus turns Glacier inside out with a clothesline and lands NO LAUGHING MATTER for the win. (2:46) This is the last Nitro appearance for the Glacier character. Don’t worry – he’ll be repackaged as Coach Buzz Stern and that gimmick will really put butts in the seats. ½*

While Larry Z walks away to address the crowd, Tony mentions Ric Flair will come out and give a “State of the Sport” address tonight. Tenay can’t wait.

After the break, we catch Ric Flair, his family (Reid, David, and Ashley), and Arn Anderson showing up to the building. Someone behind them is carrying a “420” sign all the way into the Georgia Dome. Dean Malenko, Steve McMichael, and Chris Benoit meet them at the tunnel to head out to the ring. Malenko is on crutches and Tenay says it’s a “sprained ankle”. Gene Okerlund meets the whole Horsemen crew in the ring for the “State of the Sport” address. After Flair talks about how proud he is of this moment and that WCW is the *GREATEST ORGANIZATION ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH*, he brings out ERIC BISCHOFF. Here he comes. Flair wants Bischoff’s undivided attention. He won’t beat around the bush – Bischoff has taken great pride in making Flair feel very small over the last five years. The easiest thing for Flair to do is to fire him, but that ain’t it. Since Bischoff has had so much fun taking Flair out of the main event and into the opening match, Flair decides that Bischoff will officially be working for Tony Schiavone over in the announcing booth. To make it worse for Eric, Flair cuts his salary in half. Schiavone says he’ll be happy to teach Bischoff play-by-play, which is ironic on so many levels. Off Bischoff goes to join the announce table and replaces Tenay. Hope there’s no cruiserweight matches tonight. Flair brings up how Eric Bischoff fired referee Randy Anderson LIVE on Nitro. I guess he didn’t explain it well enough because they showed the footage as well. Flair invites Randy Anderson out to the ring and offers him his job back at double the salary. Flair goes on to thank DDP, Booker T, Tony Schiavone, and everybody that came down the other night. He especially thanks Randy Savage and welcomes him back, even though they have had their issues in the past. Switching gears, Ric Flair books himself into a handicap match at the Souled Out PPV in two weeks against Curt Hennig and Barry Windham. WHAT? David Flair pipes up and says that he’d like to be his dad’s tag team partner. Even Ric agrees his own son isn’t ready, but we can all thank ARN ANDERSON for convincing Ric that he is. Ric and David embrace – and just like that, we have ourselves a daggum tag match at Souled Out. To wrap it up, Ric tells everyone to enjoy the show tonight because it’s WCW at its best. Eesh. Tony welcomes Eric to the broadcast team in a real dickhead type of way.

Get your K-DOG t-shirt for only $20 bucks.

• Booker T vs. Emory Hale

Last chance for Hale on Nitro. He’s a big tough guy, but Booker makes quick work of him. The 110^th Street Slam, the SPINAROONIE, the Harlem Sidekick, and the MISSILE DROPKICK ends Hale in 1:01.

NITRO GIRLS! No Fyre. You know what I do.

By the way, Eric Bischoff is refusing to speak and has his feet up on the table. Tony dares to send Flair a report of Eric’s poor performance. Is Flair not watching the show? Eric glares at Tony and moves the mic on the headset away from his mouth.

• Norman Smiley vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.

They continue to build this rivalry into the Souled Out PPV. Chavo runs wild to start and sends Smiley to the floor so he can ride Pepe around the ring. Smiley fights off a series of turnbuckle smashes and snaps Chavo’s neck on the top rope to turn the tide so he can dance in peace. The big swinging slam connects. Chavo comes back with a rollup. Smiley tries to fight him off, but Chavo gets another nearfall with a forward roll. Smiley runs down Chavo and dropkicks him to the floor. Eric Bischoff continues to be silent. While Smiley is dancing and enjoying the crowd’s reaction, Chavo sneaks up to the top rope and connects with a missile dropkick. Smiley goes to the eyes and collapses when he tries the Big Wiggle. Chavo flubs trying the springboard bulldog, but recovers with another rollup for two. Smiley goes for the Crossface Chickenwing only for Chavo to roll him up for the three-count. (4:01) Tony treats this like an upset, but that could have more to do with Smiley’s win streak as of late. Smiley attacks Chavo after the bell and gives him a suplex. Another big swinging slam. Smiley throws Pepe down on Chavo. Whoops, there goes Pepe’s head rolling around the ring. We’ll see the rubber match between these two on January 17 at Souled Out. **

