Keith's Randomish WWF/E and WCW TV Show reviews

[Chris]

Number 1 please

 

[Kairi HoHo]

Man Crash Holly to me still the greatest Hardcore Champ ever. Back then no where was safe as Champ and he was so perfect in his role during that time.

 

[Keith]

Number 1 please

Number 1 is one of the more recent shows on the list...

WWE Main Event November 14, 2012

City: Cleveland, OH

Michael Cole and The Miz on announce duties as we head into Survivor Series.

What a crappy generic opening theme. It feels ten years out of date

We get a recap of Kane teaming with Miz from Raw and Daniel Bryan feeling over shadowed so attacking Miz. Team Hell No argue over who's to blame for their recent issues. Team Rhodes Scholars attack Bryan from behind injuring his ribs. This puts their tag title match in doubt. Ahead of the match we get a recap of the history between the two teams including Kane's priceless, "Old McDonald had a GOAT!" song




WWE Tag Team Championship: Team Rhodes Scholars VS. Team Hell No (c)
Bryan is cleared to wrestle but struggles with his ribs throughout the match. This makes for an compelling watch. Cody takes some stiff early shots from Bryan which he sells really well. Bryan goes for a surf board but can't hook it on properly because of the ribs. Kane misses Cordy and knocks down his partner instead leading to more tension. Kane hits the steps. After the break the challengers are in control of the Big Red Machine. A double surplex gets two. Rhodes hits a nice looking moon salt off the ropes. Cody blocks a choke slam attempt but Kane hits a back drop. Bryan gets the tag, hitting a nice flying clothesline for a two count. Every move he makes hurts his ribs more. DB fights through the pain. The tag champ goes for broke with a top rope diving headbutt but misses Sandow. Bryan goes ribs first into the barricade. To add spice to the match Rhodes was also injured earlier after a dodgy landing off the Kane back drop and is still trying to get back in the game. For the next few minutes Sandow works over Bryan's ribs including a body scissors. Just as Bryan looks to build a head of steam he is cut off with a knee to the guts. Sandow gets a series of two counts. Bryan finally hits back with a missile drop kick and makes the hot tag to Kane. Kane dominates with two clotheslines in opposite corners, a side slam for two, a top rope clothesline and a choke slam. Coming together as a team Kane tags in Bryan who delivers the match winning top rope diving headbutt. ***



Post match The Miz offers Daniel Bryan a hand shake to patch things up ahead of Survivor Series. Daniel doesn't accept instead he wants to hug it out bitch! Miz turns him down. The issues with Team Hell No have not gone away.

We get a preview of the Triple Threat WWE Title Main Event at Survivor Series.


The Miz and Dolph Ziggler verbal spar to hype up Team Foley VS. Team Ziggler at Survivor Series. Miz easily wins this exchange. To make matters worse for Dolph Miz reminds fans just how bad Mr Money in the Bank's track record is when it comes to big matches Miz challenges Dolph to a match on next week's Main Event, Ziggler finally accepts.



Santino Marella VS. David Otunga
Throw away comedy match. Santino does his thing nicely, but Otunga is so bland and stiff. The Cobra gets the US Champion the win in a quick match. *1/2




I promise there are WCW shows on my list! @Grim over to you?

 

[Keith]

@Grim went the other end of the list with number 50. 50 is the most recent show on the list...

WWE Raw November 12, 2018

Announce Team: Michael Cole, Renee Young and Corey Graves

City: Kansas, City



Its the go home Raw before Survivor Series.

