Raw History: Episode 245 and Reliving Nitro: Episode 125

Raw History
Episode #245
February 2nd, 1998 | Market Square Arena in Indianapolis, Indiana | Attendance: 12,043

WWF Champion: Shawn Michaels (3) since 11/9/97
WWF Intercontinental Champion: The Rock (2) since 12/8/97
WWF European Champion: Owen Hart (1) since 1/26/98
WWF Tag Team Champions: Billy Gunn (4) and Road Dogg (1) since 11/24/97
WWF Light Heavyweight Champion: TAKA Michinoku (1) since 12/7/97

DX ANNOUNCEMENT ~ We opened with DX giving their famous “State of the Union” address. Between the hours of 9 and 10, they’ll only say ass, damn, and hell. When it gets to the words they won’t use, they got bleeped for each. From 10 until 11, they’ll use ass, damn, hell, and a bleeped word. The ones they won’t all got bleeped out, too. Shawn Michaels did not sleep with that young intern. In fact, HE WAS UP ALL NIGHT. Famous little segment that was right up DX’s alley. Like most of their antics, it doesn’t really hold up.

Jim Ross, Michael Cole, and Kevin Kelly on commentary.

Since we didn’t get enough at the start, it’s time for more DX. They showed up wearing Uncle Sam gear and carrying picket signs. JR hyped how WrestleMania XIV tickets sold out in under ninety minutes. Anyway, DX was picketing to set up Austin vs. Tyson. They chanted, “LET THEM FIGHT!” It’s much more entertaining than their opening address. The fans chanted along with them. To make things even better, the glass shattered and out came Stone Cold Steve Austin. It’s our first HBK/Austin altercation. They immediately came face to face in what was a cool staredown. DX took off their Uncle Sam getups, showing how serious tings got when Austin showed up. Austin agreed that he should fight Tyson, but once he won the Royal Rumble, he guaranteed himself a title shot, regardless of when it comes. Austin ripped up his shirt and continued to talk trash in Michaels’ face. In an awesome response, Shawn remained silent and stoic for the most part. It worked a MILLION times better than his usual childish antics. It sold Austin as someone Michaels wasn’t going to joke around with. Awesome start to the show.

TONIGHT ~ Steve Austin vs. Road Dogg. Also, Owen Hart defends the European Title against Billy Gunn.

Before the next match, we saw an interview Jim Ross conducted with Mick Foley and Terry Funk earlier in the day. Foley spoke about how he’ll be remembered now that he’s 32. He mentioned a former World Champion in WCW told him that nobody cared about him or his style and that he’ll be in a wheelchair by thirty. He realized he was on borrowed time, so he wants to go out as Cactus. Funk said he sees Foley as a son, but not tonight.

Hardcore Match: Cactus Jack vs. Chainsaw Charlie
Cactus brought out a dumpster full of weapons and the fight began on the stage. All sorts of big spots here. Double Arm DDT on the stage, a ladder suplex, and that was all before their fight even made it to the ring. Trash cans were used, including one being put on Charlie’s head and leading to a piledriver. They brawled through the break and made it back to the top of the stage. Cactus ended up dumping Charlie into the dumpster and using a ladder to climb the Titantron. He sat on the bottom of it before jumping off with a big elbow. Then, the New Age Outlaws made their appearance. They shut the dumpster and tied the lid closed. They then shoved it off the ramp, giving us a no contest around 8:20. Good hardcore match. [**¾]

“GOOD GOD, THERE’S PEOPLE IN THERE!” The Outlaws celebrated what they did, only to stop and realize that they may have gone too far. Agents, officials, and wresters come out to check on Cactus and Charlie. We’re talking faces and heels. Michael Cole has the audacity to say the dumpster weighed about 500 pounds. When it gets opened, there’s no movement from Cactus and Charlie, but we can clearly see that the dumpster is filled with Styrofoam. And yet, everyone acted like these guys were basically dead. They even showed Vince scolding the Outlaws, who seemed to respond by acting like kids. Sunny cried hysterically over Funk’s body. It was so over the top in the worst way. JR was absurd here, too, trying to sell how the Outlaws went too far in trying to “get over.” The crowd popped for Flash Funk trying to fight the Outlaws. Is it because he’s also a Funk? This took forever before Funk and Foley were finally taken away in the ambulance. Sunny’s crying was the most ridiculous part. Way over the top, completely cheesy, and took far too long.

