1998 Discussion

Discuss 1998 in Nitro

Bret Hart vs. Dean Malenko - Nitro 11/23/98
So yeah, loved this one. Malenko comes in with an injured knee and Bret goes after it at any possible opportunity. If Bret wasn't going after that knee, the Malenko was kickin' ass with his good leg. The injury at times might've looked over-exaggerated considering Malenko was able to hit Missile Dropkicks and lock in the Texas Cloverleaf but that didn't really bother me since he never hit the moves 100%. Match ended with Bret just not giving a fuck about the outcome and just wanting to attack that knee with a chair. And then DDP does a run-in and yada yada yada. Match itself was great for the near 15 minutes it lasted

Goldberg Vs Hulk Hogan - Monday Nitro - July 6th 1998
Right, I enjoy sub 10 minute matches, esspecially those featuring big steamroller wrestlers like Goldberg, Hogan can be a fun wrestler at a times too. This is happening at a fucking massive stadium, after over 2 and a half hours of buildup (including Goldberg already fighting Scott Hall that night) the crowd is fucking PUMPED to see this clash of the titans, to see Goldberg hit 108 and the WCW Championship. The crowd even fucking explodes at the bell ringing to start the match. So here it is: A clash of champions, two great brawling types, a fucking rabid crowd, how do they start this encounter?

A headlock.

A fucking headlock.

A fucking headlock which kills the crowd stone dead.

Really? Really? The rest of the match just sucks from there on in, the crowd just seems out of it, Hogan does the usual heel belt whipping shenannigans and only loses (Oh come on, any mention of a Goldberg win in 1998 isn't a spoiler) thanks to Dennis Rodman distracting him.

Goldberg vs. Scott Norton
WCW Monday Nitro
4/27/1998

This is the definition of a smash mouth match. Those two rammed at each other full speed ahead. For such a short match it had a lot packed in there. Norton putting Goldberg in a shoulder breaker and working his arm to take out the spear was so smart but it wasn't enough. The crowd was going insane the entire time. Norton is a bad son of a bitch. He took that minus 5 minute match with Goldberg to a whole new level and made it so intense. Goldberg wasn't too shabby either.

I’m not sure if I would nominate this match but it was certainly a surprising treat to watch. My first and only Scott Norton match I’ve seen, btw.

Sting vs. DDP - Nitro 3/23/98
Watched this a few days ago and don't remember everything, but I liked it quite a bit. Has a similar feel to Goldberg/DDP and is worked similarly. DDP plays the same role: underdog babyface challenging an established babyface for the title, except this comes earlier in his push. Starts off fiery and doesn't let up, and DDP brings a lot and even busts out some cheap stuff to try to win. Sting, however, doesn't bring much. Crow Sting stinks a lot, I think.

Steven Regal vs. Goldberg - Nitro 2/9/98
Really fun. All sorts of nifty counters from both guys, cool mat stuff, grappling, etc. Would've been great if they'd had more time, and I'm not one who often wishes for more time out of awesome little TV matches. But yeah, Goldberg proved he could hang on the mat but Regal mostly looked superior, except Goldberg was an indestructible cyborg. So you've got the dichotomy between Regal selling beautifully and Goldberg's awesome character-drive no-sells. Considered it for a nom but as far as 5-minute Regal grapple-fests go, it's not as good as Regal/Danielson from last year, and that might not have made a top 20 for WWE matches in 2010, so yeah, probably not list-able.

Raven vs. Goldberg - Nitro 4/20/98
Again, a blast. Goldberg wins his first belt. Raven's Rules, so Raven uses weapons and has his Flock interfere, etc, but Goldberg comes back from everything because he's an indestructible cyborg. Dude catches a lot of flak, but he perfected a gimmick that was perfect for producing great short TV matches. Well, maybe not perfected. Could've hit more murderous spears, but complaining about Goldberg's spears in a post-Edge world seems silly. Hot crowd, overbooked title change, fun stuff.

Sting vs. Goldberg - Nitro 9/14/98
Really good title defense on TV. Sting tries all sorts of stuff and hits about everything but Goldberg won't stay down. He finally goes to a headlock to try to drain him back to humanity, but that doesn't work either. Finally gets the Scorpion Deathlock and his struggle to sit on Goldberg is rather dramatic. Definitely worth a watch but probably not going to make my list.

Goldberg vs Raven, US Championship, Nitro 20/04/1998
This was one of the best extended squashes ever. Loved how Raven's flock interfered in succession after the spear as well as Raven trying the chair and eventually exiting through the crowd to keep his title to no avail. Reminded me of a condensed version of Hogan vs Flair with the maniacal and well prepared Raven using intelligence and minions to defeat a better man.

Steven Regal vs Booker T - Nitro 02/02/1998
5 minutes left on the disc. Yeah, this ain't gonna last long .

Larry Z makes a fat joke about Regal, Booker kicks Regal in the face, Regal gets in some of his awesome offence, they trade roll up pin attempts... and then the match ends with Booker getting the win. And that's about it.

