From: Atlanta, GA
A video package promoting the Kevin Nash vs. Goldberg match scheduled for later on is shown. Clips from their Starrcade match are shown.
Nitro opens up with the Nitro Girls dancing in the ring. Tony Schiavone welcomes everyone to the show and quickly hypes up the Kevin Nash/Goldberg rematch as the main event. Larry Zbyszko and Mike Tenay are also on commentary with Schiavone. Balloons fall from the ceiling to celebrate the biggest Nitro in WCW history.
Jimmy Baron is with a group of fans celebrating a Nitro Party.
The announcers talk about the show and what is in store for WCW in 1999. Of course, they make sure to talk about the returning Hulk Hogan and how tonight is the first night of control for new WCW president Ric Flair.
A video highlighting the recent happenings where Ric Flair stripped down to his underwear and proclaimed he would leave the wrestling world if he lost to Bischoff on the last Nitro. Flair would defeat Bischoff and has now been named the President of WCW.
WCW Nitro opening video package
Outside the building, WCW President Ric Flair, Arn Anderson and Flair’s family are walking into the Georgia Dome.
Mean Gene is standing in the ring and introduces Ric Flair. Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit are also by Ric Flair’s side for the segment. Flair says this is a proud moment for him. Flair thanks everyone who stood by him throughout the years. Flair says that Eric Bischoff has ran over a lot of people in WCW. Flair calls out Eric Bischoff to the ring to talk to the new President of WCW! Bischoff slowly walks down to the ring and is greeted with a course of boos. Bischoff enters the ring and appears to be worried about what is going to happen to him. Flair talks about Bischoff making him feel small on a number of occasions throughout his career. Flair isn’t going to fire Bischoff but instead Flair tells Bischoff that Bischoff will be working for Tony Schiavone. Bischoff leaves the ring disgusted as Schiavone and the announcers are happy about this announcement. Flair talks about referee Randy Anderson who has cancer and was fired by Bischoff a couple of years ago. We see a video of Bischoff firing Anderson. Flair calls out Randy Anderson gives Anderson his job back at double the salary. Flair thanks Diamond Dallas Page, Booker T, Tony Schiavone and Randy Savage. Flair welcomes Savage back to WCW. Flair announces that he is booking himself in a handicap match for WCW Souled Out against Curt Hennig and Barry Windham! David Flair cuts in and tells Ric that he wants to be his fathers partner at the pay per view! Ric says that David isn’t ready for wrestling but Arn Anderson says David knows what he is doing. As a result, Ric accepts David as being his partner for Souled Out 1999.
Nitro Girls dance at the top of the entrance way.
Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko pick on Eric Bischoff for not offering anything to the broadcast. Schiavone threatens to report Bischoff to Ric Flair. Bischoff doesn’t say a word to Schiavone.
Backstage, Bill Goldberg enters the building and is told by police he has a warrant for Goldberg’s arrest. Goldberg is shocked and begins to tell the police all the right things he has done. According to Goldberg’s logic he doesn’t have to go downtown because he is innocent. Goldberg again tells the police that he didn’t do whatever he is accused of. Goldberg threatens the police, which is not a good thing, and refuses to go to the station downtown. A officer named Jack calms Goldberg down and convinces Goldberg to put his hands behind his back and go to the station. Goldberg proclaims he will be revealed to be innocent.
After a commercial, Goldberg is being lead to a police car by about six officers. Kevin Nash comes out and says that this is bogus and says he has a match with Goldberg tonight. Nash sees Hulk Hogan entering the building and Hogan is laughing about Goldberg being sent away because as a politician he wants people who are guilty to serve time. We also see Elizabeth talking to investigators.
At the police station, Goldberg is being booked by police. The station is apparently right across the street from the Georgia Dome. Goldberg is told he is arrested for aggravated stalking. They tell Goldberg that Miss Elizabeth is the one who pressed charges. Goldberg is surprised to hear that and says he isn’t capable of something like aggravated stalking.
Back to the Nitro Party, two fans are thumb wrestling. Just a bunch of fans being loud and clearly being well over the legal limit of alcohol intake.
Backstage, Elizabeth is being talked to by police. Elizabeth says that she was accosted in the hallway by Goldberg by the water cooler. Elizabeth says literally everywhere she goes Goldberg is always around her.
Outside, the LWO lead by Eddie Guerrero are partying with several women. They go inside a building and continue to have a party. Guerrero is talking to pretty much all the girls and it is apparent that the other LWO members are not happy. Rey Mysterio Jr. covers up his face when the camera turns to him. Guerrero is really treating his fellow LWO member terribly.
Back to the police station, Goldberg defends himself that they are work at the same buildings and he owns the gym that Elizabeth goes to all the time. Goldberg is getting fed up with this!
Mean Gene introduces the WCW World Heavyweight Champion Kevin Nash who gets a mixed reaction. Nash admits that at Starrcade Goldberg got screwed. Nash talks about seeing what happened to Goldberg tonight. Nash believes that Hulk Hogan is behind what happened to Goldberg tonight. Nash wants Ric Flair to book Nash in a match against Hulk Hogan! Ric Flair comes down to the entrance way and puts Hogan in a match with Kevin Nash if Goldberg isn’t able to make the match. Nash is happy with that decision.
The same video that was aired at the very opening of the show is aired again to promote the main event between Goldberg and Kevin Nash which seems to be in question now.
Backstage, Elizabeth is being interviewed again by the police. Elizabeth isn’t able to get her story right from what she said previously. Elizabeth is starting to get really defensive.