JR attempted to get a word with the Outlaws, while also chastising them. DX ran in to give the Outlaws advice. They said they’re told to go out and do something that makes them stand out. If it wasn’t them pushing the dumpster, it would’ve been them getting pushed. Interesting stuff.

WAR ZONE! Jerry Lawler replaced Cole and Kelly.

WWF European Championship: Owen Hart [c] vs. WWF Tag Team Champion Billy Gunn w/ Road Dogg
As if we hadn’t seen enough of them already, the Outlaws opened the War Zone. Owen came out firing, because everyone seemed to hate the Outlaws for their actions. The balloons and confetti from the Uncle Sam opening segment stuff was somehow still around the ring. Where’s the cleaning guy? Anyway, they brawled outside for a while. The pace was too quick for Billy, who chose to kill some time with a front face lock. Owen countered a sunset flip and turned it into a Sharpshooter. As soon as he fully applied it, Road Dogg jumped in for the DQ in 5:26. Not much here. They seemed to be going through the motions and nothing more. [*¼]

DX also arrived and the five of them jumped Owen. He took a DDT on the stage from HHH. Then, the Outlaws set up to swing Owen off the stage until officials ran out and stopped them. Yup, this went way overboard. It’s like Vince Russo had an idea he thought was cool and they ran it into the ground in one night. Way too ridiculous.

Michael Cole called in from the hospital with an update on Jack and Charlie. It feels weird to call them that. He gave no real information.

Marc Mero w/ Sable vs. Mosh w/ Thrasher
Strange matchup. Mero made Sable cover up and threw away a box of chocolates she had for him. He sent her away and brought out Goldust dressed as Marilyn Manson. Fantastic. The match was a lot of nothing and a distraction of Thrasher beating up Goldust allowed Mero to roll him up and win in 2:26. [NR]

The NWA group and Bradshaw got split screen promo time. Bradshaw basically said he’d get a partner to take on Barry Windham and Jeff Jarrett.

VIGNETTE ~ Tiger Ali Singh is coming soon. The video showed him living his fancy lifestyle. He was named after his father, Tiger Jeet Singh, and Muhammad Ali. Wow.

Chainz w/ The DOA, Ahmed Johnson and Ken Shamrock vs. Faarooq w/ The NOD
This was just here to hype the upcoming tag at No Way Out. The two men clubbed away at each other, without much else in the offensive game of either man. Michael Cole called in to inform us that Vince McMahon was also at the hospital and that Terry Funk has regained consciousness. Foley hadn’t. The end of the match came when Kama accidentally tripped Faarooq, causing them to argue. Faarooq got counted out to lose in 3:34. Another nothing match that was purely here to further a PPV match and the NOD problems. [NR]

WWF REWIND ~ Kurrgan dominated a scrub on Shotgun and refused to break the Claw. In fact, he carried him to the back while still holding the submission.

Barry Windham and NWA North American Champion Jeff Jarrett w/ The Rock n’ Roll Express and Jim Cornette vs. Flash Bunk and Justin Hawk Bradshaw
Bradshaw got his first and middle name back, as well as a black partner. They worked well together at the start, until Funk got dropped throat first on the guardrail by the RNR Express. Officials came out to check on him. They’re going way overboard with the injury stuff. It got even worse as Funk was helped to the back, leaving Bradshaw alone. Still, Bradshaw fought through it and won with a lariat on Jarrett at 4:02. For a glorified handicap match, it was harmless. [*]

The NWA guys got together and jumped Bradshaw. Everyone held Bradshaw down while Windham hit the ropes and dropped splashes on Bradshaw’s knee. JR reminded us that Bradshaw had several surgeries on that knee in the past.

