83 Weeks - Slamboree 1998 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

25 years ago you made a challenge to one Vincent, Kennedy, McMahon to appear against you at Slamboree. But let’s discuss everything that’s going on at the time.

The 83 week streak as we discussed last month is finished, you’re coming off Spring Stampede where Randy Savage is now the new WCW Champion, the nWo is falling apart at the seams, there’s a whole lot to unpack here so let’s get right into it…

But as we enter Nitro the night after Spring Stampede, the looming legal issue between you & Ric Flair is the main topic of discussion. We’ve discussed this all in length in the archives, check it out at 83weeksonyoutube.com in one of our earliest episodes…but what we’ve never talked about was did this take away from your ability to focus on creative?

What was the mental strain of something like this?

I say that because Jim Ross is on Raw on April 20th discussing the Nature Boy, obviously not in a way that would imply his coming to the WWF, but they’re there to fuel the fires and rumors and get people talking as well. Controversy creates cash - but the talent - did you feel like they were on your side or on Ric’s? Do you think the top guys had issues with you doing this to a guy like Flair - that at some point you could do it to them as well?

Be honest - were you just looking to get out of Flair’s deal just like Vince did to Bret in late 97?

Back to the in ring focus, Randy Savage, new WCW champion, loses to Hollywood Hogan the night after Spring Stampede on Nitro. So that 18 month build between Sting and Hogan leads to this playing out, Sting kind of defeats Hogan at Starrcade, rematch is built up for Superbrawl, Sting wins, drops the title two months later at Spring Stampede and Hogan regains it the next night on Nitro. It’s crazy looking back at it now isn’t it?

Why Randy as the transitional champion? Did you think you could eventually get back to Hogan & Sting?

Why did Savage never have a long title reign with the WCW Title?

It’s not just Savage having a one-day reign but Raven as well. The night before he captured the US title and here on April 20th, drops the title to Goldberg. Why now to give Goldberg a title?

It seems like if there’s one thing WCW was doing right it was Goldberg. Do you think his rise masked a lot of the creative issues going on in the company at the time?

Do you completely lay the blame of losing the streak on the feet of bad creative?

Hogan & Savage break the record, held for just one week by Austin - McMahon, of the highest quarter hour in a competitive environment with a 6.53 rating and 10.7 share, meaning 4,774,000 homes were watching that match. Is this where the whole - we need as many big matches - title changes - events, hotshot booking came from - on both sides? The need to continue to build and break that record?

Goldberg shows to be a rating draw as well, as the first quarter of when Raw would begin in the few weeks prior would be hurting Nitro and instead with the announcement of Goldberg getting his first big title shot, it holds almost the whole first hour audience. That makes you take notice does it not?

Did you feel the uptick in viewers and business? Did that drive the attention of Turner execs to look at what was going on more closely as well?

Just to look year vs. year and really dive into how big the expansion was.

March of 97 for WCW you averaged 5,548 fans to shows. March of 98…8,512. That’s a 53.4% increase. The gates from the same period increased 123.3%. Average cable television rating rose 85.7%, and the estimated total overall event revenue increased 67.5%. There’s no better measurement than how hot the business is than right there, right?

Tragedy would strike WCW on a live Thunder just a few days after that Nitro when Buff Bagwell was injured. We recently covered Buff and had him on the show so be sure to check that out in the archives at 83weeksonyoutube.com but was this the scariest thing you were ever a part of in WCW?

Once the lawsuit against Flair is filed, how much time of yours is spent dealing with it or is it all Nick Lambros and the lawyers?

The show after Buff’s injury is the infamous Nitro on April 27th, 1998…we have covered that including one of more infamous arguments way back in the archives so check it out. You’re not surprised that 25 years later this is one of the bigger moments in the Monday Night War are you?

How important for the WWF was it for the NBA Playoffs to begin right after WrestleMania? Talk about great timing…

What’s lost in that whole Nitro invasion thing, is that Nitro did air that night on tape delay at 12:30 AM eastern Tuesday morning after the playoffs and it still did a 1.7 rating! How tremendous is that?

You’re completely up in the air regarding the playoff schedule and not knowing when Nitro would air - how frustrating is that?

