Raw History: Episode 259 and Reliving Nitro: Episode 139

Raw History
Episode #259
May 11th, 1998 | Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland | Attendance: 8,069

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 ~ Mick Foley’s win over Terry Funk and the possibility of a conspiracy with Vince got highlighted.

Jim Ross and Michael Cole were on hour one commentary.

Mr. McMahon made his way down to the ring with a blockbuster announcement regarding the WWF Title. First, he said that Steve Austin would be in tag team action tonight. Then, he brought out a man willing to make sacrifices and the number one contender for the WWF Title, Dude Love. He came out with his hair in a ponytail, a suit jacket, and tie. Dude also put on glasses and put himself over as a well-educated man who speaks many languages. He ended it by hugging Vince. Mr. McMahon the introduced Gerald Brisco as the guest timekeeper for Austin/Love at Over the Edge. Pat Patterson got guest ring announcer duties (which didn’t mean much). Vince hyped up the guest referee as a huge deal but then nobody came out. Vince went to the back to retrieve him. Patterson introduced the referee as the “best there is, best there was, and best there ever will be.” The fans and commentary thought it was Bret Hart, but it was just Vince himself. The deck is stacked against the WWF Champion.

Sable arrived.

Dammit. More from WCW in army fatigues going after WCW. They were in Atlanta earlier today with their bazooka and stuff. They visited WCW headquarters, which is a shit building compared to the WWF HQ in Stamford. The cops got called on DX as they were trespassing, but JR made it seem like WCW were cowards for calling the authorities.

Kevin Kelly awaited the arrival of Steve Austin. Instead, he got Al Snow, who carried Head with him. According to Al, Head gave him the wrong directions. Interesting was to re-debut Al.

Barry Windham w/ NWA vs. Vader
Vader returned for the first time since No Way Out when Kane hit him with a wrench. He wore a weird shirt over his gear here. Commentary hyped Vader vs. Kane at the PPV in a Mask vs. Mask match. Like seeing Vader was something special. The NWA got involved but Vader still won with the Vader Bomb at 2:07. The New Midnight Express attempted to sneak attack Vader, but they got run over. [NR]

Stone Cold’s debut on MTV’s Celebrity Deathmatch got hyped. Remember that show? It was so much fun.

SLAM OF THE WEEK ~ Austin hit Pat Patterson with a Stunner last week.

DURING THE BREAK ~ Austin got word of everything Vince announced to start the show. Austin felt that a big bunch of BS.

Hawk w/ Animal and Sunny vs. Skull w/ 8-Ball
Commentary discussed how these two teams, who are feuding with DX, won’t face DX at Over the Edge. Instead, DX faces the Nation in a six man tag. Why, you ask? For literally no reason. It’s as if they wanted to start the Rock/HHH feud and had to rush things. This match was a lot of plodding stuff until the DOA guys pulled twin magic and cradled Hawk to steal this in 2:32. Yea, this wasn’t good.[DUD]

More of DX in Atlanta. They went over to the CNN Center since they couldn’t get into WCW HQ. This went nowhere.

VIGNETTE ~ Edge is coming. He seems to be in a mood.

EARLIER TODAY ~ Bradshaw taught TAKA Michinoku how to drive and they smoked cigars. Kaientai jumped them when they returned from the driving lesson.

Faarooq w/ Steve Blackman vs. Jeff Jarrett w/ Tennessee Lee
I kind of wish we got vignettes of Blackman and Faarooq hanging out together. Like, Blackman teaches his karate and Faarooq teaches him about black history. This was more of an angle than anything, building upon the Jarrett/Blackman issue. We got a DQ finish around 1:55 thanks to a Nation run in. [NR]

Jarrett choked Blackman with his nun-chucks, while the Nation beat on Faarooq.

