Raw History: Episode 264 and Reliving Nitro: Episode 144

Raw History
Episode #264
June 15th, 1998 | Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Texas

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

LAST WEEK ~ We got footage of the way Raw ended, with Stone Cold getting put into a casket.

RAW! Jim Ross and Michael Cole commentated.

The Hell in a Cell is strangely hanging above the ring. Everyone was surprised at the arrival of Sable to start the show. She thanked the fans for their pop and introduced the man responsible for her return, Vince McMahon. All the boos. Vince made Sable read a prepared statement saying he wasn’t behind Austin’s attack last week. Vince creepily kissed her on the cheek. Out came Austin, who babyfaced it by helping Sable out of the ring, before turning his attention to Vince. With her gone, Austin threatened to shove his foot up Vince’s ass. When Vince suggested he not react in a physical, violent way, we got Austin’s awesome, “If you want me to react in a physical, violent way, give me a hell yeah!” Vince avoided a beating by placing the blame on the Undertaker, who openly admitted he wanted the WWF Title. This brought out Undertaker to defend himself. He told Austin that he came after the title face to face, like a man. He had nothing to do with the Kane and Mankind attack. Out came Paul Bearer with those two to talk from the stage. Bearer said Undertaker hatched the plan last week with him. He challenged Taker and Austin to face Kane and Mankind inside Hell in a Cell tonight! That’s your main event! Nitro has a lot to do to top that.

King of the Ring Qualifying Match: WWF Intercontinental Champion The Rock vs. Vader
Sgt. Slaughter threw out the Nation during their entrance. Lots of traditional Vader offense to start. He bullied Rock all around the ring. His middle rope splash got two and JR was shocked. Rock came back with a DDT, slam, and People’s Elbow. However, it wasn’t until Mark Henry ran down and attacked Vader that he truly got the upper hand. A Rock Bottom finished this at 4:40. I like Vader doing his thing, though the Henry run-in after the ejection was weird. [**]

DROPPIN’ KNOWLEDGE ~ DX talked strategy ahead of HHH vs. X-Pac in a KOTR qualifier tonight.

VIGNETTE ~ Edge is coming. One day.

Droz vs. Jeff Jarrett w/ Tennessee Lee
Nobody cared about this match, so Marc Mero and Jacqueline came down to complain about Sable being back. Mero was like, “So Mr. McMahon can just do whatever he wants?” Uh, yeah. It’s his company. Tennessee Lee stopped to flirt with Jacqueline like this was WCW or something. She slapped him and Mero hit Double J with a low blow. He was rolled inside and Droz pinned him in 2:14. More focus was paid on Mero and setting up Mero/Jarrett for next week. [NR]

DROPPIN’ KNOWLEDGE ~ Billy Gunn wondered where Chyna would stand during this match. Considering her real life relations with both, it’s a fair question.

Chainz vs. Val Venis
For some reason, this was given a lot of time. It was a total squash. Chainz barely got in offense and commentary totally focused on the big storyline of the show rather than anything going on in the match. Val won with the Money Shot in 4:37. [NR]

Kevin Kelly and his bad goatee interviewed Undertaker about trusting each other in the main event. Taker knew he couldn’t trust someone who lives by the “DTA” motto. However, he’s trustworthy because his goal is the WWF Title and winning it like a man.

DROPPIN’ KNOWLEDGE ~ HHH and X-Pac talked some trash to each other.

Dustin Runnels vs. Marc Mero w/ Jacqueline
Jeff Jarrett, Tennessee Lee, and Southern Justice came out. Jarrett joined commentary. This seems way too soon to do more Mero/Jarrett stuff. After some back and forth inside, Dustin got thrown into the steel steps for the biggest spot of the match. As the match trudged on, Sable strolled to ringside. That distraction set up a Dustin bulldog to win in 4:08. It felt like something I’d see on Shotgun.[½*]

DROPPIN’ KNOWLEDGE ~ Chyna bossed the guys around so they could shut up and wrestle.

Kevin Kelly spoke with Dustin Runnels about the win. He just thanked Jesus Christ. Oh, no.

WAR ZONE! Jerry Lawler replaced Cole.