You’re also losing 2 straight weeks of Thunder due to preemptions, just the absolute worst timing but it’s amplified by the fact that the WWF is on a bit of a run isn’t it?

When you’re building to a pay-per-view and you lose all that TV time, which you’ve said in the past hurt WCW overall, does it hurt the chances of Slamboree being successful?

What was the right balance - in your mind - of TV time needed every week to build a pay-per-view with hindsight?

According to Guy Evans’ Nitro book you’re in court two days later in a deposition for the WCW-WWF lawsuit taking place…dealing with Jerry McDevitt. What do you remember of that day?

You’re promoting Randy Savage vs. Bret Hart and the Outsiders defending the WCW World Tag Team Titles against Sting & the Giant as the two main matches for Slamboree…if Hogan wasn’t going to be on this show…could the title had stayed on Randy to give Bret the title or at least had the title defended on the show?

Psicosis is sued in Mexico by Antonio Pena regarding the use of the name. Does this land anywhere on your radar? Would this actually get the attention of the WCW legal department if Pena is suing Psicosis directly?

Was the relationship in Mexico worth it when things like this happen that could affect you that have nothing to do with you?

What is lost in everything that took place in Norfolk is that is the site of the Wolfpack’s formation - Kevin Nash, Randy Savage & Konnan. But Konnan teams with members of the other nWo later in the night - Scott Steiner & Brian Adams to take on Sting, Giant & Lex Luger in a 6-man. How does this thing happen?

Savage’s ACL is so bad he puts off his knee surgery to work with Bret at Slamboree. How important was Randy to WCW’s success?

There is rumor and innuendo in the Observer that Hulk Hogan wanted Sting to turn heel and Sting refused. Do you remember this?

From the Observer

There is some sort of a situation ongoing involving Mark Madden. Madden was dropped from all live broadcasts (he was doing some DirecTV stuff during the commercial breaks on Nitro and also live Internet play-by-play during the Nitros, PPVs and pay-per-listens) after slamming down a headset while on a DirecTV broadcast when there were some problems getting cues. He was told he would stay with the company doing his hotline messages, but a few days later was fired from that as well by Nick Lambros after doing a message that apparently put over the clique and Ric Flair. However, Bischoff may have interceded to save his hotline spot

Why were there always problems with Madden back then?

The Brian Pillman Memorial Show takes place and raises more than $25,000 to help support the now late Melanie Pillman. Any issues with WCW wrestlers Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho being the headliners. How did this all get approved?

“Nitro, a two-hour show starting one hour earlier (at 7pm ET) due to the NBA, drew a 3.48 rating (2.53 first hour; 4.45 second hour) and 6.5 share. The Lakers-Sonics game on TNT that went head-to-head with Raw drew a 4.18 rating and 6.6 share which is actually a great prime time cable rating for basketball.”

Eric - when you think about the property that is the NBA then - and now…and to see Nitro have just a tad worse share - were you thinking about how much money was being left behind on a TV rights deal if you weren’t on Turner?

From the Observer

“The TV title changed hands five times this past week. On 4/30 in Augusta, GA, Chris Benoit won the title from Booker T. On 5/1 in Greenville, SC, T won the title back. On 5/2 in North Charleston, SC, Benoit won the title. On 5/3 in Savannah, GA, T won it back. And on Nitro 5/4 in Indianapolis, David Finlay beat T for the belt.

On television, none of the house show title changes were acknowledged. Basically what happened is that the fans were very unhappy in Augusta because not only was Ric Flair vs. Curt Hennig the advertised main event and both of them weren't there, but also Raven vs. Diamond Dallas Page was scheduled and neither of them were there either (they were doing some sort of negotiations or a photo shoot to build up an MTV appearance which I don't know if it's finalized or not where they'll have a ring and wrestle each other on MTV in Times Square as part of a Battle of the hits type deal).”

Before we go any further - who would authorize something like that? Kevin Sullivan? Terry Taylor?

Do you think fans who see this happen live are upset when they don’t see it acknowledged on TV?

When you’re building this business and it’s on fire - and you’re seeing growth in merchandise and live event and per head etc - why is no one monitoring what’s going on in the promotion for the house shows?

