They did it again. Look up the word swerve in any dictionary. You won't find World Championship Wrestling mentioned. But make no mistake about it, WCW defines the word. One more Monday Nitro is in the books and still no Scott Hall.

The anticipated return of Hall did not take place as Sid Vicious was the "mystery" partner for Kevin Nash in the main event. Okay, I anticipated the mystery partner to be Hall and so did many others. I don't have a problem with Sid being out there. He's one of my fa vorites. It's just that WCW teased us big time that Hall would be the man. No one has been more clo sely associated with Nash in his WCW stint than Hall. Nash even wore an Outsiders shirt to the ring.

Everything started Monday night with Gene Mean (yeah, I'm a Jerichoholic) calling out Hollywood Hulk Hogan for an interview. The Memphis crowd, which was hot all night, popped big for Hogan. The Hulkster played up the angle with Sting by saying he "did n't need no stinkin' partner." Hogan invited Nash to come out now. Nash did but he also brought out Rick Steiner and Sid. Hogan didn't like that, saying "this is between you and me." He i nvited Nash to come and "get some." Nash did but Sid and Rick joined him to lay a beat down on Hogan. Sting made the save but was cool to Hogan. The Stinger left the ring without a word. "Is that it?" Hogan asked. I should have been tipped off by Sid's presence but figured WCW want ed this to be a real surprise. Also, Sid and Randy Savage had not been together last week.

Sting later came out for his own mic time. He wondered whether he should be Hogan's partner. Hogan came out and assured Sting that he could trust him, saying he wouldn't stab him in the back. Sting agreed but warned Hogan, "If you screw me, I'll get you!" Hoga n replied, "Fair enough."

When it came time to do the deed, Sid came out instead of Hall. I flicked a toothpick at the TV set. It really wasn't much of a match. In one sequence, Nash knocked Hogan off the ring apron and Sting wasn't able to make a tag. Would Sting turn against Hogan? No. S ting came in later on a hot tag. But when he went to the Stinger Splash on Sid, the Ruler of t he World pulled the ref in front and Sting got them both.

It broke down after that and Steiner runs out and nails Sting with a chai r outside the ring. I don't really like to include Steiner in this writeup because to me in his present character he's nothing more than a mid-carder. But WCW is forcing him on us. Okay, fine. Steiner threw the chair in the ring and Nash clocked Hogan with it. Then Nash pinned Hogan as the ref recovered. Wow! Hogan did the job. Goldberg ran in to make the save after the three bad guy s executed a beardown. But Steiner struck again, laying out Goldberg with two chair shot s. The heels ruled the roost, setting up a six-man tag match somewhere down the road, where the faces will get their revenge.

In the meantime, it will be interesting to see who does the run-ins at th e Road Wild main event. Last night's match provided some clues. Look for all these guys to be invol ved in some way, with Hogan keeping the title via DQ.

Was that all that happened on Nitro? Not hardly.

It was nice seeing Scott Hudson at the announce table again. On the othe r hand, there was Jason Hervey. If you think Eric Bischoff is bad, just listen to that jabroni Herv ey. That's all I have to say about that. While this Nitro did not flow as good as last Monday, WCW p ut in another solid effort, with storylines progressing very nicely.

The West Texas Rednecks continued their push as Bobby Duncum and Kendall Windham squashed Juventud Guerrera and Psychosis. Curt Hennig got in one chop. Oth er than that, it was clean. Kendall Windham sure has resurrected his career.

Next, we had a funny little scene with Mona and Madusa. They're schedule d to wrestle at Road Wild but Madusa thinks they ought to get Gorgeous George. If they do things right, WCW could have a decent women's division.

Vampiro and Rey Mysterio Jr. had another great match that got ruined by t he Insane Clown Posse. Those two cruiserweights can really work. Was this a title defense? It never was mentioned. Hudson made several references to the cruiserweight division last night. I don't know why. WCW seems to have forgotten it exists even though Rey wears the belt.< /P>

This match had some great spots, even when it broke down. Vampiro hit a nice Juvi driver. Vampiro went to the top rope but Rey shook the rope and racked him. Ouch. R ey was going for the hurancarana but the ICP blocked it and Vampiro executed a top rope power bomb! The ICP joined in the beat down until Eddie Guerrero made the save. A loud Eddie ch ant broke out. Guerrero is so far over it's unreal. In the case of Guerrero, WCW listened to the fans. He was brought back as a heel but the crowds insist on cheering him. So WCW had hi m do a face turn. Good move. Guerrero has it all. He's good on the mic, he can wrestle, he c an brawl, has good aerial skills and can bump.