We start off with the tag team Battle Royal. The winner team will book the final slot for the Raw in the tag team elimination match at Series, but the match is only a couple of minutes in when Braun Strowman storms the ring running clearing the ring. There's a Yokozuna Rumble 93 spot where a group of them gang up on Strowman trying to get him down, but he finally powers them all away. Strowman hijacks Raw saying he won't go untill he gets Baron Corbin. Raw Commissioner Stephanie McMahon responds. Steph tries to talk Strowman down encouraging Braun instead to focus on winning the Team Raw VS. Team Smackdown match Sunday. McMahon highlights the Raw's track record at the last two Survivor Series (nice touch) and sells the need to avenge her brother Shane stealing the world cup from Raw. Strowman puts Steph down as a corporate type and insists he doesn't care about Raw VS. Smackdown. Stephanie offers Braun anything he wants if he leads team raw to victory. Braun says he wants a Universal Title re-match with Brock Lesnar, but first wants Corbin and to pick the stipulations. Steph agrees to it all as long as he doesn't touch Corbin until after Sunday. Ronda Rousey then hits the ring to a decent size pop. Ronda says Steph doesn't need to say anything to motivate her for the match with Becky Lynch on Sunday. Rousey's focused, short but sweet promo did a nice job of putting over the importance of her match with Lynch. Acting Raw GM Corbin then comes out. Like McMahon he tries to cool the troops down and focus their minds for the PPV. Ronda puts Corbin on his ass after he gets a bit too friendly with her. Corbin and Braun square up with Steph stepping in the middle of them reminding Braun of the deal and shouting at Corbin to get out of the ring. Steph was the MVP of this segment for sure. For the most part it was nicely done, but it was over long with too many people to keep track of.



Ember Moon VS. Tamina (W/Nia Jax)
A solid enough, nicely booked match with Ember doing most of the leg work. Moon's sunset flip attempt is blocked, but a nice nip up and roll followed by hit and run stiff kicks keeps her momentum. Ember hits a nice enziguri and a face plant. Ember then connects with a baseball slide off the apron but for the second time is distracted by her former friend Jax at ringside. Tamina grabs the opener hand with a hard clothesline. The power game comes into play with some mat based moves from the heel. An awkward looking Tamina surplex is countered by Moon. She lands a couple of flying kicks, but they barely land. Moon hits an impressive sucicide dive onto Jax and then a crossbody from the top on Tamina gets a near fall. Another Tamina destraction (one too many?) leads to the end as Tamina kicks Ember off the top rope and hits her top rope splash for the win. **1/2



Recap of Dean Ambrose betraying his Shield team mate Seth Rollins from last week. Rollins is really generic on the mic as he makes little effort to promote his first time Champion VS. Champion match with Nakamura at Survivor Series. Instead Seth is more concerned with getting payback on Ambrose. That right there is one of the main problems with the current product and why a show like SS once one of the big events of the year now feels like a b-grade event. Ambrose doesn't do much better in his promo. For some reason he's outside the arena with a barron full of flames next to a car? You might be fooled into thinking the flames are to make Deano seem more dangerous but he ends up using them to set his Shield uniform on fire. Ambrose claims both Rollins and Roman Reigns took the spotlight from him.



We get a recap of the Kurt Angle/Drew Mcintyre match from last week. It's sold that this could have been Kurt's last match. Team Raw members Mcintyre and Dolph Ziggler come out for a promo. Drew cuts a strong promo giving Kurt credit for showing the guts he showed last week, but also selling how broken down Angle was. "Its disgusting" says Drew at one point. The heels are interupted by Finn Balor who tells Mcintyre he crossed the line last week by huminating Angle instead of just beating him. Balor challenges the Scot to a match. Drew offers him Ziggler instead with a subtle dig at Dolph for losing out on the world cup recently Mcintyre teases that he will consider facing Balor should he beat Dolph.



Finn Balor VS. Dolph Ziggler (W/Drew Mcintyre)
Ziggler dominates the early going with a sound mat approach. The heel gets two from a elbow drop and a standing drop kick. Ziggler's selling and his slow comebacks are really effective. The Irish man gets his first break with a nice through from a sunset flip and a drop kick. Dolph grabs a roll up and a hand full of tights for a near fall. Finn nicely flips up to the top rope, but is caught up top before striking with a nice enzlguri kick. A headscissors gets the face a two count. He then hits the slingblade but then runs into a Dolph superkick. Ziggler gets two from a jumping DDT. A famouser gets a dramatic two count as Finn barely gets his souldier up before the three count. Mcintyre's response at ringside to the kick out is priceless The heel is sent through the middle rope to the floor. Balor takes out both Ziggler and Drew with a hot summerset flip to the floor. A top rope stomp misses, Dolph rolls him up but only gets two, Finn reverses it for the match winning pinfall. ***



There's more tension between Steph and Baron when McMahon adds Balor to Team Raw for the PPV. The commissoner tells Drew and Ziggler to stay away from Balor until after Sunday. Once again stressing the imporantce of working together as a team to win the Survivor Series.