Steven Regal vs. Bill Goldberg - Nitro 09/02/1998
Poor Regal. Was apparently told to make the match the way it ended up being, but when some higher ups didn't like it nobody mentioned that fact and he gets fired. Which leads to his epic WWF run... .

Don't really get why this match is so bad for Goldberg (based on the fact Regal got fired over it). Goldberg actually comes out of this match looking better than before, as he showed he can do more than just power moves; he can go to the mat with someone like Steve Regal and escape holds and apply his own and shit. Plus it's not like Regal is just owning Goldberg either, Goldberg powers out of shit and like I said, he counters moves and applies his own holds and whatnot.

Match isn't long, and it's good for what it is. Regal as usual looks good on offence, Goldberg looks good having to almost fight from the bottom for a change but he still looks dominant by always powering out of holds and never really slowing down until he finally hits the Spear and Jackhammer for the win.

Eddie/Jericho vs. Chavo/Malenko - 02/09/98.
Match happens in El Paso; folks love Eddie. Eddie tears it up: rips into Chavo early & takes some nutty guard rail bumps. The one after Malenko tags in is crazy. Jericho comes in with the Cruiserweight belt on. 98 Jericho was awesome. Transition to control on Malenko is great. Control segment on Malenko is fine, not great. Finishing run is great. Really fun 8-minute tag. Doubt I'll vote for it. Heel shtick on Malenko during the control segment was fun enough but didn't sizzle. An 8-minute tag can't go a few minutes without sizzling & expect to make my list.

Sting vs. Goldberg - Nitro 9/14/98
Goldberg v Sting from the Nitro the night after Fall Brawl '98 is also good and I *might* stick it on my list. It's sort of in the same category as Benoit/Raven in that I don't feel like I "need" to vote for it, but I'd like to have a few Goldberg matches on there. Atmosphere is great and Sting works like a guy that's come across a rubix cube that he can't beat. He has to regroup and come at it from a different angle because nothing seems to be working. Goldberg is just a steamroller and looks unstoppable. Hogan interference was kinda stupid but w/e.

The Eddy/Juventud v Rey/Kidman match from Nitro is better and really fucking good. sterling should watch it if he hasn't already. Juventud is GOD again. He and Eddy get run in circles at the start and both laugh at each other's failures. Eddy lounges across the top turnbuckle and Juvi slaps him butt like "Hey, WHAT GIVES!?" Eddy is not pleased so Juvi cowers like a scared animal. People chant Eddy sucks and Juvi tells everybody to shush and tries to cover Eddy's ears. Eddy pushes him away like "I can cover my OWN FUCKING EARS, WOMAN." Juvi is like "PLEASE DON'T MAKE HIM ANGRY. YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT HE'S LIKE." Eventually they take over and work a strong FIP spell on Rey. There's this great spot where they do the RnRs spot with Kidman/Gibson running along the apron to stop Rey/Morton from hitting hard into the turnbuckle. Eddy charges in from the opposite corner while Juvi runs along his side of the apron and they both wind up careening into each other as Rey and Kidman scoot out of the way. Kidman takes a fucking huge bump towards the end while Juventud wipes out Rey with a suicide dive. Post-match Juventud struts around like a coked out maniac and I'm pretty sure he calls Eddy his baby daddy. No, really.

Goldberg vs. Sting (9/14/98). Really fun match, and kinda like a TV version of what Goldberg/Page would be at HH a month later. Hot crowd, Sting throwing everything he's got at Goldberg, Goldberg doing a few things we might not expect from him etc. Shitty finish with Hogan getting involved, but the ref doesn't see it so Goldberg still gets a win and we get an actual finish. Good stuff, maybe a contender for bottom 10.

Eddie/Juvi Vs Rey/Kidman is a ton of fun, for all the reasons Andy mentioned. Plenty of great action too, with a nice FIP segment from Rey which broke it up from just being somewhat of a MOVES~! match which it could have easily turned into like so many CW matches did in WCW. Some fairly sloppy moments too though, with a couple of clear mis-communications, but nothing that makes me "rate" it any less. Nice finishing stretch too. Probably gonna vote for this, but probably bottom 20 somewhere.

Bret Hart vs. DDP - Nitro 10/26/98
Already watched this on the Best of Nitro set. Thought it was pretty good both times, but man, I'm so bored by WCW Bret. There's plenty to like here, & I don't want to discourage anyone from watching it, because it may well deserve some votes, but I don't feel compelled to make space for it.

Eddy Guerrero & Chris Jericho v Dean Malenko & Chavo Guerrero Jr. (Nitro, 2/9/98)
Eddy Guerrero & Chris Jericho v Dean Malenko & Chris Benoit (Nitro, 2/16/98)


The two tags are a blast and I had a gigantic smile on my face the entire time. The first is in El Paso and Eddy is over huge. Crowd pop for everything he does, whether it's jumping Chavo at the bell or cheapshotting Malenko, they love him. On the other hand, they're all over Jericho. And Jericho's character here is fun as Hell. I love how he wants to wear the title belt all the time and he generally comes off as a little douche. Match is a step down from the Eddy/Jericho v Faces of Fear match I talked about a while back, but it's still really good and it's on my list right now.

