Monday Nitro – February 16, 1998

Date:
February 16, 1998

Location:
Tampa Fairgrounds, Tampa, Florida

Commentators:
Mike Tenay, Larry Zbyszko, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

It’s
the go home show for SuperBrawl but more importantly Louie Spicolli
died the day before this show of a drug overdose and choking on his
own vomit. I’m not a fan of the guy but that’s a shame no matter how
you look at it. As for the show tonight, the main event is
Hogan/Savage vs. Sting/Luger in a preview of two matches on Sunday.
Let’s get to it.

We
open with the ringing of the bell in Spicolli’s memory. Simple but
classy.

Clip
of the end of Thunder with the big brawl between WCW and the NWO.

Here
are Hogan and Bischoff to open the show, flanked by the majority of
the team. Hogan continues his theme from Thunder of the ABC’s of
people they’re coming after. A is anyone that supports WCW, B is for
Bret Hart and now C is for the corporate gaga against the NWO. Hogan
says it’s the corporate people who are holding the NWO back, but
there’s no amount of money Hogan won’t pay to take over the world,
and that includes making Nick Patrick the referee for Hogan vs. Sting
III.

The
D stands for the Dummy that is the Macho Man. Hogan already beat him
last week but Savage didn’t even have the guts to apologize for
turning his back on the team. The one thing that really put him over
the line though was sucker punching Hogan last week on Thunder. Cue
Savage who says he’ll beat Sting and Luger on his own and then he’ll
beat Hogan up himself, but he’ll leave a little bit so Hogan can make
the apology himself. Hogan says he’ll be the one beating his partner
up and Eric calls Hogan the Heavyweight Champion of our world to end
things.

George
Steinbrenner is in the audience.

Tony
asks Larry about Louie Spicolli but Larry says to let it rest.
That’s the only thing to say if you have to bring it up. Jimmy Hart
chases Hugh down the aisle and says there’s an offer Morrus can’t
refuse. Whatever that means it seems to fire Morrus up. Hugh comes
up to Goldberg during warmups and the brawl is on. Morrus gets in
some quick shots but Goldberg escapes a suplex and the two moves
connect for the pin. Usual Goldberg stuff.

Video
on the Steiners winning the tag belts last week.

Hall
and Nash come up to the broadcast booth with Nash wanting to know why
they have to wait until Sunday for their title rematch. Nash rants
and raves about WCW politics keeping the Outsiders from what belongs
to them while Tony says it’s not his decision. Larry gets up but
Nash threatens to unplug his dialysis machine. Zbyszko threatens to
make Hall scream and that’s about it.

A
Lodi distraction allows Sick Boy to jump start the match. A slam
sets up that sweet springboard dropkick and Sick Boy is looking good
so far. Starr is suplexed down and choked on the ropes for a bit but
he makes the quick jobber comeback. Lodi trips him up though and a
Pedigree ends Starr quick. Sick Boy had some potential but he was
never more than a jobber in the over crowded WCW.

WCW
seems to win the survey but it’s close. Hall starts with Grunge and
there’s the toothpick throw. Scott drives in shoulders as the
toothpick is stuck in Grunge’s beard. Grunge hits a quick backdrop
for two and it’s off to Rocco who covers Hall and tags right back
out. Everything breaks down and it’s a big boot for Rocco and a
chokeslam for Grunge. Grunge takes Hall to the floor and loads him
onto the table but Dusty makes the save. Hall puts Johnny on the
table and Nash powerbombs Rocco over the top and through Grunge for
the DQ.

Nash
is arrested and chants Attaca. The fines for the powerbombs are now
at $200,000.

Nitro
Party winner.

Nick
Patrick compares himself to Bill Clinton and is considering Hogan’s
offer to join the NWO due to being locked out of WCW.

Barry
jumps Enos off the apron to start which is probably his only chance.
He fires off some right hands but walks into a backbreaker once
inside. A pumphandle slam puts Barry down and Enos drives some
headbutts into his back. Horowitz gets a quick rollup for two but
walks into a powerslam for the pin. Was Enos contractually
guaranteed one win in his run or something?

Mongo
and Bulldog get in another fight in the back.

Second
hour begins.

Bret
Hart is here for the first time in nearly a month.

Nagata
immediately takes him down with kicks and chops in the corner but La
Parka comes back with an enziguri. A spin kick sends Yuji to the
floor and the place is WAY into La Parka. The skeleton guy hits a
big dive to take Nagata out on the floor in a rare high spot. Not
that announcers could stop talking about Hart and the PPV for five
seconds to call it but that’s to be expected. Back in and Parka
tries another cross body but gets rolled through for two. Some
clotheslines take Yuji down but he rolls away from top rope splash.

A
cross armbreaker is quickly escaped so Yuji sends him to the apron.
La Parka hits yet another high flying move with a corkscrew plancha
before heading outside to get the chair. Nagata’s manager Sonny Onoo
distracts the referee as Disco Inferno runs out and hits the
Chartbuster on La Parka due to the chair shot from Thunder. The
Nagata Lock is good for the submission back inside.

