This Week In The WCW
This Week In The WCW
WCW Monday Night Nitro - Monday, 04/21/97
- Show opens with J.J. Dillon arriving in a limo. Looks like the Bischoff issue is going to come to a head tonight. Schiavone says "It's the first time we've seen J.J. Dillon in years!" Yeah, right. He's been back at WCW for at least three months.
- "The Man of 1,000 Holds" U.S. Heavyweight Champion Dean Malenko made Yuji Nagata submit with the Texas Cloverleaf.
- Interesting that a Japanese man who has never wrestled in WCW before would get a shot at the U.S. Championship.
- According to Schiavone, Malenko and Nagata are sometimes tag partners.
- Malenko was very over with the crowd. They started a "USA" chant.
- Reggie White's at ringside again. Oh, no. That means Mongo's here. By the way, Reggie's the "current world champion" coming to WCW that Scheme Gene's been charging you $1.49 a minute about on his crappy hotline. Save your money.
- Zbyszko mentioned Malenko "hooking" Nagata. That's a real wrestling term.
- Oh, no. Glacier's next.
- When Glacier's entrance started, I went downstairs, read War And Peace cover to cover, came back up upstairs, and his entrance was just about over.
- Glacier pinned Ciclope following a Cryonic Kick.
- This was a very quick match.
- What a riot! The crowd chanted "Glacier sucks!" LOUD AND CLEAR throughout the entire match.
- After the match, Mortis and the wrestler formerly known as Adam Bomb came to the ring and laid a world of hurtin' on Glacier and stole his helmet. Yes!! The crowd went nuts, too.
- Also, J.J. Dillon is now chairman of the WCW Executive Board.
- Nick Patrick came out and grabbed the mike and gave a speech to turn face again. Not over with the crowd at all, even though he shaved off his goatee. Zbyszko asked Nick Patrick if he had a used car he could buy. Ha!
- TNT is going to show the movie The Elephant Man. It's going to be hosted by Joe Bob Briggs. Somehow, I don't think that's the type of host the producers of the movie had in mind.
- WCW World Television Champion Ultimo Dragon made "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton submit with a Dragon-Style Sleeper.
- Scheme Gene interviewed "Lord" Steven Regal. Hmmm, according to Regal, you and I are "xenphobic, miserable little toads".
- In a minor upset, Meng put "Lionheart" Chris Jericho out with a nerve hold in a clean job.
- In case you've wondered why a no-talent like Jimmy Hart has such a cush job that you or I would kill for, Jimmy Hart is Hulk Hogan's real life manager.
- During the match, the entire crowd was watching a fight in the stands rather than the "fight" in the ring.
- Scheme Gene interviewed Hart and Meng. Ah, now I understand why Meng won such a squash. He's being pushed to face Benoit at the next pay per view. Sullivan and Jacqueline came out. Oh no, now Sullivan is not only bringing his no-talent son Ben into the act (anybody remember Erik Watts?), now he is bringing his daughter Shannon into the act. He's starting to mention her now.
- Miss Jacqueline was wearing a dress that made Madusa's breasts look real in comparison. She looked ridiculous!
- For some odd reason, Sullivan wanted to mix it up with Meng but Jacqueline broke it up.
- The Steiners def. Public Enemy via DQ when Konan and "The Laughing Man" Hugh Morrus interfered.
- Rocco Rock is now letting his hair grow back immediately after shaving it all off. The Queen of WCW must have been right...head lice!
- Before the match, Konan and Hugh Morrus attacked the Steiners. No real effect, though. Steiners held their own until security broke it up and sent the Steiners to the ring.
- Scott hugged his family on the way to the ring. Mr. Steiner was big, just like his sons.
- The Steiner's are WAY over in Michigan. Amazing how different the Philadelphia and Michigan fans feel about Public Enemy.
- In a typical Steiner match ending, Konan and Morrus did a run in. Ironically, Public Enemy and the Steiners teamed up to fight off Konan and Morrus. Scott leveled Morrus into the crowd and nailed him with a chair. The six of them fought all the way back to the dressing room.
