This Week In The WCW

Here's a note posted on the discussion area that needs some responses:

An article said Hogan was good for wrestling because it gave NON-wrestling fans a point of reference and he had 'put wrestling on the map'. Do we really need a point of reference? People are either going to watch it, or they aren't. They don't need a human reference point. Why not think of the sport as a whole instead? I don't have a person for a reference point when it comes to almost any other sport.

As for Hogan 'putting wrestling on the map', who's to say someone else would not have come along and done the same thing? True, no one did, but what did he really do? Allow more money to be pumped into the world of professional wrestling? Do you think anybody is joining the sport today for the money? Doubtful...

Again, let's get a good discussion going over there.

• Note #1: While waiting for SportsCenter to come on last week, I was watching the end of Baseball Tonight (note #2: I hate baseball). During the highlights, the music they played was Chris Jericho's entrance music!
• Video of the celebration after Luger won the title.
  • Where were all those people that came out to celebrate at the end when the nWo rushed the ring? At least The Giant could have come out. Then everyone celebrates like they played a big part in the win and deserve to celebrate. A lot of good you freaks did when the title was on the line. Sad.
• Harlem Heat beat High Voltage with the Big Apple.
  • Harlem Heat said they had a secret tonight. Could it possibly be Miss Jackie?
• Gene-O interviewed Ted DiBiase and the Steiners. There was a whole lot of incoherent yammering.
• Feature piece on Dave Taylor.
  • His claim to fame so far is that he's won the British Heavyweight Championship four times.
• Dave Taylor beat "Desperado" Joe Gomez (w/entrance music) with a Butterfly Underhand Suplex.
• Gene-O interviewed DDP. Yammer, yammer, yammer.
• Mongo and Benoit beat Villano IV and V after a tombstone piledriver (by Mongo) then a Crippler Cross-Face on Villano V.
  • Mongo is underrated. The Giant, and other big guys, are just as immobile as Mongo... and Mongo can actually speak more clearly than The Giant.
• Gene-o said: "Attention Hotline Fans... two, count 'em two..." At least he realizes that he only has about 2 fans.
• Syxx beat Billy Kidman with the Buzzkiller.
  • After he won, Syxx went to apply the Buzzkiller again on Kidman. Flair came out and cleared the ring after giving Syxx a back body drop.
• Nitro footage of Raven and Stevie Richards. Is my laundry done yet? Time to check...
• Konan/Konnan/K-Dog/K-Dawg beat Psychosis with the Tequila Sunrise.
  • On the WCW commercial for Road Wild, they spelled Konan's name "Konnan." Nice.
  • La Parka came out after the match with a chair to chase K-Dawg away.
• Gene-O with Dean Malenko.
  • "I have not formed an alliance with Jeff Jarrett." He also gave Benoit a compliment and said he didn't know what to think about McMichael{s}.
• Video of Sting.
  • In regards to the J.J./Sting fiasco last Monday, I was thinking that a contract Sting couldn't refuse would be a blank check and a contract to wrestle Hogan... or another key nWo member... not freakin' Curt Hennig. I'm glad he walked away. That was insulting to Sting and quite sad.
• Curt Hennig beat Bobby Eaton with his Fisherman's Suplex.
  • Joey Maggs in the audience again.
  • Dusty to Tony after Tony repeated exactly what Dusty said: "Sometimes you make it like nobody can understand me... LET'S GET IT ON!!!!"
  • DDP came out after the match but was restrained by the security team. DDP can take on Flair + Hennig but is held back by the crack security team. Sad!
• Gene-O and Hennig. Yammer, yammer, yammer.
• Gene-O hawking his hotline to his two fans. "Two new managers are heading to WCW and one of them will be here tonight."
• DDP beats Vincent...
  • Do I really need to tell you how he won?
  • Throughout the program, Tony kept talking about how he has to get on over to Sturgis after this telecast. Sad.
  • Saying "Hennig" sounds like you're trying to say "Henning" with a bad cold.
  • After the 1-2-3, Hennig blindsided DDP, then DDP fought back and punched Hennig out of the ring.
• Scotty Riggs' weekly title shot is against Alex Wright for the Cruiserweight belt. Since he's 0-for so far, you really think he won?
  • Wright won with a German Suplex.
  • Dusty keeps talking about how Riggs is going to get in his rent-a-car and drive over to Sturgis to defend the belt at Road Wild if he wins tonight. Sad.
  • Tony: "Wright still has one more match to go tonight." Sad. Give it up guys.
• Gene-O with Ric Flair. Yammer, yammer, yammer.
• Re-play of the Hogan/Luger match from the last Nitro.