The Riot Squad come out so leader Ruby Riot can address smashing Natalya's shades last week, the very shades which belonged to her late Dad Jim Neidhart. A feud based on smashing someone's sunglasses is up there with Edge getting the hair commercial ahead of Booker T for dumb reasons to start a feud Ruby cuts a entertaining heel faking sincerity before turning it around and mocking the face style promo. As the Riot Squad laugh at the events of last week, Nattie looks for revenge but laid out by the heels.



Tag Team Battle Royal
This match is rushed, but there's a few nice spots from the Lucha House Party. Heath Slater's elimination is fun in a dumb sort of way. But its a rushed match. A Chad Gable Moonsault spot with Robert Roode helping his partnet is awesome. Gable and Roode pick up the win and head to Survivor Series. **



Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar come out to hype up Brock's Universal title defense against AJ Styles at the PPV. The highlight is Heyman's reference to the song Hotel California Jinder Mahal comes out and tries to engage Brock in a prey. Not surprisingly the Beast destroys Jinder.



Bobby Lashley (W/Lio Rush) VS. Elias
That skinny little runt Rush is god awful on the mic. His attempts to get Lashley heat are painful to listen to. The highlight is Elias pretending to be on the phone to Child protection service saying that he's found the child which Lashley clearly kidnapped a few weeks ago Adding, "he can't be anymore than about ten years old" But then the bell rings... A shitty match goes to a lame count out finish when the 10-year-old pip squeak clings onto Elias's ankle stopping him from getting back into the ring in time. Lashley becomes the final man added to Team Raw at SS as a result of this win. *1/2



Alexa Bliss comes out to announce the final member of her team to represent Raw at Series. Bliss says the winner of the next match between Sasha Banks and Bayley will win the spot.

Sasha Banks VS. Bayley
The two exchange sound chain wrestling holds. Bayley hits a sliding clothesline for two. Sasha hits back with a high knee lift, followed a moment later by a great double knee move off the top rope. Banks counters a Bayley slide on the outside, grabbing her and running her rib into the post. Banks misses a running knee hitting the post instead. Back inside Bayley scores a two from a roll up. She then hangs her foe up on the middle rope. A Bayley belly to belly on the apron looks great Sasha blocks a top rope knee splash into a Banks Statement, but the other members Bliss's Raw team jump in the ring and attack both Banks and Bayley leading to a no contest. Alexa gets in the ring and announces that Ruby Riot is in fact the fifth member of her team Cole questions why have the match in the first place? Good point Michael, good point... ***



we cut to the locker room where Becky Lynch has attacked Ronda and hooks on her arm lock. Lynch and various Smackdown Women wrestlers invade the ring dominating the Raw field. Fair play Cole puts this over well. Ronda comes out to help Team Raw, but Becky waits in the wings and viciously attacks Rousey with chair shots to the arm. The Man leads her troops back through the crowd. Celebrating the beat down Becky with blood on her face rubs it in Ronda's face. A nice visual to the end the show. Before the final shots we see Steph chewing Baron out blaming him for not having security ready for the SD invaders. She warns that Corbin has to fix things at Survivor Series.



BTW I've decided that I will do 40 of these shows. The other ten will get one more chance appearing in the mix again next time. @HoHo pick a number please. So far 50, 42, 30, 22 and 1 have gone.

 

[Kairi HoHo]

Let's go 20.

Man I still remember the sight of Becky bloody and ready for more and to me that separated himself from the pack of the other ladies. Most Women would be asking someone to check their Makeup or get me a Towel, but Becky was like fuck that I want to fight further!

 

[Keith]

Let's go 20.

Man I still remember the sight of Becky bloody and ready for more and to me that separated himself from the pack of the other ladies. Most Women would be asking someone to check their Makeup or get me a Towel, but Becky was like fuck that I want to fight further!

Number 20 is yet another WWF/E show (is Vince fixing this?!).

WWE Raw August 5, 2002

City: Baltimore



This Raw takes place three weeks before Summerslam (probably the best SS in history I might add). The big story line from last week is HBK's mysterious beat down in the back. We get a recap of the heat with Triple H leading up to the attack which is revealed while HHH is in the ring.



