WCW Nitro Ten Years Ago Flashback
March 30, 1998
Top 10 Things To Know!

(1) Relevance In 2010: Chris Jericho's famous "Man of 1,004 Holds" promo; Jericho paid tribute to the promo on Monday's Raw with the list of wrestlers he's defeated in his career.

(2) Context: The night after WWE's WrestleMania 14 PPV beginning the "Era of Austin" with Steve Austin winning his first WWE Title.

(3) Main Event: Roddy Piper beat Hulk Hogan via DQ.

(4) Match You Would Still See In 2010: Kevin Nash & Scott Hall beat Sting & Lex Luger.

(5) Goldberg's Streak: This week's victim was Ray Traylor.

(6) Best Match: Booker T vs. Chris Benoit 10-minute draw; Booker T retained the WCW TV Title.

(7) Wrestlers Currently in WWE: Chris Jericho, Chavo Guerrero, Big Show, Finlay.

(8) Wrestlers/Talent Currently in TNA: Eric Bischoff, Kevin Nash, Sting, Hulk Hogan, Raven, Mike Tenay.

(9) Nitro Announcers: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Heenan.

(10) When You Think "WCW," You Think: Disco Inferno pinned Kidman in a good, athletic match, High Voltage, and Buff Bagwell vs. Raven.

***

WCW Nitro Flashback Report
March 30, 1998
Chicago, Ill.
Report by Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

(Live from Chicago, Ill.)... [Q1: 3.9]... The show opened with a brief clip of Kevin Nash confronting Hulk Hogan on Thunder last week... Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Larry Zbyszko introduced the program as the Nitro Girls danced in mid-ring. The announcers talked more about the Hogan-Nash feud. Schiavone said every major star in "our sport" was there and ran down names. Who would have thought Schiavone would partake in slighting Ric Flair... (1) High Voltage fought Wayne Bloom & Mike Enos at 3:40 to a no contest when Giant attacked and chokeslammed all four. Giant said over the house mic, "Roddy Piper, you want me? You got me"...

[Q2: 4.8]... Gene Okerlund interviewed Roddy Piper and Giant in mid-ring. Piper wore a Cubs hat and said, "God bless Harry Carey." For the record, Piper continued his streak of gay references in his interviews, saying Nash and Hogan are ex- or current lovers. He said Sting & Lex Luger would face Nash and a partner of his choice, but the partner couldn't be Hogan. Piper said the guy with the beard with Hogan is "formerly Brutus Beefcake, The Zodiac, The Boogie Man. You know what his real name is? E. Harrison Leslie." Piper said he would wrestle Hogan later on Nitro... They replayed Nash asking Hogan at Thunder why, if he's boss, Syxx doesn't have a job with WCW anymore and why Hall isn't on TV. There are conflicting reports on whether Nash cleared those comments about Syxx with Bischoff ahead of time...

[Q3: 4.8]... (2) Saturn (w/The Flock) beat Fit Finlay at 3:42. Good, tight match. Afterward Saturn called for Goldberg... Scott Hudson hosted the "Starburst On the Road" report... Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff led the rest of the NWO (sans Nash, Scott Hall, and Randy Savage). As they came to the ring, Tenay said word is Dennis Rodman could resurface at any time in the NWO (playing off of being at United Center). Hogan said he was looking forward to wrestling Piper later. He said Leslie is his number one disciple, the leader of all of the people who kiss the ground he walks on. He said Nash has been grumpy lately and they have had their disagreements lately. He said he would still team with Nash despite their lack of trust. Hogan said Nash couldn't team with one of "his [Hogan's] brothers" later against Piper & Giant. Nash came out, mockingly calling Hogan "brother," and said he already had a partner lined up. Nash hinted that behind him there might be one or many waiting to stick a knife in his back. They tried to make it seem someone from the NWO would be joining Nash's camp. Hogan and Bischoff looked around at the rest of the NWO with suspicion...

[Q4: 4.8]... The Nitro Girls danced, then they showed Irwin Mandel, the CFO of the Chicago Bulls. Zbyszko said someone should get the guy a comb... (3) Chris Jericho beat Marty Jannetty at 1:20 with the Lion Tamer to retain the Cruiserweight Title. Before the match Jericho dedicated the match to the memory of Dean Malenko. He said Malenko let a lot of people down after he quit and left WCW. He said Dean has shamed his father's memory. He quoted "Mmmbop" by Hansen at the end of his interview. After the match he said Malenko is known as the man of 1,001 holds. He said he counted up only 60, but that he listed his own moves and they equal 1,004. He then pulled out a computer printout that was maybe ten feet in length and began listing the moves he knows. He began with "armdrag," then moved to "armbar." He got through ten moves including something like the Saskatchewan Shooting Suplex. He listed "armbar" three times among the first ten moves. Hilarious delivery. They cut him off before he got past ten...

[Q5: 3.8]... Upon returning from a commercial break, Jericho was still standing in mid-ring on hold number #712 (which was "armbar" again!). The fireworks began to fire to signal the start of the second hour. Jericho laughed and joked, "I'm starting to blow up here" as he continued his list (including "The Super Blizzard"). The notoriously expressionless Prince Iaukea walked out and told Jericho that The Great Malenko trained him and he wouldn't dishonor his memory. Jericho fled from the ring. Jericho demanded the ref hand him his list of holds and his belt. On his way back he complained he had 300 more holds to list. Hilarious... (4) Prince Iaukea beat Glacier at 2:03 with the Northern Lights Suplex. Good action... Nitro Party footage aired from an Ohio high school... (5) Juventud Guerrera pinned El Dandy at 3:05. Good action...

