by When Vince Russo showed up as the head writer of WCW Monday Night Nitro, few knew what to expect. Was he truly responsible for the high ratings of WWF Monday Night Raw across the dial all those years? Or was it just a matter of circumstance. One thing was for sure, WCW was in desperate need of a spark and the brass at TNT hoped that spark would be the crash TV style of Russo.
He didn’t wait long to make an immediate impact upon arrival in October of 1999. His first night on the job was crash TV at it’s finest on Monday Night Nitro on October 18, 1999. Let’s take a deep dive on what occurred, and why truly, it was the best episode the company had in years!
Segment One
Sid Vicious is shown arriving to the building, flanked by lawyers. He is dressed up in a suit and tie and it makes you quickly wonder what may be going on tonight as this is not something we’ve ever seen before out of Sid.
Segment Two
Juventud Guerrera vs Evan Karagias is cutoff by Bret Hart who shows up to cut a promo.
A high-flying match that is a great way to start the show with a quick paced match that has the crowd on it’s feet until Hart shows up and cuts a scathing promo. He is not thrilled and demands an interview because he claims Russo told him there wasn’t time for him to speak. A nice twist to start the show as he eventually challenges Sting to a WCW World Championship match because he claims Vince Russo and co-writer Ed Ferrera told him he would never get a title match with prior champion Hulk Hogan. Sting then shows up and grants his request for later in the night.
Segment Three
Vampiro vs Disco Inferno with Lash Leroux on commentary
The entire match lasts less then 3 minutes before Inferno wins the match easily and then is attacked by Lash. This sets up a future match between the two for Inferno’s WCW TV Title.
Then they flash to the back where Goldberg is interviewed by Larry Zbyszko about his showdown with Sid. Another less then 2-minute segment that just increases the intensity of the night.
Segment Four
Back from commercial we get a video of Goldust, who will now be known as Seven. He is hanging outside of a young child’s room and then hands him a block with the number 7 on it. Nothing but creep factor here, but isn’t that how Goldust started to?
We flash to a women’s locker room interview between Mike Tenay and Madusa. She is pissed off about an evening gown match later that night with Molly Holly and also upset as to why Tenay is in a women’s dressing room. Madusa looks sexy as Hell here, but you can tell she despises this angle and threatens that she may not even wrestle on this episode.
They stay with the T&A theme by bringing out the two remaining contestants for the NITRO girl contest, one of which is Stacy Keibler. Kind of fun seeing a 21-year version of Stacy in this scene, she looks so young. Who knew she would go on to such heights in the industry.
This is cutoff as Buff Bagwell shows up claiming that he is the “chosen one” of Russo. He says that he has the “stroke”. All of this alludes to his belief that Russo will take him to the top.
Larry Zbyszko is still backstage and has a one on one with Mona who is actually excited about stripping off Madusa’s clothes off later in the night. Speaking of clothes coming off later in the evening, apparently Kimberly Page is now an adulteress’s whore as she is seen backstage looking for David Flair so she can seduce him by giving him her room key and letting him know that her husband Page is out of town and she wants to have sex with him. I don’t know if a single member of the WCW audience had this twist on their bingo card.
Still backstage, we see Sid talking to his lawyers one more time while Goldberg tapes his wrists.
Segment Five
After only two actual matches, we finally get our third of the night when the Filthy Animals represented by Rey Mysterio and Konan challenge and defeat Harlem Heat for the WCW World Tag Team Championships. The Filthy Animals celebrate afterwards including Torrie Wilson in lingerie under a fur coat.
The sex card is in overdrive on this night, between the lady’s locker room, the lingerie and Kimberly Page wanting nothing but naughtiness. Not to mention the Nitro Girl contest. In fact, announcers Bobby Heenan and Tony Schiavone spend the bulk of the match talking about Torrie on commentary with Eddie and Billy Kidman.
We’re not even halfway through the card, and we’ve seen a title change, a seduction and a World Championship Match set for later in the card.
Again, the show has been on air less then an hour, and despite all of that, we’ve haven’t even truly begun yet. Up next Meng takes on Hugh Morris who have the attention on their match taken away rather quickly when Scott Hall and Kevin Nash show up to take their front row seats. Meng won the match but barely anyone noticed with full attention still focused on Nash and Hall at ringside.
Segment Six
Sid and Goldbergs faceoff leads to Goldberg getting knocked out cold by Sid. Despite the ass kicking he just took he then gets up and walks over to Scott Hall and Kevin Nash when Hall whips a toothpick at him. Goldberg snaps due to real life heat with the duo and shoves Hall and then cold cocks Nash.
Security shows up and escorts The Outsiders out of the arena, or at least they attempt to while Goldberg licks his wounds. We’ve already seen Goldberg numerous times tonight, and we know he is still fighting Lex Luger later in the evening.
