This Week In The WCW
This Week In The WCW
WCW Monday Night Nitro - Monday, 11/11/96
- Jeff Jarrett def. "Crippler" Chris Benoit via DQ when The Man Called Sad Mime (Sting) suddenly appeared and gave Jarrett a reverse neckbreaker.
- I was thinking to myself that it was a fairly stiff match when Jarrett reversed Benoit's attempt to suplex him into the ring off the apron by suplexing Benoit out of the ring. I haven't seen that dangerous move for quite a while and never on a guy as big as Benoit. It definitely deepened my respect for Benoit seeing that on live TV.
- Jarrett got many more boos than cheers when mugging for attention.
- While the match was going on, they cut to an interview with Sullivan where he said, "Benoit, those sweet nothings she's whispering to you...I've heard them before." Sullivan said they would settle it in Baltimore on 11/23.
- After Sting knocked out Jarrett and took off, Woman told Benoit to help Jarrett up since he was WCW. Benoit said, "I don't give a damn about him" (and, apparently, neither do the fans) and he went to attack Jarrett and the referee separated them.
- According to the announcers, Sting's run in while wearing black and attacking WCW's biggest supporter means he must be going nWo.
- Zero def. Malya Hosaka via pinfall after a Razor's Edge / Diamond Drop in a first round match to crown a Women's World Heavyweight Champion.
- Malya Hosaka is really cute, imho.
- A co-worker of mine, who was watching in his room with the TV muted next door, later asked me what the deal was with the man fighting a woman. He would not believe me that Zero is a woman.
- A fan (supposedly) rushed the announcers' area to hand Schiavone and Zbysko an envelope containing a videotape and a note saying it's a video from 1992 that will explain everything about Hogan and Piper. The announcers acted really upset about being rushed and, it being live TV, for a moment it seemed it wasn't staged. However, when they said they'd send it to the production truck to see if it was worthwhile, you knew it was an angle. Also, after reviewing my tape of Nitro, I noticed that at the very beginning of the show, you can see the guy in the crowd waving the envelope trying to get over the barricades and being blocked by security. More on this at the end...
- Gene Okerlund back from his "extended vacation" interviewed Diamond Dallas Page about whether he was in the nWo. DDP admitted he used to manage Scott Hall and team with Kevin Nash, but that didn't give them the right to interfere in his matches. Hall and Nash came out and officially extended DDP an invitation to the nWo. DDP felt slighted being invited to be the eighth member as that was too far down the list for his liking. Hall and Nash implied that DDP got favoritism in the WCW because he lives two doors down from Bischoff and then they walked off.
- Ray Misterio, Jr. def. Ciclope via pinfall with a hurricarana.
- The high point of the match was when Misterio got Ciclope into a superplex position (sitting on the top rope) and then head scissored him down to the cement floor. Impressive.
- Ultimo Dragon (with eight championship belts) and Sonny Ono watched the match from ringside.
- Dean Malenko came out to watch the match and Psichosis came out to watch Malenko watching the match.
- Hall, Nash, and Syxx came to the announcers' table and said they are taking over Nitro in two or three weeks.
- "The Total Package" Lex Luger def. Scott "Flash" Norton via submission with The Human Torture Rack. Surprise, surprise.
- Luger's really bugging me. Every week, he comes out and does the same exact thing. It's such a waste of potential. He's big, buffed, and good looking (so I'm told). If he learned a new move once in a while, he could really generate some heat. He needs a better gimmick/nickname than The Total Package. And don't suggest The Narcissist.
- Harlem Heat and The Amazing French-Canadians wrestled to a non-finish as a result of Sherri going after Parker. Parker is now, apparently, managing the Amazing French-Canadians.
- During the match, WCW cut to a camera in the back showing The Nasty Boys trying to get in the building and Doug Dillinger not letting them in. If security had only been this good when The Outsiders first showed up.
- As the Nasty Boys were leaving, they are seen talking to someone. The announcers are like, "Who is that?" and when they figure it out, Bischoff goes, "Oh, they make quite a threesome!". I think it was Ed Leslie (Brutus Beefcake/The Booty Man/Butcher/etc., etc.)
- Konan def. "Lionheart" Chris Jericho via DQ when Nick Patrick disqualified Jericho after Konan kicked Jericho into him.
- The Nick Patrick angle is getting really old.
- "The Man With The Fur Shirt" Miguel Perez, Jr. def. Juventeud Guerrera with a Hurricarana.
- Miguel Perez, Jr. is supposedly the son of the great Miguel Perez, tag team partner of the really great Antonino Rocca.
- Perez did a Flair Flip (thrown into the corner, flipping upside down, and landing feet first on the apron) during the match. Of course, it wasn't a true Flair Flip because he didn't get nailed with a clothesline on the apron immediately after it.