King of the Ring Qualifying Match: WWF European Champion Triple H vs. X-Pac
It’s the in-ring debut of X-Pac. He last competed as 1-2-3 Kid on a 1996 Raw. He rolled up HHH before the bell here and got a near fall, which made no sense. HHH got a laugh out of his friend trying this. Chyna strolled to ringside to get a closer look. Pac looked winded early. As they went at it, the Rock began cutting a promo from the crowd. While that happened, Owen Hart showed up and atomic dropped Pac onto the guardrail. HHH saw this late and tried helping Pac back into the ring. X-Pac, holding his knee, told HHH to get in the ring and advance. He did, winning via countout in 5:14. X-Pac was clearly rusty, but it was mostly fine. [*¾]

Avatar and Head Avatar came out. I wonder who this really is. Jerry Lawler entered the ring to berate Al Snow. Al said he was here to make citizen’s arrests on Vince McMahon for murdering his career with Avatar, and on Lawler for screwing him out of his meeting with Vince. Jerry said Head was the problem and tried taking it away. Snow hit him and delivered a Snow Plow on a referee. He whacked Lawler with Head and ran from security.

Michael Cole asked Austin if he could trust Undertaker tonight. Austin is all, “DTA.”

Dan Severn and Ken Shamrock vs. Mark Henry and Owen Hart
Slaughter threw out the Nation again. Props to them for trying each and every time. We got clips of Shamrock and Severn fighting in the UFC. Shamrock went for an early Ankle Lock only to take the ENZIGURI KILLSHOT from Owen. He didn’t get HBK’d. Severn got to impress by throwing Henry around, which was cool. I liked how he also wrecked Owen with some submissions. The finish was lame, as Owen applied a Sharpshooter and DX ran out for a DQ at 4:40. It was fun while it lasted. [**¼]

DX beat up on the Nation for a bit. Owen tried leaving but Shamrock attacked him. Vader showed up to get revenge on Mark Henry from earlier. The rest of the Nation showed up to right. It was a massive brawl.

Number One Contender’s Tag Team Royal Rumble
What is this? They didn’t advertise this at all. LOD 2000 against Kane and Mankind started. New team every 30 seconds. The New Midnight Express were third, followed by the Headbangers. DOA were next. Then Kurrgan and Golga. Nobody had been eliminated to this point. Next in was Too Much, making their Raw debut as teams. Faarooq and Steve Blackman were next, with Bradshaw and TAKA following. DOA was thrown out somewhere in there. Terry Funk and Scorpio rounded out the entrants. I’m not recapping each elimination. It came down to the Funk family against Kane and Mankind. After hitting Scorpio with a Tombstone, Kane big booted a chair into Terry’s face to win in 8:30. It was an absolute clusterfuck of a match. [*¼]

Paul Bearer talked a lot of trash about his team earning a title shot and how they would beat Austin and Undertaker coming up. Austin showed up for the fight as the cell came down over the ring. He waited for Taker before entering the cage. Undertaker was announced twice, but didn’t show. Mankind went after Austin, getting the door slammed on him and sparking a brawl. Kane joined the fight, with Austin fighting him. Bearer locked himself in the cage to prevent Austin from getting to him. As Austin got battered by the new number one contenders, Undertaker cut a hole through the mat and came up from under the ring. He was locked in with Bearer and got to beat on him. Kane climbed the cell, strangely trying to find a way in. Undertaker kept beating on his former manager, who was now busted open. Austin took out Mankind with a BRUTAL chair shot. In one of my favorite Raw moments ever, Austin then climbed the cell to fight with Kane ON TOP OF THE CELL! As a kid, I remember losing my mind for this. Austin pounded on him as the crowd and JR went nuts. That’s where the show ended, giving me one of my favorite Raw finishes ever.

EXTRA ATTITUDE ~ Nice! I’ve never seen this before. Kane escaped down the cell. Undertaker exited and fought with him to the back. Inside, Austin hit Mankind with a Stunner and got a three count for the win, though the match never officially began. Austin celebrated and left.

Great American Bash 1998 Results
Match Seven in Best of Seven Series: Booker T def. Chris Benoit in 16:17 [***¾]
Kanyon def. Saturn in 14:48 [***½]
WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Dean Malenko def. Chris Jericho via DQ in 13:51 [***¾]
Juventud Guerrero def. Reese in 8:46 [½*]
Chavo Guerrero Jr. def. Eddie Guerrero in 14:44 [***]
WCW Television Championship: Booker T def. Fit Finley [c] in 13:14 [**½]
WCW United States Championship: Goldberg [c] def. Konnan in 1:56 [DUD]
Bret Hart and Hulk Hogan def. Randy Savage and Roddy Piper in 11:42 [½*]
Roddy Piper def. Randy Savage in 1:37 [DUD]
WCW World Tag Team Championship: Sting [c] def. The Giant [c] in 6:39 [¾*]

