This Week In The WCW
This Week In The WCW
WCW Monday Night Nitro - Monday, 05/19/97
- Mean Gene announced the start of the show. That's a bad sign.
- Show starts off with an appearance by The Nature Boy, Ric Flair. The crowd erupts. Flair talks about how he erased all doubt last night. He gets interrupted by the nWo music and Syxx walks out. Syxx says the victory doesn't count because the wrong man was in the ring. Syxx says he knows he can take Flair and if Flair's "got 'em", they'll get it on tonight. They exchange slaps and Flair chases Syxx off.
- Steven Regal made Prince Iaukea submit to the Regal Stretch to retain the WCW World Television Championship.
- The match, although extremely short, was nicely worked.
- Masa "Hiro" Chono made "Squire" David Taylor submit with the STF.
- Mike Tenay announced that a "major star" will be making his debut on the 6/30 Nitro from the MGM Grand in Las Vages, NV. Must be either Scott Levy (Raven) or Curt Hennig (Mr. Perfect).
- Another nicely worked match.
- After the match, Sonny Ono told Chono he owes him and the people of Japan. Ono says Chono will have to fight his worst nightmare on next week's Nitro and Ono wouldn't tell him who it is.
- Sorry, all the wishing in the world won't make it Lou Thesz. Actually, I've gotten two e-mails saying it is going to be The Great Muta. On the Japanese front, Great Muta was heavily recruited to be in the nWo, but he turned them down.
- Jack Tunney, er, uh, I mean J.J. Dillon announced that Nick Patrick has been reinstated as of 9:00 a.m. this morning. He is on probation for the first thirty days.
- Scotty Riggs pinned M. Wallstreet with a sunset flip after Nick Patrick broke Wallstreet's hold on the ropes with a kick.
- M. Wallstreet wore an anti-WCW shirt to the ring. He is mad about still being under contract to WCW. He says he is "nWo 4 Life".
- Nick Patrick was the referee for this match. He must be a face now that he shaved off his goatee.
- The end spot was blown but Wallstreet made a great recovery. He was supposed to get pinned as Riggs came off the top turnbuckle due to Nick Patrick's interference but there was no followthrough on the move. Wallstreet got up and grabbed onto the ropes so Patrick could kick it away for the finish.
- Mark Martin (some car racing guy) came out with Ric Flair about some racing car giveaway. Yeah, yeah, show me some wrestling.
- Replay of the DDP/Savage bit from last night. Page was VERY lucky when the crutch broke. A straight, and probably pointed, piece flew off and was headed straight into the crowd and luckily bounced off the top rope instead of putting someone's eye out.
- The Steiners def. Jeff Jarrett and Steve "Mongo" McMichael when Rick Steiner pinned Mongo after Kevin Greene whacked Mongo with the Haliburton.
- Kevin Greene finally got his revenge on Mongo. He's got a short memory with Flair.
- After the match, Mongo ran back to the locker room to beat up Greene. Um, shouldn't he be a little groggy after getting whacked with the Haliburton?
- After the commercial, they showed the tape of "Moments Ago" with Mongo trying to get at Greene in the locker room. Is there anyone who thinks that wasn't recorded earlier? An obvious question would be why Greene was in the locker room changing his clothes. All he did was whack someone with a Haliburton. He wasn't dressed to wrestle when he did it and he didn't break a sweat.
- "Nature Boy" Ric Flair def. Syxx via DQ when the rest of the Wolfpack (a.k.a. Klique) rushed the ring and opened a 55-gallon drum of whup-ass on Flair.
- This match was really short.
- The previous spot with McMichael and Greene in the locker room was the set up for all of the Horsemen and Greene having been escorted from the building and unable to make the save on Flair.