• We are live from Sturgis, South Dakota! Wow, there are guys there with more tattoos than "Diamond" Dallas Page.
• Harlem Heat def. Vicious and Delicious when Booker T. pinned Scott "Flash" Norton after two Harlem Sidekicks from Booker T. set up by Jacqueline's interference and Jacqueline holding Norton's leg down during the pin.
  • Well, I guess they had Harlem Heat first so they could get them out of the area quickly before the racist bikers killed them.
  • Harlem Heat is supposedly going to have a surprise tonight. If it's Jacqueline, it's no surprise.
  • Well, the racist overtones in the cheers and boos from the crowd still seem to be there, but not nearly as bad as last year. It might be tempered by Vincent escorting Vicious and Delicious to the ring.
  • Great camerawork thus far tonight.
  • Well, here comes Jacqueline halfway through the match to stand in Harlem Heat's corner. Wow, what a surprise. :-(
  • The score: WCW 1, nWo 0.
  • Cut to the Steiner Brothers and Ted DiBiase with the wcwwrestling.com on-line "crew" which consists of a boy who looks to be about the age of 12.
• Konan def. Rey Misterio, Jr. in a Mexican Grudge Death Match making him submit to the Tequila Sunrise following a 187.
  • A Mexican Grudge Death Match is a no-DQ match, and there must be a winner.
  • Konan did damage to Rey's bad leg early in the match, and Rey wrestled the rest of the match more or less on one leg.
  • Misterio took a pretty bad beating during the match, with Konan working on Misterio's bad leg.
  • Konan's working on taking off Rey's mask. Maybe the rumors are true.
  • Konan got the mask completely off, but Rey covered his face and got the mask back and put it on before anyone got a good look. Good camera work staying behind Konan's leg so you couldn't see Misterio's face.
  • Double springboard by Misterio onto Konan went bad. It looked like it might have been a legitimate miss.
  • Misterio went for the hurricarana from the top turnbuckle and landed right into a 187 from Konan. Tequila sunrise and Misterio taps out.
  • One has to wonder why Konan didn't just whisk the mask off Misterio at this point since it was already untied.
  • Misterio is taken out by the medics.
  • Me thinks the rumors of Misterio wrestling without the mask was a red herring thrown out by WCW to get the smarks to mark out during this match when it looked like Misterio would lose the mask.
  • WCW 1, nWo 1.
• Scheme Gene comes out to promote his crappy hotline. Two new managers in WCW, one a former world champion. Only $1.59 a minute folks! I'm overpaid, untalented, and stupid!! Give me your money!!! And, for further insult, he rolls up his sleeve to show his flabby arm with a fake tattoo. Gross.
• "Crippler" Chris Benoit and Steve "Mongo" McMichael def. "The Man of 1,000 Holds" Dean Malenko and U.S. Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett in a tag team elimination match. Order of elimination: Jeff Jarrett and then Dean Malenko.
  • Benoit and Malenko started the match by giving a clinic of amateur mat moves.
  • Unlike last year, the fans at Sturgis are knowledgeable this time around. They're chanting "Jarrett sucks!" before Jarrett even gets in the ring, so they must know their wrestling. :-)
  • Malenko took a beating early in the match without Jarrett getting in the ring at all. I'm guessing that's the set up for Malenko's turn at the finish.
  • Malenko tagged Jarrett in without Jarrett expecting it. Jarrett came in and basically pulled Mongo on top of himself (Jarrett) so Jarrett could basically pin himself and be eliminated. Jarrett then hightailed it out of there to leave Malenko there to take a beating. Yeah, great U.S. Champion.
  • Malenko put up a good fight but after a flying headbutt from Benoit and a tombstone piledriver from Mongo, it was over.
• "Das Blunderpinned" Alex Wright pinned "Lionheart" Chris Jericho with a roll up and a handful of tights to retain the WCW World Cruiserweight Title.
  • Nice chant of "Faggot!" for Alex Wright to start the match.
  • According to Tenay, Wright is "pushing" the 225-pound limit, having lost some weight to get into the cruiserweight category. Now, I've never had a job as a weight guesser at the county fair, but there is no way Wright is under 225. He is way tall and he is solid muscle. And muscle is more dense than fat. Trust me, a flabby guy of the same size might be under 225, but a guy of Wright's size made of solid muscle is not under 225.