Reliving Nitro
Episode #144
June 15th, 1998 | Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York

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: Sting (3) and ? since 6/14/98
WCW Television Champion: Booker T (5) since 6/14/98
WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Chris Jericho (4) since 6/14/98

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

Big Apple Street Fight: The Barbarian and Hugh Morrus w/ Jimmy Hart vs. Public Enemy
WCW used to just put together the most random matches for no reason. I do appreciate the way this show went right into a match, rather than spending time with the commentators talking and recapping shit. Public Enemy rocked Islanders jersey to get a cheap pop. This was like most hardcore matches in WCW. It was more just a bunch of guys clobbering each other with weapons than anything resembling a story or structure. The highlight was Morrus and Barbarian doing the backdrop/powerbomb combo onto a trash can. The finish saw Grunge send Hart into Rocco, who then knocked both opponents through a table outside. Somehow, that got a three count at 5:26, even though this wasn’t Falls Count Anywhere. Total garbage match, but at least one creative spot. [*]

EARLIER TODAY ~ Mike Tenay spoke with excited fans for this Nitro debut in New York.

LAST WEEK ~ The attempt to get DDP into the Wolfpac was shown.

NITRO GIRLS!

Mean Gene returned to TV and brought out Randy Savage for an interview. The crowd gave him a strong reaction. His main focus tonight was DDP and the Wolfpac. According to Savage, if DDP wanted in, all he had to do was beat him in a Steel Cage tonight.

Chris Benoit vs. Fit Finley
A huge “Finley sucks” chant to start. Why did these people dislike Finley so much? These two are usually a safe bet for hard hitting wrestling and that’s just what we got here. Lots of stiff shots and great snap on almost every piece of offense. Benoit broke free of a chinlock with the Electric Chair Drop heading into commercial break. When they returned, they kept up the same style. Finley avoided the diving headbutt and Benoit got some serious length on that dive. Finley made a strange mistake, climbing to the top and getting dropkicked to the floor. I never liked when guys would randomly do something out of character to set up a spot. Benoit countered the Tombstone into the Crippler Crossface to win in 9:52. Great TV match. The crowd was into it, we got very good back and forth, and a cool finish. [***½]

Mean Gene interviewed Benoit after the match about the series with Booker T. Benoit called out Booker so he could do something he should’ve done a long time ago. Booker and Stevie Ray answered. Benoit shook and raised his hand. Booker was happy because he respects Benoit and they call each other their toughest opponent. When Benoit told him that he would always have his back, Stevie interrupted to say Booker has a partner. He was very aggressive to Benoit. He then clocked Benoit and beat on him until STEVE MCMICHAEL made his return and brawled with Stevie. The fans erupted. As Mongo and Benoit flashed the Four Horsemen hand sign, loud “we want Flair” chants shot up.

Mean Gene stuck around to get a word with Diamond Dallas Page. DDP traveled across country to be here, as he was in Utah for game six of the NBA Finals last night. It’s that all important game where Michael Jordan hit his final shot as a Chicago Bull and won his sixth title. DDP agreed to face Savage tonight, though he seemed to say it was more about proving a point than joining the Wolfpac. When he gets done with Savage, he’s moving onto to Hulk Hogan and Dennis Rodman, while insinuating that he had a partner on the way. Commentary couldn’t confirm the rumor of Karl Malone, but promised a major announcement tonight.

NITRO GIRLS!

HOUR NUMBER TWO!

Since he’s been out for a while, Mean Gene continued to earn tonight’s paycheck with another interview. This one with Roddy Piper. He sucked up to New York a bit before confirming the Steel Cage main event. He also volunteered to handle the referee duties for it.

Non-Title Match: High Voltage vs. IWGP Tag Team Champions Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Masahiro Chono
Tenzan and Chono were nWo, for those who forgot. This was given way more time than I expected. Commentary didn’t care about this match, opting to discuss Goldberg not being there tonight as his mother was in surgery. Though it wasn’t a short match, this was mostly a showcase for the nWo Japan contingent. They dominated and showed off their tag offense. Chono got the win with the Yakuza Kick in 7:54. Fine enough, but too long. [*½]

Now the pyro for hour two went off, but commentary admitted it was late.

The Wolfpac came down to the ring. Konnan did his usual intro and Kevin Nash brought out Sting, who must decide his Tag Team Champion partner after beating the Giant last night. This was ultimately pointless, as Sting just put over how each guy would make a good partner, but we’ll all find out later tonight.