The show opens with a Chris Jericho in-ring promo. Last week Jericho became the newest Raw recruit attacking Ric Flair on his first night after deflecting from Smackdown. Y2J welcomes fans to "RAW is Jericho!" Jericho calls Raw GM Eric Bischoff a genius for spotting a true superstar. He heels it up big time calling himself a superstar and the fans losers He mocks Flair calling him a has bin. Triple H comes out and is pissed for Jericho's attack on the Nature Boy and accuses him of attacking HBK. Trips thinking is that Jericho is still bitter over losing the belt to him at Mania 18 so decided to take it out on his best friend. Jericho says it wasn't him and turns suspicion on the Game. HHH storms out of the ring promising to get to the bottom of the mystery. Y2J is interupted a second time this time by Rob Van Dam. RVD says Jericho's been smoking something and challenges him to a match later on to prove who the real Mr. Monday Night is? Jericho accepts and the two face off, with the new recruit getting a spin heel kick in before escaping the ring.

Table Match: The Big Show VS. Bubba Ray Duddley
Typical big man, gimmick match brawl. 2002 Show is pretty awful. Nothing much happens, but the ending was quite fun at least. Trish distracts Show and Spike Dudley headbutts him with a Ravens football helmet setting Show up for the 3D through the table. Following his big debut in 99 Show had become almost a jobber. *1/2



The UnAmericans are interviewed in the back by Teri. Lance Storm trashes President Bush's politics and foreign strategy. So Storm basically tells the truth and he's the heel? He says like American the Undertaker has been exposed to the world as a bully. Stereotype American Hero Sgt. Slaughter shows up and challenges Test (who attacked Taker last week) to a match. Even the King (the heel remember) cheers on Slaughter.



Hardcore Title Match: Bradshaw VS. Tommy Dreamer (c)
The match starts out of the blue with Bradshaw attacking Dreamer in the back. The champ takes quite the beating, first getting thrown head first into some hard plastic, he then takes a cowbell shot as the action moves towards the ring. The Texan chokes Dreamer with the bell around the ringpost, but the Tommy fights out. Dreamer turns the tables, using a number of weapons including a trash can lid, and Brawshaw's own cowbell using it on a neckbreaker for a near fall. Bradshaw comes back with a nice looking fall away slam off the top (Dreamer took some fine bumps in this one). A powerbomb is blocked, but Bradshaw hits it second time for a two. Dreamer nails him with a kedio stick for another close count. A DDT on the steps is enough to get Dreamer to the pay window. A decent match for what it was. **



In the back William Regal and Chris Nowinski get ready for their tag match with Booker T and Goldust. They bump into Molly Holly and newcomer Victoria who Molly says she has been training. After Molly walks off Nowinski asks Victoria if the rumours of Molly being a virgin are true. Victoria tells a excited Nowinski they are. The rookie plans on popping Molly's cherry soon.



Goldust references new Austin Powers movie Goldmember (released around this time). Goldie tells partner Booker T that Mike Myers stole his idea. Not to be outdone Goldust introduces Booker to Minidust! Triple H still hunting for HBK's attacker next questions Booker, who had heat with Michaels before the attack. When Booker says it wasn't him, Trips threatens him with his little friend, AKA his sledgehammer with Booker is lying.

The late Howard Finkel pleads with Bischoff to give him his job as lead Raw ring announcer back. Eric tells Finkel to share the role with Lillian Garcia. Howard ticks Easy E off when he announces the Smackdown debut of Eddie Guerrero later that week. This promotion arranged by SD GM Stephanie McMahon.

Test VS. Sgt. Slaughter
More of a angle than match. Test quickly beats down Slaughter and leaves waving the American flag, mocking the fans the country.


