Monday Nitro – November 16, 1998

Date: November 16, 1998

Location: Wichita
Coliseum, Wichita, Kansas

Attendance: 13,981

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

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

It’s the go home show
for World War 3 and most of the card isn’t known yet. We’ll get the
battle royal and Mysterio vs. Guerrera for the Cruiserweight
Title…and that’s about it. My guess is we’ll get a bunch of
rematches from Halloween Havoc, but thankfully Hogan vs. Warrior III
isn’t going to be one of them. Let’s get to it.

The announcers welcome
us to the show and run down the card.

We see a motorcade
coming up, meaning it’s time for more Hogan For President stuff later
on. I’ll give them this: it’s something different.

More from the
announcers.

Apparently
Judy Bagwell is in the hospital and has sent in a tape which we’ll
look at later. Juvy takes him down with some headscissors to start
but Kidman nips up and grabs a headlock. Juvy counters into one of
his own before rolling Kidman up for two. The short powerbomb (Sky
High) puts Guerrera down for two and he rolls out to the floor for a
breather. A suplex back inside sets up a slingshot legdrop to give
the champion a near fall.

We hit the chinlock on
Juvy for a few moments before Guerrera pops up and grabs a
hurricanrana out of the corner. A nice looking headscissors puts
Kidman down again and Juvy rains down right hands in the corner. The
crowd is WAY behind Juvy here. Kidman sends him to the apron but
gets caught with a Stunner across the top rope. A high cross body
gets two for Guerrera but Kidman dropkicks him out to the floor to
get a breather.

Kidman follows him out
with a plancha and we hit the chinlock back inside. Juvy fights up
and rolls Kidman to the floor, setting up a dive off the top. Back
in and Juvy hits a springboard legdrop but hurts his back, allowing
Kidman to kick out at two. A sitout bulldog gets two more for the
challenger but he tries a powerbomb like a dolt.

The faceplant gets two
for Kidman and he counters another sitout bulldog into a wheelbarrow
slam for two more. Juvy nails the Juvy Driver out of nowhere for two
and takes him up top but Kidman hits an uncharacteristic low blow. A
sitout spinebuster off the top gets a VERY close two but Juvy breaks
up the Shooting Star. The 450 (mostly hitting knees) is enough for
the pin and the title.

Rating:
B+.
This was AWESOME with both guys doing everything they could with
Kidman even cheating a bit near the end. Juvy has been tearing the
house down lately so there’s nothing wrong with him getting the title
here. If nothing else it sets up Mysterio vs. Guerrera again on
Sunday and that’s never a bad thing.

Kidman teases hitting
him with the belt post match but just hands it to Juvy and raises his
hand.

Opening sequence.

We look back at Judy
Bagwell in the Tag Team Title match last week.

Before the match Raven
says that WCW isn’t his mother and can’t tell him what to do so he’s
not wrestling tonight. Kanyon begs him to change his mind and offers
to take his spot. He does the usual stuff with the crowd, only to be
laid out by Wrath. The Meltdown destroys Kanyon, whose scheduled
match is next.

Glacier comes out to go
after a downed Kanyon but Wrath doesn’t think that’s fair. There’s a
Meltdown for Glacier as well and we go to a commercial. Back with
both guys down and the referee counting until Kanyon covers Glacier
for two. They’re selling the heck out of those Meltdowns.

They head outside with
Glacier nailing a suplex but takes too long to follow up, allowing
Kanyon to hit a Fameasser onto the steps. Somehow that only gets two
so Kanyon goes up, only to jump into the Cryonic Kick for another two
count. This time it’s Kanyon kicking Glacier down but coming off the
top into a northern lights suplex. Not that it matters as Glacier
walks into the Flatliner for the pin. It wasn’t long enough to rate
but it was more about Wrath than either guy.

Nitro Party winner.

We look at the Hogan
For President stuff from last week.

Hogan, Bischoff and
company were on Imus in the Morning for a charity thing.

Let’s get this over
with. It’s fairly obvious that Gringo is Kaz Hayashi under a mask.
Gringo blocks a Sonny kick and Onoo says this isn’t what they
planned. Sonny gets shoved down as Gringo unmasks as Kaz Hayashi.
Not that it matters as Ernest Miller comes out to kick Hayashi in the
head, giving Onoo a pin with his foot on Kaz’s chest. Amazingly
enough, NO ONE CARES ABOUT THIS STORY.

Nitro Girls.

Horace takes Dean into
the corner to start and chokes for a bit before being dropped by a
belly to back suplex. After a bit of leg work it’s off to Mongo who
tries to fight both guys at once with the results going as badly as
you would expect. Ray comes in but charges into an elbow followed by
a kind of suplex from McMichael.

Dean gets the tag but
can’t hook the Cloverleaf. The NWO beats Malenko down until a hot
tag brings in Mongo and everything breaks down. Vincent breaks up
the tombstone on Horace and gets destroyed by Arn as a result.
Stevie nails McMichael with the slapjack but Arn pulls out the trusty
tire iron and knocks out every NWO member in sight for the DQ.

