83 Weeks - Nitro Watchalong 03.02.98 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

We’re going to take you back 25 years…as for the first time in almost 2 years…a WCW wrestler & an nWo wrestler will be in a tag team main event…

We’re just two weeks removed from Sting regaining the WCW World Title - in a much darker fashion skin wise - as we discussed last week in our SuperBrawl episode.

Since then…the obvious cracks in the nWo are showing between Randy Savage, Hollywood Hogan, and everyone else is finding it hard to pick sides.

Why was now the time to break Randy out of the nWo? Did you see money in another Hogan - Savage program?

Do you think this story overshadows the whole Sting finally became WCW Champion story?

As we see the nWo arrive we see the recap of last week with the Randy Savage beat down…what do you remember of telling Savage about this and if he was up for it?

There’s still a lot of controversy brewing over WCW’s handling of Louie Spicolli’s death…Larry Zybysko’s comments in kayfabe if you will…and this is written in the Observer:

“Bischoff said that WCW randomly drug tests its wrestlers and also gives all wrestlers mandatory tests at the same they sign their contracts. He said that all the top stars are tested, and many of them have failed at times, but the company doesn't publicize its failures due to a confidentiality clause in the testing policy, and that all those who fail have to take an educational class on the subject. He denied that there was anyone in the company with a contract that stipulates they can't be drug tested and claimed the testing procedure was more stringent than the WWF. According to Bischoff, Spicolli was tested on two occasions, once last summer when he signed the contract and again in January, passing both times. Since Spicolli had a prescription for the somas he was using, that usage wouldn't have come up as a positive on a drug test.”

Is this how you remember the drug policy at the time?

Does Louie’s death bring any heat to WCW from Turner?

The Nitro after SuperBrawl and going against Raw sees it getting a 4.59 rating - breaking down as 4.93 first hour, 4.30 second hour and 4.55 third hour. Raw on the other hand draws a 3.25 with the first hour being 3.45 and 3.05 second hour. I bring this up to say - both audiences are growing but you can see Raw is starting to take a chunk out of WCW and Nitro at this point are they not?

Did you see it?

Well you’re certainly seeing an improvement in your pocket - or I guess Turner’s Eric…

For business in January of 98 - and this is all from the Observer - average attendance is up over 97 by 49.3%, average gates up 142.3%, average cable television ratings up 43.5%...when do you realize how hot the company is at this time?

Did you ever envision in 6 weeks - the streak would be broken?

Kevin Nash has said in interviews - that he knew the streak was over - and he said that Kevin Sullivan agreed with him - when Mike Tyson became a big time player in the Austin-Michaels story. Did you ever think that at the time?

From the Observer: “There seem to be problems cropping up between New Japan and WCW. Reports we've heard are that New Japan canceled bookings with WCW wrestlers starting in May, although the relations between the two group aren't scheduled to end, but may be hanging by a thread”

Was the relationship with New Japan always a delicate and tenuous situation?

Nitro opens with Chris Benoit vs. Scotty Riggs. I saw you & Scotty had a Twitter exchange a few days ago - did you guys get to reconnect?

It feels like Benoit has been stuck with working the Flock a lot - was there nothing else better to do at this point for him?

It’s reported in the Observer that Erik Watts was training at the Power Plant. Why bring him back Eric?

Here comes Eric & Hulk…Eric calls Savage a midget.

Gene & the Nitro Girls at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. Philadelphia gets a bad rap regarding wrestling and how tough they are - what say you to that?

The show sold out the Spectrum with 14,254 paying $236,978. It was sold out so far in advance that the bigger arena in Philadelphia - the Corestates Center at the time - would have tickets go on sale 2 days before for overflow but would only draw 1,708 fans for it since it was so last minute.

Eric - why did WCW run the smaller arena in Philadelphia compared to the bigger one if you were going to book the arena for overflow anyway?

Juventud Guerrera vs. Chavo Guerrero is next…do you think Juvi looked better with or without the mask?

“Juventud Guerrera sans mask pinned Chavo Guerrero Jr. with the 450 in 3:59. Real good wrestling. Crowd didn't care a bit.”

There’s a lot going on in Mexico at the time…from the Observer:

“After a week filled with rumors, some substantiated and others unfounded, swirly around the United States and Mexico, truth and fiction seem to have been cleared up, but in the wake of it, Mexico's Promo Azteca promotion and the plight of the Mexican wrestlers in WCW appears to be in trouble.