How many conversations did you & Zane Bresloff have about no-shows and card changes and the such?

The deal with MTV and Times Square for Raven & DDP - not a small deal is it?

Speaking of business from the Observer

“Whatever fear there was about business starting to fall was alleviated this weekend when tickets for the 6/8 Nitro in Auburn Hills, MI and the 6/15 Nitro at the Nassau Coliseum were put on sale. Nassau sold out in about 20 minutes which would be the fastest sellout of a major arena in the history of pro wrestling in New York which dates back almost 100 years with 13,027 tickets sold for $383,925.

Detroit, using Bill Goldberg, who apparently drew an incredible reaction, did more than 10,000 tickets the first day for $206,000”

Did you feel invincible - I mean those are some big numbers - no wonder you didn’t care about Flair not showing up…

On Nitro in Indianapolis Nash comes out and interrupts Scott Putski taking on Billy Kidman and powerbombs both - ending the $50,000 fine angle seemingly.

From the Observer

Nash said that the reason Hall hasn't been on TV is because Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan are afraid of what he might say on a live interview. After Sting wouldn't turn heel and team with Hogan, Hogan wanted Hall to join his side of the NWO recognizing he needed a strong partner to make the feud work, and perhaps, since fake storylines turn into real life changes in friends and lovers, maybe it would weaken Nash's attempt at a power base if Hall wasn't always with him. We'll have to see if Hall will agree to the idea but the betting line is against that one and even Luger's name has been thrown around as Hogan's potential back-up.

Is this all just political jockeying? Was there a better way to handle all this in hindsight?

“Jericho did an interview running down Dean Malenko and brought out an unknown green wrestler who he called Bore-us Malenko, the man of one hold (with a 1 on the back of his tights) who he beat quickly. Dean should return next week after how personal Jericho did his interview. Jericho said that the man of 1,000 holds was just a WCW marketing gimmick because Malenko was so boring and has no personality and that nobody cares about him.”

Jericho is hitting home run after home run in this program - and it’s going to build to Dean returning as a bigger star. Did you see a superstar forming before your eyes do you think?

“In a match where it was billed as the loser must leave the flock, Hammer upset Saturn in 4:23. Crowd was dead and match was awful. Saturn did a nice huracanrana off the apron but he couldn't come close to carrying Hammer. Ref Scott Dickinson was KO'd and a supposed vendor (Mortis) hopped the guard rail and nailed both guys and Hammer wound up on top for the pin. Problem was he hit them with a crate of what appeared to be beer or cokes which meant the ring got all wet, which made the footing dangerous and the last thing anyone needs to do in present day wrestling is to make it more dangerous. Page went in the locker room and hit everyone with a stop sign and used a bullrope to drag Raven to the ring where they had a hot brawl before security broke it up.”

This was the best thing for Saturn - to get out of the Flock am I right?

Using a crate full of liquid though for the spot - not the greatest idea was it?

“Finlay pinned T with a tombstone piledriver to win the TV title in a major shock in 3:56 when Benoit distracted T.

Earlier in the show they did a big promo back-and-forth piece (and very well done at that) building to T vs. Benoit at the PPV. “

This does come out of nowhere - why Fit and why take the title away from Benoit - Booker as it was just starting to get hot? Did they not need it?

“Davey Boy Smith is apparently done with the company. On 4/20, he was booked to put Norton over clean on the Nitro from Colorado Springs and refused so the match never took place. That's why the Hogan-Savage title change match went so long, because the Smith-Norton match scheduled to take place at 10:30 p.m. was canceled.

Then on 4/27, Smith, who was booked for Nitro in Norfolk, didn't show up.”

Eric - somehow this does not lead to Davey Boy being fired? Was this something Bret went to you for and asked to keep him or did this just fall through the cracks?

Was Davey one of those guys looking back on that you didn’t need on the roster?

From the Observer

The MTV special on 5/9 from Chelsea Pier in Manhattan was so bad that all standards of bad for this industry have now become passe. The real problem is it was pouring rain and windy as hell and the event was held outdoors. There were about 40-50 fans watching.

