This Week In The WCW
This Week In The WCW
WCW Monday Night Nitro - Monday, 06/16/97
- Show starts with the nWo first team limo, along with Rodman, arriving. Some great camera work as a portable camera follows them all the way from the limo to the ring. Rodman is smoking a cigar. Very nice. Hogan and Rodman challenge Luger and Giant to a match tonight. Rodman generates a surprising amount of positive heat. Of course, Rodman calls Luger "Lex Luthor". You'd think that for a million bucks, he could at least learn the names.
- Glacier pinned Mortis following a cryonic kick AGAIN set up by a Mortis/Wrath skull session.
- After the match, Wrath and Mortis were doing their thing on Glacier AGAIN and Ernest Miller made the save AGAIN.
- Does anybody care?
- Madusa came out to give a tearful goodbye. Awwww...
- "The Man of 1,000 Holds" Dean Malenko made Jobber Guerrero, Jr submit to the Texas Cloverleaf.
- Please, hold your e-mails. I know his name is Chavo. That was a joke.
- Malenko challenged Eddie Guerrero to face him man-to-man before the match. Towards the end of the match, Eddie came out and watched from the entranceway. After the match, Malenko went after him and Eddie made like a banana and split.
- Super Calo pinned La Parka after a head scissors off the top turnbuckle.
- Once again, a Mexican wrestler landed in the fifth row. Security must be clearing the area first.
- After the match, La Parka whacked Super Calo with a real chair, not just a prop.
- According to Mike Tenay, demasking a wrestler in Mexico causes a DQ.
- Scheme Gene interviewed Luger and Giant. They accepted the challenge for later.
- Boy, this is going to be a great ending! We'll see Rodman fight and they'll be a clean finish and we won't feel a need to buy the Bash at the Beach pay-per-view. Isn't this nice of WCW?
- Harlem Heat def. The Amazing French-Canadians when Booker T. pinned Jacques Rougeau (sporting a fuzzy beard) following the Big Apple.
- Harlem Heat got a pretty good pop when they came out.
- I guess arena security doesn't confiscate all the signs. They allowed a "WWF Who?" sign.
- After the match, J.J.Dillon came out and said that the Harlem Heat's victory last night was so tainted by Vincent's interference that there will be a rematch between Harlem Heat and The Steiners next week to determine the number one contender. Dillon said that Vincent's interference was a ruse just so Harlem Heat could get the win. Harlem Heat and Sherri, of course, took exception to that. Vincent came out and says "Merry Christmas from the nWo". No respect for Santa tonight...Harlem Heat gave him a thorough beating.
- Syxx made Rey Misterio, Jr. submit to the Buzzkiller to retain the WCW World Cruiserweight Title.
- Boy, Schiavone loves talking about Rey Misterio, Jr. being the "Human Dart" last summer at Disney.
- Scott Hall was nice enough to flick his cigar ashes on Misterio while he was face down. Nash blew smoke in Misterio's face. Schiavone: "Isn't there a no smoking policy in here?" Heenan: "You take his cigar and stomp it out and see what happens to you..."
- Immediately before Syxx gave Misterio a spinning kick and put on the buzzkiller, Misterio was distracted having to dump Hall and Nash from the ring. Rather than being awarded the win, Syxx should have been disqualified.
- After the match, Nash gave Misterio a vicious Release Jackknife.
- After the match, Savage came out to gloat over his victory over "Diamond" Dallas Page. Meanwhile, Nash is smoking his cigar. Page appeared in an upper walkway portal. Page said that since Hall wants to get in the game now, Page made a few phone calls to get a partner that "we all know who he is". (I doubt it is Sting. I think that's a tease. I think it will be Scott Levy/Raven or Mr. Perfect/Curt Hennig.) Page then issued a challenge for himself and his "mystery" partner for Bash at the Beach for a match against Savage and Hall.
- Ultimo Dragon pinned "Lionheart" Chris Jericho with a Tiger Suplex and a Bridge.
