wrestling / Video Reviews

Raw History: Episode 255 and Reliving Nitro: Episode 135

October 17, 2018 | Posted by Kevin Pantoja
Monday Night War WWE WCW Raw Nitro
6
The 411 Rating
Community Grade
12345678910
Your Grade
Loading...
Raw History: Episode 255 and Reliving Nitro: Episode 135  


Raw History
Episode #255
April 13th, 1998 | First Union Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Attendance: 14,280

WWF Champion: Steve Austin (1) since 3/29/98
WWF Intercontinental Champion: The Rock (2) since 12/8/97
WWF European Champion: Triple H (2) since 3/17/98
WWF Tag Team Champions: The New Age Outlaws (2) since 3/30/98
WWF Light Heavyweight Champion: TAKA Michinoku (1) since 12/7/97

it’s time for a legendary episode of Raw. I’m getting ahead of myself, but this is the famous episode to stop Nitro’s 84 week winning streak over Raw in the ratings war.

LAST WEEK ~ Steve Austin tricked Vince McMahon into thinking he was going to be a corporate champion.

Jim Ross and Michael Cole were on commentary.

WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin walked down to the ring to get the show started. Of course, he got a monster pop. He called Vince McMahon out and threatened to sit down and have a beer until he got an answer. Vince came out, but was flanked by Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco. Before he entered the ring, he had police in riot gear follow. When he got in the ring, Austin questioned him about his opponent for Unforgiven and Vince said he hadn’t made up his mind. Austin claimed Vince didn’t want to tell him. He reeled off his famous list of things Vince can’t stand about him, which went on to be used in the awesome PPV intro the following month. Austin said Vince’s description of what the WWF Champion should be seems to fit himself, so he insinuated that Vince wanted to be champion. Austin said he’d put the title on the line tonight, against VINCE MCMAHON! The crowd was RABID at that idea. Vince was given the choice of the easy way (Vince picks a ref and has a match) or the hard way (Austin beats him up in his office). Vince was given 30 minutes to make a decision. Tremendous opening segment. There was almost no way a fan could choose Nitro over the possibility of an Austin/McMahon confrontation.

Backstage, the cameraman snuck a peek at the Stooges pumping up Vince into accepting the match.

Chain Match: The Disciples of Apocalypse vs. Los Boricuas
Two teams involved. Yet the only group to get an entrance shown was DX, who watched at ringside. This match was basically a backdrop to an angle. After about 2:17, a DQ was called, but most of the match saw DX using this to jump DOA. Chainz took a Pedigree and a spike piledriver on the ramp. [NR]

Los Boricuas gave crotch chops to the DOA, until Chyna hit them with low blows. From there, DX also beat up Los Boricuas, ending with a Pedigree on Savio. It’s clear that only two stables matter in the WWF. DX and the NOD.

Again, Vince got advice backstage. The Stooges still wanted to fight, but Shane McMahon thought it was a bad idea.

We’re supposed to get Aguila and Pantera against Brian Christopher and Scott Taylor (TOO MUCH, BABY!), but Vince McMahon strutted to the ring without any security. Who cares about those light heavyweights anyway? Vince spoke about being in charge for so long and how champions always had integrity. HA! On the subject of facing Austin tonight, he simply said, “Oh, hell yea.” Commentary was baffled, but the Stooges met Vince on the ramp and patted him on the back. Jim Ross got up from the booth to go try and stop this from happening.

They tried giving us the tag match again, only for the lights to go out. The Undertaker came out and beat up all these midgets. Chokeslams and Tombstones for the light heavyweights. Except Christopher, who bailed. Undertaker sent a warning to Kane, calling him the hunted and that he’d come after him tonight.

SLAM OF THE WEEK ~ Austin’s Stunner on Vince two weeks ago.

Kevin Kelly showed us video from moments ago of JR and Shane trying to talk Vince down. Vince wasn’t hearing any of this talk.

