Monday
Nitro #166
Date:
December 7, 1998
Location:
Astrodome, Houston, Texas
Attendance:
32,067
Commentators:
Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
We're
less than three weeks away from Starrcade and Nash vs. Goldberg
hasn't really started to heat up yet. If I didn't know better I
would think Goldberg would be squashing Bam Bam Bigelow at the PPV
based on what we've seen in recent weeks. Other than that we're
getting ready for Flair vs. Bischoff which I'm sure will be a
classic. Let's get to it.
Goldberg
vs. Bigelow in a non-title match tonight. The guy isn't signed but
he can wrestle in a match against the champion?
We
look at a clip from earlier today of Scott Steiner attacking the
Wildcat mascot due to reasons of insanity.
The
Hogan retirement video from last week airs again to shot him beating
up Ric Flair.
Nitro
Girls.
Scott
Steiner comes out to say the only things that come out of Texas are
steers and something censored that rhymes with steers. He demands
that we give Hogan a standing ovation before demanding another match
with Scott Hall tonight.
Nitro
Party winner.
Nitro
Girls.
Kendall
Windham vs. Diamond Dallas Page
We're
nearly half an hour into this show counting commercials at this
point. Page gets slammed down to start but trips Kendall to the mat
just as easily. A swinging neckbreaker does the same but Windham
comes back with a low blow. Not that it matters as Page comes back
with punches and a big clothesline followed by the Diamond Cutter for
the pin. This wasn't much but the fans are awake now.
Profile
on a Nitro Girl.
Goldberg
vs. Bigelow package.
Norman
Smiley vs. Prince Iaukea
The
dancing non-Islander takes over to start with a slap to the face and
a nice shoulder block followed by that spinning slam of his. A
delayed double underhook suplex gets two on the Prince and it's time
for more dancing. Iaukea's kick to the ribs is caught but Smiley
stops to dance some more, allowing Prince to kick him in the face. A
Samoan drop and top rope splash get two for Prince but Norman calmly
puts on a cross face chicken wing for the submission. This was a
fairly packed match for under three minutes.
We
see the interview from Thunder where Mysterio vs. Guerrera was
announced for next week's Thunder for a future shot at the
Cruiserweight Title. Eddie Guerrero comes out to and says Silver
King will deal with the selfish Mysterio tonight.
Silver
King vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.
Rey
takes him down with a headscissors to start and they trade what would
evolve into the 619. They wind up on the apron and Rey snaps off a
hurricanrana to send him to the floor. Back in and King counters the
sitout bulldog before hitting what would become the Eye of the Storm
for two. Rey sends him into the corner before going up himself and
TOTALLY botching a hurricanrana. It wound up looking more like a
spinebuster from Silver King than anything else. Mysterio sends him
to the floor and hits a great looking flip dive to make up for it
before a top rope bulldog is enough for the pin.
Rating:
C-. This was Mysterio bouncing
around the ring for about four minutes which is all you need most of
the time. The botch in the middle really hurt it though as there was
no way to cover up something like that. Thankfully they went home
almost immediately after that so it wasn't a crippling spot in the
middle of the match.
Hour
#2.
Goldberg
and the championship committee arrive but Nash comes up to meet them.
Nash says the match against Bigelow isn't happening tonight because
Goldberg isn't supposed to fight before Starrcade. Goldberg says he
dreams of taking Nash apart.
Wrath
vs. Renegade
Renegade
comes out to what would have been Marvelous Marc Mero's music around
this time. Must be public domain. Wrath takes him into the corner
for some knees to the ribs as the announcers talk about Goldberg vs.
Bigelow. A side slam puts Renegade down but he comes back with some
kicks to the ribs. Wrath easily shrugs them off and drives in some
elbows. Renegade's handspring elbow is just shoved away and a
clothesline to the back of his head leads to the Meltdown for the
pin.
