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Raw History: Episode 256 and Reliving Nitro: Episode 136

October 22, 2018 | Posted by Kevin Pantoja
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Raw History: Episode 256 and Reliving Nitro: Episode 136  


Raw History
Episode #256
April 20th, 1998 | Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York | Attendance: N/A

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

LAST WEEK ~ We were left with questions about why Dude Love attacked Steve Austin before his match with Vince McMahon. That’s our opening video package.

Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole hosted Raw! They threw to Kevin Kelly, who got the unfortunate job of covering the Kane/Undertaker altercation at their parents’ graves tonight.

The stage was set up with a bunch of psychedelic decorations. It was the “Love Shack,” a show hosted by Dude Love. Before he could get anywhere, Dude was interrupted by Vince McMahon. He was pissed that Dude got involved last week because he claimed he would have beaten Steve Austin up. Vince fined Dude $5,000. When Vince left, Dude explained his actions, saying he was just out to spread peace, but Austin hit him from behind. According to Dude, Austin did it because he was jealous that Dude is such a chick magnet. He’s willing to forgive Austin if he groveled and apologized later tonight, ahead of their title match this Sunday. “I always knew I could take you, I just never knew it would be that easy.” Good segment because Mick totally understood how to make each of his personas work.

Long Island Street Fight: Faarooq vs. Kama w/ The NOD
The Nation pulled a Shield and came down through the crowd. They also had a slight change to their theme. Backstage, officials kept Ken Shamrock and Steve Blackman back from getting involved. But…it’s a Street Fight. Anyway, Faarooq took it right to Kama and even hit him with a beer keg. I want more random weapons like that. Kama blocked a trash can shot and took control. He also sported an “FTW” shirt. Somewhere, Taz was fuming. Faarooq’s ribs were the target. Kama got caught with a boot that set up the Dominator for the finish at 6:05. Kama was in control for a match that went over two minutes. That’s a problem. [¾*]

Backstage, DX laughed at their antics last week. HHH got dared to show the world his penis. It was a triple dog dare, and you know you can’t ignore those. To add to it, they wanted HHH to piss on the audience. Eww.

That led to DX making their way to the ring. HHH wore a raincoat because HE’S NAKED UNDER THERE, GUYS! X-Pac yelled a bunch, Road Dogg did his usual intro, and HHH called Sunny, “Skanky.” He did that a lot. He also threw insults at Owen Hart ahead of their match. When it came time to spray the crowd, HHH did it with a giant water gun. Oh, how fun. Out came LOD 2000, Owen Hart, and Sunny. Before anything could happen, Commissioner Slaughter arrived and told them to hold off until a six man tag he books for later tonight. Like most DX segments, this doesn’t hold up well.

Kevin Kelly informed us that the Undertaker is close to the graveyard.

Dan Severn w/ Jim Cornette vs. Mosh w/ Thrasher
While Severn handled this squash, we got word that something was going down at the cemetery. Thrasher stopped Cornette from intervening, but Dan didn’t need the help. An armbar won this in 2:42. Great squash. [NR]

Kelly said that Undertaker arrived and immediately left. He then grabbed Kelly by the throat and shouted, “WHERE ARE THEY? THEY AREN’T THERE!” After a break, Kelly said Undertaker left and was most likely headed to the arena.

Bradshaw vs. TAFKA Goldust w/ Luna
Goldust decided against a wild outfit tonight. Before the match, Luna promised to strip Sable naked on Sunday. Luna = big babyface. She didn’t want to get involved here, because Bradshaw was too big and tough. I like that idea. When she did cheat, it was when Bradshaw couldn’t intimidate her. Anyway, Bradshaw dominated and Goldust’s offense came from desperation moments. Just as Bradshaw set up for the lariat, Club Kamikaze hit the ring and hit him for the DQ at 4:49. Not much from this, though the structure made sense. [*]

SLAM OF THE WEEK ~ Vince slapping Austin last week.

WAR ZONE! Jerry Lawler replaced Michael Cole.

You gotta start hot, so out came WWF Champion Steve Austin. He ran through the events from last Monday and said he believed there was a conspiracy involving Vince and Dude. He admitted Dude beat him up with one arm tied behind his back, but promised payback. Unforgiven is too far away and he promised to get his hands on Vince tonight. Before leaving, he threatened some cameramen.