Booker T and Goldust VS. William Regal and Christopher Nowinski
The faces make fast start, with quick tags and fast paced moves like Booker's flying forearm. Goldust butt bumps Nowinski. The rookie then telegraphs a head drop and gets a big Goldust fist. The heel then drops his foe across the top rope. Regal tags in and does some fine chain wrestling on dust getting a two from a rolling cradle. "Harvard Sucks" charts as when Nowinski tags back in. Regal and Nowinski tag in and out nicely, cutting the ring off and zoning in on Goldust's arm. Golddust gets a quick small package on Regal for two, but the former TV champ is right back on top. Nowinski is misses a drop kick and Goldie gets a two from a cradle. A hot tag is made to Booker who takes on both men. A leaping kick on Nowinski who then makes a blind tag to Regal. A Regal neckbreaking on almost gets the pin before Goldust makes the save. A Booker axe kick is then broken up by Nowinski. A Booker scissors kick gets the three count. An entertaining match with a strong crowd response. **1/2



Trips questions the UnAmericans about the "unfinished business" they claimed to have last week? Christian tells the Game by the time they got to the parking lot HBK had already been laid out.

Trish Stratus VS. Victoria
In a nice touch Lillian announces Trish and rival Howard announces Victoria. Molly joins JR and The King. The King probs Molly over the rumours of her virginity. Molly doesn't want to talk about it. Again only in the topsy turvy world of WWE could Molly be the heel in this situation The match is very sloppy, 2002 Trish wasn't much of a worker. The highlight is Victoria faking a leg injury before attacking Stratus as she holds the ropes open for her. Molly marks out at ringside The match is restarted with Victoria on top. The finish comes when the heel misses a tornado top rope legdrop. Trish gets a two from a sunset flip, Victoria reverses it grabbing onto the ropes for the pin. The Survivor Series hardcore match between these two later in the year is a treat. Molly and Victoria beat down Trish after the match, but the face gets the last laugh. *1/2



Behind the curtain Show is the latest to be interviewed by HHH as he waits to get revenge on Trish for costing him the tables match. Show squares up to Trips and is more interested in getting to Trish.

WWE Tag Team Title Match: Lance Storm and Christian (c) VS. The Hardy Boyz
Matt and Jeff reunite to try and win the tag belts back for American. This is a fast paced affair with some exciting spots. The heels take over on Jeff with a double team. Christian hits a gut buster. Jeff fires back with a nice cockscrew off the top. Matt tags in and takes on both Canadians. He hits a twist of fate for a two. The Hardyz then hit their nice looking double team splash in the corner. The brothers appear to have the belts in the bag when Matt hits the twist of fate setting Storm up for Jeff's swinton bomb. Christian breaks up the pin at the last split second dragging the ref out of the ring for the DQ. Test shows up and lays into the Hardy's but Undertaker arrives to level things up. The American Badass chases the heels from the ring. The UnAmericans escape the arena in a car. Taker steals a police chopper and is in hot pursuit. **1/2



Lillian and Howard both try to impress Bischoff hoping he will give them the gig as Raw Ring Announcer. Eric gets bored so sends 3-Minute Warning after them. Chicken shit Frinkel throws Lillian to the wolves. Easy E loves it as his henchmen destroy Garcia Eric calls himself the King of Sports Entertainment



Chris Jericho VS. Rob Van Dam
Jericho attacks RVD before the bell. Van Dam responds with a nice monkey flip. A standing moonsalt gets him two. RVD shoots Jericho to the floor and hits a summersalt splash. Back inside Van Dam misses a top rope kick. Y2J hits a nice release German. The heel takes over with a back surplex, vicious elbow drops and chops. Jericho stays on top after a RVD roll up. Y2J dodges a drop kick but Van Dam counters a Lion Salt off the top with knees. The faces comes back with some of his famous risky kicks, and rolling thunder for a near fall. Jericho hits a nice enziguri for a two count. Jericho rolls through and looks to lock on his Lion Tamer but Van Dam gets a small packange for a two. Jericho nails the ref by accident? Taking this opening the heel nails RVD with chair shots before Flair shows up and gets payback for last week knocking Jericho down with a chair shot of his own. Van Dam gets the win with his Five star Frog splash. Flair styles and profiles up on the stage **1/2



