This Week In The WCW
This Week In The WCW
WCW Monday Night Nitro - Monday, 11/25/96
- A tournament for the WCW U.S. Heavyweight Title vacated by Ric Flair due to his injury was announced with two of the first round matches tonight.
- In a first round U.S. Heavyweight Title tournament match, "The Enforcer" Arn Anderson and "The Total Package" Lex Luger wrestled to a double-countout, eliminating both of them from the tournament.
- Both men were counted out when Luger got Anderson in The Human Torture Rack out on the floor and wouldn't let him go.
- At one point, Luger was under the bottom rope and Anderson grabbed his legs to slingshot him up and clothesline him on the bottom rope. It looked like a blown spot and Luger may have actually taken it across the throat.
- It was announced that the upcoming WCW Saturday Night would have some footage from the Benoit/Sullivan match in Baltimore.
- The Giant got on the microphone during the match to let everyone know the tournament was a farce since HE is the U.S. Heavyweight Champion.
- So much for my hope that Anderson would win the vacated U.S. Title.
- Bischoff and the nWo (sans Hogan who was probably out promoting his movie which made all of $200,000 in its first weekend) came out and Bischoff, as the highest ranking executive in both the nWo and WCW, served notice to all of the WCW wrestlers that they have 30 days to convert their contracts to the nWo. Bischoff also pointed out that the Giant has the U.S. Belt and possession is nine points of the law. The American Males came out. Bagwell embraced the the members of the nWo. Riggs hesitated so Bagwell gave him a Rude Awakening. The crowd starting chanting, "nWo, nWo!" Over Riggs' prone body, Nash and Hall said, "Looks to me like those who hesitate...they get punked!"
- "Diamond" Dallas Page pinned Disco Inferno following a Diamond Cutter.
- Following the match, "Mean" Gene Okerlund interviewed Page. Okerlund tried to act like a tough interviewer asking Page questions about his relationships with Hall, Nash, and Bischoff. Page said, "I only wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then."
- "Lord" Steven Regal def. Tony Pena via submission with a Regal Stretch to retain the WCW World Television Championship.
- Tony Pena seems to have stolen his entrance music from Seinfeld.
- Remember what I said a week or two ago about Regal losing some weight? I don't know what I was thinking. His pendulous belly was hanging out over his tights tonight. Too much fish and chips.
- Okerlund interviewed Rick Steiner after the match. Steiner said he and his brother are 100% WCW. Too bad Scott Steiner is laid up with a possible career-ending hip injury. Rick Steiner really doesn't interview well.
- Eddie Guerrero pinned Konnan following a head scissors executed by reversing a powerbomb, Eddie advances to the second round of the WCW U.S. Heavyweight Title tournament.
- Eddie did the hot new gimmick of giving nine shots to the head in the corner while the crowd counts and pulling the man out and pausing before delivering the tenth.
- "Big" Bubba Rogers pinned "The Dog-Faced Gremlin" Rick Steiner after A Man Called Sad Mime (Sting) slipped into the ring and gave Steiner a reverse DDT when the referee wasn't looking.
- On the way to the ring, Steiner had implored Sting to let him know what was in his head. Well, now Steiner knows.
- On the way to the ring, Big Bubba showed off his "Big Bubba, No Trouble" t-shirt.
- Steiner gave Rogers and Jimmy Hart a skull session early in the match.
- Ray Misterio, Jr. pinned Psychosis with a head scissors off the second rope on a reversal of an attempted Razor's Edge by Psychosis.
- Ultimate Dragon (with his eight belts) and Sonny Ono watched from ringside.
- Heenan commented, "At the last party Lee Marshall went to, he went out for cigarettes and three people stepped on his hands."
- After the Misterio match, "Crippler" Chris Benoit and Woman (Mrs. Kevin Sullivan) were interviewed by Okerlund. Benoit was sporting a huge shiner on his left eye and a huge contusion on his right cheek. Benoit said Sullivan was a coward for using his front office position to try to get him shipped out of WCW and a coward for the gang attack. Woman said, "Kevin, I told you if you kicked him one more time, it's over. You said it's been over for a long time. Well, I'm saying it's over on my terms."