Second tag is not in El Paso so Eddy's back to being hated again. More great Jericho stooging where he wants to wrestle while wearing the belt, but the ref' gives him a talking to and Jericho actually starts cowering in the corner. Great moment where Eddy gets thrown into Jericho and Jericho flies off the apron into the guardrail, and then they start hugging and Jericho's hamming it up big time, struggling to say he's okay like his larynx was crushed or something. Match was only about 8 minutes but it felt like the opening 8 minutes of what could've been a tremendous match. It's basically a babyface shine segment before Benoit cleans house and Malenko makes Jericho tap to the Cloverleaf. It's not a squash, but it isn't a "complete match."

I wish Eddy and Jericho got an actual run as a team because they're a terrific pair of assholes.

Psychosis vs. Juventud Guerrera (Nitro, 01/05/98)
Juventud vs Psicosis was pretty freaking beautiful. Notice the big wad of psychology as each sold more than any luchadore ever should and how the leg of Psychosis being hurt from the missed springboard guillotine set up Juventud's finishing sequence. I see that the Reverse Falcon Arrow is already on the way to being the new headlock/toprope hurricanrana- I mean Jiminy! Two in one match? Psicosis kills himself and we get to watch. Juventud did more than highfly. Juventud gets UD on Thursday- hopefully for a title run. I good nine minutes of wrestling.

Chris Benoit vs. Steve "Mongo" McMichael (Nitro, 01/05/98)
The Benoit/Mongo match was a lot less than it could have been, though Mongo had the best match of his god-forsaken career. Mongo assumes the Ricky Morton role as Benoit stands around. The Semi Elimination was a wacky, truly makeshift variation on the original. You gotta love Riggs for getting on the good list by totally turning his back on the fannyboy style he was wrestling all of last year and before. Benoit is basically gonna be standing around until Raven is healthy enough to put him over, so I'm expecting a Beat-Lodi-To-Death match next week as the countdown continues.

Goldberg vs. Stevie Ray (Nitro, 01/05/98)
Stevie Ray vs Bill Goldberg was SOOO much of a Hercules Hernandez vs Nikolia Volkoff match. Goldberg actually sold a little, which was a good sign I guess. I feel sorry for Stevie Ray eventhough he sucks, because they can make his brother into one of their top heavyweights and Stevie Ray is gonna be the Eddie Payton of the family. Oh well, he gets paid a lot to suck, so I can't feel too sorry for him.

Randy Savage vs. Lex Luger (Nitro, 01/05/98)
Savage vs Luger was better than it should have been- what with Savage trying to kill himself, Liz being all old,hot and minky in the DIVORCEE-SEDUCES-THE-TEENAGER- MOWING-THE-GRASS kind of way, the CLEAN PIN IN A NITRO MAIN EVENT, and Luger trying real hard in such a lumbering way, but hey! it's Luger and I can't bring myself to do it. The post match angle involved NOBODY I give a shit about so that can all go to hell too.

Chris Benoit vs. Dean Malenko (Nitro, 01/12/98)
Golly! Benoit vs Malenko was about as good as it gets. Malenko's released German Suplex was AWE-INSPIRING, as was the highly improbable roll-up out of backslide out of a Tiger Driver- which I have NEVER seen before. Benoit was great. Malenko was great. The postmatch will be great if Benoit and Malenko get to wrestle their way out of this Raven's nest angle and into the world of cool matches, like this one. I loved the short-arm scissors into a powerbomb and the whole friggin Magilla. Terry Taylor books freakin circles around Sullivan so far.

Booker-T vs. Saturn (Nitro, 01/12/98)
Booker T is SUCH the perfect TV champion because he can have good matches with any of the good/great workers in the Heavyweight/quasi-Heavyweight realm and heat that momma up to the point that its good television. They may have really stumbled upon something REALLY big with Booker T- something I was hoping they would figure out- that Booker T as the TV champ means another good match mid-card to go with the Cruiserweight match. Booker T sells both fat-ass suplexes from Saturn like a FUCKING KING, and hits his limited batch of spin and scissor kicks. The WWF restart was too goofy, but I'm glad they kept the belt on him. This Rick Martel feud will really suck if they kill the belt yet again by putting it on the fossilized former AWA champ.

Marty Jannetty vs. Black Cat (Nitro, 01/12/98)
HEY! Black Cat vs Marty Jannetty was technically good, though it was inexplicably weird. Jannetty's Al Snowbomb was lacklustre but that DDT by Black Cat Whomped my Ass with Concussive goodness. The truly embarrassing Rocker crap postmatch our boy Marty and the fact they didn't call his finisher a fuckin FACE-CRUSHER were also in the way of me digging this match too much.

Goldberg vs. Jerry Flynn (Nitro, 01/12/98)
Hell with it. Goldberg and Jerry Flynn did an conceptually interesting match that you never see in the Big Two with lotsa half-ass submissions and stuff they'll never be cool enough to REALLY pull off but it was cool that they attempted it, so I'll give them props for that. Goldberg sold a little and bled hardway, so hell, I can't hate it.