- Sonny Ono came out with an envelope full of money and offered it to Jericho as Jericho was coming to the ring. Jericho seemed to think about it for a second and then put his hand on Ono's face and pushed him to the ground.
- In case you were wonder who has the "SELF HI 5" plate in Illinois, he was at Nitro tonight.
- Scheme Gene brought out Piper. Piper said he couldn't believe Flair would leave him but, after the match, Flair and his belongings were nowhere to be found in the arena. Piper called Flair out. Flair came out and sarcastically asked, "You won the match, didn't you?" They went back and forth. End result, just like last night, the angle is being dragged out further than the series of promos before Glacier debuted, if such a thing is possible.
- Buff Bagwell and Scott "Flash" Norton def. Steve "Mongo" McMichael and Jeff Jarrett when Bagwell pinned Jarrett after Mongo gave Jarrett a tombstone piledriver.
- The first time Jarrett was tagged in for this match, he was soundly booed.
- You know, some guy in the crowd has a laser pointer. He or she has been shining it on the wrestlers all night and now he's using it again in this match. Not only is that annoying and stupid, it's dangerous. You can seriously damage someone's eye with one of those things.
- Man, when Bagwell poses in the middle of a match, it kills me.
- In the middle of the match, Jarrett invited Mongo to strut with him. Instead of strutting, Mongo picks Jarrett up and gives him the tombstone. The crowd goes absolutely friggin' nuts!! After a few seconds of disbelief, Bagwell just laid on Jarrett for the cover and the pin.
- On the way out, Mongo and Debra said they watched the tape from last night and this is Jarrett getting what he deserves. Mongo then gave the thumb across the throat.
- In the after-the-match posing, Bagwell said "I'm Buff and I'm the Stuff!"
- "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan and Dennis "Basketball Career All But Over" Rodman vs. Giant and "The Total Package" Lex Luger was a no contest. Surprise, surprise.
- Hogan and Rodman got to the ring first. When Luger and Giant didn't show up for a few minutes, they went to leave. The delay was so that Rodman wouldn't actually be forced to wrestle.
- Luger and Giant then came out and all four men went to the ring. The Giant is definitely getting fat. Luger was looking as cro-magnon as ever.
- Giant began choking Rodman and was going to chokeslam him and Hogan nailed Giant with the championship belt. Then Hogan nailed Luger with the belt. The nWo then rushed the ring and the mudholing began. Garbage and debris came raining down on the ring. The volume of garbage thrown was second only to the night Hogan first turned heel.
Jonathan M. checked in with the following report from the arena:
- I was at the Nitro last night and it was good, but not awesome. They had a couple dark matches before they went live. Before the matches started, the entrance music for the wrestlers was being played and they still had Disco Fever's music included in the set. The Nasty Boys' song was also included in the tape.
- You reported that security has been tight at Nitro shows, but I could have walked in with a gun, much less an anti-WCW sign. There were tons of nWo shirts almost to the point of being ridiculous. There were a few signs with people welcoming Shawn Michaels to the nWo, along with some excellent signs in the crowd that had to take some time to create.
- During the Harlem Heat match, my friend commented that a movie could be shown on Sister Sherri's backside. I laughed considering your recent comments and told my friend of what you had been saying in the reports.
- When the fireworks for the 2nd hour went off, one of the WCW workers was standing too close and had to move quickly to avoid being burnt. All of the people in my section were stunned when the fireworks went off. I was expecting them a few minutes before, because I was keeping track of the shows timing.
- During the commercial break before Flair making his appearance they laid out a red carpet runner and the entire crowd started doing Flair's famous "Whooo!"
- During the commercial break before the Buff/Norton vs. Mongo/Jarrett, Buff and Mongo were seeing who could get the loudest response. Well, any idiot should know that Mongo would get a much louder pop than most anyone in Chicago due to him playing on the Super Bowl Bears Team. It was funny watching Buff's response to getting jeered by the crowd.
