Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
WCW Saturday Night, Jan. 24, 1998
By Graham Cawthon, @TheHistoryofWWE on Twitter
Holy Ground: 50 Years of WWE at Madison Square Garden, on sale now at this link.
TheHistoryofWWE.com.
Last week:
Scott Steiner no-shows Rick Steiner, leaving Rick to face Scott Norton & Vincent alone. After Rick wins, Scott shows up and goes, “My bad.†I smell dissension.
This week, we are in Thibodeaux, LA, taped on Jan. 20, 1998. All the hype is for Souled Out, which airs live immediately after this program.
Bill Goldberg vs. Mike Tolbert
Goldberg’s Road Warriors-esque run is now under way. The announce team stopped talking about him vs. Steve McMichael weeks ago. Now he’s just facing, and killing, heel jobbers. Tolbert jumps Goldberg as Bill steps into the ring. 26 seconds later, a spear and Jackhammer end it. You can tell WCW made a conscious decision to subtly retool Goldberg coming out of Starrcade. It’s a few more months before Goldberg gets another competitive match. And by then, he has the fans wrapped around his finger.
Steve McMichael vs. Raven (No DQ)
Upon his entrance, Raven takes the mic and notes he wrestles when he wants and how he wants, adding it’s now a No DQ match. McMichael comes out to a big pop, takes the mic, and says he also picks his own shots and was allowing a friend of his backstage to face Raven in his spot. Out comes Chris Benoit, who had been after Raven for months and would face him later this same night at Souled Out. The two go 30 seconds before the Flock run out. Benoit and Raven brawl their way backstage as McMichael single-handedly clears the ring of Kidman, Lodi, Sick Boy, Van Hammer, Riggs, and Saturn. A nothing match but a hot segment. Also surprising to see how over McMichael was here. He walks out and you can visibly see the crowd rise to applaud, many of them also throwing up the Horsemen sign.
Jim Neidhart vs. Wayne Bloom
The New Foundation / Beverly Brothers feud continues! That joke is even more timely considering the attack Neidhart recently sustained on TV at the hands of Ric Flair. It’s 1991 all over again! Neidhart hits a springboard shoulderblock into the ring to score the unconvincing pin at 3:39.
Bobby Walker (w/ Teddy Long) vs. Chad Fortune
Chad Fortune, of WWF Techno Team 2000 fame. How did Techno Team 2000 not take off? That name alone screams success. Maybe it’s because they weren’t cyborgs. Perhaps if Erik Watts & Chad Fortune were sent back in time to kill Stephanie McMahon before she gave birth to the leader of the human resistance it would have resonated more with the audience. Walker is kind of the MVP of WCW Saturday Night at this point. He gets a load of TV time and looks strong in losing efforts to stars. Walker picks up the win here with Quitting Time at 3:19.
WCW Cruiserweight Champion Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera
Mysterio is prepping to face Chris Jericho later in the night as part of Souled Out. We see footage from Thunder of Jericho and Eddie Guerrero injuring Mysterio’s knee. Mysterio sells the knee here throughout this match, even though this was taped in advance of Thunder (the injury was legit, so the continuity works regardless). Short match, with the limping Mysterio pulling out a huricanrana to win at 2:49.
The real fun comes after the match as Jericho, wearing a Mysterio T-shirt, comes out with a mic, praises Mysterio’s courage and talks up their epic encounter at Souled Out. Jericho extends his hand, Mysterio shakes it, and then Jericho jumps the champ (even Tony Schiavone notes we could all see that coming a mile away). In a nice preview of the major Cruiserweight programs going into the summer, Mysterio and Juvi team up on Jericho and hit a few beautiful double team moves before Jericho is sent to the floor. This is the first time we really get to see and enjoy Jericho’s new character on Saturday Night. Interesting side note, it’s so early in this run for Jericho that he calls his fans “Jerimaniacs†instead of “Jerichoholics.â€
Rick Martel vs. Johnny Attitude
Martel has a WCW TV Title match at Souled Out against Booker T. And he’s already had a big week, being attacked on Thunder by Kidman & Perry Saturn and thrown through a plate glass door, and then beating Saturn in the ring later that night. Martel applies the Quebec Crab to win at 2:17.