• Chris Benoit vs. Horace Hogan

The last time we saw Benoit wrestling on Nitro was the night after World War 3 when he was ripping Norman Smiley apart. Ref Randy Anderson is already back working. Horace attacks Benoit at the bell, but Benoit quickly fires back with chops and stomps down in the corner. Horace reverses a corner whip and hiptosses Benoit across the ring. Benoit ducks a running clothesline and delivers the Rolling Germans. Benoit hangs Horace out to dry, but Horace counters a suplex and sends Benoit to the floor. Of all things, Horace delivers a TOPE SUICIDA to wipe out Benoit. Back in, Horace hits a running elbow drop for two. Benoit stops Horace up top and brings him down with a superplex. The Swandive Headbutt follows. Horace dumps Benoit off into the corner and delivers a shoulderbreaker, but Benoit kicks out at two. Oh, there’s the CRIPPLER CROSSFACE for the tapout. (3:59) Benoit headbutts the camera because he’s a badass. *

HOUR NUMBER TWO! Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko, and… Eric Bischoff?

Backstage, we see GOLDBERG with Atlanta’s Finest. They have a warrant for his arrest. Instead of asking what the charge is like anybody else would do, Goldberg starts talking about how he’s an outstanding citizen in the city of Atlanta – and that it doesn’t matter what the charge is because he’s innocent. In fact, Goldberg thinks for some reason that the police decide whether or not you’re guilty of doing something – and since he declares he’s innocent despite not knowing what he’s being charged with, he’s not going “downtown” with them. He’s doesn’t like being wrongly accused, the charge is BOGUS, and IT AIN’T TRUE! All three of them, huh. For a man who talks a lot about being innocent, he sure sounds like he’s guilty of doing something you could be arrested for. Illegal cable? Drug smuggling?! MURDER?!?! When the police insist he comes with them peacefully, Goldberg thinks it will take all the guns, all the mace, and every other piece of weaponry the Atlanta Police Department has in their possession to take him down to the police station. Bro, we just saw you eight days ago go down to a single taser gun and a Jackknife Powerbomb for the count. It ain’t gonna take all of that. He then goes back into this stance of how he’s such a good member of the community despite giving these poor cops a hard time. If you’re so innocent, just go to the station and answer their questions. Goldberg is very concerned about his reputation – even though he STILL HAS NO IDEA WHAT THE CHARGE IS. So much for all the guns and mace and weaponry, they end up putting Goldberg in handcuffs to take him “downtown”.

When we come back, the camera is still following Goldberg and the police over to a Ford Taurus. Not even a squad car. KEVIN NASH comes out yelling at the police for ruining their match tonight. Next thing we know, HOLLYWOOD HOGAN is seen walking inside the building laughing at what just happened to Goldberg. Nash doesn’t think that was very funny, however. Right by the door, we catch ELIZABETH talking to a couple detectives.

• Perry Saturn vs. Chris Jericho (w/Ralphus)

Tony and Larry Z wonder what the charge is. Yeah, you would think Goldberg might have asked such a question, no? This is our first real look at the Saturn versus Jericho feud for the next several months as Jericho’s final feud in WCW before jumping ship. Some stalling to start from Jericho as he responds to the crowd’s negative reaction to him. Headlocks and shoulderblocks ensue. Saturn blocks a hiptoss and delivers a belly to belly throw. He lays in some TERRIBLE head kicks on Jericho in the corner. Down to the floor we go thanks to a springboard dropkick by Jericho. He gives Saturn a suplex on the floor as we go to commercial. When we come back, Tony and Larry Z are still trying to figure out what Goldberg was charged with by the police. Jericho delivers the vertical suplex and the C’MON BABY on the chest gets two. Saturn mounts a comeback and hits a T-bone suplex for two. He gives Jericho an inverted atomic drop and springs off the ropes, but Jericho pulls ref Scott Dickinson in the way. Whoops. Jericho kicks Saturn in the balls and delivers the Lionsault to set up the LIONTAMER. It doesn’t much matter because the ref wakes up and rings the bell DQ’ing Saturn. (8:12) Oh that’s right – Dickinson doesn’t like Saturn. Jericho thinks Dickinson is an excellent referee. Man, they really are going back to 1996. *½

We get a camera following Goldberg as the APD escort him into the nearest police precinct – right across the street from the CNN Center. They take him into a room – while he’s still cuffed – to tell him he’s under arrest for “aggravated stalking”.  Turns out Miss Elizabeth filed the charge against him. Apparently Goldberg and the cop named Jack are tight. Goldberg denies all the allegations while the detectives are still interviewing Elizabeth.

