This Week In The WCW
This Week In The WCW
WCW Monday Night Nitro - Monday, 03/03/97
- The show began with the nWo's arrival in a humvee limo. Syxx's right arm was in a sling due a to (legit) separated shoulder suffered at Superbrawl. In a second limo, a number of the Turner suits arrived, led by Dr. Harvey Schiller (sp?), president of TBS Sports.
- Konan and "The Laughing Man" Hugh Morrus def. Steve "Mongo" McMichael and Jeff Jarrett when Konan pinned McMichael after Jarrett accidentally whacked Mongo with the Haliburton.
- Great crowd tonight. With every punch, they let out a loud "Buh!"
- Toward the end of the match, Public Enemy appeared at ringside. Jarrett knocked down Johnny Grunge. Jarrett then grabbed the case away from Rocco Rock and, as he pulled it back, he whacked Mongo in the ring.
- It was a really odd spot as the swinging case seemingly didn't really come anywhere near Mongo, but after the spot Mongo had (probably fake) juice on his forehead.
- Flair and Anderson came out and were livid at Jarrett. Flair said Jarrett was making him look bad. Flair said: "We gave you a chair, sit in it! Quit falling out of it!"
- The only one on Jarrett's side (besides Jarrett, of course) was Debra. She said it was an honest mistake.
- There's been a lot of speculation about whether Benoit or McMichael would be kicked out of the Horsemen to make room for Jarrett. In fact, it looks like Jarrett's stay may be very short. Given how great Benoit is, and how over Mongo's wife is, I think Jarrett will be the first to go.
- "Diamond" Dallas Page pinned Rick Fuller following a (Bang!) Diamond Cutter.
- Page got an incredible pop from the crowd when he delivered the diamond cutter.
- Juventud Guerrera pinned Ray Mendoza, Jr. following a 2 1/2 gainer from the top rope.
- In this match, Juventud did something I've never seen before. He ran down the apron and delivered a suicide dive through two sets of ropes in the corner.
- This was a very stiff match.
- After the match, Jimmy Hart, "Taskmaster" Kevin Sullivan, and Miss Jacqueline commandeered the announcers' booth. It was a lame spot. Jacqueline offered to take on any man in WCW.
- A WWF commercial for a live event on 3/15 at the USAir Arena in Landover, MD. It advertises a triangle match with Shawn Michaels as champion. Must have been taped a while ago.
- Hank Aaron was in the crowd. The show was at the Omni and Hank works in the Atlanta Braves front office.
- "The Man of 1,000 Holds" Dean Malenko pinned "Mean" Mike Enos with a small package.
- On the way to the ring, Enos said to the camera "Atlanta, home of the losers!" Huh?
- As Eric Bischoff was being interviewed, Dr. Harvey Schiller came out and suspended Bischoff: "You think that just because you have a contract, you can fire referees, break the rules of wrestling (yeah, he's the first person ever to do that), and take away titles? You may have contract, but you're suspended. I don't want you even answering the phone in our offices. I don't even want to hear a rumor you're in a men's room at a WCW event."
- This spot was a disappointment. It was supposed to have been Ted Turner, but word of the "surprise" got so widespread that it was even in the mainstream press. Thus, since the surprise was ruined, Turner's appearance was canceled.
- Eddie Guerrero pinned Ultimate Dragon with a cross body block to retain the WCW U.S. Heavyweight Championship.
- Guerrero's feet were tangled in the ropes on the pin but the ref counted it anyway.
- In the post-match interview, Okerlund said to Guerrero "Dean Malenko blames you for being singlehandedly responsible for his not being U.S. champ". Okerlund is such a dope. Guerrero's repsonsible for Malenko not being Cruiserweight champ.
- During the interview Malenko came out and he and Guerrero yelled at each other but didn't come to blows.
- Scotty Riggs def. M. Wallstreet via DQ when Buff Bagwell ran in to break up a pin after Riggs gave Wallstreet a really lame flying forearm.
