This Week In The WCW
This Week In The WCW
WCW Monday Night Nitro - Monday, 05/26/97
- One side note before we get started. Steve Raymond forwarded a message that "Diamond" Dallas Page sent to his Diamond Mine mailing list. Page mentions how lucky he was that that piece of the crutch didn't go into the crowd at Slamboree.
- In the dark match, "Crippler" Chris Benoit def. "Jumping" Joey Maggs.
- Nitro starts with the nWo music. Bischoff comes out first, followed by Hogan. They go to the ring and Hogan calls Sting out to no avail.
- On his way to the ring, someone waved an old Hulkster doll at Hogan. Hogan kissed it.
- Hector Garza, Super Calo, and Juventud Guerrara def. La Parka, Ciclope and Damien in a Lucha Libre match when Garza pinned Ciclope after following up a powerbomb with a backflip.
- Lucha Libre rules means a number of things, most notably tagging in is not really necessary. For true Mexican Lucha Libre wrestling, there would be two referees, one a face referee and one a heel referee.
- Super Calo gave Juventud Guerrera a suicide dive that landed him in the second row! They were really lucky no one in the stands got hurt.
- This was an incredible match with some incredible bumps. Very impressive!
- Dean Ayass noted the Hector Garza may have come from the WWF.
- In an upset, Psychosis pinned "Das Blunderheel" Alex Wright after a guillotine leg drop from the top turnbuckle.
- Psychosis, like La Parka, is a heel that loves to slap hands with the fans on the way in.
- Nick Patrick is back as a referee.
- Okerlund interviewed Sonny Ono. Ono talked about his nightmare for Chono later in the program. Then, as Psychosis walked by, Ono asked Psychosis if he was interested in a deal. Psychosis, showing his mastery of English, said "Yes, of course" and walked off. High drama, in case you missed it. Then Madusa came out and flubbed her lines. She was supposed to say "I'd do anything to get a chance at the title" but she said "I'd do almost anything to get a chance at the title". Anyway, the windup of this is that at the Bash, she will wrestle Hokuto for the title and, if Madusa loses, she will retire. Ono suggested that if she retires, she could go back to nursing. (I, and somone who wrote me, assumed that was a breast joke, given her, um, "enhanced" knockers. Chad S. pointed out that before she was a wrestler, Madusa was, indeed, a nurse.)
- I'm really curious if the reason why Madusa doesn't hold the title right now is that so many people found out that the supposed match in Japan where she won the title never happened.
- Wrath pinned Mark Starr following the Death Penalty.
- You know, no wrestler's entrance should take longer than their match.
- Konan made Villano IV submit to the Tequila Sunrise (half crab with an armlock) following the Montezuma's Revenge (the move formerly known as the 187).
- Morrus tried to interfere during the match, but the crack WCW security staff kept him at bay.
- Okerlund interviewed Konan after the match. First, Okerlund mentioned Sullivan's self-imposed sabbatical, which was surprising. Then, he asks Konan if his career is in limbo now that Sullivan is on sabbatical. Unbelievable. Okerlund is so out of touch that he doesn't even know that Konan turned on the Dungeon of Doom at Slamboree. Somebody, please, fire Okerlund! I'd do his job for free.
- Great Muta and Masa Hiro Chono wrestled to a no-contest when Muta sprayed red spit into Sonny Ono's eyes to blind him and Muta then joined the nWo.
- Realistically, no wrestling actually occurred in this "match".
- After Ono had been blinded and Chono was holding up Ono to humiliate him (to the cheers of the crowd), Muta used Ono's disposable camera to take pictures of the scene.
- Okerlund interviewed "Diamond" Dallas Page and Kimberly. Kimberly's, well, you know, were huge! Kimberly messed up all her lines. Then, not to be outdone, Page said there are two things in a man's life you never mess with: "One, you never mess with his family. Two, you never mess with his wife." My girlfriend and I scrunched our faces, looked at each other, and asked "So, a man's wife isn't his family?"
- Okerlund's introduction of Kimberly: "...one of the most beautiful women on the face of the earth, leading her man down the aisle here on Nitro, the lovely Kimberly!" Then, in a slightly lower tone, but still easily understandable: "Man, is she stacked!! Ha! I love that!" (Thanks to Scott Bailey for sending that in.)
- The Barbarian pinned Jim "Juice" Powers following a Mafia Kick.
- I called this match wrong. I had read rumors that Barbarian was going to the WWF and I thought he would be jobbing.
- After the match, Benoit and Woman came to ringside. Benoit said he didn't care whether Sullivan was finding himself or not. He wanted him. Hart said the road to Sullivan was through Barbarian. Benoit wanted to go at it right there. Hart said Benoit would have to wait until next Monday's Nitro.
- The Giant def. Jerry Flynn, Johnny Swinger, and Rick Fuller by pinning Flynn after chokeslamming all three of them (he was "pinning" Swinger as well but Swinger was face down). Complete squash.
- Thankfully, for a change, the Giant's butt cheeks did not come out during the match. He made up for it with his terrible interview, though.