- Bischoff came to the ring and did his Brother Love impression saying he loved everyone. He said they are trying to find Sting to talk to him and they can't find him because Sting is a gutless, spineless coward. He said Sting should give it up as he will never get in the ring with Hogan. If Sting was here, he'd slap the paint off his face. (Okay, the clock on my computer says 7:58 PM, which means it is time for Sting to appear.) Then, Sting pops up through a hole in the canvas. At the same time, Bischoff got drenched with a full cup of soda and he was, legit, extremely pissed. Sting grabbed Bischoff and gave him a Scorpion Death Drop. Sting bent down seemingly to give him another one and Nitro ended.
- So, what do you think? I'm guessing he had a crossword puzzle book and a flashlight down there for something to do. He had to be there at least two hours as he had to be there before any of the crowd came in. Kacey Wells sent me an e-mail saying that in the Omni, the floor for a wrestling event is a raised floor such that Sting could have crawled under the floor and into position right before his cue. As for Asheville, does anyone know if such a thing was possible?
- In the dark matches (thanks to Eric Ehrhardt for sending them in):
- U.S. Heavywieght Champion Dean Malenko defeated Rey Mysterio, Jr.
- Wrath defeated Johnny Swinger
- "Laughing Man" Hugh Morrus defeated Yuji Yasuraoka
- Public Enemy defeated Konan and Psychosis
- "Diamond" Dallas Page defeated Mortis
- The following arena report was sent in by Brain McCall:
- The disappointing thing about my trip to WCW Monday Nitro was the fact that people were selling FAKE nWo t-shirts outside for 1/2 price of the real ones. Personally, I spent my extra $10 on the real thing (I would rather be ripped off by WCW then to rip them off.)
- There are a few thing cool that happened last night after the cameras went off. First, Sting "dropped" Bishoff not once (as seen on TV) but TWICE! Second, Konan and Hugh Morrus got into a fight in the ring and were fighting until they were "off stage".
- To me, the surprising thing was Public Enemy told Konan and Psychosis to "Run for
the border" as the crowd chanted "USA".
- The Diamond Dallas Page vs. Mortis match SUCKED! The match only lasted about 2 minutes and ended with, guess what, the diamond cutter.
- Over all the best match was the first one which was Dean Malenko Vs Rey Mysterio, Jr. A lot of high flying moves and powerful throws.
- By the way, I believe Sting had to be under the ring the entire time because I
have been to the Civic Center many times and have never heard of or seen a "trap door". However, two minutes before Sting's pop up, everybody in the front row started pointing to the underside of the ring, so something visible happened, but all of the cameras were zoomed in on Bischoff (how convenient).
WCW Slamboree '97 - Sunday, 05/18/97
- In the one dark match from Slamboree, Public Enemy defeated Harlem Heat.
- Steve Regal made Ultimo Dragon submit with a Regal Stretch to become the WCW World Television Champion for the fourth time.
- Regal really can sell. He looks like he's going to cry.
- Match was a back and forth exchange of attempted submission holds.
- Crowd chanting "Regal! Regal!"
- Ono got a few kicks in on Regal outside the ring. Dragon gave Ono some angry words.
- Two counts back and forth for Dragon and Regal.
- Outside the ring, Regal is getting the worst of it.
- Ono gave Regal a few kicks. Dragon threw Regal back in and gave Ono a few nasty words. Ono gives Dragon and kick to the back of the head allowing Regal to get the advantage and set up for the submission.
- After the match, Ono said "I made champions, and I can destroy them!"
- Madusa pinned Luna Vachon with a German suplex.
- More about the Women's belt controversy. Sonny Ono is, in fact, claiming the match where Madusa won the belt didn't take place. It is true that Hokuto still has physical possession of the belt.
- After the match, Madusa took off her vest to show her skin covered bags of saline covered only in a sport bra.