Rating:
D+.
Malenko tried but he can’t carry three other guys on his own. Horace
wasn’t even terrible but he’s just so uninteresting that there’s
nothing to him. McMichael really should be better by this point and
Stevie Ray was Stevie Ray. I can always go for some old AA
bludgeoning though.

Doug Dillinger comes
out to take the tire iron but Arn says no.

Back from a break with
Arn being taken away by security and Mongo going to the hospital.

Gene brings out Ric
Flair for a chat. It’s true that Arn is going to jail and Mongo is
hurt but Flair doesn’t seem too shaken up by these developments. He
rants about tradition for a bit before saying he wants Bischoff in
the ring, so he can “chop him so hard he’ll be on Ripley’s Believe
It Or Not as the man with four nipples.”

As for tonight, Flair
has a surprise for us so here’s Barry Windham of all people. Barry
and Flair hug before Barry talks about how right it is to have the
Horsemen back in WCW. Bischoff comes out to say Barry doesn’t have a
job here and Flair has no authority. Flair says that’s true, but
Barry can tear up Bischoff’s girlfriend tonight.

Again
if Rey loses he has to join the LWO but Eddie will leave him alone if
Rey wins. Eddie has an unnamed enforcer with him who has been seen
in recent LWO attacks. A headscissors and hurricanrana put Guerrero
down and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker send him crawling to the referee.
Back up and a nice armdrag takedown puts Eddie on the mat and we hit
the armbar. They go to a test of strength but Mysterio climbs the
ropes and moonsaults into a DDT in an AWESOME counter.

Rey tries something
resembling a Whisper in the Wind but complete misses and comes up
favoring his knee. Not that it matters as he’s able to backdrop
Eddie to the floor and hit an Asai Moonsault. A dropkick to the back
of the head drops Eddie again but the bodyguard trips Rey down.
Guerrero nails a powerbomb but Juventud runs out to even things up.
His springboard legdrop hits Rey by mistake though and Eddie adds the
Frog Splash for the pin.

Rating:
C.
This didn’t have time to reach their usual level but it’s still an
entertaining match. Juvy adds a new wrinkle to the story and having
Eddie get what he wants through these means is a smarter move than
giving him a clean win. These two getting time in the ring together
is never a bad thing.

The
LWO puts a shirt on the unconscious Rey.

The announcers talk
about Judy Bagwell for a bit before taking us to a video of her in
the hospital. She can’t believe Buff would let this happen and makes
it her mission to bring Marcus back where he belongs. Only in WCW
people.

They pose at each other
to start until Putski takes over with a nice slam. He throws Chavo
into the air and lets him crash down to the mat. Chavo comes back
with some forearms in the corner but gets caught in a suplex. Now
for something a bit more interesting as we go split screen to see
Gene watching a Cadillac arrive. Bam Bam Bigelow of all people gets
out and goes through security, screaming for Goldberg to come fight
him. Gene tries to talk to him as we’re on a single screen now.
Bigelow comes to the arena and destroys both guys with a powerbomb to
Putski and a gorilla press to Guerrero.

Bigelow demands that
Goldberg get out here right now but Eric Bischoff, JJ Dillion and an
army of security come out instead. Bischoff and Dillon say get out
of here but Bigelow doesn’t go. Instead here’s Goldberg and A LOT
more security to try to keep them apart. Bischoff yells at JJ and
wants to see him in the back.

After a break Eric
yells at JJ and fires him. JJ says no way because he quits.

We look at the brawl
again.

World War 3 ad.

This
is due to Konnan coming out last week to save Saturn from an LWO
attack. Saturn didn’t want the help and wants revenge. Konnan does
his usual stuff but Saturn jumps him in what is becoming a tradition
in WCW. Saturn fires off some kicks in the corner and hits a jumping
clothesline. A rolling clothesline misses Saturn but he misses the
superkick as well, allowing Konnan to nail a clothesline of his own.
The LWO comes out as Konnan hits the seated dropkick and puts on a
chickenwing.

We
cut to the back and see Bischoff saying Bigelow will not be at World
War 3. Goldberg comes up to Bischoff, grabs his face and demands
Bigelow tonight. Back in the ring with Saturn nailing a superkick
but walking into a spinebuster for two. The announcers have given up
any pretense of talking about the match to hype Goldberg vs. Bigelow.

Splash Mountain
(Razor’s Edge into a sitout powerbomb) gets two on Saturn but he
comes back with a northern lights suplex. A double clothesline puts
both guys down until La Parka gets up on the apron and holds Saturn.
Konnan will have none of that and lays out La Parka instead. The LWO
beats up Saturn as a result and that’s a DQ.

Rating:
C+.
I’m glad the backstage stuff only went on for a few moments as this
was an entertaining match for the most part. It was always nice to
see two different styles work together out there and the match worked
fairly well. The LWO isn’t doing much for me but it’s nice to see
them doing something.

