The great blues artist B.B. King tells us in a song that the thrill is gone. Sid Vicious says no, it isn't. Don't worry, Sid didn't powerbomb B.B. King, at least not that I know of.

But, despite his DQ loss last Thursday to Perry Saturn on Thunder, Sid's "undefeated" status is still alive as he continued business as usual on Monday Nitro. He also broke a major WCW rule. If it doesn't happen on TV, it didn't happen. Well, in this case it DID happen on TV and it still didn't happen! But then again Sid is the Ruler of the World, so he makes his own rules.

And Bret Hart returned! The Hitman challenged Hulk Hogan.

Meanwhile, Chris Benoit's push continued forward, the As the Hummer Turns storyline got more intriguing and Vampiro and the Insane Clown Posse had a big night.

Hart got things going with some mic time. "I want to fight Hulk Hogan," Hart said, to a big pop. Again? Yeah, I know, we're not supposed to know about the Cow Palace match. See the rule mentioned above. "I won't and can't come back until I get that one match," Hart said. Nothing was said about when the match would take place.

The first match had Evan Karagias battling Lodi, which meant he was fighting Lenny, too. There was apparently a legit fan incident. The fan had a tug-of-war with Lenny over a sign and fell over the security railing. He was led off by Doug Dillenger and a policeman. On WCW Live after the show, they were saying the incident was legit. Some fan called in and asked about it. Bob Ryder said, "He's in jail." The high spot in this match was when Evan hit an awesome top rope plancha to the floor on Lenny. The hang time was something else.

But Vampiro and the ICP appeared and climbed up to the ring apron. Evan, who seemed on the verge of victory, was mesmerized by Vampiro's stare and became easy pickings for Lodi, who hit a second rope bulldog and a DDT for the win. Lodi again drew great heel heat. And, by the way, Vampiro told the interviewers on WCW Live before the show that he is now an official member of the ICP.

Hogan had some mic time with Gene Mean. Interestingly, he didn't address the Hart challenge. He did have something to say about Randy Savage, who was in the Hulkster's dressing room at the end of Nitro last Monday. "I don't have a clue as to why Motch was in the dressing room," Hogan said. He went on to say that he wouldn't stab Sting in the back but hinted at an interesting loophole. "As long as I'm in the red and yellow, I'm true to the cause," Hogan said. Okay, Hulk, what if you don the black and white again? Hogan then said the hummer he was pictured with was not the hummer that rammed Kevin Nash's limo. He then promised to train, say a prayer and kick some ass.

Barry Horowitz took on Al Green, who did not sing Let's Stay Together. But some piano music did play and this time they showed some blonde guy playing a piano somewhere away from the ring. Wanna bet he wrestles, too? I think we know the point of this match. As he made his way to the ring, Sid said, "Mr. Excitement is here!" Cue the Goldberg chant. Charles Robinson tagged along and held up a sign that said Sid's "record" was 77-0. The DQ last Thursday was not

addressed either by Sid or Tony Schiavone or Bobby Heenan. Sid was more concerned about a perceived lack of respect. "See, the problem is no one is taking me serious," Sid said. Sid seriously powerbombed both jobbers and promised to make Benoit an example.

Gene Mean interviewed Harlem Heat. Stevie Ray promised the Heat would be nine time, nine time - no, I'm not going to type that nine times - world tag team champions. He actually only said it seven times - sigh.

Backstage, we see Lex Luger and Sting walking toward Hogan's dressing room. They enter to find Hogan and Hart conversing. I guess there is no worked heat between Hogan and Hart. An argument breaks out and Hogan tells Sting he has five minutes. Then the lights go out and a scuffle ensues.

After a commercial break, the lights are back on and Sting is out cold. Some furniture is broken, too. Who did it? "You're setting me up, Luger!" Hogan shouted. Security came in to break it up. "I think they're all liars," Heenan said. Schiavone breathlessly promised that "we will stay with this all night long." Nice job of selling, Tony, but you're still no Jim Ross.

A really funny segment had Vincent, clad in Rap is Crap shirt, handkerchief tied around the neck and a cowboy hat, asking to become a member of the Rednecks. Bobby Duncum is injured, so Vincent offered to take his place. They agree to give him a shot. There were plenty of black cowboys in the 1800's but I never heard of a black redneck. Vincent is an underutilized talent in my opinion. He has good mic skills, wrestling ability and can bump.

They did a special battle royal involving the Rednecks, Revolution and First Family, with the last two survivors battling for a world title shot. It was billed as a 12-man event but Curt Hennig didn't compete . The men eliminated would face each other in various matches throughout the evening. Benoit and Malenko won this schmozz. Saturn came back in and raised their arms in victory. But Shane Douglas did not. Do we read anything into that?

Johnny Swinger took on Prince Iaukea. It's got to be Sid Time! That's what the crowd wanted as they chanted, "We want Sid!" Instead, they got the ICP. Vampiro hit the spicoli driver on Swinger and Iaukea won. The ICP confronted Iaukea after the match. Guess he owes them, too.

Berlyn confronted Buff Bagwell during an autograph session that had been taped earlier. "I'm Buff and Berlyn is not the stuff," Bagwell said.

