It’s that time when WCW heads to Spring Break at Club La Vela. It’s one of my favorite atmospheres in professional wrestling. The visual of a wrestling show taking place with a pool surrounding it and a bunch of drunk college kids reacting to wrestling that some of them likely have no idea what’s going on and are there for the simple fun of it. I love it.
As announced on Thunder, there is going to be a WCW United States Championship tournament since Scott Hall is out with a foot injury. Meng advanced on Thunder. I can’t see Meng getting that level of a push, but there’s no denying that Meng is over with the crowd and the Tongan Death Grip is a move that pops them just about every single time.
With WCW World Champion/WCW President Ric Flair turning heel, I think it’s safe to say that the Horsemen in general are going to be a heel group. Arn Anderson has made his allegiance known and is supporting Flair. Personally, I don’t want to boo Benoit and Malenko. The whole vibe of the show feels weird as the Horsemen are becoming unlikable and the NWO are still heel at their core since their ultimate goal is to essentially end WCW, which is the promotion I enjoy. It’s as if there isn’t a clear cut face to support, nor is there a clear cut heel to hate. That’s the basic formula for professional wrestling and it doesn’t exist at the top of the card, at least.
Rey Mysterio Jr. had a great week last week when he won the WCW Cruiserweight Championship from Kidman on Nitro and successfully defended the title a few days later against Juventud Guerrera. They could be potentially the best matches thus far on WCW main programming.
Bret Hart, Diamond Dallas Page, Sting, Eddy Guerrero, Lex Luger, Randy Savage, and Scott Hall are the top names that have either been used on a non-regular basis or are out with an injury. That’s a substantial amount of name power that hasn’t been visible on WCW programming. However, WCW has the depth on their roster that it hasn’t been too glaring at this point. I do wonder what the programming would look like if everyone was healthy and capable of appearing.
Lets grab a drink and enjoy the show at Club La Vela.
MARCH 22ND — PANAMA CITY, FL — CLUB LA VELA
MATCH #1: VAN HAMMER VS. BULL PAYNE
FINISH: Hammer wins the match following the Flashback (modified double leg slam).
Bob’s Take: Imagine starting the spring breakout show with a young, excitable college crowd and you have a guy like Bull Payne, who is a nobody and Van Hammer is one of the worst WCW wrestlers going at this point. WCW is fighting for that young crowd, and this is what they put out there to hold an audience. I don’t understand the logic. Payne had a decent burst of offense that saw a dive off the apron with a clothesline and a top rope splash, but it was nowhere near enough to make this a worthwhile Nitro match. Hammer is better off using the cobra clutch slam instead of the Flashback finisher, too. 0 for 1
RIKKI RACHTMAN CHATS WITH WCW CRUISERWEIGHT CHAMPION REY MYSTERIO JR.
CONTEXT: Mysterio puts over Panama City as a party town and notes everyone is partying non-stop. Mysterio reveals that he’s going to give Kidman a rematch for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship at Spring Stampede. Mysterio puts over Kidman for giving him competition and wants to see who the best man is at Spring Stampede.
Bob’s Take: Kidman vs. Rey at Spring Stampede has the potential to be the best PPV match of the year after the incredible Nitro match last week. 1 for 2
RIKKI RACHTMAN TALKS WITH DISCO INFERNO
CONTEXT: Disco talks about not being impressed by a large woman doing a wet t-shirt contests. Inferno is insulted by Rikki suggesting that Disco knows how to quiet a crowd with his jokes. Rikki is annoyed by Disco’s involvement in Konnan’s music video. Disco thinks the music video was lousy and puts over his own video claiming it caused people to forget about Konnan’s. Inferno says that if Konnan wants to do something about his antics then they can meet at Spring Stampede. Disco claims he’s in talks to produce Madonna’s next video.
Bob’s Take: It’s a funny video, but lets not overplay it to the point where it’s not funny anymore, right? Thus far, WCW isn’t taking advantage of the hour advantage on RAW, which still blows my mind that they don’t load up the first hour to maintain their audience. 2 for 3
FIT FINLAY LOOKS FOR RICK STEINER
CONTEXT: Finlay goes to Rick Steiner’s cabin to make sure that he’s there for the fight. Finlay calls Steiner a redneck and Steiner says he’ll see Finlay in the ring.