Rating:
C-. At least La Parka is
getting a push, albeit a tiny one. The guy got over with some
ridiculous stuff but the fans like him and that’s all that matters.
Yuji wasn’t too bad here and Disco coming out makes sense given the
events of last week. The high spots were good here and it was a more
entertaining match than I was expecting.

We
hear Hogan’s comments about Bret Hart from Thunder.

Nitro
Girls.

Kidman
jumps Dragon to start and takes him down with a back elbow. Dragon
is backdropped into the corner headstand before hooking a rolling
sunset flip for two. A hotshot puts Dragon down and Kidman sends him
flying with a headscissors. Dragon is taken down again by a headlock
takeover as this is surprisingly one sided. Ultimo finally comes
back with a headscissors and the rapid fire kicks.

A
giant swing of all things puts Kidman down and they trade rollups for
two each. Dragon catches him with a spin kick to the face and the
top rope hurricanrana takes Kidman down. Kidman counters the Dragon
Sleeper into a Michinoku Driver for two but the third attempt at the
Sleeper is good for the tap out.

Rating:
C. This took a few minutes to
get going but it picked up by the end. Kidman could go when he had a
good opponent to work with and that was certainly the case here.
This match is also an example of one of WCW’s other strengths:
everyone has a very distinct look. It’s rare to see two people in
WCW who dress similar as their outfits are unique and stand out.
That’s a very helpful touch.

After
some footage of DDP saving Benoit on Thunder, here’s Page with
something to say. Page talks about how competitive the two of them
are and how Benoit wants to stand on his own two feet. Page however
had to make the save because he wants Benoit at his best come
SuperBrawl. On Thursday it’s Benoit/Page vs. Saturn/Raven (it took
Page a few tries to get the names right), and here are the Flock
members to jump Page but Benoit makes a save before anything happens.

This
is the brawl you would it expect it to be from the start with both
guys on the mat pounding away. Back up and Barbarian charges into an
elbow in the corner but Meng’s clubbering is countered by a whip into
the corner. They pound on each other even more with Barbarian taking
him into the corner and both guys shouting a lot. Headbutts have no
effect on both guys but Meng staggers him with a big boot. Jimmy
Hart breaks the wooden chair over Meng’s head to no effect so Meng
puts him in the Deathgrip. Barbarian hits four straight Kicks of
Fear to put Meng down for the pin.

Rating:
C. This falls into the category
of entertaining nonsense. Sometimes there’s nothing more fun than
having two monsters beat the tar out of each other for a few minutes.
Barbarian kicking Meng in the head over and over was a good idea to
end the match and it made for entertaining TV. What more could you
ask for from this pairing?

More
Nitro Girls.

La
Parka runs out and destroys Disco with the chair during Disco’s
entrance. Rick Martel comes out and wants the match against Saturn
despite having a TV Title match tonight.

Martel
takes over with a quick armdrag and we head outside with Martel
sending him into the post. Back in and Martel fires off knees in the
corner but a flying headscissors is countered into a hot shot. A
missile dropkick gets two for Saturn but he jumps into a punch on
another high risk attempt. Martel spinebusters him down but Kidman’s
distraction lets Riggs knock Martel out. The Rings of Saturn get the
academic submission as Martel is out of it.

Rating:
C-. The more I see of Martel
the more impressed I am. He comes out of retirement to put on
consistently decent to good matches including an impromptu one here.
It’s another good example of WCW having such a deep talent pool that
they can have interesting stories with decent matches up and down the
card.

Speaking
of throwing some veteran out there, here’s Bobby Eaton for the first
time since April. They trade slaps to start until Hennig chops him
out to the floor. Rude throws him back in so Hennig knee lifts Bobby
back to the floor so Rude can throw him in a second time. Let’s do
that sequence one more time in case you didn’t get the point already.
Back in and Eaton takes advantage of Curt yelling at the fans by
clipping the knee. Tony lets us know that Hennig has been gone
because of his knee so there’s some psychology thrown in. Not that
it matters as Hennig hooks the PerfectPlex for a pin out of nowhere.
Glorified squash.

Baseball
legend Wade Boggs is here.

Hour
#3 begins.

As
always here, Scott Steiner will only be referred to as Scott and
Scott Norton will only be referred to as Norton. Rick starts with
Buff and we’re into the posing a few seconds in. Buff quickly slams
him down and does his strut, but Rick comes right back with an
overhead belly to belly suplex. Off to Scott for a quick chinlock
but it’s quickly back to Rick vs. Norton in a power match.

Rick
takes Norton down with a clothesline before it’s back to Scott for
another chinlock, this time with a knee in the back. Back to Rick
for a wristlock but Norton shoves him into the corner, only to miss a
charge in the opposite corner. Buff finally does something right by
distracting Rick long enough for Norton to shove him to the floor and
then into the barricade. Back in again for a neck crank from Norton
and a choke from Bagwell. Rick ducks a clothesline and powerslams
Buff down. Everything breaks down and Rick hits the bulldog on
Bagwell but the NWO comes in for the DQ.

