WCW Blunder II - Thursday, December 31, 1998

They jobbed Chavo to Smiley. There's one word to describe that, and I used it in the subject line. [Editors Note: The subject for this mail was ****.] Chavo could be the one to take over as 'WCW's best undercard personality' if Jericho leaves so what do they do, they job him to Smiley. Smiley is okay to watch, but honestly, he looks like a git. What they should do is get him in there with the cruiserweights and let him win a few there.

I think WCW needs to do something with the Cruiserweight belt, why not give it Chavo! The three (now four) wrestlers it has been with for the last year are wrestling predictable matches which even though they are great, the crowd has seen enough of.

Scott Steiner, apparent leader of the nWo and TV Champ. Yay. If they are gonna give him a belt, at least give him the US Belt. DDP's had it enough anyway.

I think that all Chavo Guerrero, Jr. needs is that one breakthrough match and he'll make it big. However, that horse can't be helping his career any. Yeah, I think it's funny, too. But, with Pepe at his side, Chavo is being used more as a sideshow and not as the excellent cruiserweight that he is.

It is kind of strange to see the leader of a gang formerly dominant in WCW with the promotion's third-tier belt. I'm happy that Konnan lost, better yet SUBMITTED, but if they are trying to sell the fact that Scott Steiner is the leader of the all-mighty nWo, then wouldn't a U.S. or even World Title match sell the drama better?

Okay I have been watching this whole Flair angle ever since he got back. I thought Flair heart attack angle was serious at first, I saw the funny as hell scene with Flair's family (The Bisch's expressions are hilarious), I was watching last night when Flair went into his Not Quite Full Monty (thank goodness, with Ric you never can tell) routine and then won his 90 days as Grand Muckety Muck of Dubbya-Cee-Dubbya and I am wondering why this is supposed to be important. I mean is Flair going to start banning the nWo from buildings and such? Is he gonna get JoJo back? So what? The nWo is just supposed to leave when asked without punking Dillinger's goons first? Of course the Horsemen did the same thing to the severe irritation of their fans but still seeing as how Nash is a booker, he probably wouldn't appreciate the idea. I think WcW might use this opportunity to reform the original nWo and hopefully administer a clubberin' to Gonnad along the way. ;)

Another thing that occurs to me is the reason Bam Bam Bigelow showed up in the first place. I think that it will turn out that Big Kev was the one who brought The Beast From The East in the first place to help wear down Jobberberg, the end result will probably be a severe beatdown on Greenberg next Monday and maybe a Horsemen or two (especially if they reform the old nWo), hopefully Mongo but probably an Edge or powerbomb for Flair, with a possible save by Hogan and/or Savage. Then again I could be wrong...

Now that the old, stiff, owner of two (on a good night, maybe) real wrestling moves, way-over-the-top Hollywood has retired, perhaps we should bring back to WCW the original (and THE FUNNIEST MAN IN WRESTLING, in my humble 20+ year watching opinion) old, stiff, etc., etc. wrestler.

Who am I talking about? Why, none other than Handsome Jimmy Valiant, the Boogie Woogie Man!!! Whooooooooo's in stereo! The time he "slapped Tommy Rich's mamma down" on live TV is still my #1 highlight in the years I've watched wrestling. I almost had an aneurism burst laughing at it (and slapping women is so NOT funny!). You definitely had to be there.

Surely there's an angle TBWM could play in-maybe as a manager? Maybe Flair's assistant as he runs WCW for 90 days? Commissioner? For someone that funny, there's GOT to be a place.

Thought you might be interested in knowing something. I was scanning my pay-per-view guide from Media One cable, and saw a number of listings for something called "WCW/nWo Superstar Series", available for $5 a pop. Whatever these are, they'll start running in January, and are one hour in length. Might be PPV showings of the videos, i.e., Savage or Sting? If so, folks might save the $20 plus postage, and wait for these to run.

That good looking girl who came down with Savage is his real life 22-year old girlfriend. No kidding in that statement. I personally think she can do circles around Elizabeth any day of the week, but hey, that's just me!!

When WCW came to Springfield, MO a few weeks ago, me and my best friend (Barry Sanborn, who is a SMS alum from Joplin, MO and an avid wrestling fan) watched the SMS vs.TCU men's basketball game at Hammons Student Center on the campus of Southwest MO State University, and since WCW was on the same night at the Shrine Mosque (which is three blocks north of campus), we decided to go see if we could just see the main event for free. Our intention was to hang out at the hotel they were at and get some free autographs.

Well, we met up with some other friends of ours and we didn't get to see the main event but we heard about it. People came out just absolutely incensed that the main event featuring Goldberg vs. Giant was a mere 1 minute 30 seconds. People were saying stuff like 'We paid $25 for this?' Anyway, people weren't happy.

Outside the Mosque, these two guys came up and started selling 'bootleg' t-shirts. They had one that featured a white shirt with a the black NWO design on the front and 4 Life written on the back. His partner was selling IV Horsemen t-shirts that had a picture of the four that had been screened on there. What is even more funnier was that they were selling the shirts half of what WCW was selling them.

WCW officials got wind of it, came out and confiscated every NWO t-shirt the guy had. His partner was run off, but continued to hawk the IV Horsemen shirts a half a block down the street. The guy who had his t-shirts confiscated was questioned by police and forced to turn over every bit of money he had (I assume in exchange for being arrested). So much for trying to do a little trademark infringement.

Well, we went to the hotel, and the wrestlers were hounded by autograph seekers and they weren't very happy. We just played it cool and stayed low, acting like we were guests of the hotel. Konnan was happy to sign autographs, Benoit and Jericho made a dash for the limo.

It seemed kind of funny to me that the special 3 hour "Best of Monday Nitro" show was almost exclusively about Hollywood Hulk Hogan. It seemed to cover his whole career with WCW. They should have called it a tribute to Hogan rather than the best of Nitro.

I did not watch the special, but I read about it on various websites. What you said was correct, the three-hour program was nothing more than a Hogan ego-fest. Okay, the guy retired (although there are rumors abound on the 'net that he will come back in early '99) and he did a lot for the wrestling world. I can understand one nice tribute, but that was weeks ago. You [WCW] don't have to cram his glory down our throats, sheesh.

I've heard from second-hand sources that the "Last Match" featuring Dean Malenko and Chris Jericho was not shown on this broadcast. If this is true, then it's a shame, as that was one of the finest matches I've ever seen on Nitro. I would hate to think about what else they left on the cutting room floor.

About last Nitro:

What a shame that Nash had to come out and act all sorry about it when he is the booker. Talk about getting face time.

Wasn't it weird to see Flair and Dusty hug? After all the history and years between them.