- They announced the three way match at Uncensored and that Piper was invited to bring a team.
- Wallstrett needs to get pants that stay up.
- Piper is in the building!
- Piper came out wearing an "I.C.O.N." t-shirt. "I cower over nothing". Looks like a merchandising effort to me. He's probably copyrighted "I.C.O.N." like Pat Riley copyrighted "three-peat". Piper said has was going to give six guys a tryout for his Uncensored team and let the crowd decide by a thumbs-up or thumbs-down who is going to be on it. Man, here's an angle with a potential to go south in a hurry. He didn't make it clear how many men total he was looking for.
- First guy comes out. Sort of looks like the Highlander. He and Piper wrestle for about 30 seconds and the guy taps out. There was no ref to end the thing so Piper just lets him go and they shake hands. Crowd gives thumbs down and boos.
- Second guy comes out. Fairly well build and pretty big. He fights dirty but Piper puts him to sleep after about 30 seconds. Crowd gives thumbs down and boos.
- As the third guy is coming out, he is knocked down and out in the aisle by the fourth guy who is wearing boxing gloves. The fourth guy looks sort of like Hercules Hernandez if Hercules stopped working out and ate a lot of potato chips for about two years. He and Piper boxed and wrestled for a while and Piper couldn't beat him. Now, here's where the angle starts going in the toilet. Piper calls time out and raises the guy's hand. The crowd boos and gives thumbs down as they don't want a no-name on Piper's team. Piper, not knowing what to do, finds a microphone (this was definitely not planned) and says, "I think you are being a little too hard on him". He fights the guy a little more and makes him look good to get him over with the crowd. Nothing doing, the crowd's still booing. Piper embraces him anyway and, thus, he's part of the team. So much for the crowd making the decision.
- The fifth guy comes out. He looks a little like Steve "Dr. Death" Williams but with a lot of tattoos. The last guy was a boxer but this guy is a kickboxer. Same situation as last time. Piper tries to get him over put the crowd is booing. Too bad, he's on the team anyway.
- For the fifth guy, Heenan commented "He's barefoot and he's got tattoos. Just like the winner of the Miss Kentucky contest!"
- The sixth guy comes out and it's John Tenta (Earthquake/Shark). Same deal as the other two although at least Tenta's a little over with the crowd. Piper announces that these three guys are his "third family" (the real one is first and the fans are second) and they are going to Superbrawl.
- This angle just did not go over with the crowd.
- Ray Misterio, Jr. pinned J.L. with a hurricarana.
- The announcers mentioned J.L.'s upset win over Dean Malenko some time ago. I thought WCW was pretending that never happened.
- In the tournament to initially award the current version of the cruiserweight belt, J.L. beat Malenko in the first round. This was payback for Malenko legitimately (and accidentally) breaking J.L.'s arm in a match sometime earlier.
- Okerlund interviewed Madusa. She blamed her lack of exposure on Bischoff's obsession with the nWo. She mentions how she wants to fight Luna Vachon (daughter of the Mad Dog and niece of the Butcher Vachon) and Vachon appears and attacks her until the break for commercial.
- A few years ago, Luna was escorting Bam Bam Bigelow to the ring in the WWF for a while.
- A guy in the wrestling business who knows Luna personally wrote me and said Luna really is a maniac outside the ring, too.
- The nWo including Bischoff and WCW Sting came out and did their thing.
- A nice clear shot of some guy in the crowd giving the finger.
- Bubba Rogers must be sick. He wasn't there and the night he was 'attacked' before Nitro, he did not look well.
- Bischoff said he and Hogan are friends with Ted Turner so Schiller can "Take a hike".
- For most of the spot, someone in the crowd with a laser pointer kept pointing at whoever was talking.
- Sting stayed off to the side for this whole thing.
- A match with the Giant and Lex Luger against The Steiners went to a non-finish when the nWo came to the ring.
