House Show Results from Charlotte, NC, Saturday, April 25th,
1998
House Show Results from Charlotte, NC, Saturday, April
25th, 1998
- Despite all the speculation that there would be massive outcries of
support for Flair in his hometown, all signs of Flair protest were absent.
Despite a brief write-up of the situation in the Charlotte Observer a couple
of days ago, most fans aren't aware of the situation, or don't know whether
it's real or not. Of course there were lots of "Whoos!", but that would be
the case regardless.
- All the sheets were commenting about how Ric Flair wasn't on tonight's
card, but the card was announced a month ago, before the Flair situation even
began.
- Barbarian defeated Bobby Eaton
- Barbarian enters first to some heat. Then Eaton enters to even more heat,
so Barbarian becomes the face for the matchup.
- One good thing about house shows as opposed to Nitros is only the ring is
illuminated during the match, as opposed to the entire arena. It's much better
for viewing the match.
- Eaton controls early until Barbarian gets in some low blows that Billy
Silverman misses.
- Barbarian dominates for most of the match.
- Eaton attempts the Alabama Jam but misses, to the delight of the crowd.
- Barbarian gets in the Kick of Fear and the 1-2-3.
- Juventud Guerrera and Ciclope defeated La Parka and Psychosis.
- Huge pop for Juvy when he entered.
- A lot of high spots, with Juvy and Ciclope controlling most of the match.
- La Parka interferes a couple of time and does the strut on the ring apron
- hilarious.
- Juvy goes up for the 450 but Psychosis suplexes him from the top
turnbuckle instead.
- Juvy pins Psychosis following a piledriver - kind of disappointing not to
see the 450.
- After the match, La Parka nails Psychosis with the chair.
- "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan pinned Reese
- Hacksaw is still over wherever he goes.
- Not a great match, but Hacksaw's not here to do hurricanranas.
- Hacksaw wins with Old Glory. After the match, Hacksaw did more "USA" chanting.
- Intermission
- It's time to go buy T-shirts. Unfortunately, my top two choices, the Goldberg shirt with gold lettering and the Savage in jail shirt, are both sold out, so I settle for an Outsiders shirt instead.
- I didn't see any Flair merchandise for sale, of course.
- Diamond Dallas Page defeated Raven
- Raven draws the most heat for all the heels that evening. DDP comes out
to the second biggest pop of the night.
- Raven gets a lot of garbage thrown at him.
- The match quickly goes to the outside as DDP throws Raven against the side
of the building three times.
- DDP goes for the pin on the concrete floor, so it's Falls Count Anywhere
- Back inside, Raven nails DDP with the chair and the DDT, but DDP kicks
out of the pin, something you wouldn't see on TV.
- DDP wins after the Diamond Cutter.
- Lex Luger defeated "Big Poppa Pump" Scott Steiner
- Scott Steiner gives the crowd the bird throughout the match and yells
"F--- you" repeatedly.
- Scott controls most of the match. He even finds time to grab the mike and
call Charlotte "a bunch of a--holes."
- Scott Steiner goes for the Recliner, but Luger's feet are in the ropes.
- Luger comes back and goes for the Rack, but Scott Norton comes out and
interferes.
- Rick Steiner comes out to a huge pop and nails Norton, allowing Luger to
rollup Steiner for the pin.
- Rick Steiner defeated Scott Norton
- The match immediately starts as Luger and Scott Steiner fight all the way
to backstage.
- This match was the shortest of the evening, with Rick controlling
throughout.
- Rick wins after a top-rope bulldog.
- Kevin Nash defeated Sting via disqualification
- Nash comes out to a huge mixed response and the Fugees' "Ready or Not."
- Nash takes a little survey. WCW wins by a small margin, much closer than
at Nitro in December.
- Sting enters to the largest pop of the evening. He grabs the mike as says
something to the effect of "Kevin Nash, survey says, WCW will destroy the
nWo."
- Nash controls the first half of the match, but Sting takes over and starts
nailing some splashes and puts Nash in the Scorpion Deathlock
- Norton comes out, followed by Luger. The match is thrown out.
- The decision is announced. The crowd is displeased of course, but one fan
behind me is even more displeased than the rest.
- Everyone within a few rows of this guy including myself gets showered with
his thrown beer.
- Now I know what it's like to be a wrestler at the end of Nitro.
- Anyway, Sting grabs the mike and challenges them to a tag match.
- Lex Luger and Sting defeated Kevin Nash and Scott Norton
- Luger and Sting control throughout.
- Luger tries to rack Norton but Nash interferes. Luger ends up pinning him
instead while Nash is in the Scorpion Deathlock.
- Post-match, Nash says "Even in defeat, the nWo is just too sweeeeet!"
- It was a decent show, even without Flair.