Chris Jericho vs. Steve "Mongo" McMichael (Nitro, 01/12/98)
Mongo really blows and he DEFINATELY shouldn't be going over the Role-Model/Superstar that is Lionheart Chris Jericho- but I guess it advances the angle and Mongo sold a hurricanrana off the ringpost so I can't whine too much. Chris Jericho was kind enough to admit that he lost to an inferior opponent and I have to take exception, he actually lost to lumbering, clumsy stiff who wasn't even the fourth best defensive lineman on the Bears in 1985.

Lex Luger vs. Hugh Morrus (Nitro, 01/12/98)
Hugh Morris wrestled Lex Luger and it was the first time in a while that collossal stiff Luger actually OUTWORKED someone in the ring. Morris is a giant mountain of crap now. He is nothing at all in terms of doing anything interesting in the ring. He has joined the Giant in the Big Guys With Lotsa "Athletic Ability" Who Suck and Blow Simultaneously.

Booker-T vs. Mortis (Nitro, 01/19/98)
This was a big ten on the Powerbomb-That-Looked-Like-It-Paralyzed- Somebody scale. BOY! That'll leava a mark. Mortis did the neato Northern Light Suplex counter of the Sunset Flip, which was pretty choice. Mortis is so well on his way to becoming King-Sized. Booker T has the capability of getting WAYYYY over and getting a whole new division over with him. I hope they keep the belt on him for a little while and get a Buff/Booker T feud going. I have no idea if Rick Martel can still wrestle, so this Saturday is still up in the air. Postmatch had the horrible stiff, Wrath, in it so I'm deducting points.

Chris Benoit vs. Marty Jannetty (Nitro, 01/19/98)
HEY! Benoit sells a batch for Marty Jannetty- go figure. I've never had any problem with Janetty- he can work and he sells and he is a good wrestler, but the kneelift had to have the Canadian Crippler saying to himself, "I've survived Ohtani's springboard DDT and I'm selling a frickin Bootyman move?!? Maybe I need to show Rockerboy what the Crippler is all aboot." The run-in (as opposed to the RUIN-in! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA!) was SWANK for some reason. I dunno, when he gotta hold of Lodi I freaked out inside. I think Benoit appeals to the quiet hellish violence that permeates the core of all good Americans (or something). I think that's why he appeals to rednecks and compu-nerds alike. He's a prototypical SOMETHING. I can't quite figure it out. I hope they don't fuck up the match Saturday by booking it twelve ways to Tuesday.

Juventud Guerrera vs. Chris Jericho (Nitro, 01/19/98)
Juventud vs Jericho was good workwise and freakin hilarious postmatchwise. Juventud was subdued and Jericho continued his non-botching of spots streak but this was kinda too short to be great and all. These two would be good if they keep Juventud on the road to pushdom and give Jericho the belt and there is an actual question as to who will win. I could see a fat-ass PPV match out of that. Postmatch was great! JUVIE! ARE YOU LISTENING?!? Juventud is back to technico-land it appears (HEY! It was a fun week of punk-ass bastardy goodness). Rey, the little masked freak, comes in and assaults my paragon of honor and NEXT Cruiserwieght Champio, Lionheart Chris Jericho. Little bastard.

Eddy Guerrero vs. Rick Martel (Nitro, 01/19/98)
This worked from a booking standpoint. Martel is gonna be on the PPV wrestling for the belt against Booker T, who is so more over now than he was three weeks ago, so you have to get Martel a big win to set it up- and it better be over somebody good or everybody is gonna fall asleep before the first scissor kick. Eddy isn't on the PPV and can keep his heel heat in the match- and he does- and puts Martel over clean, thus making Martel look better for Saturday. I understand it, but I don't really like it. Eddy Guerrerro is the wrestler of the decade in terms of getting US audiences to take Junior Heavyweights seriously- without Eddy, there would have been no chance for Rey or TAKA or Juventud or Aguila or the rest. But putting over a former (HELL! maybe still) great wrestler is something that the greatness of Guerrerro can overcome. It was clean, Eddy got in as much as possible in four minutes, and nobody will remember it when Eddy takes the belt off (insert fabulous wrestler's name here) in a four and a half star match, so I can live with it. It would be easier to live with if it was ten minutes long and more hotly contested.

Buff Bagwell vs. Scott Steiner (Nitro, 01/19/98)
HEY! Buff takes Scott Steiner by his bloated and roid-enraged hand and guides him to a good match. Konan and Buff bump sufficiently large enough to make Scott look like he's more than just a gassed-up freak who can bearly move (which is just what he is). Hell, Scotty almosts breaks a whole bunch of his HGH-ed neck there for a second, so I can't complain about his effort in this one, I guess. The fact Rick Steiner's fat sorry ass didn't make it to the ring also factored heavily into my WHAT WORKED categorization. Did I ever say that Buff is the stuff? Yep. And Konan was pretty good in his bumpmeister role in this one too. And the Steiners are breaking up. I think I was more JACKED for Renegade and Joe Gomez breaking it off.