Mean Gene is standing in the ring and introduces Hulk Hogan who is greeted with plenty of boos. Hogan says that the world of pro wrestling is still centered around Hulk Hogan. Hogan talks about saying he was going to say goodbye to his fans in Georgia as he is running for the President of the United States. Hogan talks about Bill Goldberg being a sexual deviant. Hogan also notes that he got sick to his stomach that Kevin Nash thought Hogan retired out of fear of Kevin Nash. Hogan proclaims that he owes his fans one last retirement match! Hogan is going to retire as the WCW World Heavyweight Champion!
At this point in time, Tony Schiavone announces that Mick Foley will be winning the WWF World Championship and says “that will put butts in the seats”. Schiavone did this as a attempt to keep the fans from tuning into RAW which was taped.
A video of Chris Jericho talking to Scott Dickinson. Dickinson is the same referee that screwed Saturn earlier in the show. Jericho was telling Dickinson that he needs to standup for himself and DQ Saturn the next time Saturn puts his hands on Dickinson. Dickinson was buying into what Jericho was saying.
Before the next match, WCW Television Champion Scott Steiner wants to know if the ladies want to be with a real man and not their redneck boyfriends. Steiner talks about being censored by WCW. Steiner believes that since he was the TV Title he can not be censored. Bagwell shows Steiner some dance moves, the Dirty Bird, and pretends to have a heart attack.
Before the next match, Wrath says that over the past six months he has been going through the WCW roster. Wrath knows the fans came to see him deliver the Meltdown. Wrath as a problem with no competition. Wrath issues a open challenge to anyone in the back. Bam-Bam Bigelow accepts the challenge.
Backstage, Elizabeth is being interviewed again by the police. Elizabeth is getting frustrated that the police keep on asking her the same questions. The police catch on to what Elizabeth is saying. Elizabeth has been checking her watch a lot and the police notice that. They tell Elizabeth that they are going to charge her for perjury and that it is a felony. Elizabeth laughs and says she was mistaken. Elizabeth appears to be happy because she “cost Goldberg his World Championship shot, again”.
The announcers talk about Goldberg surely getting released soon now that Elizabeth has admitted to being wrong.
Back at the police station, Goldberg is told that Elizabeth admitted to lying and dropped the charges. Goldberg demands to be taken to the Dome. Considering it is right across the street, he will make it in time, right?
Hulk Hogan has Scott Steiner by his side for the match while Kevin Nash has his friend Scott Hall at his side for the main event.
End of show.
My Take: This is the biggest Nitro in WCW history. So, it is fitting to start off with perhaps one of the worst characters in WCW history, Glacier. At least they kept the match short and it wasn’t horrible or anything. I’ve always enjoyed Morrus as a worker so having him get the opening win on the biggest Nitro is fine by me. I just think their were many better options to open the show.
The interview segment with Ric Flair and his family was fine. I don’t believe having David Flair wrestle is the best choice, though. Why not just have a guy like Chris Benoit tag up with Ric Flair and get that rub of working with Flair? I just don’t understand why David Flair is being put into a tag match when there is far better choices out there.
Booker/Hale was simply a squash match. Chavo/Smiley wasn’t good because of the botches by Guerrero. The fans really do like Norman Smiley, who is a entertaining performer.
I thought Benoit/Horace was a decent match. I can’t recall ever being entertained by Horace but I was here. He displayed some good moves that I frankly didn’t think he would ever be able to pull off.
Jericho/Saturn was the first match that had any real crowd heat from beginning to end. It was okay for what it was and it appears these two will be having a crooked referee angle.
I also enjoyed the Cruiserweight tag team match as they put on a fast pace, high flying contest as usual. I did not expect Psychosis to get the win but it is fine by me. Perhaps Psychosis can be pushed as a credible threat to the WCW Cruiserweight championship now? Seems like the only guys who are considered threats are Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio Jr. and Juventud Guerrera.
I know Tony Schiavone was told to rip on Mick Foley, but I think Schiavone put some of his own thoughts in their as well. I can’t believe that Bischoff would feed Schiavone every word to say in that situation.
I have to assume that the beat down following Steiner/Konnan was a way to effectively kill any heat Konnan had with the crowd. Personally, I don’t know why Scott Steiner is the Television Champion. He really shouldn’t be holding or going after for that matter lower mid-card championships.
Poor booking with Wrath on this show. He acts tough and calls out an opponent and proceeds to get fairly dominated and isn’t able to win the match. I realize Bigelow was in line for a push here, but you could have simply picked someone else here. Wrath’s creditability was hurt a big deal here, in my opinion.
DDP/Adams was just filler. I didn’t care for the match, really.
The whole angle with Goldberg and Elizabeth took up pretty much the whole show. So, they screw over Goldberg. I get it, that is fine. But the planning on this is just horrible. The police station is literally right across the street. The announcers even say it is. We are suppose to believe that Goldberg can’t cross the street for an hour? Are you kidding me? For the biggest Nitro ever, the main event was just horrid. You promote a big main event, change it to another big main event, and then crap on the fans by simply reforming the New World Order. It’s truly disgusting that Bischoff couldn’t think of something new. At least Goldberg has about ten guys he can feud with, right? The whole point of this was to get Goldberg a title match at Starrcade after going through the New World Order. We will see how long that angle lasts. The beginning of the end starts here with the Finger Poke of Doom.
Overall, from a wrestling stand point it isn’t a horrible show. A fun Cruiserweight tag match , a surprisingly decent Benoit/Horace match and Jericho/Saturn were all okay contests. However, the booking of the main event kills the whole show. People will forever remember how horrible of a outcome that was. They could have put on the greatest wrestling show ever, but the angle at the end would have erased that from everyone’s memory. Terrible booking decisions kill this show.
Thanks for reading.