- When Rodman and Hogan came out for the supposed match, I noticed he was in jeans and figured they would be setting up the Bash at the Beach main event with a nWo run in. The local papers reported on Rodman's participation and had a few quotes from him about the tons of cups being thrown into the ring. "Oh God, I never expected that. I've never seen anything like that. I thought those people liked me. They were wild. Did you see all that s--- flying around?"
The Giant commented that he wasn't sure that he wanted to go to Rodman's party due to the craziness of the fans. Here is Hogan's comment on the event, "I've been hit by a lot of stuff in my career, but tonight was the pinnacle of peltation."
- I would like to talk to each one of the idiots throwing $4.50 beers into the ring. If they want to through money down the drain that easy; hell, they can just give me the money and I'll find a better way to spend the cash.
- Dark Matches:
- Psychosis w/Sonny Ono vs. a Japanese jobber - This was a decent match, but Psychosis didn't do a whole lot of high flying stuff.
- Steiners vs. Public Enemy - You said the Public Enemy was complaining about not being number one contender; hell, they jobbed to the Steiners in less than five minutes. I think the crowd was in shock when the Steiners came out to wrestle a dark match. I personally was expecting High Voltage or some other jobber team. The match ended when Johnny Grunge did a table dive trying to hit Rick. As usual the ref (Nick Patrick) let the table be brought into the ring and set up.
- As for Nick Patrick, he was catching a lot of heat from the crowd, especially from the younger nWo fans.
Tom D. also checked in with a report from the arena:
- I was at the Nitro in Chicago last week and I would like to inform you of some of the dark matches.
- First...Psychosis defeated a Japanese wrestler whose name I couldn't hear.
- The Steiners also defeated Public Enemy when their whole table stunt backfired AGAIN.
- I'd also like to say that nobody had been cleared out of the way when Super Calo flew into the seats. He landed on some little kid. I was in the fourth row just about two seats to the right of where he landed. You can see me in a gray hat and a horsemen shirt reaching for him if you have good replay on your VCR.
Also...when La Parka hit him with that chair, he seriously messed him up. The guy was in very real pain.
I must have a lot of readers from Chicago, because Cliff F. checked in with this report from the arena:
- This monday I attended my first live Nitro! Some of the things not shown include Micheal Buffer tell the Utah fans to "BITE ME!" Buffer never said his trademark "Let's get
ready to rumble!"
- The first match was Psychosis beating some jobber I've never seen before. It was a quick match and got no heat from the crowd. I'm not sure if Micheal Buffer was ever shown on TV, he left early in the night.
- The second match was The Steiner Bros. vs Public Enemy. Also a quick match. It started at 6:40 CDT so I knew it would be quick. The Steiners won when Rocco jumped of the top rope into the table after Rick Steiner moved out of way. The ring was cleared and then showtime!!!!
- Rodman got a huge pop from the crowd and nWo represented themselves BIG TIME. It started with the new nWo music by Jimi Hendrix. Hogan & Bischoff built heat with their ten minute speech about Luger and Giant in which Rodman kept blowing his spots by calling him "Luthor". I'm sure you saw the rest on TNT.
- After the credits rolled, the the nWo left and Giant and Luger were helped to the back. I really hoped for a dark match to end the night. No such luck. The annoncement came over the PA "Thanks for coming. Drive home safely.". Oh, well. So much for that. All and all it was a good night.
- The best part was last Saturday I got to meet Ric Flair and Harlem Heat. I took lots of pictures and got autographs. Flair didnt answer any questions but Booker T. and Stevie Ray did and we talked for about 10 minutes. Combine that with the Bulls game and it was a hell of a weekend! By the way, Harlem Heat, it seems, are both big Utah
fans :-( Oh, well, better luck next year! I'll be sending the whole meeting story in your Brushes page so be looking for it!!
WCW Great American Bash - Sunday, 06/15/97
- Well, another near-disaster with the pay-per-view. As you may remember, I had all kinds of problems getting Slamboree to come on last time. This time, for the first few minutes, I got the Spanish announcing team. After about two minutes, it switched over to English.
- Ultimo Dragon made Psychosis submit to the Dragon Sleeper in a Respect Match. The finish was set up by a kick to Psychosis' face from Sonny Ono that was meant for the Dragon.
