-Eric Bischoff, Steve “Mongo†McMichael, and Bobby “the Brain†Heenan are in the booth tonight and are live…from somewhere!
-Highlights are shown from WCW Pro where Sting accepted Ric Flair’s offer to be his partner at Halloween Havoc. Sting says that if Flair swerves him that he’ll leave him for dead.
-Opening Contest for the Television Championship: Diamond Dallas Page (Champion w/Kimberly) vs. Johnny B. Badd:
Page hits Badd in the back of the head with the television title and then takes Badd’s confetti blaster and shoots it all over the ring. Kimberly looks upset on the apron while this goes on and Nick Patrick disqualifies Page. There’s nothing to rate here, but it wasn’t a bad segment because it continued the feud and built to their match at Halloween Havoc.
-Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Benoit:
This is Benoit’s WCW re-debut. Some good mat wrestling starts and Guerrero sends Benoit to the floor with a headscissors. Guerrero messes up a fake dive to the floor, but keeps going and hits a flying body press off the top rope onto Benoit on the floor. Benoit floats over a suplex inside and goes to side suplex Guerrero and both men go over the top rope. Outside, Guerrero whips Benoit into the ring post and clotheslines him in the back of the head. However, Guerrero hit his arm on the ring post and Benoit capitalizes by rolling him into the ring and pounding away. Benoit hits a release Northern Lights suplex where Guerrero lands on his arm and follows up with a snap suplex. Benoit nails an elbow off the ropes, but Guerrero arm drags out of a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and hits a springboard DDT for a double KO. Guerrero covers Benoit for two before Benoit puts his foot on the bottom rope to break. Guerrero reverses his weight in a side suplex and crashes onto Benoit for two. Benoit chops away, but doesn’t get any “woo’s†from the crowd. Benoit jaws with the crowd and works the arm. Guerrero delivers a springboard hurricanrana out of a test of strength and that gets two before Benoit puts his foot on the bottom rope again. Guerrero hits a sick side suplex and a brainbuster. Guerrero goes for the frog splash, but that eats knees for the second time in as many Nitro appearances and Benoit hits a devastating powerbomb for two. Benoit jaws with the referee and goes for another powerbomb, but Guerrero gets a sunset flip for one. Shortly after, Benoit manages to trap Guerrero with a full nelson German suplex and that gets the pin at 8:37. I’m surprised they gave both men this much time, but I’m glad that they did. The crowd was into the big spots, but was dead at first because they didn’t know a lot about either guy. Grade: B-
-“Mean†Gene Okerlund hypes the hotline and alludes to Shawn Michaels getting beaten up in Syracuse. “The Taskmaster†Kevin Sullivan and the Giant show up and Sullivan says the difference between he and Hogan is that he knew from the day he was born that he was evil. The Giant says he’s going to push Hogan’s monster truck off the roof at Halloween Havoc and he puts his hand over Okerlund’s face, which freaks Okerlund out. The interview didn’t tell us anything that we didn’t already know before.
-For another week the Disco Inferno dances in the entrance way. Disco fever baby! Disco dances until Meng comes out.
-Meng vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan:
Both men start brawling before the opening bell and Meng eventually wins. Meng chokes Duggan on the second rope, but a blind charge eats buckle. Meng misses an elbow drop and then misses a reverse body press off the second rope. The crowd is so into Duggan here during his comeback that that it’s scary. Duggan slams Meng, but he takes time to pose and Meng blasts him with a thrust kick and applies the Tongan spike to win at 1:53. Considering both guys limitations this was probably better than letting them go five minutes. Grade: D
-WCW Champion Hulk Hogan addresses the “Hulkanoids.†The what? Hogan likens himself to the Godfather and says that Hulkamania makes promoters cower in fear. What is wrong with Hogan in these promos? They stay on message for the match at hand and then go in a quasi-shoot direction. Jimmy Hart says he’s scared of what Hogan is going to do at Halloween Havoc and Hogan tells him to stay out of his way. Hogan calls the Giant “big and stinky†about five times in this promo. It’s too bad he didn’t talk about slamming the Giant off of the Joe Louis Arena and creating a massive earthquake and tsunami that would’ve consume the world ala WrestleMania IV.
-“The Enforcer†Arn Anderson & “Flyin’†Brian Pillman vs. “The Nature Boy†Ric Flair & Sting:
Sting doesn’t show up so Flair is going to fight by himself. Maybe Sting was too busy watching the Crow or something. Flair and Pillman start and Flair chops his way out of the heel corner and taunts as the crowd goes bonkers. After Pillman and Anderson regroup, Pillman hurls Flair to the floor, but Flair chops Anderson and then tosses Pillman off the apron and into the guardrail. Flair gets back into the ring and taunts some more as Anderson and Pillman regroup for a second time. Tag Anderson and the crowd chants for Sting. Flair unloads on Anderson in the corner, but he puts his head down too early and Anderson drops an elbow. Anderson goes for a knee drop, but Flair holds the knee and applies a figure-four. That’s a problem in a handicap match and Pillman tries to splash him from the top rope, but Flair moves and Pillman eats canvas. Flair applies the figure-four on Pillman, but Anderson rakes his eyes. Flair flips in the corner, but then runs and chops Pillman and gives Anderson a top rope axe handle. Flair must still be consuming some of that Hulk Hogan elixir. Pillman kicks Flair in the back of the head when he runs the ropes to turn the tide and Anderson delivers a spinebuster. Sting runs to the ring as Anderson and Pillman work over Flair in their corner. Flair holds himself on the ropes and avoids a Pillman dropkick and we have a double KO. The crowd explodes when Sting gets tagged in and he takes out the heels as referee Randy Anderson has to jump out of the way of some blows. Anderson and Pillman eventually overwhelm Sting, but Sting gets a double clothesline on both men, delivers an inverted atomic drop to Anderson and clotheslines him over the top rope. Eh, disqualification referee? Sting throws Pillman off the top rope and Pillman crotches himself on the top ring ropes and falls to the floor and Anderson and Pillman get counted out at 6:52. Although Anderson and Pillman looked like chumps in this match, the crowd loved it. I would have preferred for Anderson and Pillman to beat down Flair prior to Sting coming out instead of Flair cleaning house on his own, though. Grade: C+
-Okerlund interviews Flair and Sting and Sting says Flair has earned his respect and both men join hands in friendship.
-Tune in next week to see Sting & Lex Luger fight Harlem Heat, Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko face Eddie Guerrero & Alex Wright, and Hulk Hogan will be here!
The Final Report Card: This was a really exciting show and the crowd had a lot to do with it. The main event set up the Halloween Havoc tag team match effectively and the same can be said of the opening segment with the television title.
Monday Night War Rating: 2.2 (vs. 2.6 for Raw)
Show Grade: C+