Commentary continued to oversell the dumpster, saying it weighed 2000 pounds and could’ve decapitated someone. Cole called in to say there was some sort of disturbance at the hospital, involving the police.

Wink Collins, former host of those Nacho Man/Huckster videos, came out to hype WrestleMania being sold out. Kane and Paul Bearer interrupted. Before any damage could be done, Vader hit the ring. He challenged Kane to a match at No Way Out and sprayed him with a fire extinguisher. This feud would’ve meant more if Vader wasn’t booked so poorly in the WWF.

WWF Tag Team Champion Road Dogg w/ Billy Gunn vs. Steve Austin
Billy did the Outlaw intro and sucked at it. He was terrible with a mic. Austin kicked his ass and did the same to Road Dogg. They hit the ring and Austin stomped a mud hole. Billy hopped in and ate a Stunner for a DQ in 0:32. [NR]

DX joined the fray as Austin beat on Road Dogg. They tripped him up and beat on him on the outside. Ever the badass, Austin fought back, but the numbers were too much. They ended up tying Austin in the ropes like he was Andre the Giant. Michaels held his face and talked trash, before shoving the title in his face to say it’s as close as he’ll ever get to it. Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie, the latter in a hospital gown, rushed out after returning from the hospital to send DX packing. Austin chased them to the back.

Reliving Nitro
Episode #125
February 2nd, 1998 | Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas | Attendance: N/A

WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Vacant since 1/8/98
WCW United States Champion: Diamond Dallas Page (1) since 12/28/97
WCW World Tag Team Champions: The Outsiders (4) since 1/12/98
WCW Television Champion: Booker T (1) since 12/29/97
WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Chris Jericho (3) since 1/24/98

LAST WEEK ~Footage of Sting beating up Randy Savage while the nWo guys just watched aired.

HOUR ONE! Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Larry Zbyszko hosted. They’re wearing matching shirts. It’s the first Nitro in Texas.

NITRO GIRLS!

Juventud Guerrera vs. Psychosis
JUVI JUICE! It says it on his tights. They worked through an alright back and forth to start as the Flock came down through the crowd. It went to a commercial as THE TAPE MACHINES WERE ROLLING! Schiavone mentioned an injury to Rey Mysterio Jr. and called him the Cruiserweight Champion, even though Chris Jericho is. Juvi hit a head scissors and added a top rope victory roll for two. That had potential to look cool but didn’t come off cleanly. Psychosis came back with a reverse suplex. The match moved outside where Juvi caught a leaping Psychosis with a dropkick. Back inside, he added the 450 to win in 5:18. That was a fine little opener. It had some awkward moments, but a few cool spots and some excitement. [**¼]

LAST THURSDAY ~ DDP spoke with Chris Benoit and mentioned how neither one was ever considered a main eventer. DDP had no problem giving Benoit a shot at the US Title, which will happen on Thunder.

Mean Gene introduced DDP for an in-ring interview. Gene questioned DDP offering the title shot considering Benoit’s past in earning the “Crippler” moniker. DDP did it because Benoit deserved the opportunity, because the people want it, and because he wants it. Benoit’s one of the best and DDP wants to know if he can make him feel the BANG.

VIDEO PACKAGE ~ The Giant’s neck injury was shown again. Now, the fine for a powerbomb has been upped to $150,000 or chump change if you have Kevin Nash’s contract.