- Mark your calendars now! Nitro is on at 7:00 EDT next Monday. One hour earlier. Also, don't forget my update won't be posted until I get back from vacation.
- Scheme Gene interviewed J.J. Dillon. The good news is that Eric Bischoff has no authority. The bad news is that Bischoff's contract is iron clad. He still gets a paycheck, can still appear, etc. But he has no authority.
Bischoff came out. Dillon said all of Bischoff's contracts were valid except two. Bubba Rogers' and Michael Wallstreet's nWo contracts were not in the window of opportunity (whatever that is), so those two are still WCW. Bischoff said "Bite me!". Twice! No, wait, three times! J.J. Dillon tried to take a stand and be the leader of WCW. It didn't go over all that well.
- Jeff Jarrett (w/Debra McMichael) made Scotty Riggs submit with a figure-four leglock.
- Debra's really got that beauty queen wave down pat.
- When Mongo came to ringside halfway through the match to help(?) Jarrett, Reggie White jumped out of the crowd and grabbed the Haliburton and Mongo ran back to the locker room.
- Syxx ostensibly made Rey Misterio, Jr. submit with a Buzzkiller after Nash kicked and jacknifed Misterio. Syxx retains the WCW World Cruiserweight Title.
- Nash came to the ring with Syxx. When Misterio came out, all I could think of was "The Human Dart".
- Announcers still keep talking about Hall. The good news is that it means that he is definitely coming back.
- The announcers referred to the Nash/Misterio thing back at Disney as "The Lawn Dart Incident". Ha!
- The referee had his back to Misterio when he got jacknifed. Yeah, like he couldn't feel the entire building shake when it happened.
- After Dillon got the paramedics for Misterio, he told Nash and Syxx their behavior was not going to be tolerated. Their original response? Nash said, "Bite me!" Syxx, in a fit of creative genius, added, "Bite me!"
- Out of curiousity, has anybody out there actually been to a Nitro party with Lee Marshall? Didn't think so.
- Commercial for Hogan's next flop movie. I guess having a champion that misses two pay-per-views in a row isn't insulting the fans enough. They need to make us watch commercials for his movies, too. You know, I don't make all that much money, but my take home pay last year was more than Santa With Muscles grossed at the box office.
- The nWo came out. Syxx grabbed the mike and responded to Flair's shoot interview from last week. He said Flair shouldn't be ripping on him because Flair is just a rip off of Buddy Rogers. Syxx said Piper and Flair had no "sack". Nash said Piper and Flair paved the road full of potholes. He said all the old-timers just pushed their kids and left the other young guys behind (can't argue with you there, Kevin). He and Hall have been the digging the business out of the funk the old-timers left it in. Wow! Nash said
he and the other young guys are doing the best they can to patch the potholes the "you guys" left behind. Wow!
- My take? That was not a shoot. Not by a longshot. No way Nash would do that for real. However, Wallstreet and Rogers leaving the nWo may be related to a leaner and younger nWo (to appease Hall and Nash) rather than the rumored reformation of the Kliq.
- "Diamond" Dallas Page pinned Psychosis following a Diamond Cutter from the top rope in a very quick match.
- Man, I hate to see Psychosis job so quickly. He's too talented for that.
- Savage came out and taunted Page. Page invited Savage to come to the ring. Savage wouldn't do it.
- Savage is legit out for two months with a ligament injury to his foot. After fighting DDP at the last pay-per-view, Savage seemed fine but he later woke up in the middle of the night in incredible pain. I had the same injury a couple of years ago. You'd be surprised how much one little strained ligament in your feet can incapacitate you.
- Scheme Gene interviewed Flair, Piper, and Greene. Flair taunted the nWo to come out. (Does anyone else see the irony of Greene being included as one of the men who built the sport of wrestling?) The nWo came out, pointed to the back, and Scott Hall appeared. Too sweet!