Rating:
D. There wasn’t much to this
one as Norton/Bagwell were the NWO jobbing tag team and therefore no
threat to the belts at all. The fact that the Outsiders were getting
their rematch on Sunday didn’t give me much hope for new champions
either. It was interesting to see Rick dominating the ring time
though as the Steiners’ troubles continue despite them winning most
of their matches.

Scott
makes the save with a chair.

They
talk some trash to start but Martel jumps Booker from behind. Rick
yells at the crowd as he pounds on Booker but gets caught in a
backdrop. Booker kicks him out to the floor as the fans tell Martel
he sucks. Back in and Martel walks into a spinebuster, sending him
right back to the floor. Booker works the arm back in the ring and
gets two off a knee drop. Rick gets to his feet and catches Booker
in a hot shot to take over before sending Booker to the floor.

Martel
gets in some cheap shots on the floor before putting on a chinlock to
slow things down. There’s the Quebec Crab but Booker is quickly in
the ropes. A spinwheel kick takes Martel down but the referee is
bumped. Cue Saturn to go after Martel but Booker kicks him off the
apron. He hurts his knee in the process though and Martel puts on
the Crab for the submission and the title.

Rating:
C+. Martel has something
special going here as his comeback hits a big milestone. This three
way feud is interesting stuff as you Saturn’s logic is questionable
(he can beat Martel but not Booker so why help Booker?), Booker has a
case for a rematch and Martel turned to get the title.

Here’s
Bret to answer Hogan’s statements about costing him the title. Bret
disagrees and says that Hogan is scared of him. If Hogan wants to
find him, Bret isn’t going anywhere and all Hogan had to do was say
his name once. Hogan has been ducking him for years and it’s time
for them to step into the ring.

This
brings out the debuting Brian Adams (Crush from the WWF) who says he
has Bret’s back anywhere anytime. He offers Bret his hand….and
here’s the NWO for the beatdown. Adams is of course part of the NWO,
shocking no one with a brain. Hogan comes in for the big beatdown
but Flair comes out for the save. This could and likely should have
been the start of a Starrcade program between Bret and Hogan.

Here’s
JJ Dillon to mediate the TV Title issue. He has all three guys come
out and makes it Booker T vs. Martel with the winner of that
defending against Saturn later in the night.

Benoit
trades chops with Guerrero to start, sending Eddie running away to
Jericho. Jericho comes in but has to be convinced to take the belt
off. Benoit runs Jericho off and it’s Malenko vs. Eddie now with
Guerrero being launched onto the top rope. Dean picks him up in a
powerbomb but drops Eddie over the top rope instead, causing the
heels to have a quick meeting. Back in and Dean drops Eddie with a
flapjack before bringing in Benoit for the snap suplexes.

Eddie
tries to slide through Benoit’s legs but gets grabbed by the hair and
pulls him up into a German suplex. Dean is in with a Boston Crab to
annoy Jericho and everything breaks down. Eddie hits the brainbuster
on Dean but Benoit makes the save with the Swanton. Jericho comes in
with a missile dropkick to Dean but Benoit breaks up the Liontamer
attempt. Eddie dives onto Benoit to take him out as Dean misses a
dropkick. Jericho loads up the Liontamer but Dean rolls through into
a pinning combination for two. That counter is countered into a
rollup but Dean counters the counter into the Cloverleaf for the
submission.

Rating:
B-. These four continue to have
the match of the night and the crowd reactions to Jericho vs. Malenko
are getting louder and louder. With Benoit rising up the ranks to
challenge for the US Title and Guerrero being his usual awesome self,
these matches are rapidly becoming the highlight of the shows.

Bischoff
says Hogan is paying Nash’s fine.

Savage
jumps Sting and Luger in the aisle to start the fight and Hogan sends
Sting into the barricade. Hollywood hammers on Sting inside but
Sting comes back with right hands to send Hogan out to the floor.
Savage and Luger head into the ring now with Savage choking on the
ropes.

They’re
the official starters but when Savage goes to tag Hogan he’s out on
the floor with Bischoff. Hollywood gets on the apron so Randy tags
him with a forearm to the back. Three elbow drops get a near fall on
Luger but Hogan’s legdrop misses. Hot tag Sting and Hogan is almost
immediately in the Scorpion. Here’s the NWO as the match is thrown
out.

Rating:
D+. Did you really expect
anything else here? There’s nothing wrong with setting up the two
PPV main events in one TV match as it kills two birds with one stone
without doing the same match twice. This was your usual NWO style
brawl and the match itself only lasted a few minutes but it was
entertaining enough to get by.

Hogan
and Savage go at it as Flair and Hart come out to clear the ring to
end the show.

Overall
Rating: B-. They did a good job
of setting up SuperBrawl but a lot of this stuff could have been cut
out. If this show was just two hours it would have been one of the
better episodes they’ve had in a long time. Most of the stories are
clicking and WCW continues to be on a roll at this point. Another
good show this week.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com