- Psychosis spit at Dragon early in the match. Bad move.
- You know, I've been wondering where the reigning TV champion, Steve Regal, has been. If you read one of the arena reports someone sent in, he may have legitimately injured himself at a house show in Athens, OH. Aside from the fact that anybody being injured is a bad thing, it's especially unfortunate for a TV champion, who should be on TV every week. Also, it puts the kabosh to the "new" Four Horsemen angle, if they actually decide to go through it.
- Nasty tilt-a-whirl into an over-the-shoulder backbreaker by Dragon.
- Ultimo Dragon is really over with the crowd tonight. I like Dragon a lot, but I think that is somewhat unfortunate for Psychosis, who I think is the most underrated worker in WCW.
- Dragon turned the tables on Ono outside the ring and was about to suplex him and Psychosis nailed him.
- Psychosis executed an over-the-top suicide dive. I don't think I've ever seen that before.
- This was a very well-worked match with a lot of positive heat for Ultimo Dragon. A great start to the pay-per-view. Great booking, imho.
- Harlem Heat def. The Steiner Brothers via DQ when Vincent interfered and elbowdropped one of Harlem Heat.
- I don't mean to be rude, but is Sister Sherri getting that huge on purpose?
- Steiners had the early advantage in this match.
- Schiavone gave me a little education tonight. He mentioned that there used to be a tag rope you used to have to be holding to tag in. I know that they had/have them in the WWF, but I never noticed them "going away" in WCW.
- Whoever booked that ending should be fired. A decent match with a terrible ending.
- Thus, the angle is that the Outsiders would rather fight the Harlem Heat at Hog Wild than The Steiners and did this to pick their opponents. Thus, Vincent didn't mean to hurt Harlem Heat, he just wanted to get the Steiners disqualified.
- After the DQ, The Steiners got hold of Vincent and destroyed him, finishing the destruction with a Steiner Bulldog.
- Konan def. "The Laughing Man" Hugh Morrus via submission. Morrus was about to go for the No Laughing Matter, Konan knocked Morrus off the top turnbuckle and Morrus got knocked out in the process. Konan slapped on the Tequila Sunrise and the referee raised Morrus' arm three times and the arm dropped three times.
- Well, whatever crowd heat had been built up by the previous two matches came to a screeching halt in this match due to the plodding pace and the fact that the crowd didn't really care.
- After the match, as with every other pay-per-view, I had to listen to my girlfriend complain how much it galls her that Scheme Gene advertises his crappy 900 line when I'm already paying thirty bucks for a pay-per-view.
- Scheme Gene interviewed Public Enemy. It went absolutely nowhere. You'd think that if you are going to be paid to do a two minute interview, you'd at least do a little preparation for it. The only good part was them leaving through the crowd.
- Now, Public Enemy is complaining that they are being overlooked as number one contenders. They claim they are former champions. True, for all of a week. And, let's see, they lost to High Voltage two weeks in a row, one of them being a clean job. Hmmm, what do you think?
- Glacier pinned Wrath after a whack on the noggin with a chain that Mortis had thrown in the ring for Wrath to use.
- The Keystone Cops had their share of trouble getting Mortis handcuffed to the ringpost before the match started.
- Schiavone actually admitted that Mortis was a professional wrestler in the past. However, the rules were too restrictive and that's why he went to fight in bloodsport in Southeast Asia. In reality, of course, Mortis is (talented) jobber Chris Canyon with makeup.
- Wrath had a number of opportunities to pin Glacier during the match but kept letting him up to administer more punishment.
- Mortis pulled a chain out of his pocket and threw it into the ring for Wrath to use but Glacier got to it first and used it to set up the pin.
- At the end, Vandenburg got the key away from Nick Patrick and gave it to Mortis so he could get the handcuffs off. Mortis and Wrath then handcuffed Glacier to the top rope and did some clubberin'.
- The high point was the very end when all the referees came in to make the save. When they stopped the punishment of Glacier, the crowd started booing.