Bischoff sets up a satellite link so HHH can talk to HBK from his home in Texas. The Raw GM reminds Trips this call isn't cheap so to cut the small talk HHH asks if Michaels saw anything last week, Shawn says he was knocked cold from behind and didn't see anything. But the Greensboro police sent him the footage from last week's attack. At first it looks blurry and you can't make out who attacked him. But Shawn says with modern technology they can enlarge the image. This reveals that surprise, surprise the attacker was HHH (meaning he must have attacked Shawn before heading to the ring). This is very predictable. Also why would HHH be looking for the attacker all night if he did it? He tells Shawn that he needs HHH by his side, but Michael's ego got in the way. HBK challenges Trips to a match at Summerslam. Triple H mocks Michaels, "What are you going to talk me to death?" "You can't wrestle" "HBK is dead". He gets very personally, leading Shawn to man up saying the match at Summerslam would be a fight not a wrestling match. Both men were excellent here, with Michaels especially good acting more serious. The match at Summerslam would be HBK's first in over 4 years. It would be a resounding success and lead to a great comeback for the showstopper.



Your turn @Chris

 

[Chris]

Fuckin loved the HBK seg

Have we done 11 yet?

 

[Kairi HoHo]

Yeah that feud with HBK and Trips was really intense. The Summerslam Package they had I remember loving to pieces as well.

 

[Chris]

Too bad their feud continued into 03 and 04 and overstayed its welcome with the exception of the two bangers in SummerSlam 02 and the last Raw of 03

 

[Keith]

Fuckin loved the HBK seg

Have we done 11 yet?

Number 11 is...

WCW Monday Nitro January 4, 1999



City: Atlanta Georgia, the Georgia Dome

Announce Team: Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko and Eric Bischoff (first hour), Schiavone, Bobby "the Brain" Heenan and Bischoff (second and third hours)

Its Ric Flair's first night as WCW President. Goldberg is set for a Starrcade rematch against Kevin Nash for the World Title.

Some nobody named Jimmy Barron chats with fans at the Nitro party. Way to kick off the show! Barron looks like a junior version of Mike Tenay. I'm sure it was met to be prank on the real thing. Schiavone and Heenan take pot shots at Tenay later on.

Glacier VS. Hugh Morrus (W/Jimmy Hart)
Nothing match with little or no heat. How far has Glacier fallen to job clean to Morrus on his comeback? Hugh gets the pin with a moonsalt. *1/2



Recap of last Monday's Nitro and Flair's revenge on Bischoff as he beats him to become the New President of WCW. We are also treated to Flair in his boxers



The new WCW President comes out with his family for an interview with Mean Gene. The long entrance through the back into the arena is sweet! Flair calls Bischoff a tyrant. His first act as WCW President is to assign Eric to the announce booth for the night. In defiance to this demotion Bischoff spends most the night silent only chipping in by calling Goldberg "Jail bait" and getting into his heel groove at the end of the main event The Nature Boy also reinstates referee Randy "Peewee" Anderson. The clip of Bischoff firing Anderson in front of his kids is gold! Flair books himself in a handicap match against NWO members Curt Henning and Barry Windham at Sold Out. Son David wants to team with him. Ric says its too soon, but Arn convinces Flair to give his kid a shot. So its all Arn Anderson's fault



Booker T VS. Henry Hale
Tony claims jobber Hale has been on quite the run in recent weeks Booker makes quick work of him with a missile drop kick.



Norman Smiley VS. Chavo Guerrero Jr. (W/Pepe)
Decent enough comedy match with some sloppy moments. Chavo rides Pepe around the ring Norman gets the upper hand early with some aggressive tactics. Chavo gets two from a roll up and counters a fireman's carry and a powerbomb into a sunset flip for two. Norman's big wiggle allows Guerrero to hit a missile drop kick. Chavo messes up a leap to the top, but recovers to get the pin with a sunset flip. Norman attacks Guerrero post match. This was the start of an attempted heel push for Smiley. **



Chris Benoit VS. Horace Hogan
Nothing much to say here. Benoit does take a Horace suicide dive, but wins convincingly with the Crippler Crossface. *1/2



Goldberg's plans to face Nash in the main event are put at risk as he is arrested and taken down town. As Goldberg's taken away Nash looks pissed, but Hollywood Hogan entering the arena laughs.



