WCW Nitro 8/31/1998

Written by: Kevin Kindelberger

WCW Monday Nitro 8/31/98
Nitro has the night to itself. We will see what it can do. One thing for sure Nitro set a record with a 6.0 rating the largest since 1988!

Here comes Hogan and Bischoff. EB thanks the crowd for allowing him to take their money. He is carrying a weapon and it is a pen. He informs Eddie that he is wrestling tonight and Warrior is not. Now Hogan is talking about being the most powerful force in wrestling today. Stevie Ray will be Hogan’s partner at War Games and prove himself. Bret Hart will be too. The fans chant for Goldberg. Once Hogan gets all the cowards to the side, and he gets the one man who looked into his eyes with fear, and they bleeped out the Ultimate part, and he goes on about the present day Warrior and after he vanquishes him he will turn to Goldberg and get his belt back and hold it for an eternity. EB whispers to him and Hogan nods his head and then declares that he is tired of the Warrior running and wants him to get his butt out here right now. Wow, normally we have to wait the entire show for the face to come out and challenge Hogan but the Anabolic Warrior responds and makes his entrance. Hogan tells the Warrior that the flames for the Warrior’s entrance signify his fear and that the nWo is around the ring ready to crucify him. Warrior yells for his Warriors to speak to him and then the smoke billows and he disappears.

Now I have heard that WCW never highlighted McGwire and Goldberg having batting practice together. They just did. This was one of Alvarez’s big stinks about WCW but they just showed the two together and spent a minute or two talking about it.

Match 1: Jim Powers v. Wrath

Wrath is dominating. Powers gets in some moves but is finished with the pumphandle turned into a powerslam and it is called the Meltdown. Wrath is over….wow. His music starts like Running with the Deviltoo.

** Squash.

Match 2: Norman Smiley v. Scott Norton

Norton utterly destroys him. Norton is taunting him by pulling him up off the canvas during pin attempts. Norton powerbombs him and it is over.

** Squash.

Warrior pulling a Sting is looking down on the ring watching the nWo fight.

Tenay is in the back and he is talking to Saturn who has to be Lodi’s bitch. Saturn has a code of honor and that pride is forever as he carries Lodi’s bag. Tenay sums up by saying Saturn is a man of integrity and honor! Thanks Mike!

Here comes the Wolfpac! Damn the crowd is roaring. Nash is doing his thing, hyping the town. Now Konnan’s turn wearing a vampire cape. Luger is trying to match their intensity and struggles to do so. Luger wants a piece of Hart and Hogan tonight and Stinger is en route so they challenge the two. Back to Nash. Nash states he is not the leader and they are a unit. For their three participants at War Games it is Sting, Luger and Nash. Some people got in their business last week, and DDP has until next Monday to make up his mind where he stands. Next time Piper gets involved he will pay. He speaks in terms Warrior can understand, there was a warrior who fell asleep at tree and woke up surrounded by four wolves who took off his hand and the other three joined in. If you are not Red and Black you will be hunted.

Schiavone is with Jo Jo. He is here in an unofficial capacity and he wants to invite a person down to the ring to have a heart to heart and calls Arn down to the ring. Jo Jo is not part of any WCW faction, and when he got home he pulled out some old tapes of the Horsemen and masturbate, sorry kidding, and they have brought back a lot of memories. He came upon an old tape and that is Arn on a beach talking about people afraid to come to the Mid-Atlantic because of him and the other Horsemen. He mocks Dusty being fat, and the Dragon, and Magnum TA. He is coming to get them….great interview. Jo Jo talks about how much of a mainstay that the Horsemen have been and how they have always stayed together. AA came to Jo Jo 15 years ago like Dean and Mongo did. He claimed those young one’s did not get it but he declares that it is AA that does not get it. Here comes Benoit and Mongo (damn) and they shake hands with AA. They talks to AA as the fans chant that they want Flair. Jo Jo asks a departing AA where he is going; AA wants to know why he is doing this to him. Jo Jo responds that he thinks he is afraid and Arn stares and then leaves.

