The Monday Nitro episode from August 16, taking place in Colorado Springs, Colorado, was the last one before the big night. I could feel the anticipation shifting into higher gear because I could feel it approaching.
The August 16th episode once again showed all the same promo material (bits of Shout It Out Live video), which kept the anticipation going and hotter with each episode. But that wasn't just it this time. It also showed the origins of The Demon character. The groundwork for the Kiss wrestler was laid.
August 16 was just a week away from the highly anticipated, and what seemed like a promising monumental live performance by Kiss. I remember thinking that I can't believe I'm so close already! We're almost there! And then unsuspectingly, a new story was hatched which was the origins of the Kiss wrestler.
Giant wrestler Brian Adams was known to me very well since I started watching WCW as one of the nWo goons, which was a sort of gang of the villainous Hulk Hollywood Hogan. At the time I categorized wrestlers into A, B, C and D categories, and I still believe in that system today. The A listers were the main event, main superstars - naturally - Hulk Hogan, Sting, Goldberg etc. The B listers were characters associated with them or having secondary storylines, like a subplot in a movie. The C listers were just fillers with some storylines as well, while the D listers were newbies who were there to fill the time.
Brian Adams was in the B category, and many years later I found out those are called mid-cards I believe? Still not sure. So Brian Adams was an imposing figure and one of the biggest guys in WCW. Third biggest at the time. I mean, he was 6-6 and 315 pounds! He always looked angry and menacing, but he wasn't a fleshed out, individual character when I was a fan. What I mean by that is that he was a part of my fave nWo gang watching Hogan's back, a part of a larger group, a background character, rather than a developed character, which made his eventual transformation so much more interesting for me.
At that point in WCW, Hulk Hogan became a hero again and turned back into a good guy, so his nWo team shattered without a leader, and most B characters were already given different gimmicks, characters and stories, with only 4 guys left in the abandoned group. All of them were very marginal characters, aside from Adams who was the last B lister in the remnants of the nWo. In this episode however, he also was given a new life.
The nWo group had no leader, but everybody who was left wanted to be one. The crumbs of the group, consisting of Scott Norton, Brian Adams, Vincent and Horace Hogan, came out near the stage entrance to challenge Stevie Ray, who recently left the group as well, and became a part of a tag team group, Harlem Heat.
A D-lister Scott Norton took the mic during the show, threatening and challenging Ray, but it was taken away by Adams, who we assumed did not accept Norton's commanding stance and being a self-proclaimed spokesman of the group.
After Adams repeated the challenge again, Norton and then the rest of the group attacked him and took his nWo shirt off. After the beating, referees came down to help Adams. It was most likely a retaliation for Adams’ refusal to fight his way through to help Vincent in a fight few weeks back (see Chapter 2)
Adams was now out of the group, and you could tell he was already getting ready for something else because for the first time in WCW he was clean shaven.
In this same episode, he strikes back at them, helping their opponents Harlem Heat during a fight. He slides into the ring with speed and fierceness. The biggest and most imposing figure in the ring, he cleans the place up with his former buddies.
He leaves the ring with something clearly in his mind, a resolve perhaps, or a decision taken
The camera follows him and the commentators make sure the viewers know that he's not going back to the locker room area but apparently goes someplace else
Tony Shiavone: "Brian Adams is walking all the way out of the arena. Our cameras are gonna follow him. He needed to turn right to go to the locker room area. He just bypassed that area now. I don't know what he's gonna do, maybe stalking someone else. We don't get a man of his caliber, of his talent. As we said, he bypassed locker room area and he's walking..."
When he leaves the building, there's a limo awaiting him backstage which he enters, and we can see it's actually Kiss' limousine thanks to the revealing closeup of the license plate! The scene fades out and leaves the viewers with questions and a mystery.
Shiavone: "You see in the background there momentarily a limousine. Limousine is out and...you see the license plate on that limousine? That's...that's Kiss! That's Kiss on the license plate!"
Bobby Heenan: "That's Kiss' car!"
Shiavone: "And they sent it...what's going on here?"
I loved it. I thought and still think it's a brilliant setup of the character. I guess the inference here is that Adams got an offer from Kiss (although by this episode it wasn't yet revealed that Kiss are gonna have their own wrestler) or somehow got friendly with them. In real life, Adams actually was handpicked by Gene Simmons due to his size. I love the fact that we weren't spoonfed as to what it all means but that we were shown a scene or a mystery and we could interpret it ourselves or think about it for the next week or so.
If I thought I cannot be any more hyped for an event, that story bit put my anticipation into overdrive. So not only this group from another dimension will somehow perform live next week, but now a well known to me Brian Adams has a story with them. Oh the curiosity! The whole bit with the limo also added even more mystique to Kiss for me, by believing they’re inside but never seeing them: “ Those weird people were inside the limo and came to pick up Brian Adams!”
After this segment Tony Shiavone reminds everyone again that Kiss will perform on August 23 several times throughout the episode: "
"Next Monday, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Peter Criss, Ace Frehley, will be performing live on this program"
Bobby Heenan: "Can you imagine that, put all together in one package - Nitro, Vegas, WCW and Kiss - it don't get better than this"
And later on, Tony Shiavone
"There's a new meaning to I wanna Rock'n'roll All Nite and Party Every Day"
"Another Nitro next week featuring Kiss. Yes, you've heard it, Kiss"
"We're gonna bring you Kiss live on this program next Monday in Las Vegas. It's gonna be a colossal Monday Nitro next week"
"Ladies and Gentlemen, on the horizon, one and only, you wanted the best you got it, the hottest band in the world, Kiss! Next Monday live on Nitro"
"Next Monday Nitro, MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Kiss in concert!"
"It's gonna be Kiss, it's gonna be rock'n'roll, it's gonna be part of Monday Nitro, it's all gonna be next Monday live from Las Vegas. That's one night you can't miss!"
That was it, one week away!
Unfortunately, all the bits about Kiss and Adams going into the Kiss limo are now removed from the streaming version of the episode due to copyright issues.
In between, on August 19 episode of a "spinoff " WCW show "Thunder", Commentator Mike Tenay discusses the development: "After what we saw went down last Monday on Nitro involving Brian Adams, the attack of the nWo black and white on Brian Adams, and we saw Adams leave the arena and out of the arena in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and getting into a Kiss limo. I wonder if we will have some sort of explanation this upcoming Monday on Nitro when Kiss appears live on TNT Network"
This development was also highlighted on a "evening news"-styled WCW Worldwide show
Mike Tenay: Recently on Nitro, nWo black and white had problems with big Brian Adams. Very strange set of circumstances at the conclusion of [nWo vs Harlem Heat] match. We saw Brian Adams walking from the ring, through the backstage area, and then he got into a limo. And I wonder if there's any significance to that Kiss license plate
Larry Zbyszko: The armchair champions are gonna have fun on their internet, typing each other messages, wondering what's going on with Brian Adams and Kiss license plate, but obviously Brian Adams felt some eruption in the New World Order remnants and was ready to deal with any eventuality
Next up, the big day arrives!!!
Next: Chapter 5: Kiss Live/Brian Adams' Transformation - August 23, 1999