Perry Saturn VS. Chris Jericho (W/Ralphus)
Sadly on Network version I got Jericho's WWF theme dubbed in. But his underrated WCW theme can be found on the Youtube version below This kicked starts a decent mid-card feud between two guys starting to tread water in the company. Jericho starts the match off at a fast pace but is cut off by a nice Saturn belly to belly surplex. Jerchio comes back with a spring board drop kick knocking Saturn to the floor. Back inside Saturn hooks a sleeper on but Jericho counters with a back drop. We then get the Canadian's famous one foot cover Saturn gets back in the game with a beautiful tiger surplex. Jericho escapes a Death Valley Drive attempt but is hit with an over head surplex for a near fall. Saturn misses a missile drop kick, striking referee Scott Dickenson instead. Jericho goes for the Lion tamer, Dickenson recovers and gives the match to Jericho before Saturn is even in the hold properly In the story line there had been heat between Saturn and the ref since Saturn manhandled him previously. Note to President Flair maybe don't allow Dickenson to ref anymore Saturn matches **1/2



At the local police station Goldberg finds out that Elizabeth has accused him of stalking her. The cops use Elizabeth's real name adding realism to the segment. At first Goldberg doesn't know who their talking about. Nice touch. The cops say they must hold Bill while they interview Liz.

We see clips of Eddie Guerreo and the LWO partying. The point of this overlong segment is to show Guerreo getting too cocky and losing track of his roots. A number of LWO members are seen having doubts about their leader.

Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio VS. Psicosis and Juventurd Guerrera
Strange booking as Rey is a member of the LWO and on the other side of the ring to fellow LWO members. Kidman pump handles Juvi into a atomic drop. Rey tags in and hits a light headscissors off the ropes. The faces work together as Rey back drops Guerrera into a Kidman sit down powerbomb. A sloppy Mysterio bodyscissors takes the match to the floor. Juvi turns the tables with a top rope drop kick from behind on Kidman. The LWO members gang up on Rey, but he comes back with a nice tilt to whirl backbreaker, but Psicosis hits a drop kick to keep his side in control. Juvi gets two from a tilt to whirl backbreaker. A Psicosis top rope dive is countered by a Rey drop kick. Stereo Kidman and Mysterio top rope splashes onto the LWO. Rey hits a splash back inside, but Juvi breaks up the pin. Mysterio's summersalt splash is caught in mid-air and turned into a nice Juvi Driver, this time Kidman saves the pin for his team. The end comes with all four men in the ring, Kidman hits his partner by mistake with a top rope drop kick setting Rey up for a Psicosis guillotine legdrop for the pin. This sets up a feud between Mysterio and Kidman. Both have seen better days in WCW. **1/2



A sombre Kevin Nash says Goldberg was screwed at Starrcade. He says Hogan's behind the Goldberg's trumped up charges and the WCW Champion demands a match with Hogan in the main event. President Flair grants him the match.

Hollywood Hogan interview WCW Nitro 4 January 1999 - YouTube

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Gene interviews Hollywood Hogan. According to his announcement on the Tonight Show Hogan's retired from wrestling and is running for President. About twenty years too soon Hulk Hogan calls Goldberg a sexual deviant Hogan accepts Nash's challenge for the main event. Hollywood says he owns the fans one last retirement match, adding he will retire WCW Champion.

Heading to the final hour we get the classic Schiavone foot in the mouth moment. On request of a silent Eric Bischoff Tony reveals the result of the taped Raw main event for that night. Yes Tony reveals that former WCW employee Mick Foley is going to win the WWF title in the main event. You know Mick Foley, the guy everyone loves! Schiavone's lame attempts to put viewers off that night's Raw would look even worse later that...

TV Title Match: Scott Steiner (c) (W/Buff Bagwell) VS. Konnan
Buff distracts Konnan from the bell, but gets some quick shots in. Buff later runs K-Dog into the post. The heels double team the challenger on the floor. Big Poppa Pump's crowd working is the highlight of the match. The champ hits a belly to belly, but a top rope one is blocked. Konnan's top rope DDT and face plants both look terrible. Begwell runs in with a chair for the DQ. The NWO referee runs in and calls a submission for Steiner. The heels hammer Konnan afterwards. *1/2