“Stone Cold” Steve Austin came down to the ring because he didn’t find Vince McMahon backstage. He felt like he was owed answers. Vince, in his referee shirt, and the stooges appeared on the Titantron to provide those answers. They act like they don’t know who Austin’s partner and opponents are in the main event. In one of the corniest moments ever, they do the “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” gestures. It feels so dumb and out of place. Austin says they can’t cover up their asses, which is where he’ll stick the title. The rare Austin segment from this era that didn’t work for me.

Sable prepared backstage for her confrontation with Marc Mero.

VIGNETTE ~ They aired a montage of all the Val Venis vignettes.

WAR ZONE! Jerry Lawler replaced Cole.

Sable hit the ring in her Everlast sports bra and barely there shorts. That’s her ring gear. She called out Marc Mero, who came out. Though she issued the challenge, she chastised Marc for letting it get to this point. He laughed and put her in TKO position, only to put her down. It’s annoying how upset JR got Mero picked her up. Like, she wanted the fight. Mero wanted an apology, but instead got kicked in the balls. She then hit the Sable Bomb in the one impressive thing she’s ever done.

While commentary spoke, The Undertaker showed up to threaten Jerry Lawler for his comments about his mother last week. Lawler begged off, but Taker still beat on him. He continued the assault in the ring until Paul Bearer and Kane arrived. Bearer just promised to prove that he was Kane’s father next week. When they left, Taker took out his anger on Lawler again with a Tombstone.

Al Snow and Head attempted to replace Lawler on commentary. Security came to get him. He shouted, “WHAT ARE THEY GONNA DO? FIRE ME? I TRIED TO QUIT!” He said he needed to see Vince as security tried getting rid of him. He ran in the ring and posed with Head before bolting through the crowd.

More from DX and how they parted Atlanta. They shot an animated missile at the CNN Center. Holy crap, this was lame.

Still no wrestling, as DX arrived in Baltimore to address the crowd. X-Pac ranted about how he never kissed Eric Bischoff’s ass and he’s the reason he no longer works in WCW. The New Age Outlaws did their basic spiel. Triple H took over and began talking about penises until Owen Hart interrupted with his new Nation theme. Owen said they had unfinished business. He came down to the ring but stopped and called out the Nation to back him up.

Owen Hart w/ NOD vs. Triple H w/ DX
The match began during the break. Jim Cornette took over on commentary with Jim Ross. Som decent back and forth to start. HHH wrestled in camo pants. He hit a piledriver, but Owen came back with a DDT. That was indicative of the match. Neither man managed to gain consistent control. They seemed evenly matched. Owen got crotched up top but Chyna. That brought the Nation over for a fight and Chyna armed herself with a chair. Officials broke this up and the match was thrown out around 7:00. It was pretty good while it lasted. [**]

Dustin Rhodes walked out onto the stage. He carried a trash can and his Goldust gear and wig. He dumped the gear and wig before pouring gasoline onto it and burning them in the can. Dustin blamed Vince for what happened in his life. He played the Goldust role to appease Vince’s sick mind and it has cost him his relationship with his father, wife, and daughter. He’s done with this and promised we’ll never forget the name Dustin.

Kaientai w/ Yamaguchi-San vs. Scorpio and Terry Funk
Yamaguchi-San ran down Americans before the match. That set up Kaientai jumping their opponents from behind. It’s a 3-on-2 handicap match. This was a lot of underhanded, team up stuff from Kaientai, while Funk beat him with his old man offense. Things broke down when Bradshaw and TAKA hit the ring for revenge, giving us another DQ at 3:12. It was weirdly fun while it lasted. [*½]

Backstage, Vince spoke to someone off camera about being Austin’s partner.

Out came the Nation again. Rock said the fire between himself and Austin is reignited as he and D-Lo are Austin’s opponents.

