Loss

No truth. People confused Goldberg for Luther Reigns.

Just the post-match. The show ran short so they improvised by having everyone who had a match at the Great American Bash come out and get in a huge brawl. This all feels really aimless, and it's weird that most of the WCW guys aren't going after the NWO but instead after each other. Sting finally drops from the rafters and faces down the NWO, and ends up rescuing DDP by grabbing him and then flying away. Nash realizes he's struggling to do the spot and eats a bat shot to help him buy some time. This has been a Nitro where you see what made peak WCW work and what made WCW fall all at once. So weird.

Hogan is interviewed by Bischoff before the match. He tells Luger if he wants a piece of Hogan, the first thing he should do is start working out! He says he's the match isn't happening. Of course, Luger doesn't accept that. The Wolfpac is out as soon as the match starts. It's short, but Luger gets Hogan in the rack and Hogan submits! The NWO immediately attack Luger after the match is over, but they did what they needed to do to create interest in the Hogan vs Luger feud that will carry WCW through the summer. WCW doing fireworks for the start of hour number two regardless of what was going on in the ring, including an outside organization destroying their top babyface, always made them look SO bush league to me. This is the first time I've seen an NWO beatdown this year and wondered where everyone else was and why no one made a save. Hogan and Bischoff finish this off by kicking back on the mat and accepting the Bash at the Beach challenge.

Luger has a big announcement - Hogan has to face him tonight! He also mentions that he and Giant want Hogan and Rodman in the ring at Bash at the Beach. He fumbles a little and makes tonight's match seem like a title match.

Before the match, DDP tried to attack Savage in his limo - even kicking in the window - before Liz managed to stop him before they sped off. Ultimo totally blew his head balancing spot, which I think he overused in matches anyway. The commentary is horrible at getting this over. Even Tenay does his commentary as if everyone reads the Observer and just cares about these guys because of the stuff they can do. When he's asked who the legal man is and can't answer, it's a little embarrassing. This was another good six-man on Nitro involving the luchadores and it got over with the Boston crowd for sure. I don't think WCW was specifically out to bury these guys, but I also don't think they had any idea what they had. Psicosis is the glue that holds this one together.

The Hart Foundation attacks Austin on his way to the ring. Mankind sort of makes the save and we end up with Pillman vs Mankind in the ring. Just coming off of 1991, it's unsurprisingly but very clear just how much Pillman slipped in the ring post-car accident. Vince alludes to Bret and Shawn being asked to leave the building earlier tonight, but doesn't even mention Bret by name. He must have been pretty upset with the whole situation. They also mention that Pillman still isn't an official member of the Hart Foundation, which is a bit of detail I didn't remember at all. The Harts run in to attack Mankind, but an injured Austin limps out to make the save, as does Ken Shamrock. Austin and Shamrock end up exchanging words, which ends with Shamrock eating a stunner.

Vince hated Funk at the time over his appearance on Shotgun and vowed to never use him again.

The final installment. Cactus pictures himself giving the mandible claw to Vince every time he does it because he wouldn't take him when he was young and good and Cactus Jack. Ha! Mankind has a special hatred for Shawn Michaels, but he's hardly unique there. They delve into multiple personality disorder and when Jim Ross asks Mankind to accept responsibility for who he is, he snaps and takes JR out with the mandible claw before coming to his senses and asking someone to get some help. This was some really brilliant character work from Mick Foley, but I wish the final installment had aired before King of the Ring to give his babyface turn a little more punch. We get Jim Ross's reaction and he doesn't think Mankind should have put his hands on him, but also thinks his line of questioning may have gotten unnecessarily confrontational at the end. Just wonderful.

Rob Van Dam vs Flash Funk JIP. Jerry Lawler is hoarse and sounds awful. Paul E. comes out of the crowd and tries to blindside Lawler, but Lawler turns the page quickly and beats the hell out of him. Tommy Dreamer is out and brawls with RVD as well. The WWF was awfully generous with this group.

One of the best things about this yearbook is watching Austin's following gradually increase week-by-week. It really was a grassroots effort and a stardom he earned. The only thing Austin is sorry about with toilet dunking Brian Pillman is that the toilet wasn't full of some other stuff first.

Vince interviews Helmsley and Chyna in the ring, which I think signals that they are going to push him pretty hard. Helmsley SHOOTS on Vince and says he should have been King of the Ring a year ago and wasn't because of politics. He namedrops some of the headliners before being interrupted by Mankind on the Titantron. Mankind gets a big pop. Interesting that his babyface turn took right away. Chyna talks for the first time, telling Mankind to kiss her ass. "It's your lucky day! I'm a good kisser!" HHH attacks, but Mankind takes the King of the Ring crown from him. Vince calls Chyna's comments unladylike.