NITRO GIRLS!

Jimmy Baron is still up in the box at the big Nitro Party. He asks some guys things like “are you excited” and “what’s your favorite part so far”.

We check in the detectives talking with Elizabeth. She says Goldberg follows her everywhere, he was in Baltimore last week, he was at the PPV before that, he even stays at the same hotels she’s at. Elizabeth seems very upset. The detectives walk out of the room to talk as we go to commercial.

They cut to a video of the Latino World Order partying with mamacitas and low riders. Well actually, Eddie has his LWO boys stay with the cars and various tasks while he takes the mamacitas in what appears to be a Mexican restaurant. I don’t know. Basically, the LWO is just one giant vanity project for Eddie, and it looks like the LWO boys are growing weary of it. Unfortunately for Eddie, he was involved in a car wreck on New Year’s Day, and the LWO is now all but dead.

• Rey Mysterio Jr. & Billy Kidman vs. Juventud Guerrera & Psychosis

Bobby Heenan replaces Larry Z for the rest of the show, so it must be 9:30PM EST. Eddie’s situation is not mentioned tonight. If this is a tornado match, why aren’t all four guys in the ring? Rey isn’t wearing his usual XXXXXXL LWO t-shirt tonight. Kidman and Psychosis are headlocks and shoulderblocks to start. Psychosis lands a sitout gourdbuster and tags in Juventud. They seem to be arguing over that tag. Kidman goes DROPKICK CRAZY and Guerrera moves away from one. He chops back and tries a wheelbarrow bulldog, but Kidman counters with an atomic drop. Nice. Tag to Rey, he delivers a flying headscissors to Guerrera. As Juventud is sent into the ropes, Mysterio launches Guerrera into a BK Bomb from Kidman for two. Juventud gets flipped out to the floor so Rey can fly, but Psychosis cuts him off with a flying double sledge. With Rey stunned, Guerrera flies in with a springboard dropkick to send Mysterio rolling out to the floor. Psychosis lands a slingshot legdrop on Rey. That’s got to be HELL on your hips. Back inside, Psychosis delivers a flying double sledge. In comes Juvi, Rey avoids a corner charge from Psychosis and flips Juventud around into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Psychosis cuts off a tag, but WHY DO WE NEED TAGS IF THIS IS A TEXAS TORNADO MATCH? Juventud gives Rey the backbreaker on the shoulder that Eddie does. Psychosis tags in, but flies down into a dropkick. HOT TAG TO KIDMAN, he flies in with that slingshot headscissors. Makes no sense when it’s a “hot tag” situation. Kidman lands the old school headlock and headscissors takedown on the heels. Rey comes in as he and Kidman clothesline Juvi and Psychosis to the floor for STEREO DIVES. Back in, Psychosis eats a SPRINGBOARD DOOMSDAY DEVICE. Cover by Rey, 1-2-NO! Mysterio attempts a quebrada, but Juvi catches him in mid-air for a JUVI DRIVER. That gets two as Kidman makes the save. Psychosis dumps out Kidman. Rey fights off Guerrera and Psychosis, but in comes Kidman hazardously flying in with a missile dropkick both Juventud and Mysterio. Good job, dummy. Guerrera clotheslines Kidman out of the ring while Psychosis hits the GUILLOTINE LEGDROP for the win. (7:36) They busted their asses, but it just didn’t go that next level. We’ll see these four at Souled Out over the CW title. **¾

Policeman Jack questions Goldberg – of course, he was at all those places, and HE OWNS THE GYM ELIZABETH IS TALKING ABOUT. He wants out of here now, and makes a threatening move – but no mace. Jack tells him to sit tight and they’ll keep working on it. Hey, you think he’ll be out in time for the main event?