- Macho Man and Elizabeth came out unexpectedly. They went to the ring and "Diamond" Dallas Page came out of the crowd with a metal crutch and chased them off. The nWo second team came out to prevent Savage from going back to the ring. (The highlight of this exchange was Macho Man mistakenly calling Vincent "Virgil".) Savage went back to the ring anyway and Page clobbered him with the crutch. Then, in succession, Bagwell, Vincent, and Bischoff all took crutch shots. (As Vincent was getting whacked, the crutch shattered and some jagged pieces may have gone into the crowd. Yikes!). Norton got hold of DDP and started working on the ribs and kidneys. DDP was taking a beating until the Giant made the save.
- Rey Misterio, Jr. pinned Yuji Yasuraoka with a hurricarana from the top rope.
- Mark Curtis stopped Misterio from performing an over the top move onto Yasuraoka on the floor. Rey came off the ropes and used Curtis as a springboard to perform the move anyway.
- See-saw battle in the early going. Other than the previously mentioned springboard maneuver, nothing spectacular happened in the first five minutes.
- Yasuraoka working on Misterio's arm using a classic Japanese arm bar. "Boring" chants are starting.
- Yuji is REALLY working on the arm...and this is REALLY boring. Snaps arm over top and clobbers Misterio outside the ring.
- Misterio reverses and hits a split legged moonsault, whacking the cameraman in the process. Two count only.
- Misterio misses splash from top turnbuckle.
- Yuji hits double arm DDT, his big finisher. Rey kicks out at two.
- Yuji goes to the well again. Rey reverses but only for a two count.
- Misterio dropkicks Yuji as Yuji comes off top turnbuckle.
- Misterio hits the hurricarana. 1-2-3!
- Glacier def. Mortis via DQ when Wrath interfered and clobbered Glacier from behind.
- Oh, no! It's Glacier. And I think there is actually two or three people in the crowd cheering for him.
- Glacier charges the ring to get it on. Well, at least it sped up his ring entrance.
- Mortis doing a mudhole stomp on Glacier in the corner. Working on the knee to take only Glacier's primary (only) weapon, the Cryonic Kick.
- Wrath has come to ringside already.
- Glacier coming back. Pitches Mortis over the top. Mortis goes in the ring and clobbers Glacier from behind. Hooray! It's a DQ, already! Let's get on to the next match.
- The double team on Glacier continues. Wrath drives Glacier's head into the ring steps.
- James VanDeBurg paintbrushes Glacier.
- Ernest Miller, World Full Contact Karate Champion, rushes the ring and cleans house with some stiff shots. Great...another crossover athlete. I guess this is to counter Ken Shamrock in the WWF.
- I noticed the WCW home page hasn't done any "real time" updates yet...
- Scheme Gene hawking his hotline. He flubs his lines talking about a WCW Wrestler about to "hit the ropes...uh, I mean, hit the road". Surprise, surprise.
- "The Man Of 1,000 Holds" Dean Malenko made Jeff Jarrett submit to the Texas Cloverleaf to retain the WCW U.S. Heavyweight Championship.
- Jarrett and Debra already in the ring. Malenko on his way out. No emotion at all. Heenan: "Malenko looks like a prison guard walking a guy to the chair."
- Jarrett showboating and getting booed in a big way.
- "Jarrett sucks!" from the crowd in the big way. Dusty: "That chant, if it what I think it is, I can't say".
- A classic mat wrestling match thus far.
- Malenko working on the legs to take Jarrett's figure-four away.
- Malenko seems to have taken one leg out. Jarrett's reversed things and is stomping a mudhole with the good leg.
- Jarrett's got an abdominal stretch on Malenko and using Debra to get additional leverage.
- Malenko has reversed things and Malenko is starting to lose his cool. Jarrett takes a breather outside. Crowd is chanting again.
- Jarrett working on Malenko's arm.
- Still no updates on the WCW page.
- Jarrett goes for figure four. Malenko reverses and goes for Texas Cloverleaf. Jarrett reverses. Two more attempts by Malenko and Jarrett throws Malenko outside of ring and starts to work on him outside.
- Near fall when Malenko rolls through a flying cross body from top turnbuckle from Jarrett.
- Jarrett and Malenko trade sleepers.