Rating:
D. I hate to say it, but it's
over for Wrath. Yeah the Meltdown still looks cool, but it was clear
that there was nothing more for him after he got beat in his one time
moving up the ladder. Just a few weeks ago the announcers were
making him out to be the hottest thing in the world and now he's
squashing jobbers again. This is Renegade's final appearance with
the company. How in the world did he survive this long?
Roger
Clemens of baseball fame is here.
Chavo
Guerrero Jr./Disco Inferno vs. Horace/Stevie Ray
Before
the match, Disco asks Konnan com come out for a surprise. Apparently
Kevin Nash has approved Disco as the newest member of the Wolfpack.
Konnan just rolls his eyes and walks away so the squash can begin.
Horace pounds on Chavo to start with the usual power brawling style
of his, only to walk into a dropkick followed by a rope climbing
bulldog for two. Disco and Stevie come in with Ray easily winning a
slugout, only to walk into a swinging neckbreaker.
Disco
gets two off a top rope ax handle but is easily thrown outside for a
beating from Horace. The announcers at least changes things up a bit
here by talking about Hogan's retirement. Horace comes in legally
and misses an elbow drop, allowing
Chavo to come in and clean house. The tornado DDT gets two on Horace
as everything breaks down. A spike piledriver catches Chavo out of
nowhere and Stevie gets an easy pin.
Rating:
D. Nothing match here for the
most part and I'm not seeing a reason why Chavo and Disco were paired
together. Disco wanting to join the Red and Black simply can't end
well but that's the case for a lot of stuff involving the NWO. It's
also not a good sign that the yet to be christened B-Team is now
getting squashes on Nitro.
Nash
comes out and says that tonight it's a three way between him,
Goldberg and Bigelow.
Nitro
Girls again.
Glacier
vs. Saturn
This
is supposed to be Miller vs. Saturn but he's claiming an ankle
injury. Glacier hits a quick Kryonic Kick to start and stomps away
in the corner instead of covering. Another kick stops a Saturn
comeback and a tilt-a-whirl slam sets up even more kicks. Aside from
all the other reasons, it's becoming clear why Glacier never went
anywhere. Glacier tries to spice things up a bit with a legdrop but
misses an ax handle.
Saturn
grabs a quick atomic drop followed by a cross body. He hits his VERY
high top rope elbow drop but Sonny Onoo distracts the referee because
someone has to try and make this horrible angle interesting. The
fact that Sonny is one of the reasons it's awful doesn't make things
much better though. Anyway, Miller hits Glacier by mistake and of
course the referee sees that because Saturn needs to lose to another
horrible guy.
Rating:
F. I think that's my official
rating for every time Saturn jobs to some waste like Glacier or
Miller.
Saturn
beats up Glacier and the referee.
Lex
Luger vs. Emery Hale
Hale
is a big muscular guy that ran around WCW forever but never got over
due to not being very talented. They
circle each other for awhile to start with no one going anywhere off
a shoulder. A harder shoulder puts Hale down and he heads outside to
yell at some fans. Back in and Hale takes over with a hard lariat
and a big legdrop gets two. Hale pounds on Luger's back for no
effect but a suplex puts Lex on the mat. Hale misses a good looking
top rope splash and it's the forearm into the Rack to give Luger the
submission.
Rating:
D. Hale had a very good look
and could have been a solid midcard monster with some more seasoning
and a gimmick. The match was nothing terrible but it's hard to get
excited about Luger doing the same match we've seen him do with far
more talented people. Not much to see here but Hale didn't embarrass
himself.
Ad
for Starrcade.
Chris
Jericho vs. Bobby Duncum Jr.
Here's
a match we've seen far too many times now. Before the match Jericho
makes fun of cowboys, causing Duncum to jump him from behind to
start. A hard shoulder and clothesline put Jericho down as Bobby is
all ticked off about the cowboy stuff. For the life of me I will
never understand so many grown men being obsessed with looking and
acting like cowboys.