The Harlem Heat reunion got moved further along when Stevie Ray pinned Vi ncent. Brian Adams was going to make a run-in but a chair-wielding Booker T headed him of f at the pass. The crowd blared out a Harlem Heat chant. Doesn't this kind of kill off the nWo black and white?

We got treated to a nice jobber match between Prince Iaukea and Lash LaRu e. I was going to switch to the Giants-Cardinals game for a few minutes. I'm glad I didn't. Why have two jobbers in the ring on Monday Nitro? So that a superstar like Savage can come out a nd obliterate them. "The most dangerous man on the planet!" Bobby Heenan said. LaRue ate a top rope elbow. Savage stood on the announce table and reminded us that he is running for pr esident. He trashed Nash and Dennis Rodman. "You don't want none of this!" Savage said.

Then it got wacky. Madusa and Mona came out to confront George, who back ed right into Rodman. Rodman drug George to the back and Savage pursued.

After the commercial break, Savage was looking fast and furious for Georg e. In what was the line of the night, Heenan said, "Rodman might get married again!"

Gene Mean had Goldberg on the mic. Goldberg told Hennig he had two thing s to say, "I'm here and you're next!"

Ernest Miller took on Evan Karagias. Anything involving Miller is funny and this was no exception. Miller drew the usual heat when he called the Memphis crowd redn ecks. Miller did his own version of the people's elbow. That was hilarious. When the Cat we nt to the briefcase, he was shocked to pull out a pair of bunny rabbit slippers, not the ruby red s. Three guesses as to who had them. Buff Bagwell waved them at Miller, who was so distracted he g ot pinned by Karagias! It was nice to see a worker like Karagias get a win. Miller was so mad he punked out Karagias and the ref and chased after Bagwell. This feud isn't doing much f or Bagwell's heat.

Steven Regal beat Mikey Whipwreck with the STF following a flag pole shot by Dave Taylor. The crowd reaction ranged from a boring chant to a USA chant. Hudson again talked about the cruiserweight division.

Gene Mean had U.S. champ David Flair and a scantily clad Torrie Wilson ou t for an interview. Oh boy. With daddy Ric in Japan, David had to speak. Surprisingly, he wasn 't that bad. Of course, the presence of Torrie is to draw heat and it worked.

Savage finally caught up to Rodman, who threw a boa at him and then shut the door to his trailer in the parking lot. Some of Savage's comments were muted. The censors have to be on their guard when Savage opens his mouth.

Next, they had excerpts from a Shane Douglas interview. They should have done this before he ever entered a WCW ring. More on that later. They had Douglas shoot on Ric Flair. It looks like they are headed for a program after all. It also means Flair will have to do the job. Are you listening Buff Bagwell? Even superstars have to job, let alone mid-carders.

Hennig took on Goldberg. The rest of the Rednecks were there. Yes, they all ran in. Yes, they all got speared. Referee Mickey Jay belatedly called the DQ. Hennig came b ack in and got tossed over the top rope. Everybody won here. Goldberg kicked butt and Hen nig didn't have to job.

Madusa pinned some woman, whose name I can't remember. Tells you how muc h I was into the match. This one could have used a Gorgeous George run in.

Scott Putski comes out in hour number three. Why? To job to Douglas in the Franchise's first WCW match. Putski got in some offense and kicked out of a piledriver. But he fell victim to the Pittsburgh Plunge, a nasty looking move that seemed like a cross between a p erfectplex and a powerbomb.

David Flair came out to defend his U.S title against Chris Benoit, withou t daddy Ric to protect him. "It's over," Hudson said. Benoit destroyed him. But biased ref Charl es Robinson kept David from losing. Diamond Dallas Page ran in, hit Benoit with a world tag title belt and put Flair on top of Benoit. Robinson had something in his eyes and didn't see i t. He did see Flair on top of Benoit and counted the pin. Dean Malenko ran in and attacked DDP but was jumped by Bam Bam Bigelow and Kanyon. Perry Saturn came to the rescue and he and Male nko cleared the ring. Douglas ran in AFTER it was all over. He was carrying one of his boo ts as if he was in the process of changing clothes. If they keep using Douglas like this, he will never draw his own heat. This match did keep two storylines going, David Flair as an inept cha mpion and the burgeoning feud between DDP's gang and the former ECW greats.

Here we go again. Chase Tatum enters the ring in hour number three. Don 't ask why. You already know the answer. Steiner needed a victim. "You don't like me, bite me!" Steiner told the crowd. Heck, they said it along with him. Maybe I'm wrong about him. Anywa y, Steiner squashed Tatum. Whatever happened to the No Limit Soldiers and the Rap vs. Country feud? As Dan Patrick would say on ESPN, "Gone." It seems like that, anyway.

Well, readers, I'm not going to predict Hall's return next Monday. Not t his time.