- Luger was at ringside. In the post-match interview, Luger said he and Giant would be facing Hogan and Rodman at Bash at the Beach in July.
- The Wolfpack (Hall, Nash, and Syxx) came out and announced that the Outsiders would put the tag titles on the line against Flair and Piper at the Great American Bash.
- Harlem Heat def. Jeff Jarrett and Steve "Mongo" McMichael when Booker T. pinned Jeff Jarrett after a Heatseeker when Mongo left ringside to attack Kevin Greene in the announcers' booth.
- As Jarrett was coming to the ring, the camera focused on a kid at ringside showing a picture of Jarrett to the camera and then tearing it up. It was pretty funny.
- The nice thing about Mongo attacking Greene is that it stopped Greene's whining.
- Hogan and Bischoff came to the ring. As they were going on and on, a bogus Sting cut through the canvas and came out. (This was definitely a new bogus Sting as he didn't really look anything like Sting at all, other than the face paint.) The bogus Sting began to worship the ground that Hogan spit on. Then, real Sting came down from the ceiling. Scorpion Death Drop for Bischoff. Sting then hit a single on bogus Sting and then SDD'd bogus Sting. Hogan retreated and then the entire nWo came out and circled the ring. At that point, Sting reattached himself to the cable he came down on and was pulled back up to the ceiling.
- After he was knocked out, it was obvious the bogus Sting was wearing a wig and a mask rather than face paint. Hmmm, a bogus bogus Sting.
WCW {Pro} Wrestling - Sunday, 05/25/97
WCW {Pro} Was Pre-Empted By NASCAR This Week
WCW Saturday Night - Saturday, 05/24/97
- "Das Wunderheel" Alex Wright pinned Julio Sanchez with a German Suplex and a Bridge.
- Now that Wright is a heel, he is the "Dancing Nazi" again. Ironically, a much greater percentage of the crowd dances along with him now than they did when he was a face. I haven't seen that many people dancing in the crowd since Akeem, The African Dream.
- Other than the dancing, the entirety of his heel gimmick seems to be saying "I'm the greatest". Now, I'm not a booker, but he's going to need a little more than that.
- Just because Julio Sanchez is a complete jobber in WCW, doesn't mean he isn't successful in smaller federations. Back in March, and possibly currently, Julio Sanchez was the heavyweight champion in Pennsylvania Championship Wrestling.
- WCW U.S. Heavyweight Champion Dean Malenko uncled Yuji Nagata with the Texas Cloverleaf.
- A decently worked match. It went back and forth most of the way.
- In the post-match interview, Malenko said he respected Jarrett after the Slamboree match, but Jarrett lacks the focus that he has. "One thing will never change, Dean Malenko is a wrestler".
- Marcus "Buff" Bagwell pinned Lenny Lane following the Buff Blockbuster.
- Bagwell was escorted to the ring by nWo Sting (Stink, as Larry Zbyszko would say).
- Lenny Lane used to be called Lane Carlson. Odd to have a jobber change names after only two months.
- After the match, Buff made sure to remind us: "I am the stuff".
- By the way, Nitro is back to its normal time, 7:55 p.m. EDT, for 2+ hours.
- WCW World Television Champion Steve Regal pinned Sgt. Craig "Pit Bull" Pittmann with a roll up.
- The finish was really odd. It was one of those rollups where you use the ropes for leverage except that Regal didn't.
- Regal showed four fingers after the match. Schiavone and Dusty debated whether it was for four TV titles or it meant something else.
- In the post-match interview, Regal said he was going to keep the TV Title this time until he bloody retires.
- On a side humorous note, I was watching the WWF this morning. Two wrestlers were yelling at each other in the ring and Jerry Lawler said: "it sounds like the breakfast table at the Gifford house".
- "Lionheart" Chris Jericho pinned Pat Tanaka after a missile dropkick.
- Scotty Riggs pinned "Squire" Dave Taylor after a flying forearm shot.
- Dusty is still talking about Regal holding up the four fingers. It would seem the rumors of the "new" Four Horsemen are true.
- My girlfriend wants the American Males to get back together because Riggs and Bagwell are both so cute. Hmm, I don't think she'll be taking over Bischoff's booking duties any time soon.
- Meng made T. Rantula submit to the Goozle.
- Like Julio Sanchez, even though T. Rantula is a complete jobber in WCW, in the August, 1997 issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated, it is noted that T. Rantula won the Pro Wrestling Xpress Heavyweight Title from Salvatore Sincere on 3/8/97.
- Jeff Jarrett made Rick Fuller submit with a figure-four leglock.
- Debra gave Jarrett a kiss after the match. A step up from the hug last week. Mongo didn't see it.
- They showed the remainder of what happened with Sting and Bischoff after Nitro went off the air on Monday. Sting gave Bischoff a second Scorpion Death Drop and then dumped him into the hole in the canvas.
- The Steiner Brothers def. The Amazing French-Canadians when Scott pinned Carl Oullette after nobody was home when Carl flipped off the top turnbuckle.