petrie

- GOLDUST (w/ Luna) vs. "STONE COLD" STEVE AUSTIN
   Man, this one was wild. First off, McMahon comes out and sends the
   timekeeper away. McMahon then grabs the title belt and sits with it by
   the ring bell, holding the hammer in his hand. As the match gets underway
   McMahon anxiously watches to see Brisco's signal to ring the bell, or
   spot any instance of his own where he can ring the bell and claim Austin
   gave up. Every time Goldust would apply an armbar, headlock or other such
   move, McMahon's would go wide and he'd rear back to ring the bell. Austin
   would always break free, though. Two or three pin attempts in Brisco
   starts making fast counts on Goldust's behalf. Austin gets upset, but
   Brisco just sticks out his chin for Austin to slug. Goldust, a bit later,
   throws Austin to the floor. Not wanting Austin to be counted out, Brisco
   makes an incredibly slow count. Goldust throws Austin into the ring
   steps. Austin comes back by tossing Goldust into the rail. The two then
   fight behind the announcer's desk. Goldust, back in the ring, slaps on a
   chinlock. McMahon wants to ring the bell but Brisco won't make the signal
   since Austin responds to having his hand raised. Austin rallies back, but
   Goldust slaps on a sleeper. McMahon looks like a kid at Christmas, but
   Austin breaks free from the hold before McMahon can ring the bell. Austin
   then hits a Stunner, but Brisco is incredibly slow to get over and make
   the count. He reaches two, then stops because he "has something in his
   eye". McMahon tries to convince the ringside fans of this as well.

   Suddenly Dude Love runs in and attacks Austin. Brisco just orders him to
   leave instead of ending the match. The action spills to the floor, where
   Austin and Dude brawl in front of the announcer's table. Brisco steps in
   between the two, then bodily moves Austin around so that his back is to
   McMahon. Vince, seeing he has no other choice, swings the World Title
   belt at Austin's head. Austin moves, and the belt catches Brisco instead!
   McMahon kneels to check the fallen Brisco, who has a small trickle of
   blood running through his hair and over his bald spot. Austin comes over
   and retrieves his belt and flips McMahon off. Vince looks ready to
   explode. The sound of Austin's music signals that McMahon's latest
   attempt to rid himself of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin has failed.

 - Next week: Nothing announced.

Comments:

God, I love this angle! The great thing is how it was all established by the
Bret Hart "doublecross". The "rules" were all established by what happened
to Hart. McMahon can't just fire him or take the title away. He either has
to back someone who can beat Austin (with or without some help from
McMahon), or maneuver Austin into a position where they can "screw" him out
of the title. Along the way we see Austin overcome challengers big and small
and in the process becomes the most popular guy in the WWF since the days of
Bruno Sammartino. I'm not sure if there was ever a stretch in any Hulk Hogan
title reign that was as interesting as what they've done with Austin over
the last month. Popular, yes ... high profile, yes ... but as interesting?
I'm not sure.

The rest of the show was okay. Poor from a wrestling standpoint, though so
much was going on that it was easy to overlook. So many angles started or
changed direction that it'll take the next month to mull them all over.
We'll begin with them next week.

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WCW Monday Nitro:
Live/Taped: Taped earlier in the evening.
Length: One Hour.
Location: Norfolk, Virginia.
Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Larry Zbyszko.

 - Clip of the Macho Man informing Bret Hart he's on his hit list.

 - As the Nitro Girls are doing a number Alex Wright breaks it up with his
   unique dance stylings. Security comes out and drags him away. The
   announcers utterly fail to make the fans care about what is in reality a
   courageous return from a layoff caused by a brain aneurysm.

 - Kevin Nash and Randy Savage hit the ring. He says he talked to Scott Hall
   recently and that the match with he and Hall against Sting and the Giant
   is on for Slamboree. Nash then announces that Savage is the newest member
   of the Wolfpack. After Savage makes a few comments, Nash--as an added
   shot to "Hollywood" Hogan--then brings out Konan as yet another Wolfpack
   member. Konan takes the mic and tells Hogan how great the Wolfpack is.
   He and Nash warble a tune to take us to the break.