Kanyon vs. Sick Boy w/ Lodi
Commentary hyped Kanyon as a master of offensive moves. He did a handful of cool ones here, like a hanging neckbreaker, but the crowd just didn’t care. He made a small comeback to win via Flatliner in 3:24. Kind of a squash. [¾*]

Curt Hennig and Rick Rude arrived for a promo after flipping to the nWo Hollywood last night. Rude hyped how Goldberg will take his first loss when he faces Hennig, who has over 3,000 wins in his career. Hennig spoke about swerving everyone since he arrived in WCW (DDP, Four Horsemen, Wolfpac). When he noted how he would never swerve Rude, it made Rick give him a suspicious look.

LAST NIGHT ~ Goldberg won his 100th match.

Mean Gene brought out JJ Dillon to discuss the Cruiserweight Title situation. Chris Jericho won the match for the vacant title via DQ, so he’d somehow be the champion. Jericho arrived to gloat and accept the title, but it would be under the condition that Dean get a title shot within 30 days. Jericho badmouthed Dean’s family, causing him to attack from behind and fight him to the backstage area. Security had to pull Dean back and Jericho scurried out of the building.

Bobby Heenan replaced Zbyszko.

Chris Adams vs. The Giant
Giant smoked on his way to the ring. He wanted to finish the cigarette before the match but Adams wanted to wrestle. He took a Chokeslam for his troubles in 0:44. [NR]

Hulk Hogan, Disciple, and Eric Bischoff came out to kill some time. Big pop for Hogan. He put himself over a ton before focusing on DDP. Hogan dared him to find a partner to face him and Dennis Rodman at Bash at the Beach.

HOUR NUMBER THREE!

NITRO GIRLS!

WCW World Tag Team Championship: Kevin Nash and Sting [c] vs. Harlem Heat
Kevin Nash was the partner choice. I wonder if Luger was pissed about that. Nash took the survey and threatened Hennig, saying he would now be hunted by the pack. This match was fine when Sting and Booker were in. Both are usually game to have a good match, especially Booker. Nash didn’t seem to care and Stevie Ray wasn’t exactly lighting the world on fire in the ring. That’s where the match struggled. Booker’s sidewalk slam on Sting was a cool spot, but he tagged out to Stevie. Though he came in kind of hot, a Nash distraction allowed the Scorpion Death Drop for the finish at 9:44. Decent enough tag. Sting and Booker led the way. [**]

VIGNETTE ~ Scott Steiner got his nWo vignette, talking about how good of an actor he is. It was done from the set of Hogan’s new movie.

Scott Steiner was brought out by Eric Bischoff for an interview about his acting career. Scott stumbled through this, but basically said he was a good actor because he tricked his brother and Mean Gene.

NITRO GIRLS!

Steel Cage Match: Diamond Dallas Page vs. Randy Savage
Raw had Hell in a Cell. WCW has a cage with a roof, but it’s tiny. Through a commercial break, these guys just wailed on each other and threw one another into the cage. There was a Last Man Standing type rule where the match could end if someone couldn’t answer the ten count. That meant Piper was counting often. When Piper told Savage to calm down, Savage clocked him. DDP hit the Diamond Cutter, but there was no referee. Piper got up and it led to a big brawl involving all three men, so we never got a finish. I’d say we saw about 10:00 of this. [*¾]

Piper threw both into the cage, which began to raise up just in time for the nWo Hollywood to run out. Once the entire stable entered the cage, it got lowered to trap Savage, Piper and DDP inside. Sting and the Wolfpac ran out to try and enter, but couldn’t. Just when Nash found a way to get in, the show ended.

Raw MVP: Steve Austin
Raw LVP: Chainz
Nitro MVP: Chris Benoit
Nitro LVP: Scott Steiner

Raw Rating: 4.3
Nitro Rating: 4.1

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

Raw: An exciting episode. There weren’t any great matches, but everything moved along smoothly and worked to advance something. They did get a little redundant with having everyone get involved in something else (like Henry attacking Vader, then Vader showing up to beat him up later, etc.). That closing segment is a blast and an all-time favorite of mine. 7.0

Nitro: There were some good things on this episode. I dug the Benoit/Finley match, the Tag Title stuff was kind of intriguing, Jericho/Malenko, and Mongo’s return. I couldn’t stand the constant pointless interview segments, lack of Goldberg, and as always, the three hour runtime. It’s just too much. 5.0