Bagwell then went over Steve Regal cleanly with the blockbuster despite a couple of flag pole shots from Dave Taylor. Bagwell then got on the stick and drew the cheap heat by saying how much he loved Miami to the Miami Arena crowd. He then said that when Berlyn takes on Buff Bagwell, he takes on the whole U.S. "Don't sing it, bring it," Bagwell said.

Kidman, Eddie Guerrero and Chavo Guerrero battled Juvi, Psichosis and Blitkrieg in a six-man luchadore tag match. Not much of an angle but very entertaining. For some reason, Juvi dressed just like Kidman. It was a great spotfest. The funniest moment came when Psichosis did a flying cross body block from the top rope with Eddie straddled on the ropes. He missed completely but Eddie sold it anyway. Eddie won with the frog splash as the ICP watched at a safe distance on the entryway. Who are they after? Chavo perhaps?

Finally we get the beginning of the battle royal follow ups. Douglas took on Kendall Windham. The crowd started an ECW chant, a reminder of when Shane was over. Douglas did have the bump of the night when Kendall slung him so hard into the security railing that it actually bent! Hennig ran in and delivered a glancing blow that barely touched Douglas. But Harlem Heat ran in and laid out Hennig. Of course, the ref didn't see any of this. Douglas nailed the perfectbuster for the win. For some moronic reason, I guess, the rest of the Revolution watched the action on a monitor in the back. That looked really stupid. They didn't come out to greet Shane, perhaps because he didn't join them in the ring after the battle royal? They keep teasing a Douglas turn but it's dragging a bit.

Barry Windham fought Jerry Flynn and the crowd's silence was deafening. And this in hour number three. Hennig is the only Redneck who is over though Vincent has a chance if they keep him. The next thing in this progression is that Barry and Kendall are very unover tag team champions. Vincent clocked Flynn on the outside with Barry's tag belt and rolled him back in the ring. Windham hit the DDT and pinned Flynn.

Berlyn cut his big promo of the evening with Gene Mean. It was a hoot. What a way to get Alex Wright over. His translated line, "Americans should learn to speak German" drew the biggest pop of the night. In his previous stint in WCW, Wright was mostly annoying. Now he's drawing great heel heat. The USA chant was quite loud, too. Gene Mean grew more and more frustrated that Berlyn wouldn't speak English. The blonde translator botched some lines and Wright had to whisper in her more than once. He promised again to destroy Bagwell. "The German invasion has landed," said the translator. "Buff Bagwell will be the first victim as the German machine sweeps across the United States." Finally, Gene Mean had enough. "You can do this interview by yourself!" he said.

It's getting late and we have Hugh Morrus against Saturn. Morrus in a match at 10:30 p.m. Who's booking this? This match lasted way too long. Late in the match, Morrus climbed the top turnbuckle to do a moonsault. Instead, he blasted Saturn with an elbow drop! And this is the same guy who bitched about Violent J ripping off his finisher! Savage should have run out and piledrived Morrus. Later, Morrus missed a moonsault, Saturn put on the rings of Saturn and Morrus quickly tapped out.

Benoit and Malenko had a terrific, clean match. The crowd applauded their endless repertoire of moves. But it got ruined by Sid. The Ruler of the World attempted to powerbomb Benoit but Malenko stopped him. Sid turned his attention to Malenko and powerbombed him. Then he went after Benoit, who backdropped him over the top rope! As he walked away, Sid said, "this is what it's all about, to give you something to think about." Benoit snarled, "Quit telling me how tough you are and show me!" This was a no contest, though Ryder announced on WCW Live after the show that Benoit would get the title shot. This is one match that Sid should have stayed out of. There were other matches, such as Iaukea-Swinger that cried for a Sid run-in. The fans like Sid's run-ins. But why ruin a great wrestling match, especially since Benoit was given the shot anyway? Ryder agreed. "You don't tease the fans and take it away from them," he said. I am guessing that the Sid run-in was booked to build Benoit's heat. In any event, I see Sid getting a DQ Sunday. He doesn't need the U.S. title to stay over but that strap does help Benoit. Of course, Sid won't count that DQ as a loss either. But who's going to argue with a guy that big and crazy?

As usual, the intros for the main event steel cage match took forever. Rick Steiner and Sid came out at 10:54. DDP came out at 10:56, Hogan at 10:57 and Hogan at 10:58. Sting wasn't introduced because he got knocked out earlier.

For some reason, Hogan entered the ring by himself, not waiting for Goldberg to arrive. A three-on-one beatdown ensued, though the cameras missed the start of it. Goldberg was intercepted by Bam Bam Bigelow and Kanyon, who gave him a pounding. Gosh, Goldberg CAN sell! He got tossed into the fray. The good guys rallied. But here comes Sting! He made a miraculous recovery. But Luger is walking along with him, arguing. "I'm going to see about it," Sting said. "I don't know." Sting entered the match and started cleaning house. Goldberg speared Steiner. Hogan pinned DDP after a leg drop.

Luger entered the ring after the match and argued some more with Sting. The two got nose to nose and then traded blows as the show went off the air!

This was a nice set up for Fall Brawl. They ought to continue the build up on Thunder but that would be expecting too much. As the Hummer Turns just got more unpredictable, which is good. We should get some answers Sunday.

And no, I didn't drive the hummer!