Kidman w/ Lodi vs. Ultimo Dragon
An actual entrance for Kidman. He jumped Dragon but took a series of kicks for his troubles. Dragon also showed off his corner headstand spot. They traded offense, going back and forth with some decent stuff. However, I got sidetracked by Dragon doing a weird submission, where Kidman’s head was basically up Dragon’s ass. I didn’t get it. Kidman came close with a spinebuster and springboard bulldog. Dragon came back with the top rope rana and Dragon Sleeper for the win in 5:47. Not as good as the opener. Still alright, though. [**]

The Flock hit the ring and jumped Dragon, leading to a Kidman Shooting Star Press. Raven remained at ringside. Hilariously, Lodi was thrown out by his own teammates, then celebrated.

Kevin Nash made his way to the ring for a promo. He wore a Syxx shirt. Nash said he saw Kidman do a powerbomb. Though he’s not Mike Tenay, he believes it was a Tiger Bomb, yet he wasn’t fined or arrested. In his mind, it’s about who did the move as WCW was just mad he took out their precious Giant. Due to his friendship with Hulk Hogan, there’s no fine too big for him, so he’ll continue to do what he wants.

HOUR NUMBER TWO!

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Chris Jericho [c] vs. Super Calo
Jericho came out wearing a Mysterio shirt. He’s so great. He also stopped to give his millions of Jerichoholics a big thank you for making him the great champion he is. We also got the, “NEVER EEEEVVERRRR” from him when he spoke about Rey’s injury. The match opened with some technical based exchanges. Jericho hit a stalling suplex and worked a chinlock. Calo sped things up and nailed a dive to the outside. Jericho to the cameraman: HELP ME. Jericho bumped crazy on some Calo offense. He was ready for Calo’s top rope headscissors, landing on his feet to counter. He slapped on the Liontamer and retained in 5:08. The action was decent, but the crowd was dead. They never believed in Calo. [*¾]

WCW Television Championship: Booker T [c] vs. Lord Steven Regal
Crazy to think that Jericho, Booker, and Regal would go on to have lengthy WWE careers. Kidman would last a while, too. I feel like we haven’t seen Regal in months. Regal wanted to work a slow pace. Booker wanted none of that and took it right to him. Regal responded with some European uppercuts for the champion. Following a bit more back and forth, Booker got two on a Scissors Kick. He missed a cross body, but fired up with the SPINAROONIE! Harlem Side kick ended it in 4:23. I wanted more from these two. It never clicked and was disappointing. [*¼]

Bobby Heenan joined commentary around this time, replacing Zbyszko.

LAST WEEK ~ Bret Hart’s comments were shown.

Hugh Morrus vs. Konnan w/ Vincent
Oh, no. These two were a terrible team in the Dungeon of Doom era and had a terrible PPV match in 1997 that I gave -****¼. Though Konnan is nWo, the fans were firmly behind him. He regrouped outside with Vincent after a hot Morrus start. Konnan got on offense and it was predictably dull. Morrus went up for No Laughing Matter, but Konnan powerbombed him off. He added a weird Pedigree variation to get the victory in 4:09. The crowd popped. I didn’t. [¼*]

Jim Neidhart vs. WCW World Tag Team Champion Scott Hall w/ Dusty Rhodes
nWo Dusty was a bad move. San Antonio loved nWo, so they won the survey this week. The match goes 2:05 with Neidhart showing power and Hall using a Dusty assist to win with the Outsider’s Edge. Post-match, they jumped Neidhart until Davey Boy Smith made the save. [NR]

Mean Gene brought out Lex Luger for a promo. Luger is scheduled for a No DQ match with Randy Savage at SuperBrawl. They main evented Souled Out and now have this stipulation, but the feud is cold as hell. All Luger said in this segment was that he no longer respects Savage and that he’s bringing the Torture Rack to SuperBrawl.

NITRO PARTY!

NITRO GIRLS!

Bill Goldberg vs. Mark Starr
You know how this goes. Press slam into powerslam, spear, Jackhammer. Goodnight in 1:12. [NR]

Davey Boy Smith vs. Steve McMichael
A rematch from last week. Mongo screamed a lot in a pre-match promo about being from Texas and not getting fooled twice. Smith pulled Mongo outside and somehow that signaled the opening bell. WCW referees were a mess. They fought inside for a few seconds, before going back out and brawling until a double countout at 1:02. The fight continued to the back. [NR]

HOUR NUMBER THREE!

