Rebooking WCW 1999: WCW Nitro 1/4/1999

World Championship Wrestling presents Monday Nitro

Date: 1/4/1999

From: Atlanta, GA

Arena: Georgia Dome

Announcers: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan & Mike Tenay

WCW World Champion Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and WCW President Eric Bischoff make their way down to the ring to begin Nitro. Bischoff puts over Kevin Nash and Scott Hall as being the two guys responsible for the success and growth of WCW over the years. Bischoff notes that the era of ‘Hollywood’ Hogan is dead and buried and will never be seen in a WCW ring ever again. Bischoff brings up the NWO having the WCW World Championship in the hands of the most dominant wrestler, Kevin Nash, and suggests that nobody will take the gold away from ‘Big Sexy’. Eric says that the WCW Tag Team Championships, titles that Nash & Hall were robbed of, are vacant and he attempted to hand the belts over to the Outsiders, but JJ Dillon threatened an injunction. Considering they like their money, they decided to compromise regarding the tag titles. Bischoff reveals there will be a tournament, but Hall & Nash are already in the finals. The new champions will be crowned at WCW Souled Out on January 17th. Nash chimes in and does his usual catchphrases before telling Hogan that he did what he did for business and knows that Hogan would have stabbed him in the back at the first opportunity. Nash jokes that his left shoulder is kind of cold and a tag title covering it certainly would warm him up. Hall finishes off by doing a survey that the fans came to see the NWO.

Backstage, Bret Hart and the British Bulldog are hanging out where Hart is still steaming over his loss last week on Nitro. Bulldog reminds Bret that he’s got a rematch at Souled Out and that it’s a new year for them. Bulldog assures Bret that tonight he’s going to teach Booker a lesson on messing with the Hart Family. Bret appreciates this and will be at ringside to watch the bout.

Match #1: Wrath defeated Dave Taylor in 2:48 following the Meltdown

Mean Gene attempts to get a word with Wrath after his victory, but Wrath just stares Gene down causing Gene to back away slowly. Wrath raises his arms to the crowd and the Georgia Dome goes nuts for Wrath. Bam-Bam Bigelow walks down for his next match and bumps into Wrath. Wrath shows annoyance by Bigelow, but is ushered away by security.

Match #2: Bam-Bam Bigelow defeated Fit Finley in 7:45 following a top rope diving headbutt

WCW Souled Out 199 AD.

Match #3: Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko defeated Barbarian & Meng in 9:22 to advance in the WCW Tag Team Championship tournament after Benoit pinned Barbarian with a German suplex.

Mean Gene calls out Lex Luger for an interview. Luger tells Gene that he’s been kicked out the NWO Wolfpac, and wasn’t given a man to man conversation about it. Luger didn’t realize that the guys he associated with were true cowards, but he should have known better. WCW World Champion Kevin Nash comes out with Scott Hall and tells Luger that they aren’t cowards, but rather Luger wasn’t worth the effort. But, now that Luger is complaining, Nash will handle it tonight in the ring. Nash always thought Luger to be a weak link in the NWO and tonight, to prove it, he’ll even put the WCW World Championship on the line. Eric Bischoff runs out behind Nash and seems to question Nash, but Nash leaves confident while Luger plays to the crowd.

Match #4: Diamond Dallas Page fought The Giant to a no contest in 5:04. These two didn’t spend much time in the ring as they brawled around ringside and ended up brawling into the crowd. The referee ends up throwing the match out as they both shove the referee down. In the end, Giant is left standing after hitting a chokeslam on the floor.

Mean Gene conducts an interview with Rey Mysterio Jr. regarding the LWO. Mysterio says that the LWO isn’t the kind of group that he stands for and is having a difficult time wrapping his mind around it. Mysterio calls out Juventud Guerrera for a match right now. Eddy Guerrero and Juventud Guerrera come out with Eddy accepting on Juventud’s behalf and assures Rey that he’ll be a willing member of the LWO one way or another.

Match #5: Juventud Guerrera defeated Rey Mysterio Jr. in 13:58 following the Juvi Driver and a 450 splash. After the match, Juventud and Eddy celebrate the win. Juventud acted as if he wanted to attack Mysterio, but Eddy stopped that and they walked off.

Mean Gene conducted an interview with Chris Jericho regarding his proof about not submitting at Starrcade to Konnan. Jericho introduces the footage, but the video has been edited to clip out the submission. Gene notes that Jericho cropped out the submission part, but Jericho asks whose side Gene is on to begin with. Jericho insists he’s not a quitter and he’ll never submit to Konnan at Souled Out.

A vignette promoting a new wrestler coming to WCW is shown. A woman named Daffney is walking down a dark road in the midst of a thunderstorm. She says that she’s tired of wandering the world with nobody with her, and now she’s found her protector. A man walks up beside her and she says that a storm is brewing for Thunder. (Devon Storm debut).

WCW Souled Out AD

Match #6: Scott Hall defeated Brian Adams in 6:28 following the Outsiders Edge

Footage from earlier in the day where ‘Realty’ Chris Kanyon was filming a scene at catering regarding what he’s eating for the day as a star. Lenny Lane tells Kanyon the shot is no good because of the guy behind him eating like a dog. Kanyon turns around and it’s Rick Steiner making a mess of a meal. Kanyon talks down to Rick, and Lane gets some words in as well. Rick proceeded to toss Lane over the table while Kanyon ran away.

Match #7: Rick Steiner defeated Van Hammer in 6:17 following a top rope bulldog. After the match, Kanyon sent Lane into the ring to get revenge for the earlier event, but Steiner took Lane out with a Death Valley Driver. Steiner bites the ropes while staring Kanyon down on the aisle.

Match #8: Public Enemy defeated Mike Enos & Wayne Bloom in 7:02 to advance in the WCW Tag Team Championship tournament after Rocco Rock pinned Bloom after the Drive-By.

Match #9: WCW United States Champion Booker T defeated The British Bulldog in 8:16 following a scissors kick. During the match, Bret Hart attempted to assist Bulldog, but Booker fought off the attempts. After the match, Bret chop blocked Booker’s knee and put the Sharpshooter on the champion while Bulldog stomped on Booker until several referees stopped the beating.

Main Event: WCW World Champion Kevin Nash defeated Lex Luger in 7:39 following a Jackknife Powerbomb. After the match, Nash and Hall beat down Luger until Sting comes down from the rafters and fights off the Outsiders! Nash and Hall are stunned while Bischoff is screaming “what is he doing here?!” to close the show.