This Week In The WCW

WCW Monday Night Nitro - Monday, 06/30/97

Being in Arizona gives you an appreciation for some of the things you normally take for granted, like daylight savings time. I don't know how you people in Indiana with the half savings time and half not handle it. Also, it makes you appreciate temperatures under a hundred. Check Pointcast, today was supposed to be 107, tomorrow 108, and Wendesday 110. Try it in a wool suit lugging a briefcase and a laptop. Everyone says, "But it's a dry heat". Yeah, so is sticking my head in an oven. The high point of my day yesterday was translating 110 degrees Fahrenheit into Celsius for the German lady next to me on the plane so she could understand how hot it was going to be. (I came up with 48.) But, I digress. You didn't come here to read about me whine about my having to travel to Arizona every week, you came here to read about my whining about Nitro.
One note before we start. A couple of weeks ago, Super Calo did a suicide dive that landed him a few rows into the audience. I hypothesized that arena security must have had advance warning of the spot and cleared the area first. No dice. In response to my comment, a guy sitting two seats away (sorry, don't have your name with me) sent me an e-mail saying that that was definitely not the case and, in fact, Super Calo landed on a little kid. This morning, I got the following e-mail from "fellow Buff Bagwell fan" Tom Baker:
"Hey, just wanted to let you know that the Chicago papers had a reporter behind the scenes at Nitro and Super Calo broke a boy's arm when going into the crowd. The last I heard was they wanted WCW's insurance to pay for it."
I know baseball tickets have a warning that they are not responsible if you get clocked by a foul ball or anything. I bet wrestling tickets don't have the same warning. Plus, I'm not a lawyer, but my guess is that it is a different situation. Getting hit by a foul ball is not gross negligence on the part of the ballpark, it's an accepted risk. A 200-pound wrestler flying in the crowd is not something a "reasonable and prudent" person would do. If Tom or anyone else has further updates on this, let me know. I'm interested to see how it turns out.
By the way, I'm watching the replay of Nitro here. If you watched the live presentation and it seems I've missed a really obvious blown spot, like, say, Scott Steiner screaming "F$%& you, too!" to a fan like he did at nWo Souled Out, let me know as it may have been cut out of the replay.
One last thing before the report. A little more comedy tonight. I turned on the TV in my room and on all the stations, including TNT, I get a picture for about five seconds before a big black box appears covering 90% of the screen. Time to panic again as the lady at the front desk doesn't know how to fix it. Luckily, it was just my room so, here I sit in the common breakfast area of the Comfort Suites in Scottsdale, AZ, watching the end of Robin Hood waiting for Nitro to start and my pizza to arrive. Who knows, since I'm in Scottsdale, maybe the Ultimate Warrior will stop by. However, even that won't make up for being forced to watch the end of Robin Hood. Who the hell wrote a story about Robin Hood meeting an alien, anyway?
Show starts off with Ric Flair introduced by Mean Gene. Flair's trying to play the heel, but he's still getting cheers. Piper's music starts playing and two lovely ladies (fresh from Space Mountain, I'm sure) bring out a "Rowdy" Roddy Piper mannequin from which the kilt falls off in the ring (which I don't think was planned). Crowd starts chanting "Rowdy, Rowdy!". One of the girls asks "Why is he called Hot Rod? He's not hot!" Crowd starts chanting again. Flair says Piper crossed the line last week trying to tell Flair how to wrestle a match. Flair says Piper should stay home with the wife and kids. In one of the greatest blown spots of all time, Okerlund asks one of the girls if he truly is the "Sixty minute man"? The girl, thinking Okerlund is referring to Piper and not knowing Flair is known as the "Sixty minute man", says "More like thirty seconds". Duh!!
WCW World Cruiserweight Champion "Lionheart" Chris Jericho made Juventud Guerrera submit to a Boston Crab following a Superfrankensteiner to retain the championship.
- Guerrera blew a spot slipping off the top rope. Nice recovery into a headlock on Jericho, though.
- Jericho seems to be starting a heel turn. It's subtle, but it's happening.
- Guerrera did a suicide dive over the top rope to the outside. Not the first time he's done it, but it is still extremely impressive.