[Q6: 3.7]... (6) Chavo Guerrero Jr. beat Kaz Hayashi at 3:50. One terribly mistimed move, but otherwise solid action... Raven sat in the corner of the ring and said that he would speak in plain English and not use his vast vocabulary because some have complained they can't understand him. He said he was voted most unpopular in high school and his father never spent time with him. He told Dallas Page to listen closely. He said Page was the one who picked him up his first time leaving rehab. He said Page should understand his pain. He said when WCW let him go and said he wouldn't be a star, he was the shoulder he cried on. He said he listened to him every night. Then he said, "What about me?" He talked about spending three long years in barbed wire city getting torn to shreds, going through tables, and being hit with frying pans and chairs. "But you could have stopped it. You could have made one phone call and called in a favor and gotten Raven into WCW. But you didn't because you were jealous and you were scared I would become a bigger star than you." He said he should have listened to the Snake who warned him that Page would turn on him when he became a star. He said he would make Page feel his pain. Very good promo. Tenay commented afterward that Raven blames everyone but himself for his problems. Schiavone said his parents should have sent him to military school. Bobby Heenan suggested shock treatment...

[Q7: 4.3]... (7) Buff Bagwell beat Raven via countout at 1:40. A minute into the match, Page ran down to the ring through the crowd chasing after his stolen U.S. Title belt. Raven fled the scene with the belt. Page chased after him through the crowd. Page walked up to the broadcast table and took Heenan's chair. He addressed the Raven situation, saying "poor Scotty has a selective memory." He said it was so difficult for Raven to grow up in a 20,000 square foot mansion being chauffeured around to the best schools in the best clothes. Page said his past wasn't pretty, citing that his mom had three kids before she was 20 and was divorced. He said he bounced from family to family and doesn't remember the first eight years of his life. "But I'm all right with that," he said. "I turn negatives into positives. Raven turns positives into negatives. You don't know hardship." He then explained that hardship is getting screwed out of a title belt by an evil promotion in your home country before moving on to earn $3 million a year at the next job that was already lined up... no, wait, he actually said hardship is working double shifts at jobs you hate to put food on the table. He told Raven to think about real hardship versus his version of hardship...

[Q8: 3.9]... (8) Disco Inferno pinned Kidman at 5:15 with a piledriver. Excellent TV match. Both guys looked great... (9) Jim Neidhart beat Curt Hennig (w/Rick Rude) via DQ at 1:45. Rude replaced Tenay on color during the match, but when Neidhart put Hennig in a bearhug, Rude interfered. They handcuffed Neidhart to the ropes. British Bulldog "ran" to the ring to make the save. Brian Adams attacked Bulldog. Bret Hart cleared the ring. Bret said over the house mic (again) that nobody knows better than he does what it's like to get screwed. He told Hogan his time would be coming sooner or later...

[Q9: 3.8]... (9) Booker T fought Chris Benoit to a ten minute draw at 9:32 so Booker T retained the TV Title. Fans chanted "bullsh--" when the bell rang. Very good match. It's no surprise the fans wanted to see more... The Nitro Girls danced...

[Q10: 3.6]... (10) Ultimo Dragon fought Psicosis to a no contest at 2:20. At 2:10 the Flock attacked Psicosis. Ultimo came to Psicosis's aid... (11) Goldberg beat Ray Traylor at 2:19. Traylor is the biggest name Goldberg has defeated. The Flock had to hold back Saturn after the match from attacking Goldberg...

[Q11: 4.4]... (11) Kevin Nash & Scott Hall beat Sting & Lex Luger at 6:26. Michael Buffer handled ring announcing. Nash came to the ring first without a partner. Sting and Luger came to the ring next. Savage then attacked Sting and piledrove him on the floor. Savage then entered the ring and he and Nash signaled they were partners. Nash and Savage dominated the first five minutes. Luger racked Nash at 6:00, but The Disciple (Ed Leslie) made the save and gave Luger the jaw-breaker, then put Nash on top of Luger. The ref, who had been distracted by Hogan, turned around and counted the fall. Roddy Piper ran out and began brawling with Hogan...

[Q12: 4.5]... (12) Roddy Piper beat Hulk Hogan (w/The Disciple) via DQ in 6:00 when Disciple interfered. After the match Nash entered the ring. Hogan and Disciple stood back. Nash held Piper. Hogan went to hit Piper, but he hit Nash instead "by accident." Giant then walked to the ring and Hogan, Disciple, and Nash fled the ring. Hogan and Nash exchanged words at ringside while Piper and Giant challenged them to enter the ring. The match itself was just a bunch of punching, low blows, and stomps, none of which looked anywhere near good... [WK]

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

We suggest these recent related articles...

WWE FLASHBACK: Kane character debuts 18 yrs. ago today in first-ever Hell in a Cell match - Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels

HIAC FLASHBACK: Kane beats Undertaker in HIAC match 5 yrs. ago today, plus Randy Orton vs. Sheamus for WWE Title

ROH FLASHBACK: The aftermath of Joe vs. Kobashi 10 years ago today