Konnan goes to help
Saturn but Saturn will have none of that. The LWO leaves them alone
to fight.

Hour #3 begins.

Nitro Girls.

We look at Hall vs.
Nash.

Here
are Scott Steiner, Buff Bagwell and their own referee. By referee, I
mean a guy with a whistle and hat running all over the place. Buff
talks about how WCW won’t give them a referee right now so the NWO
has their own. He has the referee demonstrate how to do a very over
the top three count before Scott insults the women here in Kansas.
He talks about the NWO being stronger than blood, which is why it’s
ok for Scott to go attack Buff’s mother.

Scott
says Buff can return the favor, so here’s an old “lady” called
Mrs. Steiner. Buff beats her up and the referee counts the pin until
Rick Steiner runs in to clear the ring. He rips the wig off to
reveal a man and says that’s not his mother. Thanks for that Rick.
Scott Norton sneaks up on Rick and lays him out so Buff and Scott can
come back in to beat Rick down. The referee counts a pin with all
three guys covering Rick.

Jericho
is defending. Duncum is a tall guy who looks like a cowboy and is
making his WCW debut. He’s wrestled for a few years elsewhere
though. Jericho grabs something like a surfboard before letting it
go for a senton backsplash. Heenan: “A senton?” Tenay: “Yes a
senton.” Heenan: “Senton? SENTON? A senton? It’s a senton.”
Jericho hits a nice belly to back (Heenan: “THE SUPER SENTON!”)
but Duncum grabs the boot to block the Arrogant cover.

A hard clothesline puts
Jericho on the floor and another one off the apron sends Chris into
the barricade. Back in and Jericho nails a dropkick as Heenan says
this match has been going for twenty minutes. I know Heenan can
embellish time once in awhile but stretching a four minute match to
twenty minute be a new record. Duncum grabs his bullrope and chases
Jericho off for the countout.

Rating:
C-.
Duncum looked good and could move well for a bigger guy but much like
Kaos, there’s not much interest there. The annoying thing is Jericho
vs. Goldberg was built up for over a month now and it seems like
Jericho getting speared last week is the end of their story. As
Jericho has mentioned before, I see no reason why Jericho couldn’t
get squashed on PPV or even Nitro.

Here comes the Secret
Service and it’s time for Hogan. He comes out to Hail to the Chief
and the announcers swear that Hogan is serious about this. Hogan is
by himself here with the white feather boa around his neck. A huge
American flag comes down in front of the entrance as red, white and
blue balloons fall.

Hogan
gets in the ring as confetti falls as well. He talks about what a
great week this has been due to the fans embracing his vision for the
country. Tonight he’s introducing his official intern and of course
it’s a woman that looks like Monica Lewinsky complete with a blue
dress and hat. She congratulates him and makes a cigar joke before
giving her a long hug.

Hogan
invites the NWO out here because the campaign trail is just as solid
as the NWO. Eric comes out and looks ticked off but sucks up to
Hogan a bit anyway. Hogan makes light of Eric being worried about
Goldberg and the wrestlers’ safety due to Bigelow. Scott Hall comes
out and says they’re NWO for life. He wants to know where Bischoff’s
head is at though. Eric says that’s ironic coming from Hall and says
they’ll take care of this later on. Hall decks Eric so Hogan goes
after Hall until Nash makes the save. Scott leaves and Nash says
he’ll see him in Detroit. There’s another match for the PPV.

Non-title.
Benoit nails a hard elbow to start before firing off chops in the
corner. A snap suplex gets two and Benoit stomps away in the corner.
Bret comes back with a shot to the throat before stomping down on
Benoit for good measure. The backbreaker and middle rope elbow are
good for two and Bret catapults him throat first into the bottom
rope.

Chris charges into a
boot to the face but comes back with a great looking superplex. The
Swan Dive connects for two and Benoit clotheslines him out to the
floor. Bret grabs a chair but runs away for some reason, allowing
Benoit to punch it into his face back in the ring. Hart hits him low
and crushes Benoit’s arm with the chair for the DQ.

Rating:
C.
This was more about setting up the angle than the match itself and
that’s fine. Heenan saying that Hart just didn’t care anymore is
very accurate. It’s clear that there’s no fire in him anymore and
he’s just out there because his contract says he has to be. Also did
we really need another face to be taken out?

Post match Malenko
makes the save but Bret sneaks up on him and hammers away. DDP makes
the real save and taunts Bret with the US Title. He’ll keep getting
back up and will defend the title against Hart at World War 3.

Bigelow jumps Goldberg
in the aisle and they fight by the entrance way until security breaks
it up to end the show.

Overall
Rating: C.
This was a better show as it felt like there was an actual effort
being put into things this week. As stupid as it sounds, I can
actually go with the Hogan For President stuff. Yeah it’s totally
stupid, but I’d much rather watch something over the top and goofy
than something deadly serious and horrible. The rest of the show was
fine and bringing in Bigelow to put over Goldberg isn’t the worst
idea in the world. It’s still not a good show but it was a nice
change of pace.

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