He's getting ready to take the plunge. In fact, he may have stuck his toes in the water already.

I'm just waiting for Vince Russo to appear before the camera as himself, the man in control. Remember that interview Russo did when he said the Powers That Be were putting the wrestlers over? My eyes aren't failing me. I saw Vampiro do the j-o-b to Ed Ferrara. Neither are my ears. Roddy Piper, as referee, warned Creative Control that he would disqualify them and then "you've got to account to Russo."

So there you have it. We were told (like we didn't know already) that Russo is the PTB. Of course us Internet "marks" as Tony Schiavone would put it, already knew that Ferrara was the other writer. And there he is going over Vampiro on Nitro. It has occurred to me that Russo was working Mike Samuda when he did that interview.

The idea of a wrestling figure working an interviewer is amusing but hardly surprising. Last Saturday night, I found myself standing in line behind an ECW booker at the IHOP in Augusta, Georgia. They had a house show that night in Augusta. I told him I wrote about WCW. He rolled his eyes and smirked. I did get in a few questions. They broke six tables. He doesn't know if they will sign Lenny and Lodi. But here's the clincher:

Mr. Mean: When are you going to put the TV belt on someone else besides Rob Van Dam?

Booker: When somebody beats him.

Thank you for letting me know that ECW is all shoot! When I asked him who was their most over wrestler, he said it depended on where they were doing a show. That sounded legitimate. But the answer about the TV belt was just too funny.

I have one final thought about Russo facing the camera. He has such a huge ego that he's just bound to do it. And as for Ferrara-Vampiro, once again we have bookers putting themselves over just like in the Kevin Nash booking days. I actually don't mind Ferrara's Oklahoma character but please keep him out of the ring! I wonder how Vampiro felt about having to sell for him.

Now let's talk about Monday Run-In, er, Nitro. If you like run-ins (which I do), they had them aplenty.

I think by now Jeff Jarrett is over. That was some big time heel heat he drew for once again laying out Mike Tenay. Bill Goldberg, who couldn't be more over, got to play the hero again.

Also, you've got to give them credit for playing off reality-based angles. That was cool having Fit Finlay bark orders at Brian Knobbs. It was Knobbs that severely injured Finlay's leg in a hardcore match months ago. And then you get Psichosis defending Juvi Guerrera's newly won IWGP light heavyweight title against former champ Jushin "Thunder" Liger. Juvi hurt his arm in the match with Liger. They played off that when Russo said there was a "return match" clause in the "contract." If Russo is so powerful, why didn't he disregard the stipulation? Because the title was going to be jobbed back to Liger anyway. That was easy.

Norman Smiley's gimmick is getting him way over. The crowds love him. That was a nice bump Rhonda Singh took into the table to set up Norman's win.

They spent a little too much time on the mafia angle. I think the point Monday was the repeatedly references to Tony Marinara's "father" in the angle. I wonder who is going to be brought in to play that role. Johnny the Bull and Vito are catching up to Creative Control in the race to see who can be the clumsiest henchmen.

We got to see Gene Mean staring at Mona's boobs while he interviewed her. "Up here, Gene," Mona said, meaning her face. Could the advertisers have something to say about that?

The cruiserweight title angle moved along when Madusa pinned Evan Karagias in the triangle match that also included Mona. But the most heat in this segment came in the post-match run-in by Jarrett, who tossed Evan over the top rope and busted a guitar on Madusa's head top a huge pop. Evan's mic work was simply awful.

There's not a whole lot else to add about the tag match in which Vampiro got pinned. At least Dr. Death Steve Williams didn't injure anyone else. This brings me to another point. Rob Byder wrote me a couple of weeks ago saying that the injuries are a work to get Williams over as a heel. My understanding is the injuries are legit. Stiff workers tend to hurt people. Rob, you're right that a wrestler who causes injuries isn't doing his job. The last thing WCW wants is for guys to really hurt each other. But it does happen.

That was cool to see Bret Hart attack Lex Luger during Luger's pose down entrance. Equally cool was Liz pouring champagne on Luger's head. I'm sure everybody noticed the "Schiavione sucks" chant. The angle took another twist when Sting intercepted Liz, distracting Luger so that Hart could clamp on the sharpshooter. Luger wasted no time in tapping out either. But his gimmick is working.

Did they really have to play Vincent's skit twice? In looks like someone screwed up in production. Now he's called Shane. Is this another jab at the WWF or a reference to Alan Ladd's Shane movie?

We also know that LaParka is the latest addition to Russo's enforcers. Will he be as clumsy as the rest?

I couldn't care less about Jerry Flynn or the Maestro. Talk about wasting my TV time. This "block" isn't getting over with the crowd. The boos you hear are disgust not heel heat.