Ernest Miller vs. Jerry Flynn (Nitro, 01/19/98)
This was the best match to ever not work since I've been hoisting up these reports. I loved the concept- submissions, stiff kicks, martial arts. The problem was that the kicks weren't really stiff and the pro style stuff they did was so freakin pedestrian. Watch some UWFi/Kingdom/BattlARTS and any other good worked shoots- HELLISH SUPLEXES are the key. The submissions were good but they missed the boat on how to get it over- kick the hell out of each other and take a fat-ass suplex like a MAN. If it doesn't make the veiwer yell "HOLY CRAP" at least once for a big kick or suplexes, then your match has decided to suck. Shootstyle without the danger isn't..... good.

Psychosis vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. (Nitro, 01/26/98)
Chavo Jr looked great putting over Psicosis. I'm super-digging his swank Tope Con Hilo and this was even better than the one from Thunder. Psicosis took the neccessary bumps but he isn't getting over as the monstrously insane rudo that he is in Mexico- for some reason. He can't figure out where he's going or what kind of style he is wrestling in the US. Whereas Juventud has found his niche as a fiesty little technico and is slowly but surely getting over, Psicosis is looking lost. The difference is that Psicosis career is looking super focused in Mexico as a tweener and Juventud is totally lost in Mexico. I guess you don't get both. I got no beef with the announcers this week because for the second straight week they actually talked about the action during the matches I gave a crud about, but if Tenay was in the booth for this match, he would have gotten over the fact that Psicosis was avenging the clean pin at Souled Out in that marvy little bout. I'd push Chavo Jr heavy and make Psicosis his first feud. I have no idea how to heat it up, but I'll leave that up to the WCW braintrust.

Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. (Niro, 01/26/98)
I, being a Chris Jericho disciple AND a Jeri-maniac, was thrilled that he dedicated the belt to me SECONDLY. Of course, he is showing WAY too much leniency on that little freak, Rey Misterio Jr. I mean HELL! he IS wearing his SHIRT for God's sake, isn't THAT enough? Especially since Rey was saying a lot of things he didn't mean about the Lionheart before whatever happened to his knee happened to his knee. MY champion! YESSSS!!!!

El Dandy vs. Ultimo Dragon (Nitro, 01/26/98)
Hey! Ultimo Dragon vs El Dandy was about as little as it could be- as it just seemed like a way for UD to get his pink (?) clad mug on my TV screen. Still, UD at his least is better than anything else on earth so I was digging it. But, deulling Dandinos would have been nice.

Booker T vs. Saturn (Nitro, 01/26/98)
This was pretty good if a bit rambling. Notice what Rick Martel brings to the table as his matches against these two were far superior to them alone. Martel has a greater knowledge of building a match and setting up spots and getting the opponent's offense over as a part of a whole match as opposed to just spots in themselves, which is what this dipped into at times. Martel's matches made a lot more sense in how it will work to a certain point and the offense was a reaction to what Martel was doing. You didn't get that in this. I still dug it though.

Raven vs. Mortis (Nitro, 01/26/98)
This was pretty okay- if one six-hundreth of what the BEAUTIFUL Benoit/Raven match was. Mortis and Raven are both not afraid to take an ass-stompingly HUGE bump and both weren't afraid to supply the selling. The problem is that Mortis is a bizarro move master- kinda like a less-psychology-laden old school luchadore like Dos Caras- and Raven isn't in a good match unless he's selling a King-Sized ass-stomping like Benoit wasn't afraid to supply. Mortis isn't geared for that, but it was an interesting match- at face value anyway.

Davey Boy Smith vs. Steve "Mongo" McMichael (Nitro, 01/26/98)
Mongo vs Davey Boy Smith? Gimme a freakin break. DBS is always teetering between the distinction of being the worst good worker on earth and being the world's most carryable stiff. Mongo ain't gonna bring out the best in anyone and the former Hart Foundation is really stinking up the TV so far.

Louie Spicolli vs. Juventud Guerrera (Nitro, 01/26/98)
This was the worst. This would have worked if Juventud went over clean and then they had the shithead Savage run-in. Hey! Savage is turning against the nWo! Big fucking deal, let Juventud beat the fat sack of crap that is Louie Spicolli and get it over with. And Spicolli's Death Valley Driver is 1/2,000,000 of Takaiwa's or ESPECIALLY Mita's. nWo should keep their old, useless, fat asses out of actual wrestling matches and go back to drawing in the legion of brainstem-deprived yahoos that give a shit about them. Leave me to my good wrestling, fuck faces.