- Jarrett gets figure-four on. Malenko grabs ropes. Crowd really chanting "Jarrett sucks!" now.
- Jarrett thrown out of ring and unconcious on the floor. Here comes Mongo!
- Mongo pitches a semi-concious Jarrett back in and takes Debra back to locker room.
- Standing switch and Malenko delivers a (weak) powerbomb and locks on the Texas Cloverleaf.
- Jarrett submits!
- Meng def. "Crippler" Chris Benoit when Benoit was caught in the Goozle and referee Randy Anderson ruled Benoit unable to continue.
- Halfway to the ring, Meng sends Jimmy Hart back to the locker room.
- Tremendous pop for Benoit and Woman.
- fyi, this Death Match is no-DQ, until someone can no longer continue.
- Woman is crying before the match starts. Nice touch.
- Both men very tentative at first.
- Benoit rolls out to think.
- Both men lock up and then spill outside. Meng sent into the stairs headfirst.
- Woman screeching like crazy.
- Uh-oh, Jacqueline's standing in the entranceway. She backs off when Woman comes toward her.
- Schiavone: "What was that about?" Heenan: "Well, it wasn't about what's on sale at Bloomingdale's next week."
- Meng's got Benoit in a half crab. Benoit powering out to the approval of the crowd. Benoit grabs the ropes and Meng breaks the hold. Why he broke the hold in a no-DQ match, I have no idea.
- Piledriver by Meng.
- Crowd chanting, "Benoit! Benoit!"
- Benoit turns things around to get Meng into Crippler Crossface but Meng slides into ropes. Dusty explains that one of the stipulations of the match are that you have to break on the ropes. Actually a lucid comment and recovery by Dusty, if you weeelll.
- Benoit gets beaten down, gets up at count of eight and says, "Come on!" and dares Meng. It happens again.
- Dragon suplex by Benoit on Meng. Then, a second one.
- Meng gets a few chops in. Sweat flying everywhere!
- Benoit gets Crippler Crossface sort of on, Meng rolls out. Benoit successfully executes a Suicide Dive!
- Back in the ring, Benoit delivers German Suplex from second turnbuckle.
- Benoit attempts flying headbutt from top turnbuckle and lands in the Goozle!
- Woman begs Benoit to submit and he shakes his head no.
- Benoit falls to mat and referee rules Benoit unable to continue. Meng is your winner!
- The Steiner Brothers def. Konan and "The Laughing Man" Hugh Morrus when Rick pinned Morrus after Scott gave Morrus a Frankensteiner.
- I just can't say it enough...Scott Steiner is huge!
- BIG belly-to-belly by Rick on Morrus. Morrus is taking a beating and rolls out.
- You know, the Steiners do a lot of belly-to-belly suplexes.
- Morrus gorilla presses Scott and drops him on the top rope. Tide turning toward the Dungeon.
- Scott gains advantage with a belly-to-belly (what a surprise) and a boot to Morrus' face. He tags in Rick. Rick is a house a-fire.
- Pandemonium...all four men in.
- Morrus misses moonsault. Scott frankensteiners Morrus and Rick gets the 1-2-3.
- The missed moonsault was a bad spot. Scott stood and watch it as if he knew Scott was going to roll out of the way. I wonder how he knew?
- Konan and Hart are disgusted with Hugh Morrus.
- Morrus apologizes to Konan for taking the fall but Konan lays him out anyway. Hart now starts screaming at Konan. Konan walks out on Morrus and Hart. So, Konan turns heel. Umm, I thought Konan was already a heel.
- Steve "Mongo" McMichael pinned Reggie "The Half Million Dollar Man" White following a whack on the back with a Haliburton.
- So, is it McMichael or McMichaels?
- So, Reggie White brings his strength coach to the ring. I guess $500,000 isn't enough. Reggie gets to bring flunkies trying to get famous to the ring, too. That must go over well in the locker room with the guys making $50,000 for a year's worth of work. Why doesn't he bring "Piper's Family" to ringside while he's at it?