- WCW Women's World Heavyweight Champion Akira Hokuto pinned Madusa following a brainbuster. Madusa's career in WCW is over as a result.
- Man, that's some serious cleavage on Madusa. Ah, the miracle of plastic surgery.
- During the match, Madusa supposedly blew out her left knee. I'm guessing it was worked. Either way, it was impressive. If it was worked, Madusa did an incredible job selling it. If it was legit, Madusa has incredible intestinal fortitude because the match went at least another ten minutes.
- After the match, Madusa was in tears. Heenan laughed and said "Well, at least she won't be standing on the unemployment line on that bad leg".
- After the match, Okerlund got in Madusa's face for an interview as she was being helped from the ring. He was being rude and obnoxious and was really uncalled for. The crowd actually started chanting "Leave her alone!"
- Definitely an ending I did not expect. The ending, I thought, was well done in that, especially with the attempted interview by Okerlund, it seemed like a shoot ending.
- "Crippler" Chris Benoit made Meng submit to the Crippler Crossface to win the death match.
- Benoit got an early advantage by attacking Meng before the opening bell.
- Benoit definitely got the worst of the punishment in the early going.
- At one point, Benoit attempt to suplex Meng out of the ring from the apron and instead of bringing him all the way over, dropped Meng's neck across the top rope on the way out. Impressive.
- Later in the match, Meng got Benoit in the Goozle as Benoit was hanging outside the ring. Impressive, again.
- Meng was in the Crossface for at least a minute before he finally very weakly tapped out.
- Both men were taken out on stretchers after the match although Meng seemed to be much worse for the wear.
- On the way back to the locker room, Meng fell off the guerney out of camera shot. It was never explained why.
- For you Crippler fans, a reader found a great interview with Crippler on another site. You may want to check it out.
- Kevin Greene pinned Steve "Mongo" McMichael after Jeff Jarrett gave Mongo a Haliburton whack that was meant for Greene, theoretically.
- The high point of the match was when Greene brought McMichael to the railing so Kevin Greene's mom could whack Mongo on the head with her purse. Shades of Hatpin Mary!
- You know, given my low expectations, these guys actually did a decent job. Aside from the incredible improvement Mongo has shown over the last year, Kevin Greene blows away anything Lawrence Taylor or Reggie White ever accomplished in the squared circle.
- The odd part about the ending was that after the errant whack with the Haliburton, instead of going in to help his partner or at least cause the DQ, Jarrett just walked back to the locker room.
- Cut back to the locker room and the trainer working on Madusa's knee. She's in tears. In the big picture, there's obviously something outside the bounds of wrestling going on with Madusa right now. She must really need reconstructive surgery on that knee or she is planning on starting a family or something like that. She certainly can't be jumping to the WWF. For those of you who may not remember, she was the WWF Women's Champion when she came to WCW, and the WCW showed a clip of her throwing the WWF Women's belt in the garbage can because it was worthless. I think she kind of burned her bridges with Vince doing that.
- The Outsiders def. "Nature Boy" Ric Flair and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper when Scott Hall pinned "Rowdy" Roddy Piper after the nWo Edge.
- Hmm, the announcers start off talking about how tight Flair and Piper are and that there are no problems between them. Wow, I sure can't guess how this match is going to end.
- Early Flair Flop right into a big boot from Kevin Nash.
- Flair took the early beating in the match and was unable to tag out.
- Later in the match, in an exact replay from Nitro, Piper desperately needed a tag and Flair was outside the ring fighting Syxx and Piper had no one to tag. In fact, Flair had chased Syxx all the way back to the locker room area, and was nowhere to be found in the arena.
- A side note, the consensus in my living room is that Piper is getting fat.
- After Piper fought on his own with Flair AWOL for around five minutes, Hall finally gave Piper an nWo (Razor's) Edge, and pinned him.
- This match was one big, honkin' anti-climax.
- After the match, Piper was alone standing in the ring looking for Flair and eventually walked back to the locker room.