Super Calo vs. Chris Jericho (Nitro, 02/02/98)
So. Super Calo is just TOTALLY mentally unstable. He's gotta be nuts to do that over-the-top-rope diving Senton onto the floor directly into the guardrail. Much less onto my hero, the man one made me a Jericholic- Lionheart Chris Jericho- our champion. Super Calo is SO rebuildible and they should invest the time because he is TOO freakin insane to be jobbing to everybody all the time. He's kinda like a better business-sensed Great Sasuke to a certain extent. Jericho is such the great rudo as he made Calo look even better. My favorite part about the pre-match interview was when he gave the "turn the key and keep it shut" symbol to that super dorko in the audience who didn't understand the greatness of our Paragon of Virtue. Jericho also wasn't afraid to take the phat-ass bump to the floor. FANTABULOUS match. You, Lionheart. Are WELCOME.

Juventud Guerrera vs Psychosis (Nitro, 02/02/98)
This was tres fantasmic. I loved the ode to Rey-through-Juventud-assuming-the-role-of-Rey-when-Rey-does-that-El Hijo del Santo-crucifix-legs-scissors-stuff-whenever-he-wrestles-Juventud spot. Psicosis and Juventud plays up to Lucha Libre crowd by doing the whole foule shpiel which seemed to have gotten over with the gringos too, gauging from the bizarre pop. Psicosis has the SWANK white Spring ensemble that rocks it like a hurricane as his hair is reaching the old wig's length. Psicosis kills himself when Juventud drop kicks him as he jumps over the top of the ropes and we all discover- HEY- the 450 is over. WHIP ASS! I wanna see the commercial time part of the match. Rematch on Thunder for twelve minutes would be nice too.

Billy Kidman vs. Ultimo Dragon (Nitro, 02/02/98)
Kidman isn't ready yet to wrestle Ultimo Dragon in a match that can show the strengths of UD. This match shot for a Japanese style of mat psychology but Kidman isn't gonna hang with UD on the mat for another four years I'm guessing and to go total Lucha wasn't gonna happen either so we got a Mid-Atlantic Indie Lt Heavyweight match, so it wasn't the best of all world's, but it was still pretty good. I loved the super cretin Lucha submission that UD pulled out of his heinie and UD has the best corner hurricanrana in the biz. I'm wondering if the Flock stompdown is gonna lead to something.

Steven Regal vs. Booker T (Nitro, 02/02/98)
HEY! Regal's back! WOO-HOO! His match against Booker T wasn't that great- as holes in Booker T's offense gets exposed as he keeps wrestling single and Regal's had pneumonia for a month so this wasn't one for the ages. It was still good to see Regal again even if he wasn't working as stiff as he should have.

Raven vs. Disco Inferno (Nitro, 02/02/98)
Raven is -Surprise!- really good. His match against Disco was pretty good. I loved the armdrag onto the chair. Disco is the best wrestler with a crappy offense this side of Shawn Michaels, and DI doesn't seem to be as much of a shithead as HBK, so that accounts for something. DI takes a couple of bumps like a man, Raven takes some bumps like a man. HEY! We have a good Monday match past the first Totally Whip Ass first hour. SWANK DDT.

Chris Jericho, Eddy Guerrero vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr., Dean Malenko (Nitro, 02/09/98)
The Paragon of Virtue/Eddy Guerrerro vs Chavo Jr/Dean Malenko match was the match of the week- in a walk. It's good to know that Eddy in El Paso is akin to Flair in Charlotte (as opposed to something as anemic as Shane Douglas in Pittsburgh). Eddy may have found a person to partially fill the Love Machine role with Jericho if Jericho continues to be the biggest heat machine in WCW and can keep the marks hating his guts. They were FANTABULOUS as the super hardcore rudos in this. This match was the best Rock n Roll Express style I've ever seen in perhaps forever, simply because Dean Malenko is fifty times better in the ring than Ricky Morton (who I still love) ever was. Malenko gets the Arn/Benoit/Malenko pop of No Bullshit- which is an eternal staple in all former NWA territories. Chavo was quite the effervescent technico as he and Eddy whomped each other real good. Eddy was on fire, Jericho was SO over-the-top, Chavo hit mid-level his spots (HEY! Tope con hilo again already!) being sufficiently indignant about his crazy uncle, and Malenko kept the whole match together. They gave it enough time to tell a couple of stories (Dean hates Eddy hates Dean, Chavo despises Eddy doesn't respect Chavo Jr, Eddy coming home, Jericho and Eddy's lose affiliation), it was stiff as hell, and Jericho and Eddy were state of the art dickish. Golly. I give it a million billion stars.

El Dandy vs. Juventud Guerrera (Nitro, 02/09/98)
This was a-okay just because El Dandy took the KING-SIZED bump over to ringpost to the floor in a bump that I give a half Silver King and Juventud did all sorts of freaked out roll-ups- given it was halfspeed but still all freaked out.. He and Juvie had the totally mid-sized lucha match because- Hey!- El Dandy was the high-flying wildman of his day, but this is a long time since then and Juvie was nice to him and slowed it down for the old bastard. El Dandy looked like the rudo who had spent a REAL long time in trios matches and still looks a little out of it in these singles matches- but he's old school Lucha Rudo so I love him. Juventud ruled the fargin earth and then my role-model came out and spoke of Dexy's Midnight Runners and rusted-out 68 El Caminos (Oh holy fuck, I was dying at that point) and all. Juventud RULES. Jericho RULES. RULES.