Bob’s Take: This doesn’t bother me as we’re at least making a Nitro match have some promotion behind it on the undercard. 3 for 4
HARDCORE HAK INTERRUPTS RIKKI RACHTMAN’S SEGMENT
CONTEXT: Rikki talks about the WCW Motorsports and we see footage of Goldberg hanging out at NASCAR. Eventually, Hardcore Hak cuts into the scene. Hak says that he came to WCW and on his first night proclaimed he’s extreme and king of hardcore. Hak wants to be known as Hardcore Hak from here on out. Hak whacks himself with a kendo stick and calls out Goldberg for tonight.
Bob’s Take: I can safely say that I don’t have any interest in a Goldberg vs. Hak match. I suppose it’s a new guy for Goldberg to plow through, but there’s nothing to be invested in here. 3 for 5
MATCH #2: DAMIEN, LA PARKA, LIZMARK JR. & SUPER CALO VS. EL DANDY, LA CUCARACHA, PSYCHOSIS & SILVER KING
FINISH: La Cucaracha hit a stunner on Damien to pickup the win. After the match, it is obvious that La Cucaracha is Disco Inferno under a mask. Commentary never mentioned it, though.
Bob’s Take: Once they did the constant diving to the floor and into the ring the match became interesting. I don’t hate Disco Inferno being involved, but I’m surprised they didn’t reveal him under the mask. I’m sure there’s people in the crowd who don’t know it was him. 4 for 6
WCW WORLD CHAMPION/WCW PRESIDENT RIC FLAIR & JJ DILLON CHAT
CONTEXT: Dillon talks about having never seen so many gorgeous women in one spot. Flair owes it to the women and the fans to be wrestling on the show. Flair tells Dillon he’s going to challenge the entire company, but doing it lottery style. Flair wants to put the midcard wrestlers and Cruiserweights. Flair wants to essentially rig the lottery.
Bob’s Take: Not a bad idea, and there’s potential here to make a lower card guy into a bigger name. I feel like this would be a good spot to use Kidman, Rey Jr. or Booker T since Flair noted lower card guys or Cruiserweights. We’re absolutely not going to get a main event wrestler in this spot. 5 for 7
DUSTY RHODES SIT DOWN INTERVIEW WITH MIKE TENAY
CONTEXT: Dusty Rhodes is now a consultant for WCW, and appears to be no longer associated with the NWO. Rhodes sheds light on an issue involving himself and Flair last week. Dusty says that Flair’s rise to the president spot became quite easy. Dusty claims that Flair said he’d be the commissioner after Flair beat Eric Bischoff to control NWO. Dusty takes a shot at Larry Zbyszko for being a cheaper color commentator. Rhodes thinks these are all considered an oversight by Flair. Rhodes says there was a bond on tradition with Flair. Rhodes asks if Flair is crossed with Dusty Rhodes, and says that would upset him. Rhodes considers himself the bull of the woods despite Flair being the WCW World Champion.
Bob’s Take: Could you imagine a WCW World Championship match between Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes in 1999? That sounds like it would be a disaster. How can I sit here and think that this is more interesting than what is going on with WWF RAW? Segments like this really make it obvious how uncool WCW has truly become. 5 for 8
MEAN GENE TALKS WITH WCW WORLD CHAMPION RIC FLAIR
CONTEXT: As soon as Flair greets Mean Gene, Raven joins the segment and he’s pissed about never getting a WCW World Championship match. Raven asks “What about me? What about Raven?” Flair gives Raven a title shot, but it’s a tag title match against WCW Tag Team Champions Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko. Raven wanted to wrestle Flair, but Kanyon is making a Jesse Ventura. Raven wonders if he’s wrestling alone against the Horsemen. Raven says he’ll beat them by himself then. Flair disregards Dusty saying that Flair promised him the commissioner spot. Flair promises to defend the WCW World Championship tonight and says he’s putting everyone’s name in a hat and they’ll pull out a challenger.
Bob’s Take: Honestly, Raven would have been a great choice to wrestle Flair and for some reason I didn’t even think of him originally. Raven being inserted in a tag feud with the Horsemen is a bit of a disappointment. I’d much rather Raven been involved in singles feuds than doing tag wrestling. Besides, I don’t enjoy handicap matches. The segment was fine and it will be interesting whose name is pulled to challenge Flair. 6 for 9
MATCH #3: RICK STEINER VS. FIT FINLAY
FINISH: Steiner picks up the win following the top rope bulldog.