You've got to hand it to Shane Douglas and his continued great heel mic work. Douglas was in top form introducing the Revolution's new militia gimmick. Shane called the crowd "jackasses" and said he has the right to desecrate the American flag. Now that will get you instant heat. The censors didn't drown out the huge "asshole" chant. "It's your fault! It's your fault!" Douglas screamed. "It's your damn, stinking fault!" Perry "Trouser" Saturn continued his crazy antics and Dean Malenko's reaction to them continues to be hilarious.

That segment was a prelude to the Asya-Midnight match. Of course the Revolution ran in. Hacksaw Jim Duggan ran in to the rescue. "The world's toughest janitor," Bobby Heenan said. This time it looked like he had a real 2x4. Duggan had the upper hand for a moment but the numbers were against him. Why no Harlem Heat? Russo's thugs beat them up earlier. And say you want about Duggan. He's still over.

Piper is way over with the fans. He did need a little help from a Goldberg run-in during his handicap match with Creative Control. Goldberg had a lot of trouble getting one of the Harris twins up for a jackhammer.

You might wonder why they had Dustin Rhodes facing Meng. No story between those two. However, Jarrett has issues with Rhodes. And Scott Hall and Nash are his allies, leading to quite a train wreck as all three ran in. At least I got to see Meng no sell a guitar shot.

The segment in which Russo asked Larry Z why Thunder sucks was very funny. That's a different approach, criticizing one of your own shows. Russo told Larry that from now on all the big stars would be at Thunder. But he also said one reason to show sucked was because of the announcers. This all led to a Curt Hennig-Larry Z match in which Russo would leave WCW if Larry won. Like anybody believed that.

Despite a ref bump, Larry Z won thanks to an Arn Anderson run in. Russo is history! Yeah, right. Creative Control marched down to the ring and I just knew the Dusty Rhodes finish was in. Sure enough, the henchmen made referee Johnny Boone look at the instant replay and he reversed the decision. The marks are probably wondering why they don't do this in every match.

Next up was Chris Benoit against Nash. Hall grabbed a headset and sat on top of a ladder to do commentary. Let me say here that Hall and Nash are both funny behind the mic. Of course Hall was at this match only to talk. "Hi. Hey yo. Hi guys," Hall said. He wasn't going to run in. No way.

Benoit, who continues to shine, got the upper hand and put Nash in crippler crossface. I lied to you just a moment ago. Hall nailed the referee with the ladder. Benoit fought back, dropkicking the ladder into Nash's face. But the odds were too high and the Outsiders took control. Hall was setting up Benoit for the Outsider Edge powerbomb onto the ladder but Sid Vicious made the save.

Sting brushed aside questions from Gene Mean about Liz, deepening the mystery of that angle. But he had five words for Hall and Nash: "Don't sing it, bring it."

Then referee Nick Patrick told Gene Mean he was going to bar everyone from ringside that didn't have official business there. That means no more run-ins. Nah, I don't believe it either.

The first test of this new policy came during the Hall-Sting match. There's Nash. Wait. It seems he has an announcing gig. "I just showed up to get an extra $50 in beer money for me and Scott," Nash said. Liz is there, too. Wait. She's now Sting's manager.

That was funny when Sting had Hall on the outside and Hall stuck his hand out as to get a tag from Nash. Big Sexy did choke Sting with a mic cord, prompting Patrick to eject him. Hall was going to powerbomb Sting but Liz maced him first. Yep, Patrick missed it. Sting put on the scorpion deathlock and Hall quickly tapped out.

It was nice to see Diamond Dallas Page back. He entered the ring while David Flair was taunting the Maestro about Symphony. Flair missed with the crowbar shot and DDP finished him off with a diamond cutter. DDP followed that with a shoot interview and denied rumors that he was going to jump to the WWF. Then he called out Sid for their match.

Talk about a run-in special. Hall, Nash, Benoit, Jarrett and Hart all ran in during this melee. They were followed by "security" and the other referees. Heck, I might have even left out somebody.

That was enough for Patrick, who went to the announce table. "Screw this," Patrick said. "We haven't had control all night." Patrick then said the referees were leaving. He suggested a lumberjack match for the Goldberg-Jarrett main event.

So the referees walked out. It has a familiar ring to it. "It's just like the WWF," said my friend Lady Diamond Cutter. "The only thing different is the wrestlers."

Because the referees walked out the melee continued through the commercial break. Goldberg came out and the bad guys fled. Piper then reminded everyone that he is a referee. "You guys are going to fight tonight," Piper said. Jarrett voted with his feet and took off only to have his escape blocked by Gilbert Brown and two other Green Bay Packers! Talk about funny.

Goldberg is getting better at selling. He sold a lot of Jarrett's offense. Goldberg hit a nice rock bottom as his repertoire continues to improve. Naturally, the lumberjacks brawled. That led to Hart entering the ring and clocking Jarrett with the WCW world championship belt. I think you know what happened after that.

Now the question is will Russo take that plunge? Stay tuned.