- Jeff Jarrett def. "Das Blunderpinned" Alex Wright via submission with a figure-four leglock.
- Sting did not come down to the ring to clobber Jarrett, for an unfortunate change of pace.
- Jarrett, for the first time in WCW, wrestled as a heel. It is a definite change in style for him since his arrival. This implies the situation with him is going to come to a head soon.
- Harlem Heat and The Faces of Fear wrestled to a non-finish when the nWo, including Bagwell, rushed the ring and opened up a can of whup-ass on both teams.
- As the nWo stood triumphantly in the ring afterwards, the fans threw an incredible amount of garbage into the ring, including cups full of soda. As the live broadcast was ending, the Giant caught a full cup of soda that was thrown and the cup exploded and drenched everyone.
WCW World War III - Sunday, 11/24/96
- The Ultimate Dragon pinned Ray Misterio, Jr. following a slingshot powerbomb.
- Misterio took a tremendous beating in this match, including a running powerbomb from the Dragon.
- Misterio pulled off some spectacular double top rope moves that don't even have names yet.
- Mean Gene interviewed Diamond Dallas Page in an interview where the sound didn't match the picture. What's up with that?
- "Lionheart" Chris Jericho (with one arm tied behind his back) def. Nick Patrick via pinfall following a superkick.
- Nick Patrick has a tattoo of Jesus on his left arm.
- Nick Patrick must have practiced to refresh his skills (he used to be a wrestler). He did an outstanding job, including
coming off the top rope the hard way, ala Ric Flair. Much better than Steve McMichael is doing after six months of being a Horseman.
- Ric Flair was interviewed by Okerlund. Flair vowed that before it's all said and done, the WCW will own the nWo.
- The Giant pinned Jeff Jarrett following a chokeslam after some help from The Man Called Sad Mime (Sting).
- Sting appeared on the catwalks and came down to the ring. He gave Jarrett a reverse DDT in an exact replay of what happened on Nitro, except this time the referee didn't see it. That allowed the Giant to deliver the chokeslam.
- Piper came to the ring for the contract signing. Bischoff led DiBiase and Vincent to the ring. Bischoff tried to act like a bad-
ass claiming Hogan's power of attorney. Piper threatened and taunted Bischoff. Piper asked Bischoff if he had the balls to sign
a Piper/Hogan no-DQ-to-a-finish match and Piper called Hogan out. Hogan came out with Elizabeth, the Giant, Syxx, Hall and Nash. Piper stood toe-to-toe with the entire nWo. Hogan showed everybody Piper's hip replacement scar. Hogan signed the contract for Starcade on December 29th in Nashville and said he couldn't wait to beat up a gimp. Piper promptly attacked him. While the nWo held Piper, Hogan chaired and attacked the hip and proceeded to spray paint NWO on Piper's bad leg. Then Hogan hocked a big loogie on Piper. As the nWo left the ring, Piper tried to go after Hogan but he couldn't even stand.
- The Harlem Heat def. The Amazing French-Canadians when Carl Oulette missed a flip off the "clubhouse" and Booker T. nailed Oulette with a flip off the top rope and pinned him.
- As The Amazing French-Canadians set up a jumping platform in the corner with a table and two sets of steps, Bobby
Heenan said, "They're building a clubhouse!"
- As Harlem Heat won the match, Sherry got five minutes with Parker. In the three minutes she got before he ran away, Sherry cleaned Parker's clock. She fought him in two of the three rings and he didn't even get a punch in. Her beating of him included a clothesline off the top rope.
- An Okerlund ad for the 900 line. It seems tacky advertising a 900 line during a pay-per-view.
- Okerlund then interviewed Lex Luger about Sting and wondered aloud if Sting is now wrestling as Marcel Marceau.
- Dean Malenko pinned Psychosis with a Sunset Flip after Dark (as named by Bobby Heenan) after a tombstone (reverse) piledriver to retain the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship.
- Heenan at one point referred to Psychosis as Psoriasis.
