Hosted by Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko, Mike Tenay, and Bobby Heenan
David and Torie are sitting in front of a fire trashing his dad and glorifying Hollywood Hogan. Cut to the arena
and a Volkwagen Beetle being given away in a contest. The announcers are talking about Bret Hart's statement last
week wherein he opined that he could beat Goldberg in five minutes. They cut to the video - sure enough - he said
it. Hmmm...the show's in Canada...I wonder...
Konnan video then cut to the arena where Konnan is making his entrance. He goes into his rap (rant) until he
is interrupted by Vincent who says he has been assigned to take Konnan out. He jumps right on the apron to get in
Konnan's face and is dragged into the ring and trashed. Eventually, Vincents manages to pull down the top rope at
the right moment and sends Konnan tumbling to the floor. He follows him out and retains his advantage then rolls
him back in. Vincent maintains his advantage but Konnan is growing stronger and gradually gaining ground. Soon
Vincent is having to resort to eye shots to keep ahead. He traps his opponent on the apron and drops an elbow
across his chest. Konnan is coming back when Stevie Ray appears in the aisle to distract Vincent. Konnan
blindsides his opponent and puts the Tequilla Sunrise on to win.
Cut to video of Hogan with Torie discussing their plot against the Flairs. Hogan spins out an incredible tale
concerning the epic battle between himself and Kevin Nash for the WCW World Title...
Mean Gene welcomes Hogan to the ring. He interviews him in face mode - he seems to have no problems
with anything Hollywood's doing these days. Hogan claims that he won the match at Uncensored and "where's my
stinking belt?" He wants Ric Flair tonight - what else..?He says he has the nWo out combing the building for Flair.
He is mixing his Hulkamania cliches with his Wolf Pac cliches as he rants for several minutes. The announcers are
floating the rumor that Sting is in the area tonight.
Goldberg tribute video. Tony is on Sting again. He is speculating about what Sting will look like, etc. Cut to a
taped interview with Diamond Dallas Page conducted by Mike Tenay. He says that Kimberly is doing fine and that
he suffered a herniated disc and had to go through rehab. When Tenay presses him about his travails DDP cuts him
off and disabuses him of any sympathetic urges. He plans to get Steiner on his own terms.
Wrath vs. Kenny Kaos - a young vs. an older lion - both of these guys are hungry. Could be a good contest.
Sure enough Kaos shows himself to be no pushover. Everytime Wrath turns him loose he comes back with a shot
or two. The bottom line is that he can't possibly pin the guy and as frustration sets in he runs into an upraised boot.
The fight goes out to the floor where Wrath manhandles his opponent until Kaos blocks a shot to the rail and
reverses it. They struggle to the apron and Wrath smashes Kaos into the apron. Back in the ring, it is all Wrath. He
beats on the guy for a while then hauls him over to the apron and pounds on him some more. This time when he
turns Kaos loose he completes gets the clothesline on the rebound. Kaos gets a arm-bar drop for his last offensive
flurry which ends when he walks into the Death Penalty followed by the Meltdown. Great match.
Now we have Nash with Torrie. This is following a familiar pattern. She's questoning him about the big title
match as well. He is surprised that Hogan says the match was for real. Torrie indicates that she has seen a tape of
the "match." Nash wants to know if Torrie thinks Hogan could beat him. She prefers not to answer.
Mean Gene is in the ring to interview Ric Flair. There is a good mix of cheers and boos for him as he comes
down. Okerlund gets right into it and asks Flair about Hogan's challenge. El Presidente ignores the question and
goes into an anti-Canada rant then announces a surprise appearance by Diamond Dallas Page to make a
presentation to the president of WCW. They trade some good natured barbs at each other but underlying it all is
animosity. DDP wants a match with Scott Steiner. He then turns to the crowd and hurls his own insult to the
Canadians! Flair says "you want Steiner and Hogan wants me..." so he makes a match between DDP and Hogan.
