WCW Nitro 9/28/1998

Written by: Kevin Kindelberger

WCW Monday Night Nitro 9/28/98
Last week was one of the weaker Nitro’s, and with RAW regaining the ratings lead hopefully WCW realizes that they need to step up their game. More Goldberg and better wrestling. Bring back Jericho and keep the Horsemen strong. Anyway Nitro 4.0 to 4.6.

EB comes out staring agog at a flexing Hogan who is bringing up the rear….no pun intended. Now the rest of the nWo comes out including Hall. EB feels the love. Hogan does his same promo: nWoites and the airport and about some wrestling fans can be fooled but not Black and White fans. He is the man that made wrestling what it is today. He turned WCW into big business, taking a hillbilly company and turning it around making them millions. He took all the fans stars and made them think they were great; he made them think that they had a chance against him. It is all about money and those gullible fans are idiots like the boys in the back. Hollywood is on a mission and he is going to take that goof the Warrior and deal with him. That will be the first major move to put the nWo title back on his waist. He went down to the hood and all the brothers and sisters and they said something about lamb to a slaughter. The two biggest crybabies in WCW are Sting and Bret Hart and he has his war bonnet on and he will take them right in the center of the ring and tear both apart. He is taking his business back and he does not care who it is as they are going to be the first victims of the Woods Regimes….wood master and wood references and he is woody when it comes to the Nitro Girls.

Match 1: La Parka v. Super Calo

They go back and forth. Parka runs into a boot and is tripped into the corner. Calo is placed up top and tossed. Parka catches him with a boot only to run right into the post. He wobbles to the floor and Calo leaps from the top crashing into Parka and into the railing too. Back into the ring they fly around for a bit and Parka drops him getting two. Parka just slaughters him with a giant slap to the chest. Parka is placed up top and tossed off but he comes back and has him up behind his back and spikes Calo. He gets the win after a corkscrew moonsault.

*** Fun beginning. Nice to see the Lucha’s again.

Calo grabs a chair and blasts Parka a few times.

Here comes Bret Hart! Bret is excited despite his bad knee and Sting has given him first crack. It is time to settle some scores between them. When Hogan steps in the ring with him he will be a zero and Bret wants to be a hero for the fans and be like Sting and Flair. He is going to kick the crap out of Hogan for everyone and he will pay!

Match 2: Disciple v. Sick Boy?

Shit so many have long hair and mullets. I think it is Sick Boy, thought it was the Renegade but not big enough. I am right. Sick Boy gets in some offense but is deleted with a big boot. Fans still could care less about Brutus. Sick Boy is done.

* Squash.

He is chest thumping like the Warrior. Where is the nWo?

Steiner has come out with Buff and they flex and brag.

Match 3: Scott Steiner v. Lenny Lane and Nick Dinsmore

Steiner destroys both and puts both in the Recliner and it is over.

* 1/2 Squash.

Scotty is acting that his back is injured. He is carted off.

Warrior comes down and gets a long ass intro. He is still getting some loud cheers. He wants them to speak to him. He knows who Hogan who is and who he himself is and the Warriors know what they want to see. What? He senses the disappointment and has a message for Hogan, and since his return all he has seen is a pittance of a man he once knew. A fan gets tackled by security and Warrior calls him a lost Warrior. He will take out Hogan and he wants to feel the power of the Warriors.

Gene is on the ramp and Buff is all worried about Scotty who is on his way to the hospital. Gene is skeptical and Buff thinks he is calling him a liar. The cackling starts and interrupts and Buff thinks Gene is laughing at him. Buff assures us that Scotty wanted to work things out and then declares he is not a doctor and does not know if he will be ready for the PPV. As they cut away Buff wants to know what the hell the cackling is all about.

Match 4: Psychosis v. the Cat

After the Cat’s typical promo he kicks Psychosis in the head. He hammers him for a bit. Psychosis fights back and tosses him to the floor. He missile kicks him and then works him over in the oer. He slows the Cat down with a headscissors. Psychosis leaps at him and is picked up and driven into the canvas. Psychosis is sent for the ride and dropped. Cat pummels him but then celebrates and is kicked off and then bodyslammed. Psychosis goes up top and misses the guillotine legdrop. Cat kicks him in the head and wins.

