I wonder who turns on Sting this month.
April 19, 1998
Denver, Colorado
Commentary: Tony/The Brain/Tenay
- I actually went to the Nitro in Louisville on the buildup to this show. Good times. Well except I had floor seats and couldn’t see jack shit due to all the signs.
- We are informed that the cast is coming off the arm of Savage, also the main event is No DQ because Sting is a moron of the highest level.
Saturn (w/Kidman) v Goldberg
No more Bill this month. Other than Saturn botching an Asai Moonsault this was one of the better Goldberg matches he had in WCW. I always have enjoyed this for some reason. Saturn got to get some shit in and still made Bill look like a million bucks. Plus the crowd was all about it and that Rings of Saturn counter fucked. Good enough. 1-1
Winner: Goldberg via Jackhammer.
Chavo Guerrero (w/ Eddie) v Ultimo Dragon
Eddie’s white jeans and cowboy boots slap when paired with that mullet. Another really good Cruiserweight match here. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this is truly where WCW shined. Letting the talented guys fill up the show before the main eventers came in to bring the quality down. I love Eddie constantly getting on Chavo about not taking advantage of things paying off with Eddie being right. Good story and match. Ultimo Dragon ruled. 2-2
Winner: Dragon with the dragon sleeper.
- Eddie flips out and slaps Chavo after the match.
- DDP is live on the website with Lee. They discuss the US Title match tonight.
WCW Television Championship/ No Time Limit: Chris Benoit v (C) Booker T
Between these shows and the Dark side of the ring I am getting my emotional fill of Benoit right now. On a positive mote, I’m not sure these two had a bad match in WCW. Booker’s push continues and Benoit continued to be the best guy to never have won a title at this point. I didn’t even mind the ref bump at the end of this because it helped the story of how evenly matched these two were. Good stuff again from both dudes who have been on fire with these shows 3-3.
Winner: Booker retains via Harlem Sidekick over the official’s head.
The British Bulldog (w/Jim Neidhart) v Curt Hennig (w/Rick Rude)
Hennig sure took a drop down the card this month huh? Neidhart will be cuffed to Rude because of Rude using cuffs? Whatever, Rude was hilarious constantly trying to get involved. Unfortunately a lot of it was Bulldog working over Curt’s leg…it wasn’t bad or anything just kind of boring. Then you have the announce team not realize how a fucking Sharpshooter is applied and not recognizing Vincent in a cop outfit and seeming like the dumbest fucks alive. Then the fact that Rude got loose BARELY had any impact on the ending. Nope. 3-4
Winner: Curt gets the win after Bulldog hits his head on the turnbuckle.
- After the match Rude attacks and the announcers finally realize that the cop that looks like Vincent is actually NWO member VINCENT. What a twist. Anyway, the NWO is smart and strong and WCW is dumb.
- Thank God they give Jericho a mic before the match. He breaks out a Loverboy reference immediately. He also dedicates the match to Dean Malenko and says that he can live vicariously through him. What a nice thing to say.
WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Prince Iaukea v (C) Chris Jericho
The announce team literally talks about the NWO over the top of this match like it doesn’t matter. The quality of this varies wildly as to who is in charge. Jericho=Good, Prince= Bad. Well maybe not bad but definitely boring as fuck. These guys are on the exact opposite ends of the charisma scale. I really wanted to like this due to Chris but Prince Nakamaki always bores the shit out of me. 3-5
Winner: Jericho retains with the Lion Tamer.
- Jericho almost redeems the match with his celebration and stealing of Price’s towel deal.
- Raven and Lee are with the website. Raven and DDP later.
- Poor Buff looks like he has a legit hand injury. TONY “If any doctor put a cast on like that he would lose his license!” BRAIN “Or work for us.”. Brilliant. Well i guess the match is cancelled. Buff is too hurt. Oh great, here comes JJ and Gene. God forbid JJ doesn’t get his fire ass promo time. Thank God they just happened to have a doctor from Atlanta on standby. This hack declared Buff good to wrestle just because he used the hand. I’d sue.
Scott Steiner/Buff Bagwell v Lex Luger/Rick Steiner (w/Ted Dibiase)
Rick is dressed as if Ronald McDonald were a college wrestler. I can’t believe they expected poor Scott and Buff to perform after being railroaded like that. Sad. It was kind of slow and plodding. Rick get beat up a lot and the crowd really doesn’t get into it until Lex does the flappy arms taunt. They love that taunt. Hell, we all love that taunt. Eh. 3-6
Winner: Lex gets the win for his team with a Rack on Buff. Scott had left Buff alone after Rick chased him up the aisle.
- Gene shills the hotline and is continuing to be vague as fuck about it. “There is someone in the back that had breakfast this morning. Who was it? $1.69 a minute morons!”.
- Neat, a special unadvertised match.
La Parka v Psychosis
La parka rocking the yellow and black tonight. Other than one iffy segment up on the top this was good. The crowd just gave less than a shit. La parka fell victim to the bad guy pull your opponent up deal at the end. Good enough, I wish the crowd appreciated these dudes more though. 4-7
Winner: Psychosis with a guillotine legdrop.
- The announce team wastes time so they can set up one (1) pole for the the bat deal.
Bat match: Kevin Nash/ Hollywood Hogan v Giant/ Roddy Piper
Man I miss the Hendrix theme. Also I had that Hogan t-shirt, it was pretty sweet. Still is. Not a bad match but don’t expect a lot of high flying. The crowd was as hype for this as they weren’t for the last match. Piper and Giant get the bat first but it’s an NWO match so of course there are shenanigans. Such as an extra bat and the Disciple. Hogan got cocky and hit Nash accidentally but they still pull it of with a 3 on 2 advantage. The NWO everybody. I’ll give it a point because I can. 5-8
Winner: Hogan pinned Piper after a second bat was thrown in.
- Nash and Hogan start to fight but then make up. Nash tries to powerbomb Giant but then Hogan turns on him before the Giant runs him off.
- Slamboree is next.
United States Championship/ Ravens Rules: (C) DDP v Raven
Winner loses to Goldberg on Nitro. This was a fun Raven style brawl. They tear the set apart here. Of course the Flock gets involved but they mostly spread it out. They did everything they could to make DDP look like Superman in this. They finally get the better of him when new member Horace Hogan arrives to change the equation. Another fun brawl in this feud and the crowd loved it. Good stuff 6-9.
Winner: Raven with an Evenflow on a sink after Horace arrives.
- Too bad he dies the next night.
- Buffer again…
WCW World Championship/ No DQ: Macho Man w/Liz v (C) Sting
Another wild brawl. Not sure why they did them back to back like this though. Crowd was kind of burned out in spots. Not too bad but didn’t have the pizzazz that the previous match did. Of course we have a ref bump. It’s the main event and the nWO is involved duh. Liz taking the splash in the corner still gets me. The Hogan and Nash power struggle to make the champion actually helped this rather than hurt it. Last couple of minutes saved this honestly. 7-10
Winner: Savage after the Jackknife.
- RIP Sting’s ridiculous and short title reign. No wonder he didn’t draw. Jesus.
- Hogan and Disciple cry in the aisle.
Overall Thoughts: Kind of boring in the middle but surprisingly the NWO/main event stuff was actually good. Still feel bad for Sting though in this entire thing. Should have had a tan in December brother. See y’all for Slamboree.
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