- Randy "Macho Man" Savage pinned "Diamond" Dallas Page following a flying elbowsmash.
- Michael Buffer did the introductions for this match. Boy, oh, boy, would I love to have his job.
- When Kimberly came out, it became obvious to me that the air conditioning was turned up really high in the building.
- Page came out of the crowd and pearl harbored Savage to start the match.
- Savage tried to use Elizabeth as a shield at one point and Page just threw her aside.
- Unlike Halloween Havoc, people didn't throw Slim Jims at Savage when he was outside the ring.
- One high point was Savage giving Page a faceful of powder and smashing him over the head with a hubcap. The announcers were theorizing what the powder was. Heenan suggested it was lye. Nice, Bobby.
- Savage was kind enough to give referee Mickey J. a piledriver.
- Mark Curtis came in next. He was pitched by Savage in short order.
- Savage backed Kimberly into the railing. Bad move, imo, as they were lucky Kimberly didn't get felt up by someone or that some fan taking things a little too seriously didn't attack Savage to "protect" Kimberly.
- Eventually, Savage and Page crashed a VIP picnic area. Flower planters, picnic tables, and a BBQ grille, all destroyed. Luckily, the grille wasn't lit but there were a lot of ashes.
- Savage pulled up the mat to piledrive Page on the concrete. Nick Patrick stopped Savage from doing it and Savage knocked Patrick out. Savage then REALLY went nuts and beat the hell out of a photographer.
- Page scored a diamond cutter and Patrick started counting a pinfall. Scott Hall came in and kicked Nick Patrick in the head. Hall went to attack Page but Page got the better of him. Savage then cracked Page from behind with Hall's title belt. Hall then gave Page an nWo Edge and Savage gave Page a flying elbowsmash. Hall then kicked Nick Patrick to wake him up and Savage got the pinfall. With that, the pay-per-view abruptly ended.
- I looked at the clock and it said 9:49 p.m. The WCW pay-per-views usually ended EXACTLY at 9:45 p.m. so the quick cut off must have been due to their running late.
- My opinion? A few really good matches. The Madusa thing almost had you believing it was a shoot. The Flair/Piper thing was a complete rip-off, however. A pay-per-view is for starting or finishing storylines. I didn't pay $30 to see a storyline tread water.
Ben Miller from USC sends in the following arena report:
- I live in Milwaukee, which is three hours or so from Moline. Unfortunately, after the event I got on the wrong freeway and started
heading for Chicago, the site of the next night's Nitro. We soon realized our mistake and decided to turn around. Luckily, my friend needed some Dramamine so we decided to pull into a truckstop. Since I was driving, I decided to stay in the car. Seconds later, the two friends that I was with came running to the car saying that Booker T. and Nick Patrick were inside. I immediately thought they were lying, but I ran in anyways. Inside, there I see Booker T. standing at the counter buying a Snapple. My mind went blank, so all I could blurt out was good job tonight (even though I thought their match stunk). Booker T. is huge. I am 6' 3" and I see 300+ pound football players around USC's campus sometimes, but the size of his arms still took me aback a little. Behind him in line was Nick Patrick with a fanny pack on. (What is it with wrestlers and fanny packs? I've seen Austin, Nash, Waltman and Patrick all in fannypacks, yet they have been obsolete for five years or so.) Anyway, as they were leaving, some marks started yelling "Hey it's Harlem Heat" as the car drove away.
- If you are wondering what I thought about the event live, keep in mind that I am somewhat of a WWF mark. First of all Moline, IL is filled with DDP lovin' White Trash. He is the DWT icon. Every white trash wrestling fan that I know just loves the guy. Anyway, I got to the arena an hour and a half early so I could talk with the locals. I arrived maybe five minutes before the gates opened at 4:30 for the 6:00 show, and there had to be 1,000 people or more lined up. Once I made my way past seemingly an endless sea of rednecks in tanktops, nWo shirts, Austin 3:16 shirts and DDP shirts, I got to my seats. My entire section was pro-WWF (not necessisarily anti-WCW), so they loved my "Turner is Satan" sign. Unfortunately, before WCW events, Pinzer gets on the mic and asks to see the signs because "it's a great way to get on TV." Call me naive, but even in the fifteenth row (right across from the camera) he could see my sign clearly. That's because when he looked in our direction he said "ouch, that one's a little harsh." Anyway, this was all just a ploy to take away our first amendment rights by confiscating our signs. Mine and my friend's "Austin 3:16" (he's a mark) sign were taken. Still, it made me proud to have my entire section cheer when I
held up the sign the first time even though we were at a WCW event.