Announcers Tony Schiavone and Zbyszko acted as if they didn't want to be there. There were supposed to be eight matches in a three-hour special, but due to the rain, they only had one match, a 90 second bout where Public Enemy beat High Voltage, and the rest were bad interviews, bad angles and bad weather.

The show ended up being cut to two hours, and it was so bad that the scheduled replay showing of it later that evening was canceled.

The MTV / WCW deal is mostly well known for Raven to jump DDP on the set of TRL not long before this outdoor show - but what a mess this ended up being with the weather. How is there no backup plan for this if it’s going to be held outside? What memory of this do you have?

From the Observer

Eric Bischoff was deposed for three days this past week in the WWF lawsuit against WCW. There are a lot of reports that the lawsuit is being used, not as its primary purpose, but questions are being asked to try and dig up personal dirt on Bischoff with the feeling that if they can nail him on something embarrassing for an executive in Time-Warner and he's dumped as a p.r. move similar to what happened with Bill Watts, that whomever follows him wouldn't be nearly as aggressive or as successful in competition and WWF would have the field all to itself again.

Is this how you viewed the deposition - and how this leaked to the Observer?

Is this part of the reason you went on Nitro to challenge Vince to show up at Slamboree?

Did you know Stephanie was graduating that day already - or did you find out about it after the fact?

Did Vince ever bring this up to you after you started in the WWE?

This is what the Observer had to say about the Nitro where you challenged Vince.

“Due to NBA playoffs the past two weeks, there has been no head-to-head battle after a series of weeks where Raw had the two highest ratings in its history. And this week we got the whole enchilada. Another Hulk Hogan-Randy Savage title match, which followed the formula that has been shown over the past few weeks that last week's record breaking match is this week's outdated booking idea. And on the other side, Vince McMahon was in the ring, as a wrestler, and as a tag team partner for Steve Austin. And at the end, neither side set any records for their main events despite each going for the gold. In fact, the WWF's audience actually dropped in the final quarter hour, but it didn't drop enough to lose the quarter as the shows ended with Austin & McMahon as a tag

team with 3,480,000 homes or a 4.72 rating--the same as its average for the entire two

hours and actually one of the lower rated quarters of the entire Raw show, and Hogan vs. Savage with 3,239,000 homes, or a 4.42 rating, its second best quarter of the head-to- head period, with its highest quarter being a 4.5 for the angle where Giant joined Hogan's NWO and Chris Jericho did his angle with Joe Malenko.”

This is still just astounding viewership numbers - but it feels like Savage - Hogan again is just going to the well one too many times is it not?

These shows - besides the main events and your challenge to Vince - is most well known for when DX invaded WCW headquarters in Smyrna, GA. How are you made aware of this? Nick Lambros?

What do you think was the better angle - the attempted invasion at the Norfolk arena or going to WCW headquarters?

From the Observer

“So we've got a 41-year-old man riding a bike in a leather jacket with dyed hair and a man who spent years getting his masculinity, or is it muscularity, from a steroid needle and even at 52, also with dyed hair, is strutting around in a sleeveless t-shirt four sizes too small acting as if he's tougher than all his wrestlers. Both are making themselves bigger stars than their employed entertainers, and, as it turns out, both, McMahon in particular, are great performers in front of the camera.

Bischoff was brilliant because McMahon won't be there in Worcester. By not being there, it means he's backed down from the challenge. Not in real life because it's all stupid to begin with, and of course everyone that needs to pretend whatever they need to pretend will pretend. He was also brilliant because the DX segments have now become obsolete. He positioned them as the messenger boys instead of the bad asses. Waltman's comeback on Raw telling Bischoff to "suck it" got a big pop live in Baltimore from fans who didn't know what Bischoff said in the first place, but it was an incredibly lame comeback and came off as pathetically transparent, albeit with a good delivery, in his trying to act like he's not a puppet of McMahon when the ante was already upped on the other show establishing him as a bit player in this game.

Of course where Bischoff's brilliance turned into stupidity, at least for this week, was coming out at about 8:35 p.m. to make his speech instead of two hours later, which was probably responsible for enough of a "swing vote" to turn onto Raw to find out what the comeback was going to be.”