Bob’s Take: As you’d probably expect from these two it came across as fight with a lot of brawling. Finlay doesn’t have a lot of momentum and is far off from his TV Title push from last summer. Despite the lack of momentum it doesn’t discredit his ability to kick ass and look like a badass. Steiner’s offense mostly came at the end, and the match wasn’t too bad. A decent win for Steiner as they try to get Steiner some momentum in a singles capacity. 7 for 10
MATCH #4: EL VAMPIRO VS. JUVENTUD GUERRERA
FINISH: Guerrea spikes Vampiro with the Juvi Driver to win the match
Bob’s Take: At one point in the match there were “boring” chants, but that seems to be a bit ridiculous. I’m taking that as it’s a drunk college crowd. I honestly thought this was a enjoyable match and far exceeded my expectations. There wasn’t much in terms of a dull period during the bout. Vampiro looked goos with his offense, which was likely highlighted by Guerrera’s size and selling. I’d consider this a quality TV match. 8 for 11
THE FINALS OF MISS NITRO CONTEST
CONTEXT: There are seven women in bikinis as the NWO presents their own Spring Break contest. Eventually, Kevin Nash brings out the eighth woman and it’s Torrie Wilson being accompanied to the ring by David Flair. Torrie almost rolls her ankle on the aisle way. Eventually, Torrie reveals her bikini and wins the competition.
Bob’s Take: I’m not sure what the point of this was other than having a handful of gorgeous women wearing bikinis and killing TV time. 8 for 12
MATCH #5: GOLDBERG VS. HARDCORE HAK
FINISH: Goldberg wins the match following a spear and jackhammer.
Bob’s Take: The crowd hasn’t been all that vocal or interested in a lot of what’s been presented, but there is no denying their reaction to Goldberg tonight. Goldberg is easily the top babyface in the promotion and the fact he’s not actively going after the WCW World Championship, or not the champion anyway continues to be a baffling direction. For a squash match, this was enjoyable. 9 for 13
MEAN GENE INTERVIEWS BRET HART
CONTEXT: Hart talks about coming to WCW to earn a reputation, not to lose one. He’s upset about not getting any WCW World Championship matches and claims he doesn’t get any respect. Hart recalls beating Flair when he first arrived to WCW. Hart doesn’t believe a match with Hogan will take place despite it being a match fans have dreamt about. Hart also talks about Nash and how he could beat him like he did before. Nash may be the pencil, but Hart could be the eraser. Hart notes that Goldberg has been hand-fed opponents, but never wrestled a man like him and proceeds to challenge Goldberg. Hart believes he could beat Goldberg in five minutes or less.
Bob’s Take: Imagine having potential feuds with Nash, Hogan and Goldberg lined up for Hart. That’s an incredible lineup of potential matches not to include more matches with the likes of Booker T and Chris Benoit. It becomes increasingly more frustrating to know how Hart is overall used in WCW is an embarrassment. The promo on its own is an effective segment to promote a showdown with Goldberg. 10 for 14
MATCH #6: HORACE VS. VINCENT
NOTE: Prior to the match starting, Vincent reminded Horace that he’s the boss while Horace is just the nephew of Hollywood Hogan.
FINISH: Stevie Ray came out and pushed Horace forward allowing Vincent to win with an inside cradle. After the match, Ray and Horace attack Vincent. Brian Adams comes out and attacks Horace. Ray confronts Adams as Adams explains what Horace did, but Ray says it was Vincent.
Bob’s Take: Probably not an ideal match to put on in front of this crowd. The angle is probably more entertaining amongst a crowd that actively follows WCW and not a bunch of drunk college kids. Plus, Vincent isn’t very good in the ring and Horace doesn’t have anything interesting going on. It sure feels like the NWO Black & White is disbanding sooner rather than later. 10 for 15
THE REVEAL OF WHO WILL WRESTLE RIC FLAIR..
CONTEXT: The Horsemen, with JJ Dillon, are in the ring to draw the challenger to Ric Flair in the main event. There are several wrestlers standing around the pool. Dillon pulls out a number and it is #23. It ends up being El Dany, who is backstage with his shoulder wrapped up. Rey Mysterio takes the number and heads out to the ring to accept the challenge. Flair claims that Mysterio isn’t in the lottery because he’s a champion. Dillon suggests picking another number, but Gene says he can’t. Flair says the same thing happens to Mysterio that will happen to Raven entering the ring with world champions. Flair tells Mysterio to enter the ring with him at his own risk.
Bob’s Take: Here’s the thing, wouldn’t Flair be able to void this since he’s literally the WCW President? From a storyline perspective it sure seems flawed. Anyway, Mysterio being the man to challenge Flair is something fresh, and I can support that. 11 for 16
MATCH #7: WCW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS CHRIS BENOIT & DEAN MALENKO VS. RAVEN — HANDICAP MATCH
NOTE: During the dismantling of Raven, Saturn came out and attacked the tag champs to help his former friend and foe, Raven.