Gene Okerlund introduces Kevin Nash out to the aisle to get his thoughts on what’s happening with Goldberg right now. Nash thinks Goldberg got screwed at Starrcade and that Hollywood Hogan is behind the conspiracy against Goldberg. Nash asks for Ric Flair to make a match between him and Hogan tonight and calls it a “warm up” for Goldberg. He still wants Goldberg tonight, but he also wants Hogan. Out comes Ric Flair to address this. He knows this whole thing with Goldberg stinks of Hogan. If Goldberg can’t make the match, Hogan will be wrestling (BIG SEXY) Kevin Nash tonight. WOO! Man, how happy is the live crowd right now?

Tony feels pretty sure that Hogan is behind this, now that someone else has said it first.

We check in with Elizabeth and the detectives. They are asking her to repeat her story, so that she’ll flub it. She changes the “water cooler” to the “Coke machine.” She says Goldberg was wearing “red tights” the last time he stalked her. Umm, when has Goldberg ever worn “red tights”? She gets pretty defensive about this whole thing and just wants the guy locked up. The detectives leave again, presumably to go outside and laugh at her, or to shoot themselves.

HOUR NUMBER THREE! Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and… Eric Bischoff?

Gene Okerlund brings out arguably the most popular wrestler of all-time HOLLYWOOD HOGAN to the ring to a CHORUS of boos. I must say, I do miss hearing Voodoo Child on these shows. Hogan is wearing a black blazer, black t-shirt, a black doo rag, and WHITE sunglasses. Hogan says he was gonna say his goodbyes and formally announce his VP, but the “sexual deviant” Goldberg just made him sick to his stomach. He calls Nash a “spoon” – whatever that means. Nash had said that Hogan only retired because he was afraid to face him. Well, Hogan has watched the nWo Wolfpac huff and puff, and if Flair says Hulk is going to wrestle, he guesses he owes his fans one more retirement match. After tonight, you can call Hogan the “Big Bad Wolf”.

Tony Schiavone – “Fans, as Hollywood Hogan walks away and you look at forty thousand plus on hand, if you’re even THINKING about changing the channel to our competition, fans, do not, because we understand that Mick Foley, who wrestled here one time as Cactus Jack, is gonna win their World title – oh! That’s gonna put some butts in the seats, HA.”

From “Earlier Today”, we catch a clip of Chris Jericho buttering up ref Scott Dickinson and then telling him that the next time Saturn lays a hand on him, he should be IMMEDIATELY disqualified. Dickinson nods. Well, there you go.

SCOTT STEINER and BUFF BAGWELL come out to the ring. Steiner tells us he can’t be censored now that he has the prestigious TV title. Buff does a brief Flair heart attack imitation. Steiner then invites Konnan out for another TV title match.

Notice anything wrong with these two graphics? Good grief.

• WCW World Television Championship: Scott Steiner (c) (w/Buff Bagwell) vs. Konnan

Konnan fights off a 2-on-1 and runs wild grabbing his nuts all over Steiner to start. Tony tries one more time to tell us all to keep watching by telling us something we would want to see more than a Konnan match over on the other channel.

“If you’re thinking about changing channels to our competition, we want to let you know that unlike us, they’ve got their show in the can, their show’s been taped – later tonight, Mick Foley, who’s once wrestled here as Cactus Jack, is gonna win their world title. I mean – that’s gonna be their World Champion! HA! HA! I mean, we’re here live every night, they’re not.” Bobby Heenan wisely doesn’t participate.

Steiner is in total control. We catch him landing the Steinerline and elbow drop. Buff chokes Konnan in the ropes. There’s the Belly to Belly Suplex by Steiner. He sets Konnan up in the corner, but Konnan starts punching back and delivers a terrible Tornado DDT. Steiner runs into a boot in the corner for that great bump. Konnan mounts a comeback and hits an awkward K-FACTOR. It’s Tequila Sunrise time, but in comes Buff with the TV title belt. Konnan whacks him before he gets whacked and ref Charles Robinson calls for the bell. (4:01) Steiner throws out Robinson as the nWo ref runs out. The STEINER RECLINER is applied. Steiner has a chair and whacks away. I don’t think Konnan will be going after any TV titles any time soon. Looks like nobody in the back cares. ¾*

• Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Wrath

This could have been SOMETHING, but of course it’s just a throwaway match on Nitro with no build. Wrath issues an open challenge to the locker room and he gets Bam Bam Bigelow. Bischoff FINALLY chimes in and says something about Goldberg being jail bait. I don’t think he knows what jail bait is, but okay. Neither guy will sell to start. They go to the floor and clubber on each other where neither guy will sell. Wrath will sell a ride into the ringpost though. Back in, Wrath comes back and buries some knees into Bigelow in the corner. Bigelow stops a kick and low blows with a headbutt. Back to the floor we go for more ringside violence. He bounces Wrath’s head off the steps a few times. Bigelow brings a chair into the ring, but ref Mickey Jay ain’t having it. They go back on the floor where Bigelow tries a chair shot, but Wrath ducks it. Mickey Jay is shoved away trying to keep the two from fighting on the outside. They are still brawling as the bell sounds. (3:57) No contest decision. These two are headed to SOULED OUT to finish what they started. Outside of the first hour, we’ve had three no decisions and four matches. It’s looking more like WWF booking every day. ¾*

The detectives talk to Liz one more time, and ask her to tell her story one more time. This time it was at the Coke machine. “Was it a Pepsi from the Coke machine, or a Coke from the Pepsi machine? Don’t all the wrestlers stay at the same hotel? Doesn’t Goldberg own that gym? Ma’am, you’ve been looking at your watch the whole time, can I see that watch?” They catch her with the “red tights” business. They remind her that falsifying a report is a federal offense, and so is perjury. They’re going outside to talk one more time, but Liz finally admits that she probably must have just made the whole thing up to wreck Goldberg’s title shot and she’s sorry to have wasted everybody’s time.

NITRO GIRLS!

Here’s another gem of a graphic. Bobby Heenan is not Larry Zbyszko, folks.

• Diamond Dallas Page vs. Brian Adams (w/Vincent)

Attendance is announced as 40,401. Wristlocks and shoulderblocks to start. They start slapping each other around and Adams decides to head out to the floor. DDP lands a pescado onto Vincent and Adams. Back in, Vincent grabs DDP so Adams can lay in the boots. Adams punches DDP back out to the floor so Vincent can pound away. Back in again, Adams is in control as we go to commercial. When we come back, DDP mounts a comeback and hits a swinging neckbreaker. Adams shoves off the Diamond Cutter and low blows DDP. He follows up with a Piledriver (and boy do I hate his piledriver) for a two-count. Adams grabs a bearhug and DDP earclaps out only to run into the TOUR OF THE ISLANDS. It’s all over. Cover, 1-2-NO! Wow, shocking. DDP counters a hiptoss with a DDT. He lands the Discus Lariat and tries a leapfrog (?) only to get caught with an inverted atomic drop. Adams whips DDP into a corner and charges at him, but DDP blocks with an elbow. He heads to the middle rope, slugs Vincent off the apron, and leaps into Adams for the DIAMOND CUTTER to get the win. (6:26 shown) Well, the crowd certainly popped on that finish. Probably should have ended the show right here. ¾*

Policeman Jack explains what Elizabeth confessed to doing. That’s all Goldberg needed to hear. He wants the cuffs off and Jack to take him back to the Dome. And off they go!

• WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Kevin Nash (c) (w/Scott Hall) vs. Hollywood Hogan (w/Scott Steiner)

Both Hogan and Nash have their hands taped up real good to look like we’re in for a fight. Scott Hall shows up for the first time tonight as Nash’s old buddy – both guys wearing nWo Wolfpac t-shirts. It’s almost like the last eight months didn’t even happen. “Goldberg” chant is pretty loud. Nash rips his t-shirt off like he’s the Hulkster, brother. If they’re chanting anything derogatory at Hogan, they must have turned down the crowd noise. One minute since the bell rang. Nash shoves Hogan back into the corner, and the crowd pops. Hogan tries to punch. Instead, he pulls back and gingerly taps Nash on the pec. Nash drops to the mat like a ton of bricks. Hogan covers, and we’ve got a three count. (1:41) Ladies and gentlemen, we have a NEW WCW world champ.