So much to unpack there I don’t even know where to start Eric. What say you?

Vince never responds but JR takes some shots on Raw ripping on the WCW headquarters in an industrial park in Smyrna, the MTV show which WCW had coming - and saying that it wasn’t the seniors tour which was ironic coming right after a Terry Funk match - who was 53 at the time - and during a Vince McMahon match - who was 52. Did you think WCW was beating the WWF in this end of the war?

Also Eric - this is the go-home Nitro for Slamboree. The highlights of the show are Bret Hart getting a ton of heel heat, the Flock kicks Hammer out and brings Saturn back in which made last week a complete waste of time, Giant joins the nWo again, Hogan pins Savage with help from Bret again, but Piper shows up and reverses the decision but not the title and he’ll be the referee for Bret vs. Randy…but there’s no announcement of what the main event will be at the pay-per-view. Is it Bret vs. Randy? Is it a tag team title match between the Outsiders - with no Scott Hall present at any point during the build against a WCW main eventer in Sting and a member of nWo Black & White in Giant. Besides your promo challenging Vince - there’s not a lot of build to this show. Was the focus all off?

The Observer recap of an angle

“Finlay beat Rage of High Voltage in 3:21 with a tombstone piledriver in the TV title bout. Kaos kept interfering until Booker T came out and began brawling with him, and then Benoit came out and brawled with T. J.J. Dillon then came out and said that Benoit and T's matches on the show were being canceled and they'll have a singles match against each other later in the show with the winner meeting Finlay at the PPV.

This is where the difference between WWF and WCW rang out loud and clear. On the entire TV show, the only thing the announced plugged was a match with Benoit vs. T where the winner would get the title shot. Then they do this big angle to announce something and pretend the card was being changed.”

Were these story issues just Meltzer taking shots or do you think it was a legitimate issue?

Here’s the crazy thing - Scott Hall - not a part of this build at any point - was at Nitro.

From the Observer

Hall was at the 5/4 Nitro but the decision was made not to use him on camera until the PPV, trying to tease an angle as if nobody is sure he'll be at the PPV because Hogan and Bischoff may keep him off the show. Let's see, it's a weak card to begin with. No Hogan. Bad time slots due to pre-emptions and time changes. And ahead of time you're telling us that you don't know if one of the main eventers is going to show. Who comes up with this? Hogan? Okay, now it makes perfect sense.

Why was this a Hulk call?

At the go-home Thunder

“They spent the entire show building up that Hall would be there ala Flair several weeks back.

When it came time for Hall & Nash vs. Public Enemy for the tag titles, Hall wasn't there (and he really wasn't there) so Nash teamed with Dusty Rhodes, in street clothes. Nash worked the whole match by himself and laid out Rocco Rock with a jackknife powerbomb and allowed Rhodes to drop the elbow on him for the pin. I guess the powerbomb is now legal. As you can imagine, it was awful. Good thing they have people tying up all those loose ends in the storylines.”

Eric - someone had to think this type of story telling is going to piss off viewers at some point?

“The Sting vs. Randy Savage main event went all of 2:19, with no heat, before Hart attacked Savage so it ended with no decision. Nash ran in and attacked Sting until Giant made the save. Giant saved Sting and told him he made a career decision to join the NWO, and wanted to team with Sting on the PPV because they'd win the belts and then Sting would have to make a decision to keep the belts or not.”

That’s the story - keeping the belts and joining the nWo? Just 5 months later it feels like Sting is just another guy from Starrcade and in a position where his joining the nWo should be a major story but it just feels off.

From the Observer

“Perhaps the most important news coming from all this was that Bischoff's personal secretary, Janie Engle, a long-time WCW office employee, quit this past week to take a job with the WWF, joining Lynn Brent who worked in p.r., who just made a similar career move. Actually Engle is the third front office employee over the past weeks to quit, apparently at least partially because people are dropping from the internal pressure. Engle is believed by some to have made the switch because of her long-time connections to the Funk family, but she has extensive knowledge of how Bischoff and WCW operates, both the positive and the negative, but also extensive knowledge of contracts of WCW wrestlers, and at this point it still appears that barring major changes in WCW, the heart of the promotion will, as a group, be heading North in late 1999.”