Austin's pre-match interview blows Shawn's completely out of the water. I'm glad I was talked into keeping this, as I thought this was a pretty fabulous match if I set aside that Shawn is CHEWING GUM while taking bumps and it's annoying the hell out of me. What an asshole. Everything else about his performance is pretty excellent. I think if these two would have had more matches on pay-per-view before their bodies gave out on the way to WM14, the second or third one would be one for the ages. Not giving a definitive finish makes me wonder if that was the plan. This one doesn't quite hit the level that I think these two had in them, but it's still pretty terrific in its own right. On a side note, I'm glad we're just about wrapping up the babyface run of Shawn Michaels.

I'm pretty sure it's me. I don't really care about Shane Douglas, Sabu or Taz, so I think that was the issue for me.

Bret walks to the ring with on his own two feet. He's supposed to join Vince and Jim Ross on commentary, but due to the destruction of the announce table, there isn't anywhere for him to sit. Bret is still doing glorious heel promos. This time, he whines about being attacked repeatedly while he was in a wheelchair and on crutches. And therein lies the genius of Bret at this time -- he has a valid point, but he's such a whiner that he gets no sympathy. He mentions that he'll return to the ring at Canadian Stampede, and that the Harts want to issue a challenge to any five wrestlers in the company to take the Hart Foundation on in Calgary. Bret gets run off because there's nowhere for him to sit, and the Harts are run off from ringside. Bret cries about freedom of speech because he's awesome.

Last few minutes, which sees Hunter give Mankind a pedigree on the ringside table. As Mankind slowly gets up and tries to get back to the ring, Chyna breaks a scepter over his head. HHH ends up knocking him back to the floor and he falls on a photographer in an even nastier looking spot. Mick gets a kickout, which makes him look superhuman. But a pedigree gets the win. I like that finish, as it's good for both of them. Helmsley wins the King of the Ring to kick off a ridiculous overpush that is still happening today. This finish did a lot to get Mankind over as a babyface too though, so I won't be too much of a sourpuss. Todd Pettengill is afraid to do the coronation and Chyna throws him around. Helmsley ends up attacking Mankind with his crown.

Brian Pillman is interviewed by Todd Pettengill and is asked a very strange question that doesn't really make sense. Watch and you'll see what I mean. Austin sneaks up behind Pillman during the interview and throws his head in the toilet!

Last few minutes. Was Saturn's injury legit? If so, that was incredibly stupid.

I won't recap everything because I would hate to spoil surprises for someone who has never seen all of this. The Raven vs Dreamer post-match stuff is the most fun I've ever had watching ECW. But everything after that just sort of slowly sputters to a conclusion for me. Pretty cool stuff at the time though I'm guessing, and I definitely don't want to take away from that.

Tommy Dreamer is back out later in the show to attack all the security guys and wreck the studio. He even piledrives a referee! Lance Russell and Tommy Dreamer is a weird collision of wrestling worlds.

The announcers rave about Razor Ramon's positive attitude and how much the fans love him, but Diesel quickly attacks. I'm convinced that the USWA ran this feud to make casual fans think they could go to a live event and see Scott Hall vs Kevin Nash.

Post-match, Brian Christopher is quickly interrupted from his interview by Luther Biggs to tell him he needs some work, but he was impressed and he's willing to be Brian's manager. Yeah, if I want to go to the top of the wrestling business, I know I'll consult Luther Biggs. They're copying the angle with Jim Cornette in 1982, but no one involved is nearly as interesting. Billy Joe Travis ends up attacking Christopher from behind with a chair (after hiding under the ring, mind you), then attacks with an electric guitar. An electric guitar? The announcers make a point about how it's not some flimsy guitar -- then Travis switches to a flimsy guitar. This segment tried, but didn't do much.

There is security in the studio to keep Tommy Dreamer from invading the studio. Lawler has some ECW hecklers on the front row and cuts a great promo before the match. Sadly, this airs before the actual angle, but I'll say that old territories used to talk about angles that had already happened where they don't show the angle until later in the show, so we'll just pretend that's what this is. Sure enough, Dreamer shows up a few minutes into the squash. Pretty glorious, as Lawler taunts him to come into the ring while he's being held back by security. I bet Tommy was PUMPED to work an angle in Memphis. Lance Russell says he's as "wild as a march hare"! They show clips of Tommy Dreamer beating guys up in ECW. Pretty lazy highlight package -- no song or anything to go with it.

There was so much time in this match where they weren't doing anything at all. Kawada walked around the ringside area for what seemed like an eternity while Misawa stood there. So many idle moments like that where nothing AT ALL was happening. They also seemed to be working in slow motion for a lot of this match, to a point where I'm guessing one or both of them was working severely injured.