   Footage of Hart's infamous betrayal. Well, that's what they'd call it,
   anyway.

~~~~

- "Mean" Gene interviews Bret Hart ... again. Hart demands that Hogan come
   out. Moments later the music starts up ("Voodoo Child", not "Voodoo
   Chile"--check the CD. To be more accurate it's "Voodoo Child (Slight
   Return)". "Voodoo Chile" is a different song by Hendrix).

   Harts starts things off by admitting that Hogan is the most recognizable
   wrestler in the world, and the sport's biggest star. Hogan thanks Hart
   for the compliment.

   Suddenly Randy Savage runs in and demands to know what business Hart
   thinks he has meddling in his. He pops Hart, Hogan and the Disciple pop
   Savage, and the show ends with Hart beating on Savage as Hogan and the
   Disciple hold him in place.

 - This Thursday: Thunder won't be on again until May 14th.

 - Next week: Nothing announced.

Comments:

I thought WCW said they didn't do bait-and-switches? That's really what the
whole last half hour of the show was. The main event was a joke, while for
two nights they promised Hart would explain himself. Now we have to wait
until next week. Or the week after. Or the week after. Eventually Hart's
going to spill his point of view, but by then no one will care over the
semantics of whether he's with the NWO or not. He's a bad guy and he'll
fight guys like Savage, Sting and Piper, before eventually facing Hogan and
you know what? No one will care. With both Hart and Hogan as heels in that
match Hart will be lucky to get 50% of the crowd behind him. On the other
hand I doubt anyone will buy a face turn before that match by either man.
Of all the big matches on the horizon, Hart vs. Hogan (with Hart's heel turn
admittedly making him more interesting) is still miles behind the eventual
Hogan/Nash match--the match most everyone REALLY wants to see.

Beyond the main event stuff, this was probably the most solid Nitro
wrestling-wise in weeks. Running only two hours made for a noticeably better
show, in my opinion. Adding in the hour from Monday actually makes for a
worse show. With or without it, though, I didn't enjoy it more than RAW
this week.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Bottom Line:

New month coming up an two more PPV's looming on the horizon. The WWF "Over
the Edge" hasn't started to take any shape yet, so there's nothing to say
about it. (What is on McMahon's conscience these days, anyway? Have you
noticed these PPV names: "No Way Out", "Unforgiven", "Over the Edge". The
current tour is "Don't Trust Anyone". Is this guy paranoid or what?)

WCW Slamboree hasn't taken much shape yet, but we do have a couple of
matches down on paper. Sting/Giant vs. the Outsiders looks to be every bit
as meaningless to WCW as was the bat match in the last PPV. Savage/Hart has
some novelty value, but it most likely won't be all that good given Savage's
bad knee. "Hollywood" Hogan reportedly won't even wrestle on the PPV, though
he could show up to interfere in one or two matches. The undercard has yet
to be developed. The on-air promos for the PPV are saying things like the
war between WCW and the NWO will essentially come to an end, and that the
PPV will be the most momentous event ever in wrestling. I have no idea how
they can back that up given the way the card is filling out. Maybe Roddy
Piper's going to come back and screw up all the matches at the last minute.

On a final note, if you missed that A&E special on wrestling then you
missed a real doozy. The first hour was a lot better than the second, but
overall it was a really tough--yet fair--look at professional wrestling.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

This Week's Winner: RAW.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Slobberknocker Central" and "Monday Night Recap" are copyright 1998 by
John Petrie, and all opinions expressed therein are his own, and not those
of "Internet Access, Inc". Check the "Slobberknocker Central" main page for
info on how to receive the "Recap" free via E-Mail every week.
Volume One, Number 128 of the "Monday Night Recap", April 27th-28th, 1998.


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