It started when WCW and Promo Azteca tried to start negotiations, through a contact WCW international rep Sharon Sidello had with a former Vice President of TV-Azteca for WCW to attempt to syndicate the Azteca television show in the United States on Telemundo, The No. 2 Spanish language television network in the United States, as a forerunner to doing quarterly Lucha Libre PPV shows. Meetings between all sides are scheduled in about two weeks in Miami. In the course of the conversations, in which Konnan wasn't part of, Konnan was blamed as the intermediary for the lack of communication between both offices and claims he made about power within the other organizations. Both sides then told the other that Konnan had no power within either organization other than being a wrestler with the respective companies.

Promo Azteca co-owner Jorge Rojas sent a letter to WCW telling them Konnan had no decision making authority as far as either ownership nor booking power in the Azteca company. Konnan missed the date, claiming he had been in an auto accident on the way to the show, and before realizing that any problems were even brewing, left Mexico for San Francisco for the WCW PPV and Nitro in the Bay Area, and upon returning, did appear for his Azteca bookings this week.

It ended with more interesting correspondence and rumors flying back-and-forth, finally at the end of this week to WCW Vice President Nick Lambros sending Konnan a letter stating in no uncertain terms that he, along with every Mexican wrestler in WCW, was under exclusive contract to WCW internationally.”

How messy is all this that Nick Lambros had to get involved?

Continued from the Observer:

“That means they were specifically told they are no longer allowed to wrestle in Mexico, which means basically every top name except for a handful of the Promo Azteca headline talent, almost crippling the promotion that has made great strides in popularity in recent months. In addition, WCW told Konnan he had to cease booking Azteca line-ups and angles and booking Azteca talent to other organizations around the world. The ban on the WCW Mexican talent working in that country is going to be most difficult to enforce since aside from major shows and television tapings, it is virtually impossible to get any spot show news out of Mexico. At press time, several of the Mexican wrestlers had either just learned or had yet to learn of their being banned in Mexico. Of those who had learned, the reaction was extremely negative. While they all earn more money in WCW than Mexico (although some, La Parka and maybe Silver King in particular, may have been able to earn as much if not more than they do in WCW as full-time headliners in Mexico), they are treated generally as jobbers rather than as superstars as they are when they work at home. With the exception of Konnan and Misterio Jr., none when signing two-year contracts with WCW a few months back, actually thought the contracts would prohibit them from remaining wrestling stars in their native land, as even if they knew the contract did prohibit it, the belief was those clauses wouldn't be enforced just like WCW lets so many of its contracted wrestlers work independent shows on their off dates in the United States while looking the other way. In addition, this move basically cuts the throat of Azteca, which was trying to enter into a television business deal with them, as most of their biggest draws are the guys under WCW contract.”

How tricky is navigating all this and did you get any blow back from the Mexican wrestlers?

“Prince Iaukea pinned Psicosis in 5:00. Decent. Result was mind-boggling”

Vince McMahon would go on TSN in Canada’s Off the Record and would claim that the WWF was kicking “Ted Turner’s ass” in every category but television ratings…so you would end up going on the show the next day…

A lot to unpack in that statement…

First off…I think its obvious that’s not true right Eric?

Second off…do you think Vince always punched up at Ted Turner instead of punching at you? Why do you think that was?

Vince also had this to say to word association with you: “Eric Bischoff -- "Don't know him that well. From his reputation, not a nice man."

Was that your reputation at the time Eric?

Speaking of how bad the WWF was kicking WCW’s ass at the time…

“On 2/27, tickets were put on sale for the Nitro on 4/13 at the Target Center in Minneapolis. With the Governor proclaiming it as Ric Flair Day in the state of Minnesota and Flair being honored and spearheading the ticket sales, the building was sold out in five hours totalling 14,667 tickets and $270,376 making it the most impressive first-day all things considered up to that point in company history. The all-time city gate record is the AWA WrestleRock show on April 20, 1986 with a triple headliner of Greg Gagne & Jimmy Snuka vs. Bruiser Brody & Nord the Barbarian in a cage match, Road Warriors vs. Freebirds in a cage match and Stan Hansen vs. Nick Bockwinkel for the AWA title which drew about 16,000 fans to the Metrodome for an estimated $300,000. During the Hulk Hogan era in the early 80s, the AWA had drawn larger crowds, but not larger gates, in the market frequently selling out the nearby St. Paul Civic Center.”

That’s got to feel good for you being in Minneapolis does it not?

Meltzer would continue…

“As impressive as that was, the next day tickets were put on sale for the 3/23 Nitro in Louisville at Freedom Hall and the results were probably even more impressive. The show sold out in four-and-a-half hours in a city that doesn't have the kind of history of six-figure gates for pro wrestling that Minneapolis has. With Jimmy Hart, who was one of the all-time greatest territorial managers during his heyday with the local promotion in the early 80s, handling the first day promotion, the building sold out with 13,856 tickets and $238,820, absolutely devastating every pro wrestling record ever in that city.”

My goodness look at the WWF kicking WCW’s ass Eric!

