WCW 1998: Empire Falls

Fireworks explode and the commentary team welcomes us to Tulsa! Tony Schiavone describes the events last night at Souled Out, calling it the worst night in the existence of the new World order. Bobby Heenan, however, warns that the nWo is like a viper backed into a corner so WCW had better be careful. They run down the action for tonight, as well as the upcoming Sting vs. Scott Hall matchup at SuperBrawl and a newly announced contest – The Giant will take on Kevin Nash at that same event!

Rating: 80 (B)

The nWo music hits as the whole gang walks down to the ring. They are more intense than usual, outside of Hall and Nash, who walk down with their normal sarcastic and arrogant demeanors despite their failure to recapture tag team gold just last night.

In the ring, Bischoff grabs the mic first and talks about how the new World order is stronger than ever, and that just because a couple of now-fired cameramen caught them in the heat of the moment doesn’t mean anything. He admits that they had a bad night, but there was one miracle, and it's that "Hollywood" Hogan's leg is all healed! Hogan grabs the mic and cackles that at least somebody got the job done – he talks about how "The Hitman" will never be smart enough to keep up with "Hollywood" and that's why Hogan's been on top of this business for a decade! He adds that when Bret got a run at the top it nearly tanked the whole industry and now he came crawling to WCW to play fiddle to "Hollywood" and the new World order one more time!

Heenan notices that Curt Hennig in particular doesn't seem amused by Hogan and his passive aggressive potshots tonight. Neither does "The Macho Man," who starts to pace behind Hogan, but is quickly talked down by Konnan and Scott Steiner. Nash talks next and targets The Giant – he says at SuperBrawl, he's gonna take that fat, slow Giant and show him what it means to be "Big Sexy." And, Hall grabs the microphone and says that just like at World War 3, mang, he's coming to SuperBrawl to bring The Stinger's gold back to the en…Dubya…oh.

Rating: 83 (B+)

 vs. 

Looking for a bounce back after he came up just short at Souled Out, Chavo picked up a hard-fought win over the high-flying Juventud with the innovative Gory Special.

Rating: 59 (C)

Next, we have "Mean" Gene at the top of the aisle as he welcomes his guest, the WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Sting. He asks about Sting's upcoming title defense against Scott Hall at SuperBrawl.

Backtracking a bit, Sting explains his mission: he watched over WCW for a year, and he had people searching after him saying "Stinger, Stinger, you gotta help WCW, you gotta kill the new World order." He says he bided his time to pick apart the nWo's weaknesses as he trusted the united front of WCW – Lex Luger, Diamond Dallas Page, The Giant, and others – to take care of business. Souled Out, Sting claims, was the beginning of the end for the nWo. And now, Sting says as he holds up his hand, lifting up one finger at a time…he's gone through Hogan…he's gone through Savage…and next up is Scott Hall.

"You'll bite the dust too, Bad Guy."

Rating: 84 (B+)

As we come back from commercial, we head to the back to see Disco Inferno on the WCW Hotline! Kids, get your parents' permission to call and ask him whether he or Rick Martel have better dance moves!

The camera comes back to the ringside area as "Mean" Gene has another interview segment – this time with Kimberly, who hasn't been seen on WCW television in a couple of months. Gene asks where she's been and what she plans to do now that she's back on TV. Before Kim has the chance to answer though, two men skulk out from the back – the nWo's Buff Bagwell and Scott Steiner!

Gene asks what the hell they're doing out here. Rather than answer, Scott grabs the mic, Buff fakes as if he's going to hit Gene, and Scott gets obnoxiously gets close to Kimberly. He starts to flex as he says he knows something about Kimberly that was supposed to be a secret – that not only was she Diamond Dallas Page's Diamond Doll, but she's also his wife! Kimberly doesn't deny the assertion, as Buff feigns shock before cackling like an idiot. Scott says that she should ditch that chump and be with a real man like "Big Poppa Pump!" (which draws a "what the heck is a Big Poppa Pump?!" from Mike Tenay), because he made her husband look like a bitch last night! He says he knows Kimberly's got moves and likes to have a good time, and offers up his locker room for a good time tonight! But she's not interested – she says the only real man is her husband, Diamond Dallas Page, because he has the United States Championship and Scott doesn't! Scott and Buff are irate at the insult, and as Scott looks to put his hands on Kimberly, he's intercepted by the champion – Diamond Dallas Page!