Hogan shows up and they trade challenges. Hogan leaves. Flair tells DDP that he (Flair) will ensure DDP's victory
by being his manager tonight. Page is telling Flair to stuff it when Sting appears in the rafters to break up the
conversation. He is back to his white face character...too bad...
Our first look at the Nitro Grrrrrls (in gold lame) tonight comes eleven minutes after the beginning of the
second hour.
Scott Norton vs. Rick Steiner - in a match against a wrestling machine like Steiner, Norton has nothing but
limitless power on his side. Steiner capitalizes on every mistake the big man makes. The result is largely a standoff
and Norton is pacing around on the floor .
Both guys are out on their feet in the ring. They gain their feet and trade power moves. It's all in slow motion now
until Norton reaches out a finger to stab Steiner's eye. The Dogface falls out of the ring. Norton follows him out
only to be smashed into the ringpost four times! Back in the ring, Steiner mounts the corner and gets the bulldog
from the top to take the pin. Good match!
Rey Misterio is urging Kidman to help him challenge for the World tag Team Titles. Kidman is hesitant,
recalling his experience with Chavo Guererro, but finally agrees.
Chris Adams vs. Booker T - Television Title match - Booker handles things easily in the early going. Adams
comes back with a hip toss. Booker credits him for the shot then dances around the challenger before putting him
down hard. Adams offers a handshake and Booker accepts. He then backs the Champ into the corner and takes a
cheap shot. Booker drags him out to the center and creams him with an ax kick. The match goes to the floor where
Adams grabs the initiative and plants Booker with a super-kick on the concrete. Back in the ring, Adams tries to
hold Booker down. Then gives up and lays a powerbomb on him! Adams sees his chance and he's taking it! A
series of kicks marks Booker's comeback and now Adams is on the receiving end again. Booker ends it with a
missle drop-kick.
More Nitro Grrrrls on the ramp...with hats...I heard today that Nitro Grrrrls Whisper is engaged to Shawn
Michaels.
Jerry Flynn vs. Chris Jericho - well, now we'll see what kind of push Flynn is getting. Jericho reminds the
crowd that he is 100% Canadian...then turns around and says that Canada sucks! What is this..? Bash Canada
night..?? Flynn comes on strong at the top of the contest but Jericho is too skillfull to be kept down too long.
Jericho turns the tide in moments. He dominates for a couple of minutes then misses a drop-kick and gets caught in
a submission hold. Flynn turns him loose and pays for the error as Jericho turns it back around. Jericho flies and
Flyyn catches him in mid-air with a sidekick. Now the match is in see-saw mode until Jericho catches his opponent
in the corner and pins him with an assist from the ropes.
Mean Gene is with Spice and the beetle - she drapes herself on it while he hawks the contest.
Bret Hart saunters out to the cheers of the homecountry crowd. He smiles faintly as the crowd pours out its
love and respect. He mentions that "everybodies upset about the ratings..." but he's not - he starts his rant by
quoting the lyrics of "Oh Canada" thn launches into his classic whine about not getting any World title shots since
coming to WCW and reiterates his challenge directed at Goldberg. He mentions the Goldberg $100,000 challenge
to Steve Austin (even calls Stone Cold by name) and then reminds us that he beat Austin every time he faced him
(and he did too...) Goldberg shows up to his customary pop enters the ring and immediately spears the Hitman!
They are both knocked cold!! Their pose entangled with each other is almost obscene. Hart comes to but
Goldberg is still unconscious. He rolls over and pins the monster and then administers his own count - 1-2-3! He
did pin Goldberg in under five minutes. He gets up and tears off his shirt - he's wearing a metal plate over his
midsection!!! He grabs the mic and calls out to Eric Bischoff saying,"I Quit!" then stalks from the ring. He barely
pauses to argue with JJ Dillon as he passes out of the arena.
In a replay we see that Bischoff came out and confronted Hart during the break.