**1/2 Cat’s best match. But where are they going with him?

Alex Wright is out calling himself the greatest European wrestler. He is giving the Bulldog a chance to prove otherwise.

Match 5: Chavo Guerrero v. Disco Inferno

Disco starts strong but messes with Pepe. Chavo retaliates with a Thesz Press and just wails on him. Disco rolls to the floor but Chavo will not relent and he leaps on him. Now he does relent as he decides to ride Pepe around the ring. Disco gets back into the ring and is driven into the corner and bulldogged. Chavo follows up with an atomic drop and clothesline. After a two count he runs into a back elbow. Disco slams him and gets two after an elbow drop. Chavo comes back with another bulldog and he pops him in the head a few times. The ref pulls Chavo off and Disco blasts him with Pepe that the ref somehow misses and Chavo loses again….

**1/2 Not bad. Lame ending.

It is clear that Disco will feud with Juve who comes down and he beats up Disco only to be nailed and then spiked with a piledriver.

Here come the Horsemen. Flair is getting the crowd excited and here comes EB, Ray and Doug Dillinger. Flair mockingly calls Bischoff God. Bischoff has some of Norfolk’s finest with him and wants them arrested for assaulting Stevie Ray. He wants them out of his building as the fans chant “asshole.” Um, wrestlers could be arrested at any time if you want especially for random assaults. Annoying. Also what happened was in another state. At least make it like trespassing or some shit…..EB is giddy and Dillinger is being led out to. EB calls Flair a disgrace who uses his son as an excuse to not work and he is a coward and he lives vicariously through Reid Flair.

Chris Jericho comes out flanked by his security. He mocks Goldberg and tells him that he has defeated him once already. Here comes Goldberg! He is carrying the little guy that Jericho beat at the PPV over his shoulder! Jericho is scared and shoves his security into a dual spear and Jericho runs off! That was the match but Jericho is gone and Goldberg is yelling at him.

DDP comes out. Gene compares he and Goldberg to Sosa and McGwire. DDP’s promos are getting old too. He talks about Scum Hogan and how Jacked he is for Havoc. He does change gears and talk about the Horsemen and the Wolfpac and all the factions that want the gold. Then there is DDP, black and blue and on his own but at the PPV he will be ready!

Hall comes out and grabs the mic from Penzer: Hey Yo and he wants to know if it tastes great or is less filling and he giggles.

Match 6: Scott Hall v. Kidman (c)

Kidman deftly avoids him but not the toothpick. Kidman tosses it down and stomps on it. They lock up and Hall shoves him down with ease. Hall wallops him in the corner with some stiff chops. Hall tosses him across the ring. Vincent refuses to hand him his drink and Kidman rolls up Hall getting two. Kidman dropkicks him and then rolls him up again getting two. Hall bounces him off his head. Kidman is choked out on the ropes and Vincent smacks him for good measure. Hall sandwiches him in the corner. Hall puts the boots to him and chokes him out with them too. Abstretch. Hall releases the hold and hammers him. He calls for a reversal and Kidman obliges but is chokeslammed. Hall mocks the Giant despite being a part of the nWo but he does say it is for him and calls him “G” Money. Hall starts drinking. Kidman wipes out Vincent. He then causes Hall to spit out his drink with a gut punch. He strikes with a missile dropkick and then he bulldogs Hall. Kidman is caught and given the fall away slam. He tries for the Edge but topples over and then finally connects and finishes Kidman.

** At least Kidman got a quasi-sober Hall and got in some offense.

Match 7: British Bulldog v. Alex Wright

Bulldog has the mic and tells him that he can dance all he wants. Wright cannot lace his 11 year old son’s boots. The Germans love him too and he tells him to suck it in German.

They lock up and Bulldog pushes him into the corner. Bulldog takes him down and it is surfboard time. Ouch. Alex makes a comeback and stomps on him. He picks him up and front slams him. Wright slingshots on top of him and barely gets two. Alex suplexes him and slowly heads up top, and is caught and tossed off the top. Davey mounts and pounds him but he is dropped throat first onto the top rope. The ref is bumped and Davey powerslams Alex and then pins him for an hour before realizing the ref is down. Alex gutwrenches him and holds him down. German sorry. And two refs are down and Davey gets his shoulder up and one ref calls the other the victor as both had their shoulders on the mat. Davey is attacked but tosses Alex to the floor.

