Written by: Kevin Kildenberger
The PPV was not that bad. This the last Nitro for three weeks and knowing the end is near, really pisses me off. Oh well. The ratings rose to a 2.3 off a 2.5 and 2.0. It is getting late and Starrcade displayed the best and worst of WCW and hopefully Nitro displays more of the former. RAW got a 4.8.
Flair informs us that he has a great show lined up. Seeing as Bagwell intervened he will face Goldberg. Also, for Sin, the next PPV Flair will choose who Steiner’s next opponent is.
Match 1: Shane Helms v. Shannon Moore
Winner gets the title shot. They are flying around the ring, exchanging holds and blows along with countering. Helms is on the apron and goes for a sunset flip powerbomb but cannot connect but he drops his head onto the apron. Frankensteiner onto the floor. Back in the ring, they counter out of slams and Helms is shoved into the corner and placed up top. Moore heads up after him and Helms elbows him and then powerslams him off the top rope! They tussle, going back and forth. Helms misses a corkscrew moonsault and is nearly pinned. They are countering out of moves and Moore hooks him and crushes him with a big Rocker Dropper. Two count. Helms is up and he goes for a hurracarana but Helms holds the ropes and down goes Moore. Sunset flip from the top rope and Moore barely gets the shoulder up. Moore reverses a whip but lowers the head and is nailed. Helms hooks him over his back with his head by his ass and drops down for the win!
*** Great opener!
Chavo attacks but he is doubled up and destroyed….Too bad the crowd is fairly small and was not very loud.
Rection is doing the “I told you so” to Cajun and screaming like he is his mom and tells him to look at him and not roll his eyes. Jesus.
Steiner comes out and Flair is taking the job way to personal. This is because when Flair was champ he was just average and not a Genetic Freak. Flair scraped by as Steiner dominates. He is going off on DDP and telling him to get a sex change and how needs to be sent down to the Bush Leagues. He will always be White Trash! Steiner is begging him to make DDP his next opponent. Here comes Flair. Flair agrees that Steiner is the man but he is way too serious. Steiner thinks he is getting screwed. Flair knows a big PPV is coming up and so the PPV will be a Three Way Dance. A Tournament will start tonight. Flair tells him that he will not know who is in it, so Steiner cannot run around and kick their ass. A mystery player has been hired and he will be here tonight. Flair assures him that he wants to get next to him. Steiner informs Flair that he has pissed him off. Flair responds that if he is the man then he will walk out the champ. Steiner will find out who the mystery guy is and if he doesn’t then he is going after Flair.
I think this is the episode where Steiner and DDP got into a fight due to those comments. I thought Steiner said something about Kimberly. DDP was pissed and attacked him and apparently was getting beat up before it was broken up. Observer wondered why Steiner and/or DDP did not get suspended. Um….They needed them. Steiner is the champ, and it was a minor fight. HBK and Hart did not get suspended. Well, it was the Observer wondering this. Get over it. I would not have suspended them, as it was taken care of then and there.
Gene is with Luger and Buff. Buff is sick of being held back and is mocking Goldberg. Steiner runs up and wants help in finding the mystery dude.
Meng and Kwee-Wee are in the ring and Funk is on the big screen and calls him a monkey face and wants to fight him in the back for the title.
Match 2: Meng v. Terry Funk (c) for WCW Hardcore Title
Meng jogs to the back and Funk is waiting and the fight is on. Meng is nailed with a garbage can over and over. Meng is now mauling him. Funk begs for mercy and then taunts him in the next sentence. Meng has Funk’s wrists tied together and then wallops him with a garbage can over and over out towards the ring. Funk fires back but goes for the head and Meng shrugs it off, and then hammers him. Funk is placed on the table. Meng goes up top and leaps, Funk moves and Meng goes through the table but gets right back up. Deathgrip! But Crowbar comes down and hits him with the wrench. and Funk gets the win.
** Okay.
Crowbar who is back to his old self. Crowbar is telling Funk why he did it and that is because he wants Funk again. Crowbar was not at his best last night and wants a shot at Sin.
Steiner is begging JJ for help. JJ begs off, saying he has a match and wants to be left alone.
Vito babbles for a minute.
Awesome confronts and asks Crowbar what happened. They talk and highfive but Awesome looks baffled.
Match 3: Lance Storm v. Rey Mysterio Jr.
Contender’s Match.
Storm has held every title but one. He will get it tonight….I thought mum was the word on this. Anthem time.
They go at it. Bronco Buster! But Storm comes back and gets two after a backbreaker. He drives his knee over and over into the back of Rey. They fight onto the floor, Storm is dropped and back in the ring, Storm fights back but is hit with a crossbody and nearly pinned. Rey clotheslines him but is nailed with a jawbreaker and Storm applies an abstretch and then punches the taped ribs over and over. Rey powers out and hammers away. Lance is sent to the floor, and Rey flips out on top of him. He rolls Lance back in and strikes the back of the head with a springboard legdrop. Two count. Storm is up and counters, and Rey is in the Maple Leaf! He has to tap.