Eddie Guerrero vs. Johnny Swinger
Before Eddie’s entrance, Disco Inferno comes out, takes the mic, and tells Swinger that none of the fans came to see him wrestle, they came to see Disco dance. To be fair, many do applaud when he says that, so there must be some truth to it. Disco puts on some moves, ending with a Chartbuster to Swinger. Eddie then runs out, looks around, hits Swinger with a back suplex and then nails the frog splash for the 1-2-3. There was no opening bell for the match. You almost get the feel WCW is utilizing Disco ala Stone Cold here. It was just a few weeks before this that Austin was hitting Stunners on TV to everyone else scheduled for the 1998 Royal Rumble. The segment seemed nothing more than a way to get Disco on TV and put over his move without him actually having to wrestle. Again, like the WWF did with Austin.
Barry Darsow vs. Barry Horowitz
I stand by my “It’s WWF 1991†comment. I love Darsow’s goofy yelling at the referee, “I’m gonna break his (insert body part here) off!†To date, I have yet to see Darsow forcibly remove a body part from anyone. I would think that would have made national news. Darsow applies a standing armbar on Horowitz to force the submission at 4:06. The commentary team tells us the move is called the Barely Legal. That’s quite the sexy name for a simple yet effective hold.
Glacier & Ernest Miller vs. Mortis & Wrath (w/ James Vandenberg)
Apparently Glacier and Miller aren’t as BFF as they were the previous year, but they’re back on the same page to face their former rivals. Vandenberg jumps Glacier during his entrance, forcing Miller to fight off Mortis & Wrath alone in the ring. Miller works the entire match by himself before tagging in Glacier, leading to Glacier hitting his Cryonic Kick to his own partner and then walking out of the match. A sit-down powerbomb / neckbreaker combo puts Miller down for the count at 7:07.
That was cold, Glacier. Just cold.
But it wasn’t too cold. Nor was it 2 Cold Scorpio.
Rick Steiner (w/ Ted Dibiase & Scott Steiner) vs. Scott Norton (w/ Vincent)
Somewhat of a rematch from last week, in which Rick beat Norton & Vincent in a handicap match. Scott comes out wearing a glittery Las Vegas stripclub-like vest but returns backstage during the match. Buff Bagwell runs out at 5:37 to call for the disqualification. Ray Traylor and Konnan soon follow and a brawl erupts even involving Dibiase fighting off Vincent.
Eventually, Scott returns and clears the ring of the nWo guys before then posing as Dibiase and Traylor tend to Rick.
Other highlights:
Still a big fan of the Souled Out hype packages on the individual matches. And it’s quite the card on paper - Bret vs. Flair, Zbyszko vs. Hall, Giant vs. Nash, Savage vs. Luger. You’ve got a good mix of a dream match and major programs with weeks if not months of buildup behind them.
We’ve got backstage interview time with Jim Neidhart (who basically says nothing of note other than Bret is better than Flair), Rick Martel (looking forward to facing WCW TV Champion Booker T), a sheepish WCW Cruiserweight Champion Rey Mysterio Jr. (whose demeanor might be comparable to a 12-year-old boy afraid to get a word wrong at the spelling bee), and Glacier & Miller (with Glacier being over-the-top in how happy he is to be tagging with Miller; you can tell danger is afoot).
Due to the events of Souled Out, this ends up being the surprise last episode hosted by Tony Schiavone & Dusty Rhodes. They had a good run. Dusty took over for Bobby Heenan right as Monday Nitro premiered, and that was almost 2 and a half years earlier.
Wrestling historian Graham Cawthon’s WCW Saturday Night’s reviews can be found here each Saturday. Contact him via email at TheHistoryofWWE@gmail.com.
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
Bang On Casino