“Raven pinned Disco Inferno with the DDT in 2:48.”

“In a street fight, Public Enemy beat Hugh Morrus & Barbarian in 3:12 when Rocco Rock splashed Morrus through a table and pinned him. There were ECW chants when the first table was brought in. Otherwise nobody cared. The table looked a little gimmicked when they laid Morrus on it and it already broke. Crowd booed the finish heavily because of that.”

Is this Kevin Sullivan booking to the ECW - Philadelphia audience too much? What say you?

Man - Public Enemy. Way over in Philly were they not?

Here’s Randy with Liz … which looking back at this time frame and the history … it’s just weird.

Sting comes out…without the title for reasons I don’t think anyone knows… and TALKS!

Man the Sting enigma is all over when the mic work starts back then wasn’t it?

“Bill Goldberg destroyed Sick Boy in 1:37 with the jackhammer. Match nearly fell apart when Sick Boy slipped on a springboard move.”

Goldberg just keeps picking up wins and spears and jackhammers daddy.

“They showed a music video with Page and the flock.”

Stuck Mojo! Eric what can you tell us about Stuck Mojo and how this all came together?

“Ron Reis (the 7-2, 360 pound former college basketball star from Santa Clara who trained under John Studd) was the clumsy looking bleached blond giant member of the flock in the video. Page beat everyone in the flock up in the video, and then in his interview acted like the music video was real life. You can't play that game in the 90s.”

That’s just Page being Page isn’t it?

So Page leaves…and then has to come back out to take on Van Hammer. Sadly.

“Page beat Hammer via DQ in 1:40 when Raven interfered and Benoit made the save and they all fought each other.”

Looking back - Page/Raven/Benoit all have these good little matches before the big one - and then Goldberg squashes Raven the next night…seems all for naught doesn’t it?

Bret comes out and lets everyone know he’s here to take the nWo down brick by brick and he’ll be starting with Curt Hennig at Uncensored. Also - Stu Hart can beat up Larry Hennig…

“Davey Boy Smith beat Scott Norton via DQ (there is a pattern here) in 1:41 when Norton shoved the ref. Bulldog is trying to break DiMaggio's record for most consecutive horrible matches.”

Were you regretting the Davey Boy signing at this point? Did you ever talk to Bret about him and what was going on with him?

Also - there’s way too many DQs on this show isn’t there?

“Konnan beat Super Calo with the Tequila Sunrise in 2:05. No matter how dead the crowd is, they always wake up when Calo does that bump off a clothesline. Konnan did an interview to build up his match against Juvi Juice for the PPV, although they announced a match with the two next week on Nitro as well.”

Is this just Konnan messing up when he’s working Juvi do you think? Lines crossed type thing?

How good is Calo?

“Ric Flair did an interview and Curt Hennig and Rick Rude came out. Flair said he was Eric Lindros (the star of the Philadelphia Flyers) and Hennig was Jamir Jagr (the star of the rival Pittsburgh Penguins). He kept telling the fans Hennig was Jagr so they'd care about Hennig. They told Flair that even though he saved Bret Hart, that Bret Hart wouldn't save him. Stevie Wonder could see what happened next. Actually Hart's save was way late because they teased his name and destroyed Flair for a long time, with Hennig using the fisherman suplex on Flair and Rude counting the pin, before Hart arrived. It was about the only angle on the show the crowd cared about.”

All this with Flair and Bret…man what a tag team that could’ve been…

Do you think sports localized promos - as well as they hit for the crowd - doesn’t really play to a national audience?

Here’s a great line that tickled me about Scott Steiner in the Observer regarding him for his match against Jim Duggan…

Scott Steiner with blond hair and a multi-colored beard, looking like a cross between a taller Paul Ellering and a shorter John Nord (although most were comparing him with Superstar Graham)...I don’t know why but it did tickle me.

The whole revamped Scott Steiner look - cemented his top guy status did it not?

Scott gets the win in 4 minutes with the Steiner Recliner…hell of a heel finish isn’t it?

Was this too much and should Duggan had lost faster?

Now the best match on the show…

Booker T & Dean Malenko taking on Eddie Guerrero & Chris Jericho…

“Dean Malenko & Booker T beat Eddie Guerrero & Chris Jerichoholic in 4:46 when Malenko made the Monday Night Jericho tap out. I'm really glad WCW doesn't believe in tag teams anymore, because if they did, Guerrero & Jericho would be the best team in this country by leaps and bounds. Jericho is basically doing the Love Machine stuff, and nobody knows how to work with that as a heel better than Guerrero.”

Is that fair to say Eric - WCW didn’t believe in tag teams at this point?