- In the post-match interview by Okerlund, Jericho seemed to get more boos than cheers when Okerlund announced that Jericho had won the title on Saturday night from Syxx. Syxx came out unannounced. Syxx said, "You beat nothing on Saturday night until you went back to your hotel room". Nice shoot-style comment. Syxx says he still holds the belt and he will give Jericho a shot tonight. Actually, right now. And Syxx pops him in the nose. They start rolling around and we go to commercial.
Back from commercial "Das Blunderheel" is bitching about how WCW has been holding him down. And you know why? Because he is a German! Oh, good Lord. Anyway, it's obvious that Wright has put on a lot of muscle as he looks great. To finish off this stellar interview, he says Lex Luger has nothing on him.
Eddie Guerrero pinned Dean Malenko following a brain buster and a frog splash set up by a distraction from Jobber Guerrero, Jr.
- The match starts in the aisle as Eddie Guerrero Pearl Harbors Malenko when Malenko has taken about two steps out of the entranceway.
- Tenay, for some reason, waits until tonight to tell us that Guerrero formed one of the most despised teams in Mexico with Art Barr years ago.
- Jobber Guerrero, Jr. shows up during through the match and jumps on the apron. Malenko goes over to take issue with him and Eddie nails Malenko from behind causing a skull session between Malenko and Jobber, Jr. Eddie gives Malenko a brain buster and a frog splash, and it's over.
- Eddie walks Jobber, Jr. back to the locker room. Jobber does not look happy.
  - Oh, no! A war between the Guerrero's? First, Renegade and Gomez break up and then this. Is nothing sacred? Oh, the humanity!
Rey Misterio, Jr. comes out and says he's tired of Nash and the Wolfpack pushing him around. He wants to challenge Nash to a match tonight. Rey says he'll win because he's got a bigger heart. Nash comes out and offers to do an autopsy. Nash says Misterio thinks he's The Little Train That Could. Nash agrees to the match. As we fade to commercial, Zbyszko says it's been nice knowing Rey.
- Hmmm, 7' 5", 340 lbs. against 5' 3", 140 lbs. This should be good. Actually, on a recent online chat, someone asked Nash about the possibility of fighting Misterio. He said he wants to and he thinks it would bring the house down. I guess we'll see. They really are pulling all the stops tonight. I'm still laughing about Syxx's comment to Jericho.
Eric Bischoff comes out on an nWo motorcycle to the new Dennis Rodman / nWo music. Hogan comes out. He says it's party night for the nWo, "especially since Nash is fighting that midget. What's his name? The Magician?"
- Hogan makes it sound like he and Hall and Savage will face "Flexy Lexy, that no-good Stinky Giant, and DDPP". This sounds like a set-up for the appearance the "franchise player". My guess, an nWo franchise player to make the match a non-match like Hogan and Rodman's last "match".
- Well, the guy in Nevada with the "N W O" license plate was at the show tonight waving it around.
WCW World Television Champion Steven Regal made Hector Garza sumbit to the Regal Stretch after Regal pulled his knees up as Garza went for an Asaye(sp?) moonsault.
- At one point, Garza went for his corkscrew from the top turnbuckle outside the ring and Regal didn't break Garza's fall properly. That had to hurt.
Okerlund interviewed the Steiner Brothers. They say they are owed a title shot. They're not leaving until Hall and Nash accept the challenge. Hall and Nash come out to the nWo second team music which was put on by mistake which immediately gets changed over to the first team music. However, it's not just Hall and Nash. It's the entire nWo. Hall and Nash have a contract with them and the Steiners sign it without reading it. After the (Ein)Steiners leave, Hall has Okerlund read the contract out loud. It seems that the Einsteiners signed a contract that forces them to face Masa Hiro Chono and the Great Muta before getting their shot against Hall and Nash.
Psychosis pinned Super Calo when Sonny Ono grabbed Super Calo's ankle as he attempted to suplex Psychosis into the ring from the apron.
- Tenay mentioned that Calo is coming back from an injury from a plastic chair shot from La Parka. A guy who was there that night sent me an e-mail and said it looked like Super Calo was legitimately hurt.
- After the match, Calo went to work on Psychosis as revenge for the dastardly deed. La Parka snuck into the ring with a wood prop chair (the kind that don't hurt) and busted it over Super Calo's back. As he and Psychosis went to work on Calo, Juventud Guerrera rushed the ring and cleaned house of the ruffians.