FINISH: Saturn has Benoit in the Rings of Saturn, but Raven decks Malenko with one of the tag championships causing a disqualification
Bob’s Take: It’s actually kind of bizarre for Benoit and Malenko to be acting as heels since they never had a true heel turn. Their heel mindset is solely based on the association with Ric Flair, who turned heel at UnCensored. Personally, Benoit and Malenko are better suited as a babyface team. It kind of makes their triumph tag title win at UnCensored less meaningful for such a quick turn in attitude. On Thunder, it seemed as if Saturn may have formed an alliance with Vampiro, but it looks as if they’ve pivoted from that to revert to the past (yet again). Saturn being a partner to Raven isn’t the worst direction considering their history. It feels as if the younger core of the roster can’t accomplish breaking through and they are saddled with being in the midcard no matter their best efforts. I thought it was a good match and the dusty finish came across well as people did think there was a title change. It’s a baffling turn of direction for Benoit and Malenko to be portrayed in this manner. 12 for 17
MATCH #8: SCOTT STEINER VS. CHRIS JERICHO — WCW UNITED STATES TITLE TOURNAMENT
NOTE: Chris Jericho isn’t accompanied to the ring by Ralphus. Ralphus has actually been let go by the company at this point.
FINISH: Steiner forces Jericho to submit to the Steiner Recliner to advance in the tournament
Bob’s Take: If you’re ever wondering when was the moment that it was obvious Jericho was leaving WCW of the WWF it would be right here. Ralphus actually added to the heel persona of Jericho. That’s not to say that Jericho on his own is bad or anything, but Ralphus helped Jericho standout a bit more as a heel. Jericho still put forth a good effort here, but Steiner kept it basic and didn’t do much until the finish. Part of me always expects Steiner to wrestler like it’s 1991 or 1992, but that’s just not his style anymore. So, this was a bit of a bummer. 12 for 18
MAIN EVENT: WCW WORLD CHAMPION RIC FLAIR VS. WCW CRUISERWEIGHT CHAMPION REY MYSTERIO JR.
FINISH: Late in the match, Mysterio hit a top rope hurricanrana on Flair leading to a near fall due to Anderson pulling the referee out of the ring. The referee, Charles Robinson, disqualifies Flair. After the match, Mysterio dropkicked Flair over the railing into the pool to end the program.
Bob’s Take: Even against a guy like Flair, Mysterio looks like a child wrestling an adult. Visually it’s a bit comical to see Flair bumping around for Mysterio. I think that’s where it limits Mysterio. I’m not one to discredit it, but in WCW we’ve been programmed a certain way and even rewatching it that still exists. I’ve seen people say this match is horrible, but it’s not that bad. There is chemistry issues, but that’s an obvious issue going into the match. I thought Mysterio had some good fire and a couple of believable near falls. The finish is a bit of a bummer, but it plays into the angle of Flair power hungry antics and Robinson being in the palm of his hand. This is one of the better main events on Nitro thus far in ’99. 13 for 20
A decent episode of Nitro this week despite a poor crowd that likely doesn’t follow WCW on a regular basis. It came across as full of casual drunk college kids freaking out for a few acts (Goldberg) and then being rather uninterested for most of the show. However, there was some decent action on the show (Vampiro/Juvi, tag title, Rey/Flair) to keep interest throughout the show. I’ve noticed that some people have rated Vampiro/Juvi lower than I did, but I thought they worked an enjoyable match.
Rey Mysterio Jr. being in the main event with Flair was fine with me. Visually, it is something to get use to, but he’s more than capable of having great matches no matter his opponent. It will be difficult to program WCW viewers into accepting it considering the larger than life competitors they have.
Benoit & Malenko never had a direct heel turn and literally only heels now because of their association with Ric Flair, who turned heel at UnCensored. As I said earlier, that bugs me only because they won the titles at UnCensored and once again there’s heels as champions. I think they are better off as a fighting babyface duo. I did enjoy the match with Raven & Saturn. If they square off at Spring Stampede that could be worthwhile.
Lastly, hopefully this could be the beginning of using Bret Hart in a meaningful manner for an extended period of time. Obviously the money match is ultimately with Hogan, but a match with Goldberg should draw a lot of interest, too.
3/22 Nitro TV Rating: 3.9
Thanks for reading.