The segment ends with a locker room fight between Sting and Bret Hart out of nowhere. Because why not?
Segment Seven
Hall and Nash are seen still outside as security continues to throw them out. Hey, it’s GOLDBERG again, this time pacing around backstage looking for Sid. No shortage of Goldie on this evening.
We get another match and this time it is Alex “Berlin” Wright vs Rick Steiner which also doesn’t last long when Brad Armstrong interferes. Road Dogg, he is not! As for Steiner, without Scott around, he just looks lost.
The Hall and Nash fun is far from over, as they are seen sneaking around backstage as Big Sexy is chugging cold medicine and Scott Hall is just clowning around. These two just keep getting better as the night goes on.
Segment Eight
We come back from commercial as Kimberly Page is now at the hotel and excited to commit adultery with who she believes is David Flair. This plan is nuked as it is Ric Flair who appears instead as we hear the shower running in the background. It becomes clear that she was going to attempt to drug him up with champagne and kidnap him? I’m still not sure, but when it is Ric who appears, we never actually find out what happens other then Ric informing her of the spanking she has coming her way.
So, one, how did Ric Flair end up with a key to her room?
Two, why was the shower running if Ric came out of the bathroom completely clothed?
Three, what did Kimberly plan on doing with a drugged up David Flair had he shown up?
Before you can answer any of those questions, here is GOLDBERG pacing around the backstage area again. My goodness this is becoming a thing quickly, but at least this time he kicks the ever loving shit out of The Insane Clown Posse.
Lex “The Total Package” Luger is shown backstage, nervous as Hell as he speaks with Larry Zbyszko and barely keep a sentence together because of fear.
Segment Nine
No one is having a worse night then David Flair tonight. First, his Dad is banging Kimberly Page and now his ex-girlfriend Torrie Wilson is hooking up with Billy Kidman right in front of him right before getting his ass handed to him by the Filthy Animals. Not his best night on the old roster.
Ric Flair shows up right after this, so he is clearly the quickest draw in Philly on this night. He is seen storming around looking for his son. Maybe he has pictures of Kimberly he wants to show his son?
The sexual overdrive isn’t over yet however as here comes Mrs. Madness Mona “Molly Holly” vs Madusa Evening Gown match. It goes nowhere fast as Mona “pulls off” the easy win. Madusa then cuts a promo on Russo and storms off right after.
Segment Ten
They follow up the evening gown match with the World Title Match as Bret Hart challenges Sting. This one actually gets a serious amount of time before Lex Luger shows up and nails Bret Hart with a baseball bat, costing him the match.
The segment closes out with The Outsiders sneaking around the back while wearing Mexican Luchadore masks. Meanwhile, Ric Flair cuts a promo on his son about how upset he is that David got is butt kicked.
Segment Eleven
Buff Bagwell vs La Parka is lackluster as Bagwell makes it clear he doesn’t want to be there and barely tries before laying down and getting pinned. He grabs the microphone right after and explains how Russo wanted him to lose and that maybe he doesn’t have the “stroke” with the new creative team he thought he would have. Out of nowhere, Jeff Jarrett shows up and nails him with a guitar.
This makes it clear that Jarrett will be a highly viewed heel and Bagwell will be his first real feud. This episode is loaded, as we have our first debut of the Russo regime.
Segment Twelve
This one starts off with Nash puking on Doug Dillinger while wearing the Luchadore mask. We cannot stick around much longer as it’s back to the ring where Chavo wins a three-way match between his Uncle Eddie and Saturn.
They cut backstage to Luger working out and talking about his main event match tonight with Goldberg. They stay on him long enough to clear the ring and introduce the next match which is Horace vs Norman Smiley in a hardcore match. Things are moving fast and furious right now. Smiley wins!
Segment Thirteen
Flair tries cutting a worked shoot promo on his sons career. It comes across awkward. Eventually the Filthy Animals show up and absolutely destroy Ric Flair, including robbing him of his possessions.
The segment ends backstage when Luger finds Ms. Elizabeth laying on the ground motionless next to a broken guitar and must scream for help. Sadly, that is a bad omen of what happens in their lives years later.
Segment Fourteen
The final part of the night is dominated by a Goldberg victory over Lex Luger. As expected, both Sting and Bret Hart get involved. Eventually they clear the ring and Goldberg with Hart stand tall as we fade to black on an amazing first night.
My Final Thoughts are this after rewatching this episode nearly 25 years later.
Sex sells and Torrie was ahead of her time.
Russo had major faith in guys like Goldberg and Jarrett but very little in guys such as Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair. A sign of the times for sure! I was left with these questions.
How did Ric Flair end up with Kimberly’s room key?
Who attacked Ms. Elizabeth?
Where the heck was Hulk Hogan?
What was Kimberly actually planning in that room?
No DDP on this episode? No Benoit or Malenko either? What about veterans such as Curt Henning?
The message was clear.