"Nature Boy" Ric Flair, "Crippler" Chris Benoit and Steve "Mongo" McMichael defeated Buff Bagwell, Scott "Flash" Norton and Masa Hiro Chono via DQ when Vincent interfered.
- Well, I got my money's worth. Bagwell did his posing less than five seconds into the match.
- Benoit got a decent pop from the crowd when he was tagged in.
- After the DQ, Mongo waffled Vincent with the Haliburton.
Video montage of Kevin Sullivan followed by a promo for his Career Match against Benoit at Bash at the Beach. Too bad WCW doesn't have rights to any of the really old films of Sullivan from 15 years ago in Florida when he was a devil worshipper and he was much better built.
High Voltage upset Wrath and Mortis when Ernest Miller gave Mortis a spin kick from the top turnbuckle as Mortis was about to give Rage a Flatliner. Rage rolled on top of Mortis for the pin. Glacier was distracting Wrath outside the ring at the time.
- Well, Glacier isn't all that bad when his ring entrance takes less time than it takes me to drive to work.
- As we're about to cut to commercial, a white limo, presumably containing the impact player, pulls up outside. The door starts to open and then shuts. Heenan asks the obvious question, "What's so hard about looking in the window?"
Before the next match, they cut to Raven (Scott Levy / Scotty Flamingo / Johnny Polo) sitting at ringside looking like your average Generation X'er pissed off at the world for no reason. The announcers wonder if he came out of the limo, if he's the impact player, if he's DDP mystery partner. No one knows.
- Interesting that they can call Scott Levy "Raven". I would think ECW owned the rights to the character. The announcers noted he had held world championships but did not mention he used to be Scotty Flamingo in WCW. (Since my original report, a regular reader, Mike Irwin, sent me an e-mail saying that at least one of the other wrestling web pages has reported that WCW purchased the Raven gimmick from ECW.)
WCW U.S. Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett made Konnan submit to the figure-four leglock with Ric Flair helping Jarrett get extra leverage.
- Jarrett and Flair strutted together after the match. Everything OK in Horsemen land? Not likely. In the post-match interview, with all of the Horsemen there, Jarrett says that all of the Horsemen except for Flair have something in common. He's beaten all of them. (Well, he's right.) Flair says, "Jeff, you're a great man, a great wrestler, but as of now, you are no longer a Horseman."
- Jarrett says that he is going to be the one to put Flair out to pasture. Jeff takes his U.S. belt and leaves.
- This spot shows how far the Horsemen have fallen. Jarrett dissed Flair big time and the Horsemen just let him walk away. After what Jarrett said, the only way the Horsemen of old would have allowed him to leave the ring would be on a stretcher.
  - I was sure a mudhole stomp on Jarrett was going to start and the impact player to appear would be Arn Anderson to join in the stomp. Oh, well. I can dream, can't I?
Kevin Nash pinned Rey Misterio, Jr. following a release jackknife.
- Before the match, they did a replay of the "Human Dart" episode from last July. Man, I love that clip.
- After a brief offense from Misterio at the beginning of the match, Nash started tossing Misterio around like a rag doll. After about a minute of that, it was over.
- After the finish, Nash gave Misterio two more release jackknifes and then nails referee Scott Dickinson. Konnan comes to the ring and Nash leaves. Gee, can anyone see what's coming here? Gee, only twenty million people have noticed Konnan in nWo t-shirts over the last two months or so.
- Konnan does a drop on Misterio's leg that theoretically could have broken it. Misterio is screaming out in pain holding the (supposedly) broken leg and Konnan walks off. Cut to commercial.
We return from commercial and Misterio is being taken out on a stretcher. Cut to Tenay trying to interview Raven in the front row. "Are you the impact player?" "Are you DDP's mystery partner?" Raven just sits like a typical sulky Generation X'er (and he does it well) and won't answer any questions. Eventually, he pushes Tenay away.
Savage, Hall, and Nash (wearing the toupee of Scott Dickinson, which he'd knocked off earlier) come to the ring. Cut to commercial. Well, it's 9:52. This is going to be one short "match".
Wow, an advertisement for a new limited edition Outsider pin set. What's next? Outsider feminine hygiene products?