Saturn vs. Ultimo Dragon (Nitro, 02/09/98)
Saturn is not very smooth but his offense is cool enough that Ultimo Dragon- possibly the best wrestler in WCW depending on how Eddy and Benoit are feeling- can make the match make sense. UD sets up Saturn's high spots and picks his own spots sparsely to get himself over, being a pro and all. This was another in the continuing trend on Nitro and Thunder of having a good, solid, if not overly spectacular match to anchor down the middle of the show. This went to the mat, to the air, broke down to striking- a whole lot of good parts that worked a lot of the times. The ending was pretty neat, but it's time for Ultimo to start putting some wins together already.

Disco Inferno vs. Yugi Nagata (Nitro, 02/09/98)
The Disco Inferno vs Yuji Nagata had too many cool suplexes and way too much LaParka for me not to like it. They need to do something with Yuji again. He's too cool to be stagnating like he has the last couple of months in the States. DI once again impresses me by taking an ass-kicking like a man. The inexplicable LaParka run-in was neat but how about putting him over Hugh Morris instead, you hammerheads.

Norman Smiley vs. Konnan (Nitro, 02/09/98)
Konan and Norman Smiley came so close to working but Konan is just not graceful enough to pull off the lucha matwork that Smiley is capable of doing. Konan throws off Smiley's timing to the point where Smiley is dumbing it down to dropkicks to avoid a total disaster. Konan has the right idea for a lot of the stuff they tried and they actually hit a couple of nice things, but if they were shooting for a decent display of something as weird and awesomely intricate as lucha mat wrestling, this doesn't compare to the much better stuff I've seen Smiley involved in, in particular, or the vastly better stuff you get every week on EMLL TV, in general. I should give it the thumbs up just for the weird attempt, but they just didn't hit the mark they were shooting for. I am a hard, bitter man.

Steve "Mongo" McMichael vs. Glacier (Nitro, 02/09/98)
MONGO vs GLACIER!?!? Jiminy crickets! The really great thing is that they had the whole <<""HIGHLIGHTS"">> package of this white-hot Davey Boy Smith/Mongo feud (Mongo fumbles outside the ring trying to do a Fit Finlay elbow on the apron! Bulldog does the best Powerslam EVER! YES! Oh wait...) to precede this so you can imagine who stoked I was for this. Glacier, Glacier, Glacier. I was so excited about the upcoming feud with Chris Adams but they killed all the heat with this match. Mortis makes an inexplicable run-in. Mongo on the Mic! RASMUSSEN on the remote!

Goldberg vs. William Regal (Nitro, 02/09/98)
The Regal/Goldberg match was neat enough to work but too sloppy and clunky in actual execution for me to say, "Hey, this was good." Regal basically tries a lot of stuff that Goldberg can't do yet and then proceeds to potato the hell out of the rookie, which I GOTTA love. Quite an ugly match, but the stiffness of Regal's work always gets him over with me, and the fact that he made a match out it when nobody else seems able to pull it off says quite a bit for his Lordship, though the whole sucked. This would be a good fued for Goldberg to learn how to wrestle an actual match- because Regal is the master and the actual level of stiffness could be pretty choice if Regal taught Goldberg a few things, though they should take it to the houseshow circuit before showing this pair up on TV again.

Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko vs. Eddy Guerrero, Chris Jericho (Nitro, 02/16/98)
WELL NOW. Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko vs Eddie Guerrero and Chris Jericho- This was the match of the night in a fucking walk. Malenko was the total bomb in this one as he and Benoit try to figure out new and creative ways to kill Eddy. Jericho is my idol but he got smoked six way to Sunday on this one- as you can tell who is still on the way who has been there for a while. The Benoit Deadlift into a German Suplex was as cool as Malenko's reverse powerbomb. Eddy is the KING and BEST WRESTLER IN NORTH AMERICA and when he's selling for these two, it doesn't get any better. Super Spectacular. A trillion stars. My idol doesn't have time for jobbers like Benoit and Malenko. He's no jabronie!


Yugi Nagata vs. La Parka (Nitro, 02/16/98)
Yuji Nagata kicks La Parka REAL hard a whole lot of times so LaParka kicks Nagata REAL hard a whole lot of times and then they let LaParka get all highflying and what not- so I loved this match, needless to say. The DI run-in set up LaParka doing the Tarantino-style Chair execution of DI with dancing between the chairshots and gets Nagata the win so it was a run-in with a cause. NOW THAT'S TELEVISION, FOLKS! I await LaParka vs Disco Inferno more than I've EVER looked forward to a DI match before. LaParka is beautiful. LaParka is Funtabulous! LaParka touches all true wrestling fans in a way that scares them and scars them. LaParka is the world's forgotten boy, the one who searches to destroy! LaParka is really neat- he is made of turtle... oh wait.