- Malenko had some hardway juice on his right arm.
- In the triangle match, Hall and Nash retained the World Tag Team Championship after Nash pinned Knobbs after a powerbomb. The powerbomb was preceded by Hall clocking Knobbs with Jimmy Hart's megaphone.
- Heenan said the bandage on the side of Brian Knobbs' head was due to him being a brain donor. Heenan also wanted to know if DQ stood for Dairy Queen.
- At one point in the match, the legal men in the ring, Meng and Knobbs, tried to outsmart the nWo by tagging Hall and Nash
in at the same time. When they tried to tag out, the Faces of Fear and Nasty Boys jumped off the apron. Hall and Nash, instead of
fighting, wised up. Nash laid on his back and Hall went to pin him (as Hall and, hence, the Outsiders, would win the title) but the
Nasty Boys and Faces of Fear broke it up. That was flawed, I think, as both members of a team can't be in at the same time in a
triangle match (I think).
- Three Ring Sixty-man Battle Royale. Winner gets a title shot Hulk Hogan's WCW/nWo World Heavyweight Title. Walking to the ring, Chris Benoit looked like he'd been in a car accident after his match the previous night in Baltimore with Kevin Sullivan as his face was all bruised and cut up. (According to the announcers, once again they fought all the way to the men's room, but this time, The Dungeon of Doom was waiting in ambush). Anderson had his back taped up presumably from his fight with Luger in Baltimore. Benoit, Sullivan, and
others immediately started fighting all over the arena. Lee Marshall got knocked down in the melee and got pissed at Zbysko. There seems like an angle coming up between Zbysko and the nWo. The comical highlight of the match was, at one point, there was a twelve man dogpile on Ron Studd although pinfalls don't count. I may have missed a few people getting eliminated and the number of people in the Horsemen/Dungeon melee was unclear so this won't add up to sixty. Plus, at one point, somebody in a mask got eliminated that I didn't recognize. However, for those I saw, the order of elimination was:
- The Dungeon of Doom and The Four Horsemen were eliminated without even getting in the ring as they immediately began fighting each other throughout the building and wound up eventually getting counted out. This eliminated, at a minimum, Anderson, Benoit, McMichael, Sullivan, Konnan and Morrus.
- Tony Rumble
- Ciclope
- La Parka
- Scott "Flash" Norton
- "Pistol" Pez Whatley
- Jimmy Grafitti
- The Renegade
- Galaxy
- Mark Starr
- High Voltage Chaos
- Prince Iakeaua
- Joe Gomez
- Rroadblock
- J.L.
- "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan
- Carl Oulette
- Jacques Rougeau
- Scotty Riggs (by Bagwell)
- Marcus Alexander Bagwell
- "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton
- "Squire" Dave Taylor
- V.K. Wallstreet
- Juventud Guerrara
- Jack Boot
- Johnny Grunge
- Dean Malenko
- High Voltage Rage
- Sgt. Craig "Pit Bull" Pittman
- Booker T. of the Harlem Heat
- Disco Inferno
- Bunkhouse Buck
- Stevie Ray of the Harlem Heat
- "Big" Ron Studd
- Rick Steiner
- Ultimate Dragon
- "Das Wunderkid" Alex Wright
- "Lionheart" Chris Jericho
- Ice Train
- Eddy Guerrero
- Ray Misterio, Jr. (The Giant picked him up over his head with one hand, waved goodbye, and launched him over the top onto Eddy Guerrero)
- Jeff Jarrett
- "Diamond" Dallas Page
- "Lord" Steven Regal (This left Luger as the lone WCW man vs. Hall, Nash, Syxx and The Giant)
- Scott Hall
- Syxx (thrown by Luger over the top on top of Hall)
- Kevin Nash
- Lex Luger (Luger had Nash in the Human Torture Rack as he went over the top. A minute earlier, Luger had The Giant in the rack)
The wiiner and last man remaining was The Giant. He gets the shot at Hulk Hogan at an event obviously after Starcade. It was somewhat disappointing that, rather than some immediate followup on The Giant's win (i.e. an appearance by Hogan to cause tension), the pay-per-view ended.