Buff Bagwell comes down to do his first rant since the big split last week. His opponent is Norman Smiley -
damn I was just getting used to not seeing this idiot every week. Smiley is not Buff - and he is not the stuff... Buff
thinks this match is a joke so Smiley tries hard to dispell that notion. He knocks Bagwell to the floor then turns to
pose for the crowd. Bagwell bails back in and Smiley in knocked to the floor on the other side of the ring. Smiley
comes back in and starts trying to work on a leg but Bagwell is way ahead of him until he goes for a splash and
lands on Smiley's knees. Smiley gets his swinging slam then does a little of his wiggle. Now he is in control for the
first time in the match. Bagwell fights back but Smiley has his number. Tony is doing French procunciations of
Bagwell's name... Smiley is starting to concentrate on Bagwell's pre-injured neck. Here Norman shines and it starts
to look bad for Bagwell until Smilety misses a drop-kick. From there they are about three moves away from the
Blockbuster and a win for Bagwell.
Chris Benoit/Dean Malenko vs. Rey Misterio, Jr./Kidman - WCW Tag Team Title match - this match has
epic potential. Benoit starts the match with Kidman and Benoit dominates from the get-go. He is in buzz saw mode
and Kidman is feeling the buzz (so to speak). Kidman finally comes back with a powerbomb then both sides
change off. Malenko steamrolls over Misterio then grabs a reverse chinlock. The change is made and Misterio is
being isolated in classic Horsemen style. Misterio takes to the air to turn the tables but he can't sustain his attack
against the power of Benoit. Malenko comes in and goes for the Texas Cloverleaf on the seemingly helpless Rey -
who turns out to be playing possum! He upsets the Tag Champ then tags Kidman in. Kidman is on the receiving
end at first but then turns things around.
Benoit has Kidman under control again. He tags Malenko who gets a big vertical suplex. He hauls Kidman up and
drops him in a belly-to-back. Benoit comes in and they double team on a flap jack slam. Benoit stays in to punish
Kidman some more by dropping him onto the top rope stomach first. Kidman is tossed to the floor where Malenko
does a number on him. Back in the ring they go for another double elevation but Kidman gets a doubel drop-kick
on them. A brawl on the outside has the referee distracted as Saturn and Raven come to the ring. Raven goes right
into the ring and puts the evenflo on Malenko! Rey Jr. gets the pin. Misterio and Kidman are the new Tag Team
Champs!!
Michael Buffer introduces the main event.
Hollywood Hogan vs. Diamond Dallas Page (w/Ric Flair) - the match starts as a pier-six brawl - something
that both of these dinasours do very well. Page is knocked to the floor and is being ordered back into the ring by
Flair.
The fight has moved up to the broadcast position!! Page is stomping a mudhole in his opponent. They battle over to
the WCW letters after tearing up the announce table. They push over the letters on one side - of course - they're
getting ready to redecorate the set next week. Back in the ring (somehow) Hogan removes his weight belt and
whips Page, who delivers a low blow then takes charge of the belt. Flair runs in to help Page and gets caught
between them and whipped as well. He fleas the scene and the match goes back into the ring. Page is ripping at
Hogan's face then delivers a swinging neck breaker. Hogan comes back ith a clothesline in the corner. He grabs an
abdominal stretch but then is distracted by Flair and releases the hold. Page comes back with a snap suplex. He
bulls Hogan into the corner and lays in the elbows. Hogan roars out of the corner and drops several elbows of his
own. He is actually showing us some wrestling technique as he grabs an arm wringer then extends the arm of Page.
DDP makes another comeback via finger to the eye. Flair is cheering him on. They battle on and on and then
suddenly, Hogan is "Hulking up" he puts Page down then Flair runs in and attacks Hogan in the corner. Hogan
"Hulks up" some more and ejects Flair then drops the leg on Page. But referee Mickey Jay has been knocked
down in the confusion. Charles Robinson runs in but refuses to make the count! Hogan punches him out then goes
back to his cover. Mickey Jay revives and administers the count. Fade to black on Hogan's Rant.
credit goes to Pro Wrestling Inline and DDW
credit for pics goes to Lordsofpain