- Mongo talking trash while he's got White in a headlock.
- This match really is the blind leading the blind.
- After three shoulderblocks, Mongo does the comical eyes rolling back and falling straight onto his back.
- They line up on the "line of scrimmage" to go head-to-head, and Mongo clips White's legs.
- Second time, and White leapfrogs him.
- Mongo tries to leave and Gilbert Brown, White's teammate, comes out. Mongo takes a swing with the briefcase and misses and Gilbert picks Mongo up and carries him back to ring.
- White hits with a dropkick and gets a two count.
- Dusty's going on and on about how great this is. This sucks.
- Mongo says "Jesus may have your soul, but I got your ass!" Hmm, bad idea.
- White takes a swing that was closer to hitting me than hitting Mongo but Mongo sells it anyway.
- Mongo clips White from the back.
- Mongo works on the knee and then into a Bubba Slam.
- White reverses and gets a crossbody on Mongo.
- White gets a trapezius nerve hold on Mongo. Lame!!!!!
- Mongo promises to go to church and gives White a low blow. "I'm going to church, I think I hear the church bells ringing now".
- Boston crab by Mongo, White gets to the ropes.
- Mongo attempts figure-four and White kicks Mongo out of the ring.
- Mongo goes up top and White sends him down the hard way.
- A couple of lariats by White.
- Really lame reverse atomic drop by White and White clotheslines Mongo over the top.
- Mongo grabs White's feet and drags him out of ring. White reverses and throws Mongo into safety rail.
- Back in the ring, White suplexes Mongo.
- Mongo goes for Haliburton and Gilbert grabs it away. Mongo directs referee's attention to Gilbert.
- Jarrett appears out of nowhere and tosses Mongo another briefcase. Batter up! Mongo whacks White and covers him, 1-2-3!
- Still no updates on the WCW website.
- Ric Flair, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, and Kevin Greene def. Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Syxx when Ric Flair got Scott Hall in the figure four, Piper put Nash to sleep, and Kevin Greene pinned Syxx after a powerslam.
- Michael Buffer introduces the nWo Wolfpack. A fair amount of heat for the nWo. Is Kevin Nash really from Scottsdale, AZ or is that a goof on the Ultimate Warrior?
- Smaller pop than I expected for Kevin Greene. Good sized pop for Piper.
- Crowd ERUPTS for Flair. Beautiful feathered robe for Flair tonight. I'm embarassed to admit I have chills seeing Flair in the ring again.
- Flair and Syxx to start.
- Syxx gets the first few moves. Flair reverses and gets a chop in and Syxx NAILS Flair with a spinning kick. Flair gets Syxx in the corner with some knife edges.
- Crowd erupts when Flair struts or "Whoo!"s.
- Flair knife edges Syxx and Hall and Nash. Nash no sells.
- Syxx tags Hall. Flair tags Greene. Hall tags Nash. Greene is really well built but Nash towers over Greene in height AND width.
- Nash is putting Greene over. Greene cleanly body slams Nash. Greene clotheslines Hall and Syxx at the same time. The nWo Wolfpack is outside the ring regrouping.
- Hall is tagged in. He wants Piper. Greene tags Piper in.
- Piper slaps Hall and clubbers Hall on the corner. Hall is losing his cool.
- Hall gets Piper in the nWo corner and Piper fights his way out. Spinning neckbreaker on Hall by Piper.
- Syxx takes Piper's legs out while the referee is distracted.
- Hall tries to put Piper in figure four and says "Now we go to school!" (Flair used to say that when putting someone in the figure four)
- Piper powers out and tags Flair. Flair knife edges everyone. Hall throws Flair into corner for Flair Flop over the top and he jumps into an over the head slam from Hall.
- Flair gets beaten up outside the ring.
- Nash is tagged in and gives Flair a "Snake Eyes" in the corner.