So, "Diamond" Dallas Page, "The Total Package" Lex Luger, and Giant come slowly to the ring. They have a strategy session outside the ring. Cut to commercial. Hmm, the clock on my PC says 9:56. This "match" gets shorter and shorter.
The "match" of "Diamond" Dallas Page, Lex Luger, and Giant against Hall, Nash, and Savage was a no-contest. Surprise, surprise.
- Suddenly, the real Sting descends from the rafters and chases the nWo from the ring to protect Page. (According to Scoops, this fake Sting was actually Mortis in different face paint).
- Suddenly, "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig comes walking out of the entranceway toward the ring. Then Raven climbs over the railing and stares down Hall. Hennig goes to the ring and, guess what? Nitro ends!
  - Obviously, if anyone who was at the arena can let me know what happened, if anything, after the cameras went off, it would be much appreciated.
The Nitro replay was followed by a Roddy Piper shoot-em-up movie. Well, at least it's better than Robin Hood. Well, maybe.
Creed sends the following arena report:
- It was a great show. As for the dark matches:
  - Glacier over Wrath by DQ when Vandenberg interfered. Vandenberg got a cryonic kick for his troubles. Wrath gave Glacier the Death Penalty, but Ernest Miller came in for the save.
  - Hector Garza, Silver King, and Juventud Guerrera over Psychosis, Villano IV, and La Parka when Garza backflipped onto Villano IV. Great Luche Libre match.
  - In the main event, there was Syxx vs. Chris Jericho for the Cruiserweight Title. It was a back and forth match until Lionheart went to the top and Syxx pulled the referee in the way. Syxx put Jericho in the Buzzkiller and the referee called for the bell; however, the referree DQ'ed Syxx and Jericho retains the title.
- It was announced that WCW would return to Las Vegas for Halloween Havoc on October 26, 1997.
- As for what happened after the cameras went off...Basically, the whole nWo wandered over to where Raven hopped the rail, with a "Well, what's your story?" kind of attitude. The Hennig wandered down to ringside. He made motions to get in the ring a couple of times, but hesitated. Finally, Hogan and Co. got bored, and moved back to the entrance, all posing. Sting assembled Luger and the Giant back in the ring.
  Raven got bored and hopped the rail, walking out the exit without looking back. Hennig ended up wandering to the middle of the runway, halfway between the nWo and the faces in the ring. Finally, after the crowd trying to encourage him to go one way or another, Lex and the Giant charged past him after the Wolfpack, and the whole black-clad crew bolted backstage. Sting helped DDP to the back, and Hennig just sort of wandered backstage.
- Oh, and have I got a Brush with Greatness for you! Besides spotting Regal, Hogan, Bischoff, Hennig, Levy, Ono, Vandenberg, and Konnan, I actually talked to Glacier, Savage, Miller, the Giant, and my personal hero, DDP! But sleep doth call.
Another report from the arena as to what happened after the cameras went off: "After the cameras stopped rolling, Hall said something to Raven and he jumped the rail and left. Meanwhile, the nWo went to the top of the entrance ramp and stood together while Hennig was standing between the nWo and team WCW. The Giant than ran after the nWo, and they hightailed it back. Sting and Lex than walked by and had a stare down with Curt. While this is going on, DDP is still lying on the ground. Sting and Lex go back to help DDP and Curt leaves, then about 20 feet behind team WCW exits. If you have a tape of the event, I am the one on the left holding the D in DDP during his entrance. I figured that was the best way to get on TV. Side note: while Malenko and Gurrerro were fighting in the runway, 1-2-3- Kid had not left the ring area yet and was forced by the Keystone Coppers to exit via the crowd. Somebody douched him with popcorn, he was pissed.".
Another tidbit Lawrence J. from the University of Michigan noticed on TV: "At the start of the second hour of Nitro, some of the pyrotechnics misfire, land on the runway, and burn a whole into the carpet. You can see the fire burning (briefly, before they cut away) and in later shots of the wrestlers entering the arena, you can see the hole--I'd say it's at least a foot long, running across the carpet." He wrote me later and added: "I was reviewing the tape, and it gets a little better. When Konnan & Jeff Jarrett are being introduced--no carpet on the entryway at all. At the beginning of the next match, Viola! the carpet has returned, in one piece."