WCW {Pro} Wrestling - Sunday, 11/24/96
- Juventud Guerrera pinned "Hardwork" Bobby Walker with a Sunset Flip off the second rope.
- Public Enemy def. Scott and Steve Armstrong when Rocco Rock pinned Steve after Johnny Grunge clobbered Steve when the referee wasn't looking and rolled an unconcious Rocco Rock on top of him.
- Konnan and "Taskmaster" Kevin Sullivan def. Bill Payne and an unnamed jobber when Konnan made the unnamed jobber submit in a Pretzel.
- The WCW can't seem to decide whether it's spelled Konan or Konnan.
- The Ultimate Dragon pinned The Cheetah Kid with a German Suplex and a bridge.
- He was Ultimo Dragon, now he's Ultimate Dragon.
- He had eight belts, now he has nine.
WCW Saturday Night - Saturday, 11/23/96
- The Faces of Fear def. Cyclope and Galaxy when Barbarian pinned Cyclope after Meng back bodydropped Cyclope into a Barbarian powerbomb.
- Kevin Sullivan pinned Scotty Riggs with a small package.
- Surprise, surprise! An accidental bump from Bagwell directly contributed to Riggs getting pinned.
- "Lionheat" Chris Jericho def. Sgt. Craig "Pit Bull" Pittman via pinfall after a dropkick off the top rope right in the mush.
- Pittman came out sporting a new moustache.
- Pittman got booed throughout the match.
- Pittman was not at all pleased with Teddy Long's wishing Jericho luck before the match.
- Pittman started to turn heel during the match, started jawing with Long, and got distracted and pinned as a result. Teddy
Long left with Jericho rather than Pittman.
- Arn Anderson pinned Bunkhouse Buck following a DDT.
- Bunkhouse Buck really looks like Bluto from Popeye.
- Anderson got a lot of cheers. If I was there, you know I'd be cheering.
- Another classic Anderson interview after the match.
- He plans to win the Battle Royale.
- He pointed out, quite appropriately I might add, that he's been consistently passed over for title shots.
- He also pointed out he's beaten Hogan twice and Flair once. I'm pretty sure no one else has beaten both of them in the last decade.
- The Amazing French-Canadians def. Mark Starr and Casey Thompson when Carl Oulette pinned Thompson after a flip and reverse splash off of Jacques Rougeau's shoulders.
- Col. Robert Parker showed off his Legionairre's outfit in the post-match interview.
- Jeff Jarrett def. "Mean" Mike Enos via submission with a figure-four leglock after Enos accidentally banged his knee
powerslammming Jarrett.
- The announcers pointed out that Sting always seems to appear whenever Jarrett is wrestling. I got an e-mail from a reader
hypothesizing that Jarrett is really nWo and Sting is WCW, which is why Sting is attacking him. Jarrett's "mission" is to destroy the
Horsemen. This explains why Jarett goes out of his way to be such a snot.
- In the nWo match, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash def. "Big" Buck Brezner and "Pistol" Pez Whatley when Nash pinned Brezner after a sidewalk slam.
- Scott Hall spit out the toothpick at the beginning of the match this week.
- The referee clotheslined Whatley but Nash couldn't finish counting the pinfall as he imitated Nick Patrick's neck injury.
- Hall kept pointing out how much Brezner looked like Sasquatch.
- "Lord" Steven Regal pinned "The Man of 1,000 Holds" Dean Malenko in what looked like a double pinfall where Regal got a shoulder up at the last second.
- Regal retained the World Television Title with the win. The Cruiserweight Title was not on the line.
- The pinfall was a totally missed spot. Both their shoulders were down and supposedly Regal got a shoulder up. In reality, Malenko had Regal wrapped up so well that Regal couldn't actually get his shoulder up, he was barely able to wiggle it. However, since that was the planned ending, that's how it came down.
- Regal tried to pay Malenko respect after the match but Malenko would have none of it.
- The show ended with a replay of Bischoff's heel turn.
- In the footage, they bleeped out Piper calling Bischoff a piece of s**t.