Bischoff finally breaks his silence to congratulate the NEW world champ as we see the cop car arrive in the back. Goldberg gets out, rushes the ring, takes out Steiner, Hall, Nash, and finally Hogan gets him with the belt and now he’s raining down punches on him. Hogan whips Goldberg into the ropes, but Goldberg reverses and SPEARS Hogan down. Here comes LEX LUGER – and he attacks Goldberg! Luger throws Goldberg up into the TORTURE RACK. Out comes Elizabeth. Scott Hall has his taser again as Goldberg is cuffed to the bottom rope. Bischoff can’t stop talking now. Buff Bagwell is out. Spray paint cans all around. “NWO 4 LIFE” in red gets tagged across Goldberg’s back, and his head spray painted in black and red. The WCW world title gets spray painted with a red “NWO” – one more time. And that’s all she wrote.

Now the so-called plan is for Goldberg to go through the nWo to eventually get a rematch with Hogan, right? Let’s take a look at the first quarter of 1999 to see exactly who Goldberg wrestled on TV.

• Goldberg versus Scott Hall (nWo) – 1/17/99 – SOULED OUT PPV
• Goldberg versus Scott Hall (nWo) versus Bam Bam Bigelow – 1/18/99 – NITRO
• Goldberg versus Scott Norton (nWo B-Team) – 1/25/99 – NITRO
• Goldberg versus Bam Bam Bigelow – 2/21/99 – SUPERBRAWL IX PPV
• Goldberg versus Scott Steiner (nWo) – 2/22/99 – NITRO
• Goldberg / Rick Steiner versus Scott Steiner / Buff Bagwell (nWo) – 3/1/99 – NITRO
• Goldberg versus Ric Flair – 3/8/99 – NITRO
• NO MATCH – 3/14/99 – UNCENSORED PPV
• Goldberg / Ric Flair versus Hollywood Hogan / Kevin Nash (nWo) – 3/15/99 – NITRO
• Goldberg versus Hak (The Sandman) – 3/22/99 – NITRO

They divide up the heat from Kevin Nash and Hollywood Hogan and try to put it onto Scott Hall and Bam Bam Bigelow because I guess they didn’t want to “blow their wad” at the big rematches. But as we’ll see, those matches with Hall and Bigelow are not the matches people wanted to see. Now, it’s not as if this new nWo became a huge success all over again and continued to provide compelling TV throughout 1999 either. In fact, almost EVERYONE in this group gets injured like immediately in the first quarter of the year and leaves. In fact, the only ones still showing up weekly to wrestle that you’re seeing in the ring at the end of this Nitro episode after say, Slamboree, would be Kevin Nash.

Hollywood Hogan gets wrapped up in a feud with Ric Flair and then injures his knee at Spring Stampede, Scott Hall gets injured when his foot was “accidentally backed over by a car” at some point in late February, Lex Luger tears his bicep and he’s done by the end of January, Scott Steiner’s back still bothers him and he’s done for the year by Slamboree, and Buff Bagwell (spoiler alert) gets kicked out of the nWo for a babyface run. So yeah, there’s nobody left in the nWo for Goldberg to seriously wrestle before you know it. Who was he going to face? The nWo B-Team guys? Stevie Ray, Horace Hogan, Brian Adams, Scott Norton, or VINCENT? Yeah, that’ll put the butts in the seats.

You could on some level give WCW the benefit of the doubt and say that the plans changed and it couldn’t be helped, brother. Hulk Hogan and Goldberg never got their rematch. Kevin Nash and Goldberg would wrestle again at Spring Stampede, but did it move the needle at all? No, I really don’t think so. It was just too little, too late. At the end of the day, there was just terrible follow-up on this gut-wrenching start to 1999. I honestly think most of it couldn’t have been helped. Either that, or the AOL Time Warner just wanted to kill off the golden goose (Goldberg) because they didn’t want WCW as part of their portfolio going forward, because he had become the only reason to keep WCW alive for another year. WHO KNOWS. All I know is, on the surface, this whole night looks like a bait-and-switch conspiracy to piss off Atlanta in front of their second biggest crowd and largest gate in the history of the company.

WCW / nWo PRESENTS: SOULED OUT
LIVE on January 17 from the Charleston Civic Center in Charleston, West Virginia! ONLY ON PPV!
MAIN EVENT: Ric & David Flair vs. Curt Hennig & Barry Windham