Match 3: Brian Adams v. Eddie Guerrero

Warrior is up in the rafters watching. Eddie lays down and wants to be pinned and the ref wants him to get up and Adams is baffled. Schiavone declares this is dangerous thing for him to do, to go against Bischoff. Eddie does not want to be hit, flinches, and Adams wants to fight but Eddie keeps begging off. Adams tosses him and then hammers him as Eddie refuses to fight back. Eddie is finally pinned and the fans boo as he grins.

NR Angle advancement.

Eddie has the mic and tells EB that he may have the pen and power but he will not be sued like other people in the company and his mic is shut off as he yells and Tony immediately goes to break!

Match 4: The Cat v. Riggs

Miller has dominated the match. He kicks his head off and gets the win.

*1/2 Long squash, crowd was silent.

Cat wants the music shut off and tells the crowd to shut up because he has something to say. Cat rambles about beating people up.

Gene is at a huge Nitro party.

Match 5: Konnan v. Marty Jannetty

They have gone back and forth, but the match has been fairly slow moving. Marty gets two after a crossbody. He snaps him over and puts him in a rear chinlock. Jannetty breaks the hold and snaps him over. He continues a slow, methodical process and puts him back in the chinlock. Jannetty breaks the hold and gets two after a clothesline. He works him over in the corner. Jannetty gets a couple more near falls but Konnan finally gets in some offense with a bulldog and puts him in the Sunrise and just like that it is over.

** Way too long. Both should be moving around more. Two moves and Marty is done.

Raven and the Flock are in the ring. Lodi tells Saturn that he cannot touch Kanyon or Raven. Now Raven tells Kanyon to break him. Kanyon mocks Saturn’s so called pride integrity. He yells for Saturn to hit him but he does not.

Match 6: High Voltage v. Lodi and Saturn

Saturn yells at Lodi to do something but he gets shoved with ease. Lodi begs for a tag and Saturn finally obliges. Rage puts him in a side headlock and runs him over. Saturn is press slammed but he comes back with a belly to belly suplex. Kaos gets the tag and he is kicked to pieces in the corner. He puts Kaos in a headlock and Rage makes the blind tag and Rage tosses him back with a belly to back and Kaos strikes with a guillotine legdrop and he gets two. Saturn is spiked and nearly pinned again, Rage has him over his shoulder and runs him into the corner. Rage leaps on the back of his head after the tag, and holds him for Kaos who leaps, sriking his own partner. There was no tag. Saturn hits the Driver and Lodi wants the tag and he gets it and Lodi gets the pin.

*1/2 Not much. Some action.

Schiavone calls out DDP. DDP shouts out to the Little League champs, and they are a unit. But WCW has three individuals for War Games and EB thought he could use his pen to keep people out but he ran out of ink. Now to Hollywood Scum Hogan and he has the fans repeat it. He calls out Piper who makes fun of Bret Hart and calls him a wannabe like Marilyn Manson. He remembers Bret’s first match and associates him with a Power Ranger. He calls Bret stupid and at one time he was Piper’s friend but he blew it. Piper has been rambling for some time and DDP runs down as Piper still goes on. DDP tries to attack the Giant but is tossed and Piper gets tossed too. Giant is standing on DDP’s throat and security have come down and Giant will not let him go….well, he does and he is cuffed and stuffed for some reason.

Jesus, another interview, Scott Steiner now. He is talking about being myth and a legend. Scotty mocks Jo Jo and goes to his doctor who keeps saying right on and has brought in a doctor from Jamaica to tell everyone that Scotty is injured. The Jamaican doctor is Buff….He acts like one and does some magic act where the fans chant bullshit and Buff declares him healed. Scotty talks about his body and how strong he is and that at the PPV he will prove he is the stronger, bigger, faster brother. Rick is coming in the ring and Buff finally sees him and warns Scotty and they depart. Rick has the mic and makes fun of his brother being injury prone and will kick his ass at the PPV.

Warrior is up in the rafters again.