Ultimo Dragon vs. Billy Kidman (Nitro, 02/16/98)
Ultimo Dragon vs Kidman was a whole lot better than the match they had a few shows ago. UD didn't let Kidman get out of hand and really doubled his effort to get the story of the match across this time around, gluing the psychology together during the ending with the Kidman Gets out Certain Defeat But Is Really Delaying The Inevitable story which permeates alot of Japanese wrestling matches that pits a young guy up against a master- which wasn't an aspect of their first match but which surfaced in that really good UD/Saturn match. And the gold lame UD Outfit WHIPPED ASS. I mean REALLY WHIPPED ASS. This match was very cool despite UD doing the dreaded Giant Swing AND a variation of the repulsive-to-all-right-thinking-wrestling-fans Rolling Cradle just to test my true Ultimo Dragon Fandom.

Saturn vs Rick Martel (Nitro, 02/16/98)
This was really good except for the stupid ending. Why not put Saturn over clean if your dropping the belt to Martel that very same night? It would make for a better reason for the idiot stipulation at SuperBrawl. JJ should have just said, "Tape showed that you cheated. You get the winner on Nitro the next night." Still good, as Martel is fighting father time and NOT wrestling like every other codger has been in WCW and is actually coming through with the good matches on a consistent basis.

Rick Martel vs Booker T (Nitro, 02/16/98)
This was really good. I'm glad they gave it enough time to look like an actual title match. Martel is the real deal when it comes to knowing how to put a match together. How come all those other so-called legends and supposed all-time greats in WCW can't put together a match half as good as the equally as decrepit Martel? Could it be that Martel actually still gives a shit? That's my guess. I await the rematch. And don't forget the Booker T spinerooni (tm- Jim's wife. HA-HA! You have to read this too now!) his second hottest move that he does now that is becoming number one because Booker T doesn't get to hit the Harlem Hangover lately. Plus the breakdancing aspect of the move reminds me of hanging out at malls and buying shirts at Chess King.... I think I just shared too much.....

Curt Hennig vs. Bobby Eaton (Nitro, 02/16/98)
This went to the edge. There it stood and looked down. It lost of friends there, baby. Me included. This would have been good in 1988. Welcome, my friends, to 1998 and these two dreams are over. And Hennig is proving to be the polar opposite of the Rick Martel effect. As opposed to being old and getting over on his work because he's got something to prove, Hennig has degenerated to nothing. I hope Kojima beat the hell out of him before he put his old ass over Sunday.

Kaz Hayashi vs. Ultimo Dragon (Nitro, 02/23/98)
HOLY JUMPIN JAYZEUS ON A FRICKIN POGO STICK! It's Kaz Hayashi, which spells SHIRYU if you squint real hard. I'm thinking it's Shiryu. He did a moonsault, a dragon suplex, and a bizarro tope AND a standing hurricanrana. And he had Shiryu's pants and stuff. COOOOOOL! Push him to the fargin MOON and get him in a feud with Juventud for the belt already. He was the second best all-around in KDX behind Handsome Dick Togo and their best luchadore ever in Michinoku Pro. What a fucking STEAL for WCW. If it is Shiryu, I mean. And Ultimo ruled it as usual.

Raven vs. Chris Benoit (Nitro, 02/23/98)
Call me RASMUSSEN, a freak of nature. Unlike most sane people, I have enjoyed Benoit vs Raven in all its sundry forms and I enjoyed this last go round for all the usual reasons- Raven is REAL good at getting the holy pudge beaten out of himself and Benoit is the greatest wrestler on the face of the earth this month. I'm a bit wary of three-way dance they seem to be setting up for Uncensored but if anybody can make it work, Benoit can. And it would facilitate a Benoit title reign- which is starting to get overdue. Plus Benoit rules the gotdamn earth like monkey.

Chris Jericho vs. Lenny Lane (Nitro, 02/23/98)
HEY! Chris Jericho's wearing Juventud's mask to the ring and being the confident role-model that we- all Jericholics assembled- have all come to love. Lenny Lane looks like he is the next guy to get a weird Cruiserweight semi-push because he gets a whole lot in during this one. I don't mind Lane, I guess, though he has bad hair and is gassed to the gills. I mean he works hard, doesn't botch too much stuff, has some medium range moves and stuff. Lionheart is setting up a rematch to Juventud where he's dropping the strap, I'd think and hope. This Juventud thing is gonna be tricky. Bischoff is gonna wanna push Juventud through the roof to prove that he can get Juventud more over without a mask and thus justify taking Rey's mask (and WHO KNOWS after that). The problem is two-fold: 1.) Luchadores will be dropping their masks unduly and without the coolness of a Mexican Mascara vs Mascara match (where you both hug at the end and everybody gets all emotional and its beautiful and mysterious and Jericho doesn't get on the motherf*cking mic to get some motherf*cking cheap heat while a second generation Luchadore loses his fucking family mask) and 2.) when Bischoff gets it in his mind to push someone, you got four big examples to follow- Alex Wright, Prince Iaukea, Glacier and Bill Goldberg. Yep. I'm not at ease about this at all. I mean, Juventud is my favorite wrestler. I worry about these things.