Eric - when this takes place - what runs through your mind?

How important was Janie to you?

Did this hurt more than anything else?

Let’s get into the show!

All this talk of how bad the build is and no main event - and the business is so hot you go up in buys from 1997 to 1998. Slamboree 97 featured Ric Flair, Roddy Piper & Kevin Greene taking on the Outsiders & Syxx drew 165,000 buys. This show drew 250,000 buys. Do you think your challenge to Vince was the main driving force for it?

The show is well received from the Wrestling Observer readers - 56.2% thumbs up and the lead right away in the Observer is about you of course.

“Is there a method to Eric Bischoff's madness? Or is it just madness?

That was the question at the end of one of the strangest weeks of wrestling on television, with Bischoff constantly taunting Vince McMahon. McMahon never addressed the situation personally on television on 5/11 although it was mentioned in the commentary during the show. By mid-week McMahon had responded on the WWF web site. His lawyer, Jerry McDevitt, wrote a threatening legal letter to Bischoff. The WWF also complained to the cable companies about WCW intimating McMahon might be there claiming WCW was using bait & switch tactics on the consumers in promoting Slamboree (imagine either WWF or WCW complaining about bait & switch tactics in promotion). By the end of the week, Gene Okerlund and Jim Ross had turned up the heat on 900 line reports.

Bischoff, on the other hand, was totally out of control, doing two interviews on Thunder on 5/14 from Durham, NH, in one of which he read the McDevitt letter, a training video (which aired twice) showing him preparing for the match that wasn't going to take place, then teased throughout the PPV show that McMahon might be there before having Michael Buffer introduce a Bischoff vs. McMahon match with McMahon not being there, the fans counted McMahon out of the ring and Bischoff had the ref award him the match via forfeit.”

I love having Michael Buffer out there to introduce you & Vince - I do. Just tremendous stuff.

The show is a sell out, 11,592 with 10,936 paying a city record of $352,035 and another $107,262 in merchandise. Business is a booming Eric!

“1. David Finlay retained the WCW TV title pinning Chris Benoit in 14:52. If you're keeping score, that makes four straight PPV shows where Benoit has challenged for a title that he's lost, and six losses in his last seven PPV matches. If you're confused as to why, re- read the notes about the Pillman Memorial show closely and it'll all make perfect sense. As Benoit appeared on the verge of winning, Booker T came out. Benoit jumped out of the ring, allowing Finlay to recover and hit him from behind with a sliding kick through the ropes. Benoit sold it as if he was out, doing the dead weight gimmick as Finlay tried to throw him in the ring. Benoit actually scored a desperation inside cradle for a near fall, before Finlay hit the tombstone piledriver for the pin. The crowd was literally stunned silent not believing that Finlay, who nobody knows, could beat Benoit. ***¼”

Was Chris being punished for being at the Brian Pillman Memorial Show? Do you think it hurt Chris to lose so many consecutive months?

Was Finlay being pushed at the expense of Chris?

“2. Lex Luger beat Brian Adams in 5:05 with a torture rack after Luger clocked Vincent with the forearm. It could have been worse.

1/2*”

Brian Adams was really getting a lot of TV time in the run up to this - as a central part of which nWo will he be a member of. Why do you think it just never worked with him?

“3. Ciclope, who was Dean Malenko under the mask, won a 15 man cruiserweight Battle Royal to get a title shot at Chris Jericho in 8:27.

The best part of the match were the ring introductions, as Jericho ran Dave Penzer off. Jericho was hilarious, billing Chavo Guerrero Jr. from El Paso, Mexico, saying if you need a hubcap that Psicosis will procure one for you, saying Damian painted his face because he couldn't afford a mask, called Dandy the winner of the Lou Ferrigno look-alike contest, called Juventud Guerrera the ugliest wrestler alive, and claimed to have never heard of Johnny Swinger and said that he had absolutely no chance of winning. This was as bad as most Battle Royals with the exception of Guerrera, who did all kinds of hot moves and was the big- time crowd favorite. Guerrera then jumped over the top rope to eliminate himself. Ciclope then unmasked as Malenko to a big pop.