Match 7: Evan Karagias v. Juventud Guerrera (c) for WCW Cruiserweight Title

It has been an hour since we have had a match! Karagias drops him throat first on the top rope and sends him to the apron where Juve strikes with a missile dropkick. But Juve leaps right into a big powerslam and he keeps a couple of two counts. Evan slams him and they fall into the ropes and to the floor. Juve strikes with a flying crossbody and Juve talks to him and they show it as he rolls him back into the ring. Juve connects with a guillotine legdrop and he holds his leg. Juve rolls over and gets a two count. Evan works over the leg and picks him up and drops him. The crowd is getting restless as Evan has Juve in a half crab. Evan releases the hold and works him over in the corner and they toss each other and Evan sells a shitty bulldog. But Juve runs into an inverted powerbomb and Evan slowly goes up top and Juve meets him up there and softens him up with a few blows and strikes with a top Frankensteiner. He goes up top but is crotched and now he hits a Frankensteiner and he gets a two count. Evan slams him but misses the springboard moonsault. Evan floats over on the suplex and now Juve floats over and finishes him with the Juve Driver.

*** Finally a long and decent match. Crowd was not in it but fuck them.

Match 8: Disco Inferno v. Chris Jericho (c) for WCW TV Title

Disco starts hot with a swinging neckbreaker. Disco stomps a hole in him in the corner. Jericho strikes back with some chops but is caught and slammed. Jericho counters with a slam of his own and gets two. Jericho gets all knees on the Lionsault. Disco clotheslines him and after an atomic drop gets two. Now he follows up with a spinebuster and gets two. Jericho comes back with a bridged German suplex. Jericho is grabbed and hit with Disco’s finisher but Disco is slow to follow up and Jericho is able to get his foot on the ropes. Jericho grabs a leaping Disco and is dropped and put in the Tamer. Disco is trying to get to the ropes but Jericho pulls him to the center of the ring, sits on it and it is over.

**1/2 Nice back and forth match.

Match 9: Goldberg (c) v. Jobber

Goldberg tosses him off and then takes off his head with a big boot. Goldberg bodyslams him and goes for the spear but his opponent rolls to the floor. Goldberg goes after him, and is met by some kicks as he gets back in the ring. Goldberg flings him over his back and spears him! Jackhammer and over.

*1/2 This guy got more air time than some of Goldberg’s other opponents.

Match 9: Hulk Hogan and Bret Hart v. Sting and Lex Luger

Bret and Luger start off and Bret stomps away on Luger. Luger turns the tables and hammers Hart in the corner and stomps a hole in him. Sting gets the tag and Hart takes off and leaves to the apron and tags in Hogan who is reluctant to get in the ring. Hogan works Sting over in the corner with a series of punches but Sting fires back and down he goes. Now Hogan is getting worked over in the corner. Hogan stumbles over to Luger’s corner where he is decked. Luger is in and he runs into a big boot and then a clothesline. Hogan chokes him out in the corner, tags in Hart who goes to work, guess where? In the corner. He chokes him out with his foot and rubs his face across the top rope and batters him with clubbing blows to the back. Hogan gets the tag and punishes Luger for a bit and now Bret is back in to continue pounding Lex. Bret gives him a backbreaker. Luger reverses a suplex but Hart stops any momentum by jumping on him. Hart has him in the corner again and pounds him. Bret sends him for a ride but Luger ducks and a double clothesline sends both down. Sting gets the hot tag and Hogan did too and Sting goes off, Stinger Splash and Sting was going to do it again but Hulk fucked up. Now he sets it up and the Disciple moves Hogan and down goes Sting and Hulk takes advantage by pounding away on Sting. He pulls off his belt and goes to whip him but Hart stops him and tosses the belt. Bret leaves with Hogan giving chase and they argue on the floor and Hart is yelling at him about how Hogan gave him his word and they are counted out and Hogan heads back to the ring and so does Bret and they argue. They start shoving each other and some mist comes into the ring but it stops as they keep shoving. The nWo is trying to keep them apart. Hogan does not like Hart not abiding by nWo rules. Now the smoke is back and the lights flash. Warrior is in the ring and the nWo is laid out and Hogan is cowering in the corner. Warrior yells that he can smell his fear and Hogan runs off.

** Not much to the main event but it was long and we will see if goes anywhere.

***1/2 A promo heavy show though the final hour had three decent sized matches that made up for the bloated beginning. They kept the Warrior shenanigans at a minimum and that is good, no sense in wearing out his welcome too quickly. The Arn promo was great but the rest such as DDP’s and Steiner’s were the same thing they usually do. Still it was a fairly strong show. It will be interesting to see where the Eddie work-shoot is going as he does deserve a push but WCW is so politically oriented with cronyism running rampant and hopefully him standing up will pay off.