Wrath VS. Bam Bam Bigelow
Wrath issues an open challenge claiming a lack of competition. This is a half decent brawl carried by Bigelow. The sad thing is Bigelow could have had one hell of a feud with the former Adam Bomb in 95. They brawl back and forth, in and out of the ring, with Bam Bam getting in most of the offense running Wrath into the ringpost and guard rail. At one point he attempts a power bomb on a chair but Wrath back drops him. The fight once again spills outside and they brawl up the isle to a no contest. **



As holes start appearing in Liz's story she admits that Goldberg didn't stalk her. The line of the night comes when Liz says "There's a lot of those bald headed wrestlers running around" I guess that means Bam Bam can expect a call from the police next



Brian Adams (W/Vincent) VS. Diamond Dallas Page
If I may be so bold I would say that this has to be in Brian Adams top five matches ever Page works his ass off again, with some nice selling for the NWO member. The build up to Page finally hitting the Diamond cutter is nicely handled. DDP hits it off the top rope kicking Vincent off him on the way down. **



Goldberg is released from the police station but can he make it back to the Dome in time for his World Title shot?...

WCW World Title Main Event: Kevin Nash (c) (W/Scott Hall) VS. Hollywood Hulk Hogan (W/Scott Steiner)
Here we go. One of the biggest main events in Nitro history. We get plenty of stalling. Some "Goldberg" chants. Nash shoves Hogan back in the corner. How does Hogan respond? Its.... "THE FINGER POKE OF DOOOOOOMMMM!" THE MOST DEVASTATING MOVE IN SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT! AND YOUR NEW WCW WORLD CHAMPION HOLLYWOOD HULK HOGAN!!!" It was a damn set up all along. Goldberg storms the ring to take on the NWO, and Eric's best line of the night is "Call Kojack" Lex Luger comes out appearing to help Goldberg but instead double crosses him re-joining the NWO. The Red and White and Black and White reunite to end the first Nitro of 99.



@Grim Its your turn to pick a number.

 

[Chris]

I still maintain that the fingerpoke itself to rejoin the nWo factions was not a bad move, but the timing, execution, and especially spoiling of Mankind's title win make it MUCH worse in hindsight.

Still say what should have happened was Hall interferes like he does at Starrcade '98, but then just have the original three members of the nWo form again there (around Nash as champ and no Fingerpoke BS). Starrcade closing with the OG nWo back together would be way better than what we got on Nitro.

 

[Keith]

I still maintain that the fingerpoke itself to rejoin the nWo factions was not a bad move, but the timing, execution, and especially spoiling of Mankind's title win make it MUCH worse in hindsight.

Still say what should have happened was Hall interferes like he does at Starrcade '98, but then just have the original three members of the nWo form again there (around Nash as champ and no Fingerpoke BS). Starrcade closing with the OG nWo back together would be way better than what we got on Nitro.

I agree. That actually sounds a much better plan than what they went with. Having the NWO back again as one faction made sense as a long term plan.

 

[Kairi HoHo]

I still maintain that the fingerpoke itself to rejoin the nWo factions was not a bad move, but the timing, execution, and especially spoiling of Mankind's title win make it MUCH worse in hindsight.

Still say what should have happened was Hall interferes like he does at Starrcade '98, but then just have the original three members of the nWo form again there (around Nash as champ and no Fingerpoke BS). Starrcade closing with the OG nWo back together would be way better than what we got on Nitro.

You Chris are the Man that works out so much better that the chaos we got on Nitro for sure. I still think in my opinion Sting joining The Wolfpac in 1998 was a even worse decision vs The NWO joining back up together. Sting was the Lone Wolf, the guy representing WCW and balancing things and you have him join The Wolpac when the two years he was fighting against those guys no no. Oh well Luger is in the group so what let Luger do him and leave Sting alone.

 

[Chris]

My main point is that the concept of reforming the original nWo and combining the factions should not be looked at as a bad move, it should be the execution that's criticized.

In a vacuum it makes perfect sense from a storytelling perspective. The nWo plot starts small, grows to include a lot of people, splits into separate factions and has character development here, then the story comes full circle with all the characters joining back and getting some closure with the "end of the nWo" for good.

Obviously that last part didn't happen but even with the fingerpoke and everything it could have, they were kinda fucked with injuries too. And that is just from a pure storytelling perspective, not wrestling related. Thats how 99% of fiction stories work if you break them down that simple

 

[Grimoire Lenin]

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