Non-Title Match: Jeff Jarrett w/ Tennessee Lee vs. WWF Light Heavyweight Champion TAKA Michinoku
Undertaker seemed like he was calling Kane out at the moment, but was gone after commercial. Steve Blackman spoke on a split-screen to say he would get revenge on Jarrett. It could be tonight, at Unforgiven, or whenever he wanted. JR got done talking about Vince and spoke about the Japanese dudes who jumped TAKA last week. The match went nowhere as Club Kamikaze hit the ring and jumped TAKA for a DQ at 2:31. [NR]

Sho Funaki, Dick Togo, and Men’s Teioh were called Club Kamikaze here, but would eventually be Kaientai. Jeff Jarrett put TAKA in the Figure Four afterwards because he could.

Backstage, Steve Austin was asked if he was surprised about Vince accepting his challenge. Austin wasn’t surprised because he gave him options and taking the match was the better choice.

Elsewhere, Brisco and Patterson attempted to train Vince.

New theme music signaled the arrival of Faarooq, rocking the DDP rib tape gimmick. He admitted he got whupped by the Nation, but called them out for another fight, face to face. Rock led the Nation out and called Faarooq ignorant because he doesn’t call the shots. Massive heat for Rock as he got through a promo saying he was in charge and would kick Faarooq’s ass on his time. Faarooq did the Nation salute and out walked Ken Shamrock and Steve Blackman behind the NOD. That triggered a big pull apart brawl between the seven men.

WWF REWIND ~ Mick Foley’s promo from last week.

Flash Funk and Terry Funk vs. The Quebecers
Are Flash and Terry related? Terry got on the microphone to say he wasn’t like Cactus. He didn’t care what the fans chanted. He got a new partner and brought out Flash Funk, saying he was never given a proper chance here. Loud “ECW” chants here in Philly. Another match that barely lasted, but it wasn’t a squash. The Quebecers kind of dominated Terry until he made the tag to Funk, who commentary called 2 Cold Scorpio. He won with a 450 splash at 2:16. Not much from this, but it was at least a legitimate match and not an angle. [*]

WAR ZONE! Jerry Lawler took over on commentary during the previous match.

Before the War Zone video could air, Luna came down to the ring to say she wanted to settle things with Sable right now! She made several odd PMS related comments. Instead of Sable, we got TAFKA Goldust dressed as her. I lost it when his first words were, “YOU LITTLE BITCH!” He sounded just like Sable. Luna took him down and ripped off his gown. Goldust’s commentary while this happened was hilarious. The real Sable hit the ring and beat up Luna. Sable had top ripped during the fight and officials broke it up.

Ken Shamrock and Steve Blackman vs. The New Midnight Express w/ Jim Cornette
Our first look at a potential Dan Severn/Shamrock altercation, but Cornette sent him to the back. Blackman got worked over for most of this match. I thought it would lead to a Shamrock hot tag. Instead, all four men entered and we got a cheap double DQ at 3:48. Oh. [¼*]

Backstage, Vince was asked if he was afraid. He admitted to butterflies, but claimed he was ready to fight.

The Headbangers came out, only to get interrupted by the Undertaker. Taking no chances, they jumped him but met the same fate as the light heavyweights earlier. Kane and Paul Bearer responded to Undertaker and stepped out onto the stage. Bearer called Undertaker “Rigor Mortis” and said Kane fights on his time, not Undertaker’s. Next week, they will meet ahead of the Inferno match, but not in the ring. They will do it on their parent’s graves!

VIGNETTE ~ More from Val Venis, whose next film is Lust in Space.

WWF Tag Team Champion Billy Gunn w/ DX vs. Owen Hart
DX was picking Owen’s opponent tonight. They made a lot of penis jokes about it. After it was announced that Billy would get the match, LOD 2000 came out for a closer look. HHH and X-Pac joined commentary to talk more smack. They did at least say some insider stuff about Sunny, helmets, and heads. Billy used his power for the early advantage. Owen came back with those “educated feet.” He went for the Sharpshooter, but Chyna got on the apron to distract him. DX attempted to jump him, only for LOD to come around and keep them at bay. That sent us into commercials. Billy got back in control, but wasted time posing. That allowed Owen to roll him up and win at 6:19. Felt like a lot of just going through the motions to get to the finish. [*¾]