- Gee, who would have ever guessed we wouldn't see a pinfall to end this match?
- When the nWo came to the ring, Piper's team came to the ring as well and everyone started brawling to end the show.
- I've been thinking about this whole thing with the Steiner's winning the belt and WCW (legit) making the decision the next day to take them away. I think it was punishment for Scott Steiner saying "F*** you, too" to someone in the crowd, loud and clear for the entire pay-per-view audience to hear. What's that they say about steroids and a bad temper?
- Doug Palmer at University of Western Florida was at the Omni for Nitro. Here is his report:
- The Omni was about 75% full, not close to a sellout but a nice crowd of about 10,000 I think. It was very loud crowd but the show didn't live up to expectations. I haven't seen the show on tape so I'm not 100% sure what you saw at home, but it was real disappointing live.
- Dark Match: Some NJPW wrestler that I will not even try to spell vs. I believe Ernest Miller (The public address system was not doing to well
tonight and it was very hard to hear). Mr. Miller was a three time world karate champion from Atlanta, GA. The match lasted maybe 2.5 minutes and neither was over with the crowd, Miller won with an off the ropes thrust kick to the head that barely connected. This was a sign of things to come.
- The Konan/Hugh Morrus vs Steve McMichael/Jeff Jarrett match was over with the crowd big time. Even Jeff Jarrett got a good pop and the event wasn't in Memphis. "Mongo" had the crowd going, and was busted open by the briefcase. The interview was hard to hear but Debra McMichael got the biggest reaction. The boos were fantastic. She got major heat from the crowd.
- Diamond Dallas was over big time with the crowd from the start. Rick Fuller delievered the best chop of the night (we were high up and heard it like we were ringside).
- Juventud Guerrera/Ray Mendoza had a few high spots but in the arena the match was bad and no one cared. This was the first concession/bathroom break of the evening for a lot of fans. No reaction at all from the crowd.
- Dean Malenko/Mike Enos match was not much. Dean got solid pop but not great. Match was too short as weremost of the matches tonight. [Editor's Note: This is one of the downsides of attending a wrestling event broadcast on commercial TV.]
- Eric Bischoff suspension was the biggest pop of the night. The crowd was fired up. A lot of people thought that Dr. Schiller was Ted Turner.
- Eddie Guerrero/Utltimate Dragon - Eddie got a bigger pop than I thought he would. The match was way too short for these two talented workers. I thought that maybe they were trying to save some time for the main event but of course this was not true either.
- Scotty Riggs/Wallstreet - Another no one cares match, the concession stands and bathrooms did some good business during this time, too. Buff Bagwell also didn't receive any heat even from his hometown fans.
- Roddy Piper came out to a thunderous applause. Everone was standing and cheering but too bad it ended the way it did. I not sure who thought up this idea but it went bad and got worse. The first two guys who came were alright with the fans but after that no one cared. Piper tried to put the boxer over but no one was buying. The fans booed and booed. By the time the kickboxer came out everyone had figured out what was happening so the boos died down but everybody just went dead.
Earthquake-Alvanche-Shark-John Tenta received a little noise but not much. Hot Rod did some damage here with this angle. Someone needs to do some major damage control with this. Please don't try to base a major PPV on this or Uncensored will live up to its previous billing as the worst two PPVs of all time.
- Ray Mistero, Jr. /J.L. - The crowd was in the "I've Seen It Before" mood and took another bathroom/concession break. Ray got a little pop but not huge. The Piper blunder had taken the wind out of everyone sails.
- Madusa interview drew a little heat but her kick at Luna was the most stiff blow of the night (at least from my angle).
- The NWO interview drew a good deal of attention but the Atlanta fans need better aim throwing objects. No one got ejected that I could see although the "real" cops did come out and have a few serious conversations with a couple fans.
- I looked at my watch and saw that the main event had about 5 minutes unless they added time. The Steiners got a good pop and Luger a better one. The Giant was the favorite by far. The place exploded when he entered the ring to wrestle. The run ins were expected and the Steiners/Luger/Giant and Piper/Jobbers ran the nWo out of ring and back off the set as the show ended.