Hollywood Hogan and Eric Bischoff strutted to the ring to open the final hour. Hogan backed Nash’s earlier claims that he had his back on any fines. He ran down Sting and how unfair it was that Nick Patrick isn’t allowed to be the referee for their match. Hogan turned his attention to Randy Savage, saying he’s on his own. Hogan predicted Sting would eat Savage alive and then he’ll eat Sting alive at SuperBrawl. He oddly ended on being nWo 4-Life, even though he just said Savage on his own.

Raven’s Rules: Disco Inferno vs. Raven
Raven cut a short promo about a rule being that everyone should feel the Evenflow DDT. He dumped Disco outside and followed with an awkward dive. Raven chose to use a chair for wrestling holds, with an armbar and drop toe hold. Interesting. Disco brought some fire and focus as he attacked Raven and got in some offense. Of note, Raven smiled while Disco beat him up. Disco even picked up some near falls. Raven shut down the comeback with the Evenflow, winning in 5:00. Better than I expected. I’ll give it extra points for Disco’s effort. [**½]

NITRO GIRLS!

Buff Bagwell and WCW World Tag Team Champion Kevin Nash vs. The Steiner Brothers w/ Ted Dibiase
I can’t help but chuckle as Buff looked at the camera and pointed out how neither Steiner was as buff as him. Of course, Scott overpowered him, but a cheap shot from Nash put Buff in control. That led to Scott taking a LONG heat segment. He still wasn’t interested in tagging out. When Nash set up for the Jackknife, the crowd erupted. Rick cut that off with a STEINERLINE! Scott got close to tagging, but turned around and delivered a Frankensteiner on Buff to win on his own in 7:31. It got the point across, but was dull. [*½]

Post-match, Rick argued with Scott over not tagging out. It was the most heated discussion over this yet.

Randy Savage w/ Elizabeth vs. Sting
Sting got the big entrance of rappelling down from the ceiling of the Alamodome. Cool idea, but since it’s like 20 stories, it takes a while. Sting also had some wardrobe issue and only had gear that was all black. No scorpion on it. He looked ready to dance more than he did to fight. Sting no sold some Savage stuff at the start before they brawled around the ringside area. Savage dropped him on the guardrail and undid the turnbuckle pad. Sting ended up pulling a Hawk and no selling a piledriver. Stinger Splash time, but he missed the second and hit the exposed turnbuckle. Macho Man elbow connected for what Schiavone called the biggest upset ever (uh, no). Savage covered but Hogan ran in and broke up the count for the DQ in 3:58. More of a long angle than a match. [NR]

Hogan wanted to be the one to beat Sting. While Savage and Hogan faced off, Luger showed up and fought with Savage to the back. Sting fought off some nWo guys to be alone with Hogan. Then, he easily let Hogan escape. Weird.

Raw MVP: Steve Austin
Raw LVP: Everything involving the dumpster
Nitro MVP: Disco Inferno
Nitro LVP: Hulk Hogan

Raw Rating: 3.5
Nitro Rating: 4.9

5.3

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

Raw: I wanted to like this a lot more. Cactus/Charlie was a fun little match until the big dumpster angle happened. It went way too far and was over the top cheesy. Like, it wasn’t nearly as bad a spot as they made it out to be. It held the rest of the show hostage. Outside of it, we did get an awesome segment to open the show and a great finish. The middle was rough, though. 4.0

Nitro: A win for Nitro this week. This was nowhere near a perfect or great episode, but the three hours mostly went by quickly. The Raven’s Rules match was solid, while there were a couple of pretty decent matches thrown out there, as well. It could’ve used more from the DDP/Benoit stuff, which sounds interesting. The ending was garbage and really hurt the overall enjoyment factor. Bad booking and focus on something that doesn’t click. 6.5