- Nash opens a can of whup-ass on Flair. Side slam by Nash. Scott Hall tagged in. Hall b%&chslaps Flair and clotheslines him in corner.
- Syxx is tagged in and does the face hump on Flair in the corner. Crowd chants "Faggot! Faggot!"
- A couple head to head bumps with Flair and Syxx.
- Hall and Piper tagged in. Referee didn't see Piper tagged in. Piper nails the referee Randy Anderson (no DQ match) and knocks him out. Nick Patrick rushes to the scene!
- Pandemonium in the ring.
- Flair gets Hall in the figure four. Piper puts Nash to sleep. Patrick is just standing there looking and waving people in. At first, I thought Patrick was turning nWo again but he was trying to get everyone together for the finish.
- Greene slams and covers Syxx. Nick Patrick counts 1-2-3!
- The WCW team walks away victorious with the entire nWo Wolfpack laid out unconcious in the ring!
- Very satisfying, like the end of Starrcade.
WCW {Pro} Wrestling - Sunday, 05/18/97
- Someone really should tell Larry Zbyszko that the nWo is not a "bunch of packrats", it's a "ratpack".
- Super Calo pinned Mr. J.L. after a head scissors from the top turnbuckle.
- For a jobber vs. jobber match, it had a lot of good impact. These guys work very well together.
- Lee Marshall interviewed Steve Regal. Hmm, Regal says he has been Television Champion more times than anyone else in the company. Well, at three times, that's still one less than Arn Anderson, sunshine.
- Ice Train pinned Bunkhouse Buck after catching Bunkhouse Buck in a powerslam as Buck came off the top turnbuckle.
- Tonight, Buck lured the cameraman in by pretending like there was something inside his coat. Once he got close, POW!
- Zbyszko noted that Buck's record against cameramen is 10-0.
- Chavo Guerrero, Jr. pinned Billy Kidman following a cradle moonsault.
- Harlem Heat def. The Amazing French-Canadians via DQ when Col. Parker broke up a pinning predicament with Booker T. on Carl Ouelette.
WCW Saturday Night - Saturday, 05/17/97
- WCW World Television Champion Ultimo Dragon made Villano IV submit with a Dragon Sleeper.
- This match was one blown spot after another.
- The announcers mentioned that Regal now wants to be called "Steve Regal" instead of "Lord Steven Regal".
- When Sonny Ono was getting some kicks in on Villano IV during the match, Ultimo Dragon pushed him off. Then Dragon and Ono had angry words after the match.
- Jeff Jarrett, accompanied by Debra McMichael, made Jim "Juice" Powers submit with a figure-four leglock.
- Wrath pinned "Big" Dave Moore following the Death Penalty.
- In an interview, Sonny Ono's says Akira Hokuto's claim to the belt is based on that she still physically has it.
- Yusi Yasuyorouka (sp?) pinned Julio Sanchez following a front-face DDT.
- After the match, Yusi delivered a few more and Rey Misterio, Jr. did a run in to make the save.
- Lee Marshall did an up close and personal interview with Benoit and Woman. In talking about the death match, Benoit told Woman, "I only ask one thing of you. No matter what happens, do not throw in the towel". Hmmm, I wonder where this is leading.
- This sounds like a set up for Woman to take some time off. It has been widely reported that Kevin Sullivan is suffering burn out and will be taking some time off from wrestling and as lead booker. Thus, his "disagreements" with the Dungeon of Doom, Morrus' upcoming face turn and feud with Konan, and Konan's rumored nWo turn, seem to be logical storyline advances given Sullivan will be out of the picture. Also, on Woman's official home page, she mentions she will be taking two months off.
- Meng made Pat Tanaka submit with the Goozle.
- The Giant defeated the Power Company in a handicap match in a complete squash after chokeslamming one of them.
- The size difference between the Giant and the Power Company guys made the match ridiculous.
- In what must have been a pro wrestling first, the Giant reversed a double vertical suplex and suplexed both Power Company guys at the same time.