- The overall event was mostly poor. The crowd was really into the Dragon vs. Psychosis match, but the abominable Steiners vs. Heat match killed the crowd. The ladies match was actually okay, but the coup de gras was the "Bore Me To" Death match between Meng and Benoit. It was one of the worst matches I have ever seen and by far the most bored I have ever been at a wrestling event. The only thing not shown on TV was Konan being carried away after a botched German Suplex on Hugh Morrus. Also, Sherri is huge in person.
- The main event was good, but 95% of the crowd missed all of the floor brawling. If you look back at the tape of the event, you can hear the crowd silence during those sequences. They had monitors set up, but they didn't show any of the "action" on them. After the show, the entire crowd was pissed that Sting didn't show. There had to be a half dozen "We Want Sting" chant over the course of the show.
- I had fun at the event. Mainly, it was because I got to talk to plenty of "smart" WCW fans who let me know that HBK was on his way in to WCW. Also, they all refuted my claim that Mr. Perfect was the "impact player" coming in on June 30. These were the type of people who pronounced nWo "n double o" and assured me that DDP would get the title shot at Road Wild.
- I don't mean to be too harsh, but that's what I thought of the event.
WCW {Pro} Wrestling - Sunday, 06/15/97
- Alex Wright pinned Casey Thompson with a German Suplex and a bridge.
- This match was filmed before Wright's heel turn as he was giving high fives on the way to the ring. It was very discongruous with the "new" Alex Wright. Scott Hudson noted the newly acquired "vicious" attitude, however. Thanks, Scott, that makes it all make sense.
- Ice Train pinned Maxx following a Train Wreck.
- During the match, Ice Train tried to small package the huge guy. It really looked ridiculous w/two big guys all rolled up with each other and the Train trying to wrap his arm around the big guy's leg. It failed miserably. Whoever booked that one made a big mistake.
- Glacier beat Pat Tanaka with his Cryonic Kick.
- Zbyszko noted that Glacier would have to kick really high to reach Wrath's neck/head area. I figured he'd pull a groin muscle trying to do it. At least we wouldn't have to see Glacier for a while. Another very long entrance and he posed afterwards, too.
- Zbyszko had the gall to pretend that the match was "real time". Scott Hudson said that he hoped Glacier had his plane ticket already to get to the Bash. Larry responded that he wouldn't trust flying standby. What a crock.
- "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan pinned Sgt. Craig "Pit Bull" Pittmann following a sock in the puss with a taped fist.
- The ending came when Duggan went outside the ring, reached down his sweaty trunks and pulled out the rank roll of tape, wound it up, went in to the ring in front of the ref, blocked a punch from Pittmann and nailed him.
- Many thanks to the following people who answered my call for these results:
- Ben J. (most of the "editorial" comments are his).
- David C.
- A. Burns
- Ron K.
- CRaTT
- Tomas
- American Male
- Marc at Inside Wrestling
The funny thing is I had the VCR set but didn't turn the cable box on. I woke up just in time to hear the VCR turning off at 6:10 p.m. I taped an hour and ten minutes of static.
WCW Saturday Night - Saturday, 06/14/97
- Tonight's main event will be a return match between Jeff Jarrett and Dean Malenko for the U.S. Title. Hmm, I wonder if this match will have a screw job ending.
- Ummm, has anyone else noticed that tomorrow will be the third pay-per-view in a row that the World Heavyweight Champion has not appeared, much less defended his title? Anybody besides me find that a little odd?