The nWo second team (Vincent, Norton, and nWo Sting) were sent into the ring and summarily dispatched from the ring (which put the old guys over). Everyone then jumped in, the fight started, and the show faded out. The funny thing that happened before the show faded out was seeing Nash stand there like a dork while Kevin Greene got into his three point stance and got a running start to push Nash over the top rope. It was lame! Criminy, I could have moved out of the way of that!
- See you after vacation!
WCW {Pro} Wrestling - Sunday, 04/20/97
WCW {Pro} was pre-empted by a baseball game this week
WCW Saturday Night - Saturday, 04/19/97
- Tonight's show was really weird. It started a little late because of the baseball game and a lot of the matches were not "real". A number of them lasted a minute or less due to some weird circumstance and they'd replay clips from Nitro to fill the rest of the time. Thus, even though this listing might seem like it was a decent show, it wasn't. You'd think there was an imminent pay-per-view. I was actually relieved when they said there'd be no Sunday {Pro} tomorrow.
- High Voltage def. La Parka & Galaxy when Rage pinned Galaxy after an elbow from the top rope as Galaxy was draped across Kaos' knee.
- The high point of tonight's show is three particular humanoids in the crowd. One dressed as Batman, one as the Joker, and one as Superman. Whatta bunch of goofballs!
- "Lionheart" Chris Jericho pinned Super Calo after a missile dropkick from the top rope.
- Hector Guerrero pinned Billy Kidman following a repeated cradle roll.
- I've seen this move many times over the years. First time I've seen somebody actually get a pin with it.
- For those of you who keep track of the WCW jobber pecking order, this should help.
- "Lord" Steven Regal uncled Villano IV with a Regal Stretch.
- "The Laughing Man" Hugh Morrus pinned Psychosis following a No Laughing Matter.
- Normally, I don't print rumors but since I like Morrus so much I'm passing along this one. The seemingly odd booking of the Steiners vs Konan & Morrus for a pay-per-view may be a set up for Morrus to turn face and get a push. As I said, just a rumor, but a harmless and interesting one so I thought I'd pass it along.
- Glacier pinned Jerry Flynn following a Cryonic Kick.
- Mortis came out to steal Glacier's helmet during the match and got a kick in the face for his effort. Mortis was unsuccessful.
- Jim "Juice" Powers pinned Sgt. Craig "Pit Bull" Pittmann in a mercifully short match with a roll up from behind while Pittmann was choking Teddy Long.
- Jim Powers convinces me WCW does not have a steroid testing policy.
- In a huge upset, Scotty "Glorified Jobber" Riggs pinned Jeff Jarrett using the ropes for leverage in the exact same way that Riggs beat Renegade a week or two ago.
- This match was REALLY odd because there was no voice over from the announcers. It was interesting because you heard everything the wrestlers and referree said. It was more like being at the arena. It also painfully points out that the team of Dusty and Schiavone are not really there at the matches, they do the voice over later. That's how they can show really old matches but the announcers can reference the previous Monday's Nitro as they are calling them.
- After the match, Jarrett was so incensed, he opened a 55-gallon drum of whup-ass on Riggs. A couple piledrivers and a thorough beating. (The lack of announcers calling the action made it kind of odd.) Chavo Guerrero, Jr. and Hardbody Henderson tried to make the save and were pitched from the ring for their efforts. Alex Wright actually got into the ring and was put in the figure-four by Jarrett for an extended period. Jarrett then turned his attention back to Riggs and was about to put Riggs into the figure-four and the Steiners made the save.
- Then, to make the whole thing weirder, when the show came back from commercial, they showed a replay of the beating with a voice over for anyone who missed it.
- In another mercifully short match, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan pinned Alex Wright following a clothesline.
- Wright effectively could not defend himself due to the extended figure-four he had just been put in.
- Duggan, of course, started a "USA" chant at the beginning of the match. What, is Wright a goose-stepping Nazi or something?
- "Diamond" Dallas Page, escorted by the lovely Kimberly, pinned Road Block following a Diamond Cutter.