Non-Title Match: The New Midnight Express w/ Dan Severn and Jim Cornette vs. 2 Cold Scorpio and Terry Funk
A hearse pulled up to the arena during the entrances. Cornette joined commentary to put over his team as the future of tag team wrestling. I mean, that certainly didn’t happen. Dan Severn was the highlight, looking spiffy in a suit at ringside. The match was more competitive than expected. Scorpio busted out a sweet plancha to the outside, but Bob got his feet up on a moonsault. Even with that, Scorpio was able to block a superplex and hit the 450 splash to win in 7:06. Solid little match. [**]

Severn entered the ring when the count started and only get all the way inside after the bell. Dude is slow. He suplexed Scorpio and put him in the armbar until Funk made them flee with a chair.

VIGNETTE ~ Val Venis, in a show with two women, tells ladies to rest up because he’s coming. Ha.

Sable came out for an interview while wearing a blue evening gown. All she said was that she didn’t care if Luna stripped her, as long as she could get her hands on Luna. Just a way to trick people into thinking they’d see nudity on PPV.

We see that Kane and Paul Bearer exited the hearse at the arena.

Michael Cole got word with Vince McMahon about Austin’s threat. Vince was ready for him last week and he is this week as well.

D-Generation X w/ Chyna and X-Pac vs. LOD 2000 and Owen Hart w/ Sunny
This was given more time than expected. The teams mostly traded stuff for the first half of this match. Nobody got truly isolated or anything like that. LOD 2000 was booked as the superior team, but not by a wide margin. It’s clear the New Age Outlaws have moved up the food chain. As we went to commercial, JR said Undertaker was now on his way to the arena. How do they know this? Owen and HHH had the best exchanges throughout this. They eventually built to a hot tag for Animal. Road Dogg took the Doomsday Device, but Chyna went after Sunny. With that commotion outside, it set up Animal to fall to a Billy Gunn piledriver at 8:21. A better than expected six man tag with some story advancement and good action. [**¾]

Backstage, Kane and Paul Bearer wheeled out some caskets.

They hit the arena with the coffins. Bearer said Taker missed his parents’ funeral, so they dug them up and brought them to him. Undertaker showed up to confront them, but Kane poured gasoline on them, and Bearer lit one on fire. Undertaker charged in to stop it, only to get chokeslammed through what was apparently his mother’s casket. “You can rest in peace, with your dead mama,” said Bearer. Wow. This wasn’t over the top in a good way. It was cheesy.

Michael Cole informed us that Undertaker left with the remains of his parents, taking them to a secure location.

Dude Love vs. Steve Blackman
Vince McMahon came out and joined commentary for this match. Clearly, Blackman isn’t on Dude’s main event level. This played out more like a squash than anything else. Dude even took time to dance in between some of his offensive moves. Dude applied an abdominal stretch and the bell rang without a submission at 3:57. Oh. Screwjob stuff. At least it wasn’t super played out here and helped set up what would go on at Unforgiven. [NR]

Steve Blackman complained at ringside and beat up timekeeper Mark Yeaton. Vince checked on him and out ran Steve Austin. He clotheslined Dude and went straight after Vince. He threw him aside and stomped on him until Dude followed out and they brawled. Vince escaped and Austin chased after him to close the show.

Spring Stampede 1998 Results
Goldberg def. Saturn in 8:10 [**½]
Ultimo Dragon def. Chavo Guerrero in 11:49 [***½]
WCW Television Championship: Booker T [c] def. Chris Benoit in 14:11 [***¼]
Curt Hennig def. Davey Boy Smith in 4:48 [¼*]
WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Chris Jericho [c] def. Prince Iaukea in 9:56 [**½]
Lex Luger and Rick Steiner def. Buff Bagwell and Scott Steiner in 5:58 [*]
Psicosis def. La Parka in 6:59 [**]
Baseball Bat on a Pole Match: Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash def. The Giant and Roddy Piper in 13:23 [*½]
WCW United States Championship Raven’s Rules: Raven def. DDP [c] in 11:52 [***¾]
WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Randy Savage def. Sting [c] in 10:08 [**]


Reliving Nitro
Episode #136
April 20th, 1998 | World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colorado | Attendance: N/A

WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Randy Savage (3) since 4/19/98
WCW United States Champion: Raven (1) since 4/19/98
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 NIGHT ~ After Spring Stampede went off the air, Randy Savage and Kevin Nash got jumped by Hulk Hogan and the Disciple. Surprisingly, Scott Norton got involved and picked up the World Title, preventing Hogan from taking it and keeping it with the champion, Savage.