Page shoots out of the dressing room like a house of fire as he lays into Steiner with a forearm, sending him flying down the aisle! He turns and slams Buff with a right hand to the head as officials come chasing after him to stop him! He's held back from Scott and Buff but Tony notes he won't have to wait long to get his hands on them – he's in tag action against them later tonight!

Rating: 46 (D; Hotline); 89 (A; DDP/Steiner confrontation)

 vs. 

Mongo stepped in the ring against a game competitor in Riggs, albeit not the man who he defeated for the Television belt a few weeks ago, Saturn. Though The Flock tried its darndest to bring the belt back to the faction, they were cancelled out by the arrival of Ric Flair, a banged-up Chris Benoit, and Dean Malenko, who threw hands with Kidman, Sick Boy, and Hammer around the ring and bought time for McMichael to hit the Mongo Spike and successfully defend the title!

The victorious side holds down the ring and McMichael holds the belt high in the air. Flair audibly yells toward Raven that he'll "see you later, you son of a bitch!"

Rating: 55 (C-; match); 72 (B-; post-match)

We get a quick preview for WCW Saturday Night in which it's announced that both the WCW World Tag Team Champions Harlem Heat will be in action, as will "Lionheart" Chris Jericho!

Rating: 68 (C+)

In the back, "Mean" Gene is standing by with The Hart Family. Ahead of Davey Boy's matchup versus Konnan, Gene wants to know Bret's thoughts on the charade Hogan pulled at Souled Out. Bret calls it complete nonsense – he calls Hennig a hell of a competitor but is disgusted by Hogan's actions. He doesn't blame the Hulkster though, because he would do the same if he knew he had no chance at winning a wrestling match. Bret says enough is enough – he wants Hogan for real at SuperBrawl!

 vs. 

In a matchup of two hard-hitting, underrated competitors, Davey Boy Smith outlasted Konnan after a stalling vertical suplex and a Powerslam.

After the match, as Davey has his hand raised, he's assaulted from behind by "Macho Man" Randy Savage! The rest of the nWo gang at ringside wipes out Neidhart, but Bret Hart runs down for the save! Bret lays hands on Norton, clotheslining him out of the ring right onto Vincent, and as he goes to land a right hand on Savage, Savage drops to the ground and rolls out of the ring! But, capitalizing on the opportunity, "Hollywood" Hogan slides in behind Hart with the same crutch from last night and blasts him in the back with it! The assault continues until the nWo is done, yet again!

Rating: 83 (B+; promo); 77 (B; match); 90 (A; attack)

"Mean" Gene is in the back, waiting for his guest, "The Total Package" Lex Luger, but Lex appears to be running a bit late. After leaning down to listen into his earpiece, Gene says apparently there has been an attack in the parking lot?! We switch over to cameras running through the garage to find Luger on the ground next to a car with a broken window and laying in a pool of glass! Heenan can't believe Luger's been taken out too – who's going to be the partner of Diamond Dallas Page later tonight?!

Rating: 89 (A)

Raven is at ringside along with The Flock, which now includes an unknown young man with long blonde hair, wearing sunglasses and a long coat. As the commentary team questions who this man is, Raven and Saturn hop over the railing for tag team action.

  vs.  

Saturn and Raven showed a great rapport with one another as they isolated Flair for most of the match. The shocking end came when Flair locked Saturn in the Figure Four Leglock, but Chris Benoit came flying off the top rope with a headbutt – to Flair! Saturn tagged in Raven, who dropped Flair with a DDT as Benoit looked on, stone-faced, allowing Raven to score the biggest pinfall of his WCW tenure!

After the match, Raven looks at Benoit and extends his arms. He points over to Flair as Benoit stomps him out before picking him up and holding his arms back. Raven lands a couple of more stiff right hands, splitting Flair's lip, as Steve McMichael, Arn Anderson, and Dean Malenko rush down to the ring. Despite their success earlier tonight, the Horsemen stood no match against The Flock this time due to the new allegiance of "The Crippler" and Flair's broken condition. While the blonde man stays behind the railing, Mongo and Malenko are taken out from behind by Saturn and Hammer. Raven grabs Anderson by his blue polo shirt, but instead of delivering a DDT which could have seriously exacerbated Arn's already career-ending neck injury, Raven slaps "Double A" across the face as The Flock, "The Crippler" Chris Benoit in tow, leave the Horsemen broken and battered.

