[1999-03-08-WCW-Nitro] NWO vignettes

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

This was the infamous Nitro where Nash booked all vignettes and skits in the first hour. His point was to show that they could put anything in the first hour and it wouldn't affect the ratings at all and he turned out to be dead wrong on that.

 

Same Hogan interview from Thunder to start.

 

Then we cut to Hogan and Nash watching the Flair promo from the previous week's Nitro and basically doing MST3K commentary on a serious promo, which is so counterproductive I don't even know where to begin. This was supposed to somehow turn Hogan face and Flair heel, which I don't get. Nash sneaks in a Buddy Landell reference. This ends with Hogan and Nash saying they have to regroup since Flair hasn't responded to losing his son.

 

Then we get a Lex Luger spot for no apparent reason at all, considering he's out injured and won't be back anytime soon.

 

Then we switch to color and get cops pulling over Bagwell and Scott Steiner. They give them the chance to do some police work and get off the hook. They end up going through a mall and serving citations to people for doing things like smoking in no smoking places and having expired paid parking. I have no idea what the point of this is supposed to be.

 

Then we get a video summing up the Nash-Rey feud with really weird music and black and white effects.

 

Now we are at a shooting range with Torrie Wilson. Hogan and Nash pay her a visit. They need a new plan and want to take her out to lunch to discuss. I actually do think making Torrie Wilson a noir seductress for hire is a really cool gimmick, which is what they seemed to be going for with her early. This goes on and on and on. Torrie suggests finding someone even hotter than her to seduce David. Torrie says if she herself is a 10, this girl is a 12. It's the famous MISS ROBINSON, who disappears after this and this never goes anywhere.

 

WCW has fallen so far off the deep end.

[tim]

This is a trip, that's for sure. All of this is weird. Some amusing in its weirdess, like the Steiner/Buff vignette. Others TERRIBLE and pointless like the stuff with Torrie. I mean I have no idea at all what the Stiner/Buff thing was trying to be or why it existed but at least it was mildly amusing. The last segment is just long and super dumb. The Nash/Hogan commentary is pretty dumb too but at least "and his name is Buddy Landell" was pretty funny.

[Tim Evans]

I have no idea what to think of this. It's a trip to see Hogan and Nash as buddy buddy and Hogan be so subdue. On the other hand, This was just so long and I can't believe they would do this on a Monday night vs Raw. It almost makes the conspiracy theory about the Kliq joining WCW to screw over Turner for Vince to be true. This felt like something Lawler would run in the later days of Memphis when he would do a show long storyline. But at least then, he would have matches in between and it would lead to something.

[soup23]

I have liked some of the WCW experiments in the past like the NWO takes over Nitro set thing from late 97 but this was a warped, weird trip to watch.

 

Hogan promo starts out running down Flair. This was fine but starts to feel kind of same. We get more teases of the turn coming showing how power hungry Flair is and how he foregoes his family for his ego and being the champion.

 

Hogan and Nash make fun of Flair's promo and regroup. They get in some funny lines but this is not the way to sell this match and certainly not the way to set up a face turn for Hogan. Buddy Rose is name dropped along with Landell.

 

Luger vignette for some reason.

 

The cop stuff was dumb as shit. Basically a youtube sketch for the heels to have some fun.

 

Nash vs. Rey package but he is with Hogan through all of this so I guess he isn't too worried about Rey. Rey had a line that really annoyed me of saying all of a sudden its not about his mask anymore.

 

Wilson does look good in the shooting range, Ill give her that. Oh god, its Ms. Robinson, I had tried to block that nonsense from my head. THis was pointless as it could be and their plan B seems way too contrived.

[PeteF3]

Boy, have the NWO vignettes lost a lot going from the cool monotone voiceover to Kevin Nash being a goofball.

 

I have to admit--I shouldn't have, but I laughed at "...and that blond's name is BUDDY LANDELL!" Hogan: "Or Buddy Rose..." This, like the other Hogan sitdown interview, seemed to be all about trying to embarrass and undermine Flair. But what else is new?

 

The 1960's Batman transitions for Buff and Big Poppa Pump are too much. So are the oh-so-current references to pre-Ben Stiller Starsky & Hutch. This is over before it even has a chance to be amusing.

 

The WWE production staff might have put together a compelling video package for Nash vs. Rey, but this effort wasn't it. Weird faux-dramatic music for scenes like Nash making faces.

 

Ooh, CONTINUITY! Hogan and Nash follow up on their promise/threat to talk with Torrie Wilson. Oh, wait, nothing actually happens here...oh wait, now we're actually at dinner. Denise is *not* a 12 compared to Torrie. I don't get what this plan is--what is seducing David again going to accomplish? Didn't we already establish that Flair "doesn't care" about his family? Why am I trying to dissect 1999 WCW again?

 

There was really nothing offensively bad here in isolation, but an entire hour of this had to be mind-numbing, and the "Miss Robinson" stuff that I of course have no knowledge of is apparently a big fat waste of time.