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

The nWo music hit, even though this stable should’ve died at the start of the year (or at least died down), as Hogan, Eric Bischoff, and Disciple came out for some promo time. Hogan called out Savage and called Nash Randy’s girlfriend. Bischoff also called Nash a midget, which made no sense. Hogan told them to listen to the nWo fans, though they were chanting “Hogan sucks.” This promo is a mess. Basically, Hogan challenged Savage to a title match and said the nWo was officially split.

Goldberg was shown warming up backstage for his US Title match tonight. WCW didn’t do a lot of these.

Following the break, the new World Champion Randy Savage walked down to the ring. I still don’t get why they took the title off Sting. It’s been twenty years and it still doesn’t make sense. Anyway, Savage put over Nash a bunch and named Hogan as the driver of the Dodge Viper that took him out. He will fight Hogan tonight. Then, Savage introduced Nash as the new leader of the nWo. I don’t know if that’s official, dog. Nash said Hogan’s career would end when he loses to Savage tonight. He threatened Bischoff with a Jackknife like back at Great American Bash 1996 and told Hogan that they would be the guys to drive a stake through his heart.

Backstage, in what looked like a bathroom, Raven said he wouldn’t be Goldberg’s 75th victory.

NITRO GIRLS! Then, Mean Gene plugged his hotline.

Chris Adams vs. Konnan w/ Vincent
A nothing squash. Adams got a bit in, but fell to the Tequila Sunrise at 3:35. Seriously. Not much happened. [NR]

NITRO GIRLS!

The Barbarian w/ Jimmy Hart vs. Wayne Bloom
Hey, another squash! This went even quicker. Hart took a shot from Bloom and then Barbarian ended this with a Kick of Fear at 1:16. [NR]

More rambling from Raven in the bathroom.

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Chris Jericho [c] vs. Juventud Guerrera
Before the match, Jericho brought out a framed photo of Dean Malenko. He said Dean wouldn’t wrestle ever again, but he had a job interview at a burger joint tomorrow. Jericho also wore Prince Iaukea’s dress thing, collecting another trophy with a win last night. This wasn’t given a lot of time, so they worked it at a quick pace. Juvi brought fire, wanting the title and revenge for the mask. He hits Jericho with a lot and picks up a great near fall. However, he got trapped in the Liontamer. He refused to tap for a while, but passed out at 3:44. That was a great match that got bogged down because it was forced to go under four minutes. Everything felt rushed. [**¾]

HOUR NUMBER TWO!

WCW United States Championship Raven’s Rules: Raven [c] vs. Goldberg
Goldberg was 74-0. Michael Buffer got the call for this one. The crowd was molten hot. Raven laid down the title in front of Goldberg, almost daring him to attack. Raven then attacked, putting Goldberg on his heels. He brought a chair into play, giving us a new dynamic for Goldberg. He usually just dominates, but now must fight from behind because Raven’s stipulation put him on his heels. Raven made the mistake of going away from the chair. Goldberg started no selling his shots. Spear! Goldberg took out each member of the Flock, including no selling a shot with a STOP sign from Horace (the new member) and hitting Reese with a Jackhammer. Raven tried exiting through the crowd, only to get thrown back over. A second Spear and Jackhammer and we’ve got a new champion at 4:55. THAT’S HOW YOU BOOK A MATCH. This was a rare win for WCW in 1998. Goldberg was red hot and this was the smartest booked match the company had done in forever. The stipulation worked so well. I may be the high man on this, but it was such a fun five minutes. [***½]

NITRO GIRLS!

La Parka vs. Ultimo Dragon
Time for the crowd to calm down. In fact, there were several empty seats in the front row. Following Goldberg, people were looking to get food or hit the bathroom. TO be honest, while both guys are good, this didn’t do much for me. It felt like they knew the crowd wasn’t going to care and they just went through the motions. Parka got control, but took too long with his strut. Dragon rallied until the Guerreros showed up. Eddie forced Chavo to intervene and hit Dragon while Eddie distracted the official. Parka took it from there with a cross body at 4:53. [*¾]

Bobby Heenan replaced Zbyszko in the booth.

Chris Benoit vs. Curt Hennig
In Curt’s prime, this would’ve ruled. Instead, we got a past his prime Curt and one working with a bad knee. Rick Rude was on commentary to discuss that. Benoit attacked the leg and Curt signaled for Rude. It took Rude a bit to come down, but he did just as Curt was in the Crippler Crossface, for a DQ at 2:38. Not much of a match. [NR]

Booker T hit the ring to run Rude and Hennig off as they beat up Benoit. Booker respects his rival, see. Benoit was not happy with the help. They argued to the top of the stage, then fought to the back.