It’s time for the big Austin/Vince altercation. Vince came out in a tank top and sweatpants, clearly not having been prepared for this tonight. Vince stalled a lot and then said he heard when Austin claimed he could beat him with one arm tied behind his back. To make Austin a man of his work, he had Brisco tied it up. Of course, he had Brisco do the Stone Cold Stunner arm. Vince is a smart man. Brisco kept being the MVP, rubbing down Vince’s shoulders and handing him a mouth guard. Amazing. Vince looks nowhere near as big as he would come the following January. Just when they get ready to fight, Dude Love’s music hits to the surprise of everyone. He wanted everyone to get along. He said he and Austin were as tight as two cats can be, but Uncle Vinny was his MCMAIN MAN, because he writes the checks that let Dude live the lifestyle he enjoys. Vince shoved him down, causing Dude to go after him with the Mandible Claw. When Austin got involved, Dude turned around and put the claw on him. It was impossible for Austin to fight back due to his arm being tied behind his back. Though Vince left, the Stooges held him back from fighting Dude. Vince shouted that Dude “stole it.” Austin got up and tried fighting back, but had no real chance.


Reliving Nitro
Episode #135
April 13th, 1998 | Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota | Attendance: N/A

WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Sting (4) since 2/22/98
WCW United States Champion: Diamond Dallas Page (1) since 12/28/97
WCW World Tag Team Champions: The Outsiders (5) since 2/22/98
WCW Television Champion: Booker T (2) since 2/22/98
WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Chris Jericho (3) since 1/24/98

LAST WEEK ~ Roddy Piper called out Hulk Hogan.

HOUR NUMBER ONE! Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Larry Zbyszko host.

NITRO GIRLS!

Fit Finlay vs. Scott Steiner w/ Vincent
Finlay is officially into the territory of the look he was popular for. Steiner and Vincent had the trophy again. Still not word on what it means. Larry Hennig was in the front row and Steiner got in his face. Why? Curt, his son, is in the nWo with you. Finlay started in with the hard shots and a double stomp. Steiner weathered the storm and used the Steiner Recliner to win in 3:03. Fine enough for a short match. [*½]

Bret Hart had a backstage promo saying that he was tired of crying about getting screwed (HA) and wanted to do something about it, so he’ll stop anyone from getting screwed in WCW.

Mean Gene plugged his hotline.

Lenny Lane vs. Ultimo Dragon
Ever the one to make an effort, Tenay hyped how Lane did well in Minnesota on the indy scene. Bless him. The fans were way into this, telling Lane that he sucks and popping for stuff. Dragon kicked away at a pescado before Lane surprised as a solid heel. He even hit a body slam on the outside. Once back inside, it was time for Dragon to rally. He got free of a suplex and locked in the Dragon Sleeper to win in 5:15. Better than I thought. A fun match with a hotter crowd than expected. [**¼]

More from Bret, who said he wanted a fair shot at the World Title.

Backstage, Mean Gene spoke with Roddy Piper. Rare backstage segment. Piper announced that Hulk Hogan would face Kevin Nash tonight! He shouted a bunch of stuff about being done with Hogan’s antics. He got jumped by Hogan and the Disciple. Disciple hit the Apocalypse to lay Piper out.

Mean Gene was back on the scene, bringing out the Giant for an interview in the ring. Somehow, Giant already knows that Piper will be fine in time for Spring Stampede. He promised to Chokeslam Nash to the sky that night. That’s a weird way to chokeslam someone.

Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Johnny Grunge
What an odd matchup. Not much from this one. They had some awkward exchanges before Grunge won by countering a sunset flip at 2:43. With no Eddie involved, I don’t get what purpose this served.[NR]

Bret Hart called Kevin Nash scum and said Hogan was worse.

NITRO GIRLS!

Promo time for Kevin Nash. He announced that he spotted Hogan leaving the building, because he wanted no part of Nash. He was unsure where Randy Savage stood in all of this. Nash turned his attention to Sting, saying he’d be champion if it wasn’t for the nWo last week. Ask and you shall receive, as Sting came out. He was all about having the match tonight, even giving Nash the bat for a free shot. JJ Dillon got to the ring and said if it was happening, it would be in the main event so WCW could promote it. Sting said he was tired of Nash bitching about the powerbomb and demanded it get reinstated. JJ declined at first, but then agreed.