D-Lo Brown and WWF Intercontinental Champion The Rock w/ NOD vs. WWF Champion Steve Austin and Vince McMahon
Vince was revealed to be the partner. He was still in his muscle shirt. Knowing he’d have no true help, Austin went right at his opponents. He was taking out his anger on them. Seeing Austin go wild on both is great, but there’s something about beating on D-Lo that’s just fun. That couldn’t last, so we got a segment where Austin was worked over and worn down. His partner seemed to enjoy it. Austin avoided the Lo Down and crawled to his partner. Normally, this would be a hot tag spot, but Austin flipped Vince the bird and continued on his own. He still did the hot tag stuff, just on his own. Austin had it won with a Stunner on D-Lo, only to eat a clothesline from Vince for, you guessed it, another no contest. This ended around 8:20 and was actually pretty solid and fun. [**½]

Patterson and Brisco put the boots to Austin. They held him up for a Vince cheap shot but Austin fought them off. Dude Love hit the ring, still in his suit attire, and attacked the champion. Surprisingly, Austin got help from Dustin Rhodes! DX also showed up to fight with the Nation and all hell broke loose to close the show.

Reliving Nitro
Episode #139
May 11th, 1998 | Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri | Attendance: N/A

WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Hulk Hogan (4) since 4/20/98
WCW United States Champion: Goldberg (1) since 4/20/98
WCW World Tag Team Champions: The Outsiders (5) since 2/22/98
WCW Television Champion: Finlay (1) since 5/4/98
WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Chris Jericho (3) since 1/24/98

LAST WEEK ~ The brawl to close the show was recapped.

HOUR NUMBER ONE! Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko, and Mike Tenay hosted. We’re back to three hours. Joy.

Mean Gene was in the ring to get a word with Bret Hart. He asked him about facing Randy Savage at Slamboree in a first ever one on one meeting. Bret basically called Savage a “chicken” and said he’d been dodging him out of fear for his entire career.

NITRO GIRLS! They got a big introduction for some reason.

Barry Horowitz vs. Disco Inferno
Not exactly getting off to a hot start. This was kept short, with Disco hitting a swinging neckbreaker to get back on the winning track at 1:38. [NR]

Randy Savage hit the ring and dared Bret Hart to try to use the Sharpshooter at Slamboree. I mean, I’m pretty sure Bret will attempt his finisher in your match. However, Savage’s focus tonight was on Hulk Hogan, who he called a bunch of names and challenged.

Juventud Guerrera vs. Kidman w/ Reese
Quick pace at the start from these flippy bois. Juvi brought the high flying stuff like a dive outside and slingshot leg drop. He made the mistake of trying to powerbomb Kidman. HE GON LEARN TODAY! YOU CAN’T POWERBOMB KIDMAN! Facebuster counter. Juvi still had a chance to win, but Reese interfered with a choke bomb. Seven Year Itch got Kidman the win at 3:51. Good back and forth cruiserweight action, though it was kept short. [**¼]

Reese carried Juvi off to the back.

Eric Bischoff rode down to the ring on a motorcycle. HE IS AMERICAN BADASS! He was out to address what DX had been doing recently. Bischoff found it convenient that they came to WCW HQ on a Monday afternoon, knowing Bischoff wouldn’t be there. He refused to apologize to Sean Waltman, but put the focus on Vince McMahon, since he was pulling the strings. Since Slamboree this Sunday is in Worcester, Mass, Bischoff issued a challenge to Vince to meet him in the ring. However, he didn’t expect an answer.

NITRO GIRLS! Alex Wright interrupted and was taken out by security again.

Scott Norton vs. Yuji Nagata w/ Sonny Oono
TWO IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONS! Unfortunately, we didn’t get a quality match. Instead, Norton squashed him in 1:46 with the SHOULDERBREAKER. [NR]

LAST WEEK ~ Curt Hennig joined the Wolfpac.

Hugh Morrus w/ Jimmy Hart vs. Jim Powers
The biggest squash yet. Morrus won with No Laughing Matter in 0:27. [NR]

Time for the Wolfpac to do some promo work. Nash spoke about how Hogan hopped on the gravy train to what he and Scott Hall created. He claimed Hogan and Bischoff walked about with their chests out, confident after taking some Viagra. Ouch. Basically, he wanted them to admit that this was over before it begun and that it was now Nash’s World Order. He and Konnan called out Hogan for improperly using their cool lingo.