*¼”

Jericho is beyond fantastic here and it’s a battle royal but the finish is just confusing. It’s like Guerrera knew Malenko was dressed as Ciclope? But my goodness the pop Dean gets when he rips the mask off is probably the biggest of his career.

“4. Malenko won the WCW cruiserweight title from Chris Jericho in 7:02.

Because of the angle, this match had by far the most heat of anything on the show. Malenko destroyed Jericho for several minutes until he was cut off with a hotshot and a senton. As Jericho went for a Lion tamer, Malenko reversed it into a kneebar. Malenko came back using a super stomach block off the top rope followed by his Texas cloverleaf for the tap out.

***¼”

Was this one of these things that showed the Cruiserweight division can do something and draw if the story was right instead of just a bunch of random matches?

“Throughout the show, including at this point, they were teasing the idea that Vince McMahon was going to show up. They had a white limo pull up to the back gate where Tony Schiavone made the remark that we'll know it's McMahon if we see Jim Ross getting out of the limo carrying his bags. Let's just say the extreme professional jealousy that spurred that remark is something that dates back to 1989 when Ross took over for Schiavone as host of World Championship Wrestling and is no work.”

Did you have to feed lines to Tony or was that just Tony’s attitude back then?

“5. Diamond Dallas Page beat Raven in a Bowery Death match, which was a cage with a top using ten count knockout rules instead of pinfalls at 14:35.

There were numerous props inside the cage so it was a basic ECW weapons match in a cage. Match wasn't bad, but it couldn't compare with their previous PPV matches. They smashed each other into garbage cans and used weapons such as a VCR (Schiavone thought it was the first time a VCR was ever used as a wrestling foreign object but obviously he either does or doesn't lived a sheltered live depending on how you'd view the situation) and of course the bullrope, just so Dusty can let everyone know he's booking this shit. Ref Billy Silverman had the back of his head smashed into a garbage can so signal time for all the run-ins. Page used the Raven drop toe hold onto a chair. Some of the Flock, sans Perry Saturn, came out and used bolt-cutters to unlock the cage lock, however Hammer came from under the ring and nailed them with stop signs and handcuffed Reis to the guard rail. Then two SWAT team members did a run-in, and unmasked revealing Kidman and Horace Boulder, but after Kidman hit Boulder with the stop sign, Page gave both of them diamond cutters. Raven hit Page with a fire extinguisher and used the DDT, but Page got up just before ten. Raven hit a low blow and a diamond cutter, but Page again got up. Raven then missed a chair shot and Page used the diamond cutter on him and got the ten count. After the match another SWAT team member began handcuffing all the flock members to the cage, including Reis again (you can never handcuff a Giant enough as we've learned), and then handcuffed Raven in a crucifix position into the cage although he actually handcuffed the arms too low so it didn't get quite the effect (and maybe that was the intent as to not mock the Jesus Christ crucifixion to avoid heat). And faster than you can say Tommy Dreamer, the guy delivered a killer chair shot, took off his SWAT helmet revealing a Mortis mask, and then took the mask off revealing the guy who had been doing some of the run-ins. Let's see, all those SWAT guys were getting their uniforms on and Kidman and Boulder didn't think there was anything funny when a SWAT guy put his helmet over a Mortis mask? **½”

Look it’s all goofy with all the swat stuff - but it’s a hell of a match - a hell of an angle - just probably went on too long considering you had a cage match with a top and literally 85 people ran in.

“6. Eddie Guerrero pinned Ultimo Dragon in 11:09. Due to the placement of this match, it had no heat at all. A fat fan taking off his shirt stole the heat from the wrestlers early. Technically this was by far the best match on the show but the crowd didn't care. Chavo Guerrero Jr. was cheering for Dragon so he could break away from Eddie if Dragon won. Chavo pulled Eddie off the ropes and they argued. Dragon went for a spinning heel kick, but Eddie moved and he hit Chavo, knocking him off the apron. Guerrero then hit a brainbuster and got the pin using a frog splash. After the match, Chavo was so mad about Dragon losing that he put the boots to Dragon so unmercifully that Eddie actually had to pull him off. Eddie then slapped Chavo and dared Chavo to slug him, but instead Chavo kissed him on the cheek.