- Conclusion:
I had expected a great show tonight from the Omni, the WCW was at their homebase and Raw was taped. It was a great chance to take it to the WWF but the show was below average, at least for the live audience. I drove five hours for this Nitro but this show was far below the show in Pensacola, my hometown. The Pensacola show had some really good matches but there was not one good match in the Omni. The Piper angle was bad from the start. The Bischoff suspension was expected and gave the show a lift but after the first two matches there was nothing else worth watching.
- Extra:
Driving home this morning from Atlanta I heard on the John Boy and Billy radio show an interview with Mongo and Ric Flair. Some highlights were:
- Arn Anderson's wife just had a baby, 9 pound boy, with a full head of hair.
- Mongo did indeed get stitches last night and went to the emergency room.
- Ric Flair did not think much of the Piper angle last night and said Roddy had called him at 3:00am to ask for help (this was a joke) but Ric really felt the situation was bad last night.
- Ric was pushing his Gold's Gym
- Mongo was really funny here and Debra won three beauty contests in three different states.
- Corey Washington at Augusta State University was also at the Omni. Here is his report:
- Here's some info you might not have seen: The guy with the boxing gloves that was with Piper...Razor Ramon aka Scott Hall pulled his pants down so that he mooned the crowd it didn't look like it was part of the script. Only those with certain seats could see it. That seems to be a rising trend now i.e. The Giant at Souled Out. Also the referee Mark Curtis blew a spot and gave the Ultimo Dragon a cheap loss. Sony Ono was clearly upset. This was not a work, he almost came to blows with Mark Curtis. From my vantage point I could see everything. At one point they were even arguing behind the curtain. Also I just figured out that Jim Ross was in the Omni viewing everything. At first I said it couldn't be him but Raw was taped and everyone knows his ties to Atlanta. I tried as hard as I could to stand out from the crowd. I was the first one to spot Flair and give a big Woooooooooo! when I saw him come out for his interview. You know everyone else followed in suit. I worked hard
practicing at home to perfect the loudest Wooooo! in the crowd.
WCW {Pro} Wrestling - Sunday, 03/02/97
- "The Laughing Man" Hugh Morrus pinned Hardbody Harris with the Last Laugh.
- I can't tell whether Morrus is still in the Dungeon of Doom or not. He has his own music, and Jimmy Hart doesn't escort him to the ring even when Hart is at the arena. However, the monitors in the studio initially showed "Dungeon of Doom" as Morrus was coming out.
- There was one mystery cleared up during the match. Morrus' moonsault is the No Laughing Matter. After the moonsault, when he covers himself with the unconscious jobber for the two count before pinning him, that's the Last Laugh.
- "Mean" Mike Enos and Bunkhouse Buck def. the Southern Posse when Enos pinned the less hairy guy in the Posse after a piggyback slam.
- As usual, Buck knocked down the cameraman, who happened to be Jimmy Crockett, on the way to the ring.
- Dusty said that both Liza Minelli and Ernest Borgnine told him that Sting hasn't turned nWo. Then Dusty corrected himself: "No, no, no. Not Liza Minelli. Lizzie Minelli".
- Mr. J.L. pinned Billy Kidman following a modified DDT from the second rope.
- Dusty claimed to have stayed in the Lincoln bedroom this week.
- Konan pinned Villano IV following the 187.
- The 187 is Konan's bearhug into a DDT. Thanks to Steve R. for letting me know letting me know what it means: "Konan's finisher, the 1-8-7, I guess derives from the police code 1-8-7, which is the code for murder. Since Konan seems to be taking on the LA gangster look, it seems feasible, since a lot of gangster rap involves the term 1-8-7."
- Glacier def. Ultimate Dragon via DQ when the ref saw Sonny Ono kicking Glacier outside the ring.