- The Faces of Fear def. The American Males via pinfall when Barbarian pinned Riggs after he was kicked in the face by Meng.
- Bagwell was unable to make the save after being bumped by Riggs. More fuel for the coming split.
- After the match, Hart grabbed the microphone and berated the WCW for giving The Nasty Boys the title shot at World War III rather than the Faces of Fear. At the very least, he said, it should be a triangle match. The announcers concurred.
- They showed the "tell-all" video in what has to be one of the worst angles ever. In what was basically a promotional gimmick for Piper, they showed his horrendous "I'm Your Man" video from 1992. At several points in the video, he looks longingly at a marquee that says, "Piper vs. Hogan in the Bout of the Century". Bischoff's conclusion was, get this, that the video proves that all Piper is living for is to get at Hogan. Of course, anyone watching the video "I'm Your Man" can see that it was directed at the woman who appeared in 95% of the video with Piper, not Hogan. It was a very cheap trick to keep the marks tuned in for two hours.
- Then, to close the show, Hogan came out and posed for everyone.
WCW {Pro} Wrestling - Sunday, 11/10/96
- Jim Powers pinned Casey Thompson after a powerslam.
- "Hardwork" Bobby Walker pinned J.L. after a reverse dropkick from the top rope.
- Billy Kidman pinned Bill Payne with a Shooting Star Press from the top rope in the third jobber match in a row.
- "Diamond" Dallas Page pinned Chavo Guerrero, Jr., again, after hitting him with a diamond cutter, again.
- "The Man of 1,000 Holds" Dean Malenko pinned "Lionheart" Chris Jericho using the ropes for leverage after blocking an attempted forward roll by Jericho.
WCW Saturday Night - Saturday, 11/09/96
- Psichosis (sp?) and Juventud (sp?) Guerrera def. The American Males via pinfall when Guerrera pinned Riggs following a flip off the top rope.
- Immediately before the pin, Riggs accidentally bumped Bagwell and that made Bagwell unable to make the save. Their disagreement after the match was more set up for their coming split and Bagwell's heel turn.
- Even before the bump, Dusty Rhodes commented that there was dissension between them.
- "Lord" Steven Regal def. "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan via DQ to retain the WCW World Television Title when the referee saw Duggan taping his fist.
- The announcers tried to portray this as a Nick Patrick screw job but Patrick, in this case anyway, made the right call.
- "Diamond" Dallas Page pinned Ice Train after clocking him with an international object that Page had in his tights.
- This was a classic Nick Patrick screw job.
- The Amazing French-Canadians def. The Harlem Heat via count-out when The Harlem Heat was otherwise occupied beating the daylights out of Col. Robert Parker outside the ring after he tried to manhandle Scary Sherri.
- The Heat losing to the AFC, even on a screw-job countout, would lend some credence to the rumors that the Heat are going to the WWF.
- "The Crippler" Chris Benoit def. "The Laughing Man" Hugh Morrus with a suplex and a bridge after Woman scratched Morrus in the eyes.
- After the match, The Dungeon of Doom came out and did a mudhole stomp on Benoit on the entrance ramp. Ironically, all of the humanoids close to where Bubba was slamming Benoit into the gates kept trying to pull Benoit over the gates to "save" him. This was actually putting him at more risk. Nick Patrick kept pushing the humanoids away; not as a heel referee, but really trying to protect Benoit.
- The Sullivan/Benoit/Woman thing is coming to a head and should be resolved in Baltimore later this month. Hart is calling her Nancy now, as well. Sullivan said to Woman in the post-beating interview, "You could have stopped this with one phone call". Unfortunately, Sullivan really doesn't look well and my prediction is that Sullivan is going to retire from active wrestling and Benoit "ending his career" is going to be used to push Benoit.
- The announcers still act puzzled at this "connection" between Sullivan and Woman. They sometimes mention that she used to manage him but ignore the fact they are married.
- Dean Malenko pinned Ray Misterio, Jr. with a backslide to retain the WCW World Cruiserweight Title.
- In the nWo match, Syxx pinned The Bounty Hunter following a spinning kick.
- Hall and Nash did really good commentary during the match. The Bounty Hunter was quite a porker and Nash said, "Hey, Bounty Hunter, I've got two words for you: Salad Bar."
- The Bounty Hunter started jawing with Hall and Nash and they seemingly got pissed off and slapped him around a bit during the match. They then encouraged Syxx to stiffen up his moves. If I was a real mark, I would think it was turning into a little bit of a shoot, but I know better. ;-)
- Lex Luger def. Maxx Muscle via submission with The Human Torture Rack in an extremely predictable match.