** Good, Davey is still wrestling for now. Both got their shoulder up.

Match 8: Brian Adams v. Kevin Nash

Nash does his thing. The fans love it. They lock up and Nash shoves him into the corner where he does his thing with knees and elbows. Adams makes a comeback and hammers him. He tosses Nash to the floor but gets run into the steel steps. Nash rolls him back into the ring and drops him with the big boot. Another big boot. Here comes Stevie Ray and he slapjacks Nash. Ray taunts Nash and here comes Hall. Hall dumps his drink and pounds Nash. Luger runs down and clears out the ring with the help of Konnan.

*1/2 Angle advancement.

Match 9: Konnan and Lex Luger v. Barry Darsow and Hugh Morrus

Damn is the Wolfpac over. Luger beats on Darsow and allows Konnan to join in the fun. Morrus gets the tag and Konnan takes it to him. Darsow runs in to make the save only to get bulldogged. Darsow is Racked and it is over.

*1/2 Way to get the Wolfpac some air time.

Match 10: Hollywood Hogan v. Bret Hart (c)

Hart calls Hulk a sonofabitch and they jaw and then shove one another. Hart pushes him into the corner and now Hulk puts him in a side headlock but is shoved off. Hogan runs him over. They lock up again and Hogan takes him down with a facelock but Bret rolls over and puts him in hammerlock. He drives his knee into Hogan and then pulls him up but has the arm still locked up. Hogan reverses the hold and takes him down and puts Bret in a cross armbreaker but Bret rolls into the ropes. They lock up again and Hogan has him up against the ropes and clotheslines him off of the whip. Bret is bodyslammed and Hogan misses three elbow drops and Bret knocks him to the floor with a forearm. Hogan pulls him to the floor and Bret rakes the eyes and shoves him into the post. Back in the ring, Hogan lures him over and pulls him to the floor. He bashes the knee into the railing, breaks the count and does it again with the knee. Hogan bends the knee around the steel post and the ref keeps warning him and finally forces the break. Bret backs into the corner but Hogan is relentless and stomps away. Hogan is now bending the knee with a spinning toe hold. Here comes Sting as Hogan keeps bending the knee and he will not let go despite Bret being against the ropes. Sting comes down and gets in Hogan’s face. Bret wants back in the ring as a gurney comes down and the Wolfpac holds him back. Sting challenges Hogan and of course the latter gets in the offense first. He backsuplexes Sting. Bret is in the back and is not happy and the nWo assaults the Wolfpac at the ambulance. Bret is trying to get off the gurney but cannot. Bret limps away as Scotty unlatched him, I sense a swerve. Hogan is beating on Sting as Bret gimps towards the ring. Hogan misses the legdrop and it is Stinger Splash time! He puts Hogan in the Deathlock and Bret comes in and DDT’s Sting! I knew it. Bret Hart pummels Sting as Hogan bows to him. Sharpshooter time and the fans are pissed! Hogan has a chair and tosses it to Bret Hart who drives it into the knee of Sting. Hogan claims Sting quit as Hart leaps on him. Konnan comes down and helps Sting out as Hart and Hogan celebrate. The lights flicker and dim and the Warrior is clearly watching.

*** This is the best and worst of WCW all at once. I will give Hogan credit he came to wrestle and actually did just that. At first I was baffled with Sting coming down and knowing Bret would never get a rematch. It was overbooked. Bret and Hogan should have went longer but also it could lead to an actually decent PPV match as Hogan may actually rise to the occasion. I figured Bret would swerve. He was surprisingly over as a face that quickly but it was too sudden and I am glad they did not run with it so quickly. He is getting over as a heel and so they need to stick with it.

****1/2 Oh shit, I am overrating the shit out of this. But I enjoyed it. They covered all the bases. We got some Lucha matches. Jericho was back and as classic as ever. I always like seeing the Bulldog. Bret Hart got lots of play and we saw the Wolfpac and the nWo. The Warrior shit was actually just fine, nothing too long and drawn out. Just right. There were some good matches. Some concerns as usual. I am not sure where they are going with many of the midcarders. Also, Goldberg needs to get back involved in some sort of main event. What about the Giant? or Nash? Hogan is still hogging the spotlight but this week he actually had a solid opening promo and ending match. I need to be objective and this was Hogan’s best show in quite some time.