- I knew there was no way this match was ending with a pinfall. No way in a million years either of these guys would agree to job to the other.
- Cruise said tomorrow night's Nitro is will be "The night you're never going to forget".
WCW Saturday Night - Saturday, 03/01/97
- The Faces of Fear def. High Voltage when Meng pinned Rage after a Kick Of Fear from the Barbarian.
- High Voltage has a lot of talent. If they stick with it for a few years, they could go places. Kaos, however, really should get those tattoos removed.
- La Parka pinned Mark Starr with a corkscrew splash from the top turnbuckle.
- During the match, it was announced that the Steiners would be at Nitro. The announcers didn't know whether they'd be wrestling or just appearing. This is interesting since my theory was the Steiners had quit WCW due to their (legit) anger at being stripped of the titles. I figured their leaving screwed up the plans for the debut of Sting's Army and, hence, Savage's turn to the nWo to make all the suckers like me feel like they got their $30 worth ordering Superbrawl. Someone also sent me an e-mail saying they were going to ECW.
- "Lionheart" Chris Jericho pinned Bunkhouse Buck following a missile dropkick from the top turnbuckle.
- As usual, Buck knocked down the cameraman in the entranceway on his way to the ring.
- In one of the best unplanned spots I've ever seen, Jericho was thrown into the corner. Instead of smashing into the turnbuckles, he grabbed the top rope and jumped over it onto the apron. He bumped into the cameraman who was standing on the apron and knocked him off. What made it so cool was that the video feed was coming from that camera at the time. You see Jericho coming at you and the camera shakes as the cameraman is hit. Then the camera's pointing down and as the cameraman is falling, you see the floor coming closer and closer until he hits the ground.
- "Hardwork" Bobby Walker and Jim "Juice" Powers def. Doc Dean and Robbie Brookside when Walker pinned Brookside after delivering a flying headbutt from the top turnbuckle to a standing Brookside.
- Doc Dean and Robbie Brookside are a tag team from All-Star Wrestling in the U.K.
- "The Laughing Man" Hugh Morrus pinned Top Gun following a moonsault from the top turnbuckle.
- Juventud Guerrera pinned Ray Mendoza, Jr. following a frankensteiner from the top turnbuckle.
- Scotty Riggs pinned Super Calo following a flying forearm right in the kisser.
- Halfway through the three count, Riggs turned himself and Calo ninety degrees so the camera could get a better angle. One would think the ref would start the count over.
- U.S. Heavyweight Champion Eddie Guerrero pinned Lasertron with a frog splash.
- The announcers mentioned that the WCW Executive Committee would be meeting this weekend to decide on Luger's challenge. If you want to hear the latest rumors on the teams for Uncensored, check out MiCasa. However, if what he is saying is true, I'm giving you a spoiler warning. If you want to be surprised by seeing it on Nitro or the pay-per-view, don't read it.
- New commercial for the WCW Hotline. It has Debra McMichael coming home to her mansion and getting into a bubble bath and calling the hotline. It's pretty funny.
- It was announced that one of the matches at Uncensored will be Glacier against his archrival Mortis (another page reported Mortis is Chris Canyon).
- Public Enemy defeated The Amazing French-Canadians via DQ when Colonel Parker broke up an attempted Drive-By and sent Rocco Rock from the top rope through a table on the floor.
- The show ended with Schiavone mistakenly referring to Nitro as "last night". WCW Saturday Night voiceover was, in fact, taped on Tuesday, but they put on the pretense that it is taped on Saturday. (If you haven't noticed, Schiavone, Rhodes, Zbyszko, and Cruise are usually not at the arena for the Saturday and Sunday shows, they do a voiceover later. Thus, they can talk about the match in progress in the context of the previous Monday's Nitro, although the match you're actually watching may be weeks old.) What's even funnier is that Rocco Rock had hair on WCW Saturday Night, but not on Monday Nitro live five days earlier. That tells you how old some of the matches are.