HOUR NUMBER TWO!

Johnny Swinger vs. Ultimo Dragon
Another match that was mostly a squash. Dragon handled most of this one. Chavo Guerrero Jr. showed up at ringside. Dragon won via Dragon Sleeper in 2:04. [NR]

Post-match, Eddie Guerrero came down and got in between Dragon and Chavo. He shoved Chavo, who shoved him back. Eddie got on his knees and dared Chavo to hit him. Instead, Dragon put him in the Dragon Sleeper. Chavo saved his uncle, who put the boots to Dragon. Chavo then pulled Eddie off Dragon. Chavo is confused.

Dusty Rhodes came out to cut one of the most incoherent promos I can recall. He rambled about so many different things. Dusty seemed to side with the Wolfpac in this nWo turf war. He backed Scott Hall for his personal problems, saying many wrestlers suffered from them and promised Hall would be at Slamboree. Then, despite being with the Wolfpac, he told Randy Savage to quit bitching. Huh?

Non-Title Match: WCW United States Champion Goldberg vs. Len Denton
Goldberg is 62-0 here. He destroyed Denton in another squash, finishing with the Jackhammer at 0:52. [NR]

Mean Gene introduced JJ Dillon, who was here to address Raven and the grievance he filed on DDP, citing an unsafe work environment. It seems very out of character for Raven to get legal in whatever is going on in his world. He must have a good lawyer, because WCW agreed to give him four riot control officers at all times to keep him protected. Out came the Flock as Raven announced he’d face DDP in a Bowery Death Match. He then called out Saturn, who lost last week to get booted from the Flock. BUT WAIT! It was a trap as the Flock jumped Hammer and Saturn hit him with a DVD. Jerry Flynn came out and started hitting him with weak looking kicks as they had a match. This was a total mess.

Jerry Flynn vs. Saturn w/ The Flock
Even with jumping him, Flynn had no shot. He lost to a DVD in 0:52. [NR]

EARLIER TONIGHT ~ Bischoff’s challenge to Vince was recapped.

WCW Television Championship: Fit Finley [c] vs. Rage w/ Kaos
WCW loved giving guys title shots even if they’ve done a lot of nothing lately or in their careers. Finley is the kind of guy who is capable of getting something decent out of Rage, who was about as raw and green as they come. They went back and forth until Kaos got involved on multiple occasions. Finley kicked out of a springboard splash. Booker T got tired of these shenanigans and ran down to stop Kaos’ next interference attempt by crotching him up top. Finley hit Rage with the Tombstone to retain at 3:22. About as good as one could expect from Rage at this point. [*¼]

Chris Benoit ran out and attacked Booker T. Security split them up and JJ Dillon arrived, cancelling both their matches for tonight. Strange move since it was announced they’d face each other in one match. Then, he threw them into a match against each other for a shot at Finley anyway. Yikes.

EARLIER TONIGHT ~ Bischoff’s challenge again.

NITRO GIRLS!

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Lenny Lane
DDP’s bad ribs made him vulnerable. It didn’t matter. Another squash ended via Diamond Cutter at 2:56. [NR]

DDP challenge Raven to fight now, but they just appeared on stage and did nothing more.

EARLIER TONIGHT ~ You guessed it. Bischoff challenge.

HOUR NUMBER THREE! Bobby Heenan replaced Zbyszko at some point.

Hulk Hogan headed down to the ring with the nWo guys on his side. Bischoff, Vincent, Disciple, and Brian Adams. Hogan plugged his movies and claimed Hall and Nash wanted the rub in 1996 when they joined up with him. Kevin Nash got called out and answered. They traded childish insults before Hogan demanded an apology and for Nash to admit Hogan is the leader. Nash refused and a fight was about to break out. Hogan brought out a surprise, which was the Giant in an nWo shirt. WHAT? WHY? Nash got beat up and painted for his troubles. Wolfpac guys showed up and the Hollywood folks left. Giant joining nWo again is flat out dumb.

