[1998-01-12-WCW-Nitro] Scott Hall & Kevin Nash vs Rick & Scott Steiner

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[soup23]

Macho and Hogan are at ringside for The Outsiders. The announcers are referencing some problems that the Steiners have had lately. HMMMM. These two teams never were able to put together a real good match in my opinion and this looks to be the same. Rick climbs up for the bulldog but gets tripped up by Hogan. Rick is resilient looking kicking out of a fall away slam with the feet on the ropes and a cheapshot from Nash. Ref bump occurs and everyone gets laid out. Savage hits a an elbow drop from the top onto Steiner but he wanted it to be Nash. The Outsiders win back the tag belts. Savage very subtlety doesn't have any NWO paraphernalia on and him and Nash are locked in a heated exchange as the credits role.

[Kevin Ridge]

DiBiase takes a bump on the floor. They tease that Savage really meant to hit the elbow on Nash instead of Rick Steiner. Hogan plays peachmaker between Savage and Nash but we are getting our friction in the group. Title change was barely the story as was more about issues with Savage and Nash.

[Loss]

Just the finish. Hogan and Savage are at ringside. Hogan ends up interfering on behalf of Hall and Nash. There's a ref bump a few minutes later and Hogan starts beating up DiBiase. Savage goes to the top and is about to drop an elbow on Nash but Nash moves and he hits Rick instead. Why would the revived ref count the fall with both guys covering Rick? The Outsiders regain the tag titles while Hogan tries to play peacemaker between Savage and Nash.

[PeteF3]

The Outsiders still have a few tricks to show that they know how to work a logical tag match, but overall this isn't that good as the Steiners continue to deteriorate. Hogan interferes liberally and DiBiase *takes a bump* on the floor after Hogan decks him--no recollection of DiBiase doing any of that ever again. Savage tries for a top-rope elbow and hits Rick Steiner, but appears to have been aiming for Nash. It nets the Outsiders the tag titles again but dissension is in the ranks. This isn't the angle of the decade or anything but after weeks upon weeks of the same old shit on Nitro, a potential Savage or Nash turn seems fresh, at least if they pay it off in a timely manner.

 

Raw was amassing more and more viewing time in 1998 (and would go to 100% after the Fingerpoke of Doom), so a lot of this WCW stuff is incredibly blurry to me. Viewing it with fresh eyes will be...well, I don't know about fun, but interesting at least.

[TravJ1979]

At the beginning of the show we hear of the dissension between Savage and Hogan/Nash, but this picks up with Savage and Hogan getting along swimmingly at ringside. Nothing in this whole segment is entertaining or sensible. You can feel Savage wanting to attack Nash from the beginning, and of course it backfires. This breakup could have been executed much better.

 

RATING: Starting to remember why 98/99 is my least favorite period of 90s wrestling.