*** About six or seven minutes and another great match.
Awesome is in the ring and there is enough Vitamin A going around for everyone. After beating up Bigelow last night and there is a little bit of a Career Killer coming out of him. He will have to reschedule with the ladies and wants his opponent in order to kick his ass.
Match 4: Mike Awesome v. Jeff Jarrett
This is a Contender’s Match:
JJ had told Steiner he was not in the match. They finally lock up and Awesome takes him down, and gets a quick two. JJ though comes back and kicks him over and over into the corner. JJ is whipped into the other corner and attempts a float over but is caught and killed with a big belly to belly. But JJ comes right back and knocks him to the floor; he introduces Awesome to the chair by bashing his head into it, but Awesome reverses a whip into the railing and then slams him. Awesome shoves him into the side of the ring and is whipping him into the railing and then the ring again! Now he rams is head onto the announce table. He mounts him up there and pounds him over and over. He is going for a Bomb but JJ nuts him and goes on the offensive. Back in the ring, JJ gets two after a dropkick…Schiavone said that a lot of things in WCW are illogical when discussing how each had a tough match last night as Madden did not acknowledge Awesome’s! Anyway, Awesome hits a top rope lariat and then double hooks him for a flapjack. Two count. Of course the ref is bumped and JJ has the guitar but he is hit with a German suplex. Awesome has the guitar now and the ref takes it and JJ is on the floor and has another one and blasts Awesome with it for the win.
*** Another long match and stiff too. Why not have Awesome get the big win…
Norman Smiley is watching the Glacier promo and is excited that he is coming back and does the Wiggle
Gene is with Shane Douglas. He does his thing.
Flair is on the phone and talking about his guy.
Awesome is pitching a fit and calls FA a bunch of lightweights when they try to calm him down.
Match 5: Alex Wright v. Cat
Cat is taunting Wright and his dancing and asks if the fans would rather see fat ass Madden dancing…He chants fat ass and then charges into the ring and the fight is on. They battle back and forth. Cat is knocked to the floor and Wright leaps right into a soda to the face. That wakes up Wright and he hammers the Cat who fights back as they keep exchanging blows. Back in the ring the Cat stomps away but Wright comes back; he knocks him to the floor and after some tussling whips Cat into the railing. Back in the ring he is dropping some elbows and applies an armbar. Cat is up and tosses him over, but is taken back down and put in the armbar. Cat is up again and they go back and forth for another minute and Cat wins with the Feliner.
**1/2 Another long match. Not as good but decent.
A limo has arrived and the Thrillers have arrived.
Steiner is kicking ass in the back, the Dragons and Skipper.
Thrillers come down and Sanders takes an hour to start speaking and he goes through his old speech about being genetically jacked. Jesus he is literally taking a month to spit out a sentence. He babbles about this is the reason why the men go to the gym and calls DDP and Nash old and they are not even here tonight. Now to the tag titles and the number one contenders are and cue Flair. He mocks Sanders physique and lack of ability to book a match. There will be a tag battle royal for the chance to face the Insiders.
Match 6: Buff Bagwell v. Goldberg
Buff flees when Goldberg gets in the ring. He goes after him and Luger ambushes him with a chair. They beat on Goldberg. Sarge comes down to help but he to is hit with the chair. Luger gets the chair kicked back into his head. Luger leaves and Buff does to and this match never really happened or it was a DQ. Who fucking knows.
NR.
Match 7: Lance Storm v. Jeff Jarrett
As good as JJ is he is not from Calgary, Alberta Canada. Anthem time.
Not much time left. They go at it. JJ is dropped to the floor. Storm flies out and misses. Back in the ring, JJ applies a Figure Four. Storm gets to the ropes and the break is made. They are going back and forth. Storm goes up but is crotched and JJ goes up after him and Storm cannot knock him off and he is superplexed. Both are down. JJ is up and he has him down but misses the enzuguri when Storm gets up. Storm has the Leaf but JJ is at the ropes and then reverses the whip, hooks him and gets the win with the Stroke.
** Disappointing and short. Not sure why JJ keeps getting a push. He is fine but come on.
Steiner gets in the ring and is yelling about the mystery man. He is going to hunt down Flair. JJ had the guitar for protection. Steiner is in the back with his pipe and has Jimmy Hart and demands to know where Flair’s office is. He is right there and then hits the door with the pipe and then just opens it. At the end of the hall is Flair and he lures him down. The door opens and a masked dude in a strait jacket comes out and attacks Steiner.
***1/2 This is really close to three stars. The ending really disappointed me. JJ does not need another title match, someone could have been elevated. Why not just feed Steiner Goldberg…Then again, Steiner just won the belt and neither can afford a loss. The matches though were pretty damn good and the show flowed smoothly until the damn Sanders promo. Fuck me that took five minutes too long and that could have been used for the main event. And Nitro used to go longer. There is no excuse as to why that match was not at least ten minutes but again the main event sucks balls. It gets old. They do so much right, build it up and then disappoint. Then there was the small ass crowd that was not really into it. Sad really. No Nitro for two weeks but there is Thunder.