WCW {Pro} Wrestling - Sunday, 06/29/97

By Ben J.

Impertinent Thought on a Pertinent Subject #1:
- The Great Muta sure has made a magnificent impact since his big entrance a few weeks ago.
Impertinent Thought on a Pertinent Subject #2:
- Throughout the last week, I've seen a number of "WWF Raw Is War" commercials on TNT and TBS. Nice going.
1st commercial break:
- WWF off. USA Network is on commercial, too. However, it may be that the show on USA is phenominally better than this wrestling program (even though they ARE showing "Star Trek IV").
- Please, no flood of email about this... for it 'twas a minor attempt at humor while bored during the commercial break.
Scotty Riggs beat Mr. J.L. with Tito Santana's Flying Jalapeno.
- In the 1980's in the WWF, Bobby Heenan always made fun of Tito Santana's finishing move, which was a flying forearm, by calling it the "Flying Jalapeno." Just a tidbit.
- Larry Z. said Glacier will be here. Oh boy. Looks like another winning show with this start-off match + Glacier.
Yuji Nagata pinned Pat Tanaka after an inverted spin kick.
- Scott Hudson: "The impact player doesn't even have to be a wrestler. It may be Mike Tyson or Evander Holyfield."
Impertinent Thought on a Pertinent Subject #3:
- If I were a wrestler and on tomorrow's Nitro, I'd make sure I came out with a mask on to protect my precious ears.
- Also, if I put Tyson in a head scissors, I'd be very careful to not become the next John Wayne Bobbit.
"Beautiful" Bobby Eaton beat Ciclope after a swinging neck breaker.
Glacier beat Mark Starr with his Cryonic Kick.
- After Glacier's long entrance, there was heavy smoke hanging in the air throughout the arena. With all those fans going, one would think the smoke would clear out rather quickly. Sad.
Meng and "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan fought to a double count-out.
- With Duggan wrestling, this sure is old. Duggan retired a while ago.
- Duggan came out with a black eye, maybe from running into things like a pole in an airport.
- Duggan's shorts came down during the match. Talk about a "Bad Moon Risin'."
- Meng applied the Guzel outside the ring. The Power Company came out, then Scotty Riggs, then Public Enemy with chairs to stop Meng. Meng held off 6... SIX... men alone, and two of them had chairs. The six didn't even attack. Sad.

WCW Saturday Night - Saturday, 06/28/97

Announcement of Flair vs. Piper at Bash at the Beach.
WCW World Television Champion Steven Regal made "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton submit with the Regal Stretch.
- Regal is now wearing a singlet. All the better to hide that pendulous belly. Made me think of that horrible Monday Nitro when Roadblock made his debut without a shirt. We never saw him topless again.
- I wonder if Regal's absence of late was due to that house show injury. The announcers made no note of Regal's absence of late.
- Joey Maggs was out watching the match. Maggs making a run at the TV Title? Yikes, and you thought Prince Iaukea gave you nightmares.
Konan made Tim Cheeks submit to the Tequila Sunrise following a 187 in a squash.
Meng made Renegade submit to the Tonga Death Grip.
- Renegade is sporting a ponytail and leather jacket along with his new attitude. I don't know about you, but I can hardly wait for this Renegade / Gomez thing to come to a head and have them meet face-to-face. Hoo, boy, the lines will be long at the concession stands and restrooms at the arenas during that match.
Commercial with the Public Enemy hawking the WCW gym bag. I don't know whether I read it in an e-mail or on another page, but someone said the WCW seems to be turning the Public Enemy into the next Bushwhackers. The Bushwhackers were so hardcore years ago when they were the Sheepherders. Likewise, with the path the Public Enemy is taking. Think of it, even down to picking up and hugging kids in the crowd. I happen to agree with the originator of the theory and I find it sad. (Sorry, I can't remember the originator of that theory, but I really wanted to pass it along.)
Wrath and Mortis def. The Armstrong Brothers when Wrath pinned Scott (I think...wasn't paying attention) Armstrong following the Death Penalty.
- After the match, Glacier and Ernest Miller did a run-in and chased Mortis and Wrath from the ring even though Mortis and Wrath were minding their own business. Glacier and Miller will be fighting Mortis and Wrath at Bash at the Beach.
- I'll bet a paycheck that Mortis will be doing the job at Bash at the Beach.
WCW U.S. Heavyweight Champion (and Horseman On Probation) Jeff Jarrett made Scotty Riggs submit to the Figure-Four Leglock.
- Of course, Debra is no longer escorting Jarrett.
- Ironic that the Horseman On Probation is the only one with a belt.
- Before the match, the announcers noted that if Riggs won the title tonight, the match between Mongo and Jarrett at Bash at the Beach would be a non-title match. Yeah, like that's going to happen.
- Lee Marshall interviewed Jarrett after the match. Nothing was said of note. Go figure, given the participants.

This Week In The WCW

WCW Monday Night Nitro - Monday, 06/30/97

WCW {Pro} Wrestling - Sunday, 06/29/97

By Ben J.

WCW Saturday Night - Saturday, 06/28/97

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