Anyway
Jericho comes back with a quick belly to back but is thrown to the
floor for his efforts. After a whip into the barricade, Duncum
throws Jericho back inside but gets his throat snapped across the top
rope. The missile dropkick has little effect as Bobby nails a
bulldog and another lariat (as all good cowboys should do). Jericho
crotches him on the top and scores with a superplex before grabbing a
rollup and the rope for a cheating pin.
Rating:
D+. Did I mention I'm not a fan
of the generic cowboy characters? Jericho is another talent being
wasted in meaningless feuds like this one after dropping the title to
Konnan so it can be used in the endless NWO war. Nothing to see here
for the most part, even though Duncum is another big guy with a good
look that could be something in a better gimmick.
Hour
#3 begins.
Giant
vs. Scott Putski
Chokeslam,
pin.
Post
match Giant challenges Page for Starrcade because Page's fans are all
rednecks.
Konnan
wants a piece of the NWO Referee.
Chris
Benoit/Dean Malenko vs. Kanyon/Raven
And
there's no heel team as Kanyon is looking for Raven in the back.
Raven refuses to go wrestle because Kanyon is a geek. Kanyon points
out that Raven has driven away everyone that has tried to help him,
including Piper, and blames his recent losing streak on Raven. In
the arena, Kanyon refuses to wrestle because he has no partner. For
some reason he pushes Arn Anderson and has to run away from a
crowbar. Benoit dropkicks him to the floor and Kanyon runs off with
no match.
Video
on Bischoff/Flair.
After
a break the Horsemen are still in the ring and here's their leader.
Ric tells Bischoff to get off his girlfriend and listen to what he
has to say. He says the
dictatorship is about to end and rants about the history of Texas
wrestling while dropping his usual names. Flair is going to choke
Bischoff and rip his throat out at Starrcade. He's looking redder
than usual here and runs around the ring looking for something to
chop. At Starrcade, Flair promises to chop Bischoff until he says he
respects Flair before taking his job, his girlfriend and his dignity.
Totally insane Flair here but it worked for the most part.
Konnan
video.
TV
Title: Konnan vs. Booker T.
They
shove each other to start with Booker taking over via some forearms
and kicks. Konnan comes back with a rolling clothesline and dropkick
of his own before they head outside. Back in and Konnan scores with
a bulldog but gets caught by an ax kick. Stevie Ray comes strolling
down as Booker dances to his feet. The side kick connects but Stevie
comes in and jumps Konnan for the DQ.
Booker
yells at Stevie post match but Stevie says Booker should be going
after Konnan.
Scott
Steiner vs. Scott Hall
There's
no referee and Steiner blames Hall for him missing. Hall hammers on
Steiner and we see the NWO Referee wrapped up in tape (Konnan
threatened to do that earlier). Mickie Jay runs
down, shoves the NWO Referee down, and
comes in to count two off Hall's fall away slam. Steiner
yells at the referee and Hall gets two off a rollup as the NWO runs
in to end the match.
Luger
and Konnan run in but Giant comes in to take them out. Page hits the
ring and nails Giant with a chair to get rid of the NWO. Well the
Black and White that is. In
an amusing visual, the NWO Referee is still down at the entrance.
Bret
Hart comes out and says Page is a coward. He's proven himself and
that's about it. Gene says people should go see Wrestling with
Shadows.
Goldberg
vs. Kevin Nash vs. Bam Bam Bigelow
Bigelow
comes out with no music. Nash hits the ring to go after him before
Goldberg arrives. Here comes the champ and the brawl is on. All
three guys slug it out until security comes out to break it up as the
fans pelt the ring with garbage to end the show.
Overall
Rating: D-. This was one of the
worst Nitros in a long time as almost nothing happened. We've got
two episodes before Starrcade and Bigelow is still deeply involved in
the main event scene. There are some matches set for the card, but
the TV Title, US Title and Tag Team Titles aren't being mentioned,
guys like Luger, Jericho, Saturn, the Horsemen and Raven/Kanyon have
no matches yet, and the main story has a third guy added who probably
won't be on the PPV either. Sadly enough, this is going to be their
last coherent PPV for a very long time.
Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:
http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6
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