Mean Gene brought out Roddy Piper for an interview. He just got some cheap pops before talking about Savage vs. Hogan. He made the match No DQ, but would have no interference. Piper promised the show wouldn’t end until we had a winner. I don’t think he can promise that considering he doesn’t work for TNT.

Hammer vs. Saturn
The nWo isn’t the only stable imploding. This was a heated match with a brawl starting in the aisle before the bell. They kept up that brawling style throughout. It’s always hilarious to see an awkward wrestling move thrown in. For example, Saturn hitting a drop toe hold onto the steel steps was funny. They brawled back up the aisle for a double countout at 4:08. This was honestly more of an angle than a coherent match. [NR]

HOUR NUMBER THREE!

Buff Bagwell and Scott Steiner vs. Public Enemy
Nobody gave a damn about this. It went exactly the way you’d expect. Buff posed a lot in between offense. Steiner dominated when he was in there. Public Enemy were just a team they could book. The match wasn’t about them. Surprisingly, no Vincent. Public Enemy did get to bring a table into play and of course, it backfired. Buff hit a Blockbuster on Rocco and that took a whole 7:10. Why so long? I miss Vicious and Delicious. [½*]

NITRO GIRLS!

WCW Television Championship: Booker T [c] vs. Psicosis
I appreciate that Booker’s reign sees him defend the title all the time. He’s game to work at the quick pace of the cruiserweights and make them look good. He does slow the pace a bit, but never for too long. Schiavone called a flying spinning heel kick a flying body attack. Oh, boy. Booker gave us wacky faces when selling some of Psicosis’ stuff. It’s not comically bad or to make the challenger look bad. It’s just Booker. Psicosis went after the leg to cut down his larger opponent. Booker fought back and hit a slew of signature moves, capping with the Missile Dropkick to retain in 7:53. Solid little title match here. Nothing special, but some fine stuff. [**½]

Brian Adams w/ Vincent vs. Lex Luger
Goddammit. I thought I was done with Luger vs. Crush. And with Virgil! What is this, Raw 1993? At least Luger was all about the loud selling tonight. That makes his matches bearable. Adams beat on him for most of the match with his dull offense. I can’t ever remember him having a good singles match. Luger saved the day by rallying with SCREAMING CLOTHESLINES! Wrestling needs more of those in 2018. He put Vincent and the interfering Konnan in the Torture Rack, then used the Bionic Forearm to win in 5:02. Boring until Luger TURNED THE FUCK UP! Put the title back on him, Ted. [¾*]

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Randy Savage [c] vs. Hulk Hogan w/ The Disciple
Commentary and Michael Buffer combined to overhype the hell out of this. Tons of generic heel Hogan stuff to start. Punches, kicks, back rakes, trash talk. You know the deal. Lots of talk from commentary about all the injuries Randy Savage came in dealing with. Hogan mostly dominated this one. Hogan used his weight belt as a weapon. Savage rallied and hit the big elbow, but was too hurt to cover in time. The leg was Hogan’s focus and he wore him down with a submission. Following a ref bump, Disciple got involved and hit the Apocalypse on Savage. Kevin Nash hit the ring to even the odds and planted Hogan with the Jackknife! Wait, I thought nobody could interfere. If so, why was Disciple even allowed at ringside? Anyway, next came Bret Hart, who clocked Nash with the World Title. He then rolled Hogan on top of Savage to get the three count at 14:44. Yay. Shit match, shit finish, and a whole bunch of nonsense that didn’t make any sense. [¼*]

Roddy Piper arrived to find out why Bret did what he did, but he got leveled for asking questions.

Raw MVP: Dan Severn
Raw LVP: Kama
Nitro MVP: Goldberg
Nitro LVP: Hulk Hogan

Raw Rating: 4.4
Nitro Rating: 5.1

5.0
The final score: review Not So Good
The 411
Raw: Still better than a lot of what we got from 93-96, but a down episode after several strong ones. A lot of the episode felt dry until it ended on a hot note. There are two fun matches and some decent Austin/McMahon stuff. However, some of the other angles fell flat, especially the Taker/Kane stuff. 6.0

Nitro: It really feels like WCW went into panic mode once they lost the ratings battle last week. Two title changes on this episode and the hot shotting of going from Sting to Savage to Hogan in the span of 24 hours. The Goldberg moment worked to perfection, while the TV and Cruiserweight Title matches were cool. Everything else severely lacked and WCW was clearly a confusing place. 4.0

legend

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