Mean Gene got a word with Chris “The Man of 1004 Holds” Jericho. He wanted to be called that, the paragon of virtue for the free world and more. Jericho was there to retire the Cruiserweight Title because nobody could beat him. Instead, JJ Dillon was out again, this time to announce a battle royal at Slamboree. The winner faces Jericho for the title later that night. Jericho seemed unbothered, before unveiling the framed photo of Dean Malenko. It had been defaced and Jericho promised to get to the bottom of it. Joe Malenko, Dean’s brother, came out. Jericho begged off and said it was all a joke. Joe went to leave with the picture, only for Jericho to attack him from behind.

Glacier vs. Sick Boy
Apparently, Glacier believes his Cryonic Kick is the best move in the world and is after anyone who uses it. Okay. Nick Patrick got kicked by accident early on. That brought out Saturn to hit Glacier with a Cryonic Kick. UH-OH! He put Sick Boy on Glacier for a pin, but Glacier kicked out and still won via Cryonic Kick at 2:07. What the hell happened to this show? Nothing makes sense. [NR]

LAST WEEK ~ The Steiner Brothers angle got highlighted.

Gene Okerlund introduced Lex Luger, to discuss the Steiners stuff. He was upset that Rick would be out of action for several months and challenged Brian Adams or Scott Steiner at Slamboree.

Number One Contender’s Match: Booker T vs. Chris Benoit
Their Best of Seven Series hasn’t begun, yet they’ve already wrestled a bunch. Like Sheamus and Cesaro in 2016. There must be a winner here. Finally, something on this show stuck as a good match. These two work so seamlessly together and everything came off crisp. Benoit was ready with an array of suplexes, but Booker had his high impact offense like the spinebuster to retaliate. Booker nearly kicked the referee but missed. He went to check on the official and Benoit trapped him in the Crippler Crossface to win in 6:38. Good, solid pro wrestling. I dig it. [***]

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Hulk Hogan [c] w/ The Disciple vs. Randy Savage
Time is low on the show, so you don’t expect much here. Plus, it’s Hogan and Savage, who were way beyond giving us a WrestleMania V like effort. Hogan controlled a lot of this, meaning we were subjected to scratching, biting, and lame brawling. Hogan missed the leg drop and Savage had the elbow cut off by Disciple. Bret Hart showed up when Savage went for a piledriver to hit him with the title. He spat at Savage and motioned for the crowd to “f off.” Hogan covered and retained in 6:07. A brutal match. [DUD]

Post-match, Kevin Nash hit the ring to prevent any further damage to Savage. All of a sudden, out came Roddy Piper and he declared Savage the winner. Like, by DQ? That’s the only way it would make sense. He announced that he would be the guest referee for Hart/Savage on Sunday since he doesn’t like either of them. He rambled with bad jokes and such for a while until Giant came out to fight. Hogan kept him back while Sting watched from the rafters. WCW is a mess.

Raw MVP: Steve Austin
Raw LVP: DOA
Nitro MVP: Chris Jericho
Nitro LVP: Hulk Hogan

Raw Rating: 4.3
Nitro Rating: 4.3

4.3

The final score: review Poor

The 411

Raw: An angle heavy show this week. Luckily, most of them worked. Austin, Vince, and Foley continued to shine. DX continued to be lame. The Nation was cool. Sable’s stuff got a huge pop. All in all, a solid little episode that built towards the PPV. 6.5

Nitro:  I could barely get through this episode. It was a tough watch. Lots of boring squashes and outside of the Jericho segment and Booker/Benoit, I didn’t care for much of it. The storylines are just getting to the point of asinine. Giant joining nWo, the Flock swerve, and the Piper stuff was all so weird. 2.0