From the Observer: “Disco Inferno was told no more stone cold stunners as Hogan insisted the move be reserved for the newest NWO parasite”

He’s referring to Ed Leslie - I mean Brutus the fucking Barber - I mean the Disciple. Do you think that conversation actually took place?

There’s a lot of locker room talk regarding the infamous Steve Regal & Goldberg match on Nitro from a few weeks ago. Eric - what do you remember of it? What did you think of it? How pissed were you at Regal? How hot was Goldberg? Chat me up…

Also from the Observer: “Kevin Greene signed back with the Carolina Panthers. He was at the Thunder a few weeks back in Birmingham and when he was talked with about wrestling, heard about the new schedule and said no way was he doing that”

Was that an actual conversation Kevin Greene had with you?

This also was brought up in the Observer: “There was a lot of heat on Lee Marshall's performance on the last Thunder.”

Who would be giving Lee heat? Schiavone?

“The NWO (this version being Kevin Nash, Scott Steiner, Konnan, Marcus Bagwell and Dusty Rhodes) came out to present Rick Steiner with his official membership into the group. Steiner came out with Ted DiBiase, accepted the shirt, turned on the NWO, which made perfect sense since there were five of them and one of him when he made his move and they beat his ass while Ted tried to figure out a way to avoid not looking stupid just standing there. Finally Nash was going to power bomb the guy but he blocked it. Giant came out and power bombed Nash to a huge pop. Giant was not arrested for this heinous crime and actually even came back out for the run-in after the main event. If this isn't unequal justice, I don't know what is.”

This nWo group - I don’t know - doesn’t do it for me. But…was there any consideration for putting Rick in the opposite nWo group when the split happens in a few weeks?

“Bret Hart beat Brian Adams via DQ when Hennig interfered as Hart had Adams in the sharpshooter in 4:31.”

These two were really close good friends - but man this match - Bret’s first on TV for WCW - doesn’t really work out too well does it?

You can agree Bret’s first match on Nitro could’ve been better promoted and against a better opponent can you not?

I mean let’s talk about Bret. He looks foolish at Starrcade…gets a big win over Ric Flair on pay-per-view in a main event…and here he is doing 4 minute semi-main matches against Brian Adams and can’t even get a submission or pinfall win…

Here’s Tony Schiavone selling his ass off for this match - comparing it to the original Bash at the Beach 1996 match…should this match had been bigger do you think?

“Sting & Savage beat Hogan & Scott Hall in 7:29 when Sting had Hogan in the scorpion and the NWO ran in for the DQ. Sound familiar yet? Ed Leslie showed back up as The Disciple in the post-match and gave Savage what was supposed to be a stone cold stunner, but actually was more like a diamond cutter because he blew the move so badly. I think when DX did that interview about Owen Hart and the turd, it was actually a reprise of a behind the scenes promos people used to say about Ed Leslie”

“The Nitro main event with Sting & Randy Savage vs. Hulk Hogan & Scott Hall, hyped as the first time WCW and NWO joined forces as part of a tag team, wound up with almost no heat once they were in the ring. No attention being given to the Sting-Hall program, as Hall might as well have been as invisible next to Hogan as Francine is next to Sunny as Hogan and Savage have become the total focal point of WCW. But the crowd really didn't seem to care much for Savage either, and reacted to Hogan as a star for his entrances and his interview, but not to him much in the ring. It ended up with Sting getting the scorpion on Hogan and the NWO run-in for the DQ in 7:29.

From the Observer:

“Mike Tyson joined Degeneration X, WCW countered with this week's version of the greatest tag team match in history, Undertaker returned, Bret Hart wrestled on television for the first time in more than four months and the combined Monday night audience set another all-time record on 3/2.”

That’s right…another record combined Monday night audience. Were you frustrated that as you’re growing so is the World Wrestling Federation?

So this is the night Tyson becomes a DX member…Sting & Savage team up…this is one of those historic nights in professional wrestling history Tony always talks about right?

“The combined rating set an all-time record, with Nitro getting its second-highest rating in history in a competitive situation, a 4.81 rating (4.83 first hour; 4.68 second hour; 4.93 third hour) and 7.42 share. Raw also got its second-highest rating in a competitive situation, a 3.80 rating (3.90 first hour; 3.70 second hour) and 5.80 share. The combined rating for the head-to-head two hours was a record setting 8.60 or 6,250,000 homes. The 10-10:15 p.m. segment, in which both groups did 4.5 ratings (Nitro slightly edged Raw with 3,267,000 homes to 3,259,000 homes)--with Raw having the Tyson angle and Nitro having Jim Duggan vs. Scott Steiner and the Nitro Girls and Mean Gene go to college drew a combined 9.0 rating and 6,526,000 homes, both all-time records for Monday night wrestling.”

That is just…an astounding number looking back at it isn’t it Eric?