Rating: 81 (B; pre-match); 71 (B-; match); 85 (B+; post-match)

After a commercial break and more discussion about Chris Benoit's shocking actions, Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell make their way out to the ring. Steiner grabs a mic and says it's a shame that Lexy probably fell over from those skinny little legs of his in the parking lot and that he bets Dallas is too chicken**** to come out and fight 'em anyway. The music of DDP hits and he brings out a mic of his own. He says he's gonna beat their asses for what they did to Luger and what they tried to pull with Kim, and that he found just the guy to help him do it…the guy who wants to beat Scott's ass more than anyone else in the world. He points to the back – it's "The Dog-Faced Gremlin" Rick Steiner!

  vs.  

The WCW team put together a great effort early on, but as the chaos began with distractions from Scott Norton, Konnan, and Vincent, the two men and referee Mickey Jay were overwhelmed. This allowed Scott Steiner to land a huge low blow to the crotch of his brother and pick up the win!

Rating: 77 (B; pre-match); 75 (B-; match)

The commentary team shows us some footage from earlier tonight in which Steven Regal asked JJ Dillon for a match because he wants to show he's championship material. Dillon obliges…and up next, Steven Regal will go one-on-one with…Bill Goldberg!

 vs. 

Regal came prepared in this one. Knowing he wasn't the same type of athletic freak as Goldberg, he tried to outsmart him by blasting him with brass knuckles, but it was right in front of Randy Anderson, who obviously disqualified him immediately. Regal survived Goldberg, but it's the former Atlanta Falcon who improved his record in WCW to 24-0.

Rating: 77 (B; backstage); 77 (B; match)

Next up we get a quick promo from The Giant backstage with Gene Okerlund, in which he shouts for about thirty seconds about The Outsiders. The gist is that once he breaks Hall in half with his Chokeslam, he's coming for Nash, and he's going to show him who the real and only Giant is in World Championship Wrestling!

Rating: 85 (B+)

 vs. 

If you've followed the nWo at all over the last year and a half, you knew where this was headed. Though Hall looked impressive, The Giant started to get rolling a bit after blocking an ill-advised fallaway slam attempt. As soon as it was time for the Chokeslam, Kevin Nash blindsided the big man to save his friend, resulting in a DQ victory for Giant.

Nash and Hall continue the beatdown after the match despite the ravenous Giant trying his best to fend off the two men. They're simply too much for him, though. Just as Nash bends Giant over for the Jackknife (which drew a "no way!" from Heenan), Sting shoots down from the sky, bat in hand! Nash takes a bat to the ribs, and falls backwards through the middle and top rope! Hall gets out of Dodge, the damage done! Sting points down at him before checking on Giant as the show fades out!

Rating: 77 (B; match); 92 (A; attack)

Overall Show Rating: 83 (B+). This show increased our popularity in 22 regions.

Backstage Notes: It was an eventful one behind the scenes. Konnan tried to pull a rib on Ric Flair and Flair took it too personally, but when it devolved into a fight, the much younger Konnan took him to town. Konnan was given a stern warning by Eric Bischoff, who told him that you just can't attack "The Nature Boy" and expect to move forward as a key member of the WCW roster. Bischoff thus selected him to do the job to Davey Boy on the Nitro card. However, Konnan was said to have acted defiantly in response, although his buddies Rey Mysterio and Psychosis were very happy with the stern warning. Making matters worse though, Flair thought the action was far too soft and let Eric know about it. Unrelatedly, Juventud Guerrera made an Irish goodbye when it was his turn to pay for drinks, and when Dusty Rhodes found out about it, he confronted Juvi and made him agree to pay the tab the next two nights out. Juvi felt bad about his actions (and his wallet) and is said to have improved his behavior.

Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera

Steve "Mongo" McMichael (c) vs. Riggs w/The Flock

Davey Boy Smith w/Jim Neidhart vs. Konnan w/Scott Norton and Vincent

Chris Benoit and Ric Flair vs. Raven and Saturn

Diamond Dallas Page and Rick Steiner vs. Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell

Bill Goldberg (DQ) vs. Lord Steven Regal

The Giant (DQ) vs. Scott Hall