Chris Benoit vs. Glacier
Glacier’s entrance takes forever. Benoit was aggressive, bringing a lot of chops and stomps to this one. Glacier tried his bad martial arts for a comeback. Benoit eventually got him down into the Crippler Crossface to win in 4:22. It happened. [*¼]

LAST THURSDAY ~ Buff Bagwell called out Lex Luger to prove he was the real Total Package.

HOUR NUMBER TWO!

Buff Bagwell w/ Eric Bischoff vs. Lex Luger
Before the match, Buff called Luger an idiot and threw out threats to Rick Steiner for the future. Why is this feud a thing again? It was pitiful at Starrcade. Bischoff mentioned that Hogan was off doing Jay Leno tonight, giving us our first hint of what’s to come in August. Anyway, this was every Buff/Luger match. Buff was in control and taunted a lot. Luger poorly sold. SCREAMING CLOTHESLINES! Torture Rack, BUT WAIT! Bischoff caused the DQ at 5:54. Boring and lifeless, but not as bad as their 16 minute PPV match. [½*]

The crowd popped when Luger put Bischoff in the Rack. However, Scott Steiner ran out and attacked Luger. Rick made the save and ran them off.

More from Bret, who advised Randy to get rid of the nWo. “You play with pigs, and you’re gonna get dirty.”

Bobby Heenan joined the booth as the NITRO GIRLS danced.

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Chris Jericho [c] vs. Super Calo
Our weekly highlight, Chris Jericho. He believed this wasn’t Super Calo, but was actually Prince “MAH-YOU-KHAKI” (Iaukea) in disguise. Is this where they got the idea for Slamboree? Also, Calo did a split in his entrance that was weird. He wanted the ref to unmask Calo but it was all a ploy for a sneak attack. Despite this, Calo was in control for a lot of the match. Jericho did wear him down with a chinlock and hit a gutwrench suplex. Calo went for the flying headscissors spot he’s known for, but got stuck. Jericho applied the Liontamer and retained in 5:06. Decent little match for the title with fun Jericho spots. [**½]

Prince Iaukea ran out to save Jericho. Without missing a beat, Jericho yells, “I DIDN’T KNOW PRINCE MAH-YOU-KHAKI HAS A TWIN!” Amazing.

Bret Hart spoke again, saying he respected Sting most of anyone in WCW and would be there if he ever needed help.

Hammer vs. Saturn
The FLOCK EXPLODES! They did some brawling and Saturn won with the Rings of Saturn in 3:18. Mostly a squash. [NR]

Goldberg vs. Rocco Rock
We’re are 71-0. Goldberg was way over here. Rocco Rock made the mistake of bringing a table to the ring. He probably thought he could use it on Goldberg. It backfired. Instead, he got Speared through it. That was rad in 1998. Jackhammer and Goldberg won in 2:40. Badass squash. [NR]

Saturn walked out, showing no fear of Goldberg, for a fight. Raven came out and physically pulled him back. Great character work from all three men. Goldberg finished by beating up the rest of the Flock.

60 SECONDS WITH GOLDBERG ~ Just a one minute video of Goldberg beating folks up. It feels unnecessary after what he just did.

HOUR NUMBER THREE!

NITRO GIRLS!

Curt Hennig w/ Rick Rude vs. Yuji Nagata w/ Sonny Oono
What a strange match combo that I never knew I wanted. Give me these two in their prime and it could be interesting. It’s Curt’s hometown, so he came out firing. Larry Hennig was in the front row and revealed a “Hennig Rules” shirt before getting in a cheap shot. Hennigplex ended things at 2:53. [NR]

Curt and Rude continued their thing of handcuffing opponents. They beat on Nagata until Jim Neidhart made the save. Ah, so Bret saves his family but his family is at least good enough to save others.