***¼”

This will eventually lead to Chavo going crazy but these two had a great match that just didn’t resonate with the crowd. This was the difference between Malenko - Jericho was the story is it not?

“7. Bill Goldberg retained the U.S. title pinning Perry Saturn  in 7:01.

Over the previous six days, to show how well planned out these shows are, on Monday they did an angle to build up Saturn vs. Glacier and had no match for Goldberg since Curt Hennig's knee was injured. On Thursday, they canceled Saturn vs. Glacier being that nobody cared and instead on television promoted that Goldberg would be wrestling all

the members of the flock one at a time and if any of them were to beat Goldberg, then

Raven would get the U.S. title. Then early in the show, they simply stated that Saturn had told the other flock members to stay away and if he won the match, he would get the title and not Raven. The first 2:00 had heat with Goldberg doing power moves including a press slam into a powerslam and another press slam. Once Saturn got on offense, the crowd died. Saturn badly missed a side kick which was supposed to be a key point in getting the move over for his huge, giant, money drawing upcoming feud with the G-man (Glacier). Anyway, as Saturn went to deliver a move while leaping off a chair, Goldberg caught him in mid-air with his stiff tackle and the jackhammer. The pop for Goldberg winning, while strong, was less than it has been anywhere for months.

3/4*”

As you see this all unfold - is it just a sign you need to get back to the Goldberg formula that worked so well?

Your segment was next which we’ve covered extensively in the archives so make sure you check that out at 83WeeksonYoutube.com

“8. Randy Savage beat Bret Hart via DQ in 16:38 with Roddy Piper  as referee.

Most of the match consisted of Hart on offense working on Savage's bad knee. Hart really got into his heel role, including flipping off the fans. Hart did a great job of carrying a guy who was very limited because of his knee to an above average match. Elizabeth (that getting out of the business was sure short-lived) returned for absolutely no reason. Hart hit Savage with a low blow, pulled out a foreign object and hit Piper with it, although Piper at the time was distracted by Liz. Savage got the object from Hart, but Hogan did a run-in and tripped Savage's good leg, then smashed his bad one against the ringpost. Hart put on the sharpshooter. Piper turned around and saw the object in Savage's hand, and while Savage was tapping out, Piper disqualified Savage for what he believed to be hitting him with the object.

**½”

This is just…I don’t know - all over the place. And if you have Hogan there - could he had defended the Title against someone?

“9. Sting & The Giant beat Kevin Nash & Scott Hall to win the WCW tag titles in 14:46.

Dusty Rhodes came out in Hall & Nash's corner. Hall & Nash got a huge babyface pop coming out, but the match itself got no heat since Sting & Giant worked as the faces and it wasn't as if the fans didn't like them, but they didn't care about them and really once they saw Hall & Nash walk to the ring, didn't care a hell of a lot about them either. It was boring. Finish saw Rhodes put one of the tag belts on the apron, and Hall picked it up and hit Nash with it and Giant pinned Nash to win the titles. Apparently Nash suffered a legit concussion from the stiff belt shot. DUD”

Obviously the story around this match is what happened backstage…

“Before the show, both Hall and Nash were heavily lobbying Bischoff to change his mind on the Hall turn, citing that in recent weeks both Bret Hart and Giant had turned and that another two turns (Hall and Dusty Rhodes) at this point when fans are almost numb to hotshot turns probably would leave everyone flat, which as it turned out, was a correct prediction. In addition, the timing of the turn made virtually no sense since Hall was scheduled to go into rehab after Nitro, this time for real, so he'll again be unavailable for four-to-six weeks. Hall & Nash eventually agreed to the turn because ultimately Bischoff wouldn't budge and they weren't looking to breach their contract, but insisted that when Hall returns, the two are going to still travel together and hang out together away from the building even though they'll be feuding.”

Is this all just a message to Kevin and Scott that after what happened with Waltman that they had to do business?

How tough were these two to navigate at the time?

Do you see their point about not wanting to turn?

Eric - what say you looking back at this show? One to forget?