- "Crippler" Chris Benoit uncled "Hardwork" Bobby Walker with a Crippler Crossface.
- Benoit was introduced as "representing the Four Horsemen". Given the "Apocalypse" team seems to be dead, maybe the Horsemen are coming back to life.
- Benoit's flying headbutt from the top turnbuckle really looks like it hurts Benoit more than the opponent.
- In the post match interview, Benoit was wearing his fake tooth.
- I had no clue what a Respect Match was. Chris R. wrote in with: "It's a match where the only way to win was to make your opponent say, "I respect you". Kevin Sullivan beat Brian Pillman in one when Pillman was in the Four Horsemen."
- "Lionheart" Chris Jericho pinned Johnny Swinger following a missile dropkick.
- A promo for Hogan and Rodman. Thoroughly insulting given Hogan has skipped three pay-per-views in a row.
- La Parka pinned Denny Brown following a flying corkscrew.
- Denny Brown is incredibly fat. He looks like a sumo wrestler now. I'm not sure what he's been doing since the last time I saw him a few years ago, but it ain't step aerobics.
- Super Calo did a run in and attacked La Parka after the match. Oh, my! WCW actually is developing a storyline with some of the Mexican wrestlers.
- While I think developing the storylines is a good thing, it's going to be difficult with the ones that can't speak English and build up the interest via interviews.
- Glacier pinned Hardbody Harrison following a Cryonic Kick in a mercifully short match.
- Glacier's entrance was longer than the match itself.
- Mortis, with Vandenburg, did an ineffectual run in after the match.
- After the match, J.J. Dillon came out to say he had some good news and some bad news for Vandenburg. The good news is that Mortis will be allowed at ringside for the Glacier/Wrath match at the Bash tomorrow night. The bad news is that Mortis will be handcuffed to a ringpost.
- Steve "Mongo" McMichael pinned Hector Guerrero following a tombstone piledriver.
- After the match, Kevin Greene did a run-in and cleaned house.
- Psychosis, Silver King and Damien def. Ultimo Dragon, Super Calo and Juventud Guerrera in a Lucha Libre match when Psychosis pinned Ultimo Dragon after a guillotine leg drop delivered on a face down Ultimo Dragon.
- The finish was set up by Sonny Ono pushing Ultimo Dragon off the top turnbuckle as he was setting Psychosis up for a top turnbuckle frankensteiner.
- Buff Bagwell and Scott "Flash" Norton def. the Power Company when Bagwell pinned the one with the tattoo following a Buff Blockbuster and Norton pinned the one without the tattoo following a brainbuster. I was too busy typing to know which of the two was actually the legal pin.
- Konan made "Desperado" Joe Gomez submit to the Tequila Sunrise (half Boston Crab)
- After the match, "Laughing Man" Hugh Morrus did a run in and gave Konan two No Laughing Matters.
- Public Enemy def. the Armstrong Brothers when Rocco pinned Steve Armstrong.
- The Armstrong Brothers both are now sporting crewcuts. My girlfriend figured they must have gotten a day job. I thought it must have been head lice.
- The ending was really ugly. Steve was laid out on the table for a drive by. Public Enemy did it and the table didn't break. That must have hurt. So, Rocco does a flying splash from the top turnbuckle again on Steve Armstrong again on the table and it still doesn't break. Ouch! As Rock is pinning Steve, Johnny Grunge slams Scott through the table and it finally breaks.
- Public Enemy made their exit through the crowd.
- "The Man of 1,000 Holds" Dean Malenko def. Jeff Jarrett via DQ when Mongo did a run in and clocked Malenko with the Haliburton as Malenko was putting Jarrett in the Texas Cloverleaf. Jarrett retains the WCW U.S. Heavyweight Title.
- And you can stop sending my e-mail on this subject. At the end of WCWSN tonight, I finally saw the 1-800-COLLECT commercial with Booker T. portraying a boxer.
- "Diamond" Dallas Page and Kimberly came out for an interview. Page went up into the crowd to deliver his monologue. Man, he is so over with the crowd right now.