WCW Television Championship: Booker T [c] vs. La Parka
My god. Strap up La Parka. Give him the damn title. Anyway, this is a title match, so I’ll rate it. Honestly though, it was basically a squash. Just a showcase to remind us that Booker is on a hot streak and is damn good. He won via missile dropkick at 3:30. [*]

Post-match, La Parka went to hit Booker with a chair. Chris Benoit, Booker’s rival, showed up and stopped him. He wants Booker at 100%. Booker wanted a handshake but Benoit shoved him on his ass. Yes! I’m loving this feud.

WCW United States Championship: Diamond Dallas Page [c] vs. Rage w/ Kaos
Commentary straight up admitted that Rage has only had three or four singles matches. Why is he getting this shot? At least say DDP was willing to give everyone a shot. Tony Schiavone also straight up he hadn’t seen all Rage matches. Odd since he was a WCW product. Kaos helped Rage cheat, but all he got to show for it was a springboard splash. DDP won with the Diamond Cutter in 3:02. Ho-hum.[¾*]

Raven and the Flock immediately came out. Raven, wearing the US Title, complained that DDP ruined his life. He had to wrestle in bingo halls with barbed wire because DDP left him to rot there. DDP, wanting his title back, took the fight to the Flock. While this went down, Raven seemed to get his by a fan, though it was hard to tell.

Konnan w/ Vincent vs. Rick Steiner w/ Ted Dibiase
Konnan jumped Rick at the bell, only to get hit with a STEINERLINE! Vincent tried getting involved, only to get his ass kicked. Even by Dibiase. It’s 1991 all over again. Konnan did some stuff but never truly threatened and lost to the bulldog in 3:33. Yawn. [½*]

LAST WEEK ~ We saw Randy Savage being taken away in an ambulance.

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Sting [c] vs. Kevin Nash
Nash posed with the title before the match and brought it right to Sting. Lots of his usual FIVE MOVES OF DOOM stuff to wear down Sting in the early goings. Nash came in with a deliberate pace to take Sting out of his game. When Sting fought free of a bear hug, the crowd ERUPTED. I didn’t like much of this nWo booking in 1998, but the fans were eating this up. Sting reeled off some Stinger Splashes before applying the Scorpion Death Lock. Randy Savage and Elizabeth came down. While Liz distracted the referee, Savage cracked Sting with his cast. The fans already pelted the ring with garbage before the cover, smelling nWo shenanigans. However, Sting kicked out. Nash hit the Jackknife, only for Bret Hart to show up and pull the referee out. That caused a DQ at 8:25. That was better than expected and with a MOLTEN hot crowd. However, they cut the legs off just as it was getting good. [**¾]

Bret Hart went right at Nash and took him down, before applying the Sharpshooter. The nWo ran out and broke this up, but Bret fought them off and sent nWo guys outside on his own. That fight ended the show. I liked part of the ending, though I would’ve liked the Sharpshooter and Scorpion Death Lock side by side. Also, there were several ways they could’ve taken this, and the route they ended up going was probably the worst scenario.

Raw MVP: Vince McMahon
Raw LVP: The DOA
Nitro MVP: Chris Jericho
Nitro LVP: Buff Bagwell

Raw Rating: 4.6
Nitro Rating: 4.2

6.0
The final score: review Average
The 411
Raw: Another case of storyline over in-ring action. There was barely anything happening in the ring and what did happen wasn’t very good. However, the angles all worked well. They continued the build for several parts of Unforgiven. The Austin/Vince stuff was magical. They milked the hell out of it and gave us the Dude Love twist that leads to a series of bangers for the WWF Title. Of course, this also gets historical points for the fact that it turned the Monday Night Wars around. 7.0

Nitro:  I think Nitro did some good things on this episode, just not enough of them. The Sting/Nash match god a great reaction, the Goldberg stuff worked so well, Chris Jericho was outstanding, and Booker/Benoit continued to get great build. Bret Hart had stuff that was overdone, most of the matches outside of the CW and World Title matches were kind of just there, and the nWo angle is still rather dull. 5.0

legend

article topics :

Monday Night War, Nitro, RAW, WCW, WWE, Kevin Pantoja