• "Nature Boy" Ric Flair pinned Syxx using the ropes for leverage.
  • Syxx came out alone. That doesn't look good for him, coming out alone with no one to save him.
  • Flair took a shot in the mouth early in the match that looked like it really hurt.
  • The match was really well worked, with a 100% work rate.
  • Well, the good news was the Flair won. The bad news, it wasn't a clean job. And the worst part, I think, is that Flair was so far down on the undercard.
  • WCW 2, nWo 1
• Curt Hennig pinned "Diamond" Dallas Page following a fisherman's suplex aided by a distraction by Ric Flair.
  • Wow, Kimberly was basically wearing two leather napkins tonight.
  • Page got Hennig's singlet pretty much all the way off at one point, showing off Hennig's purple underwear.
  • On a power out, the referee, Mark Curtis, took a bump temporarily taking him out of action. That gave Hennig the opportunity to take the pad off the top turnbuckle and slam Page's head into it and put him out. Page is busted open. (Wow, could my new feature on blading have been any more timely?) It may have been hardway (accidental), but I really doubt it. There's your adult-oriented pay-per-view.
  • Hennig gets a succesful Fisherman's suplex but Page powers out.
  • Page goes for the pancake piledriver and the referee gets taken out again.
  • Page regains control and slams Hennig's head into the bare turnbuckle (although it was nowhere close to actually hitting it).
  • Flair enters the fray and climbs the top turnbuckle...and what happens whenever Flair climbs to the top turnbuckle?
  • Page gives Flair a shot to the gut as he comes off but that distracts Page enough so that Hennig can score another fisherman's suplex.
  • The referee comes to and counts the pinfall.
  • Interestingly enough, this match violated one of the most basic tenets of professional wrestling, that if a wrestler hits their big finisher successfully (fisherman's suplex) and doesn't win immediately, they will lose.
• The Giant pinned Randy "Macho Man" Savage following a chokeslam in a clean job.
  • Savage started off the match by trying to bodyslam the Giant. Uhhh, no.
  • Savage took a beating early but then started working on the Giant's legs and knees.
  • This was a pretty quick match with a not-so-hot workrate.
  • WCW 3, nWo 1
• The Steiner Brothers defeated the Outsiders via DQ when Kevin Nash pulled referee Nick Patrick out of the ring as Patrick was about to slap the mat for the third time after a Steiner Bulldog with Scott Steiner pinning Scott Hall. The Outsiders retain the titles as a title cannot change hands on a countout or disqualification.
  • The Steiners rode their choppers to the ring.
  • Scott Steiner slaps Scott Hall in the face early in the match and Hall checks for a loose tooth. A little deja vu to Shreveport, LA, and Jerry Saggs, Mr. Hall?
  • In the middle of the match, my cable system cut to football game for about three seconds. Weird.
  • Hall and Nash did a bunch of knees, kicks, and clotheslines. The Steiners did a bunch of suplexes. Good thing I wasn't holding my breath for a suicide plancha.
  • Scott Steiner must have drawn the short straw. He took the beating for most of the match. Mostly consisting of rest holds, I might add.
  • A nice clear "Son a of bitch!" out of Nash's mouth when Scott Steiner powered out of a pin attempt.
  • Wasn't the entire reason the Steiners hired DiBiase for him to prevent endings like this?
  • Well, theoretically, it's now WCW 4, nWo 1, but since the belt didn't change hands, I'd say it's WCW 3, nWo 2
  • Ironically, the announcers are saying that The Outsiders keeping the belts gives more momentum to Hogan. In reality, it actually gives Luger at least a ghost of a chance to keep the belt.
• Not only did Michael Buffer make a whole bunch of money for doing less than three minutes of work, he did it wearing a stupid hat. And to further the insult, he called it "Hog Wild". For three minutes of work, you'd think he could get it right.
• "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan pinned "The Total Package" Lex Luger after another fake Sting (I think) hit Luger in the back with a bat.
  • Fireworks like I've never seen for a ring entrance when Luger comes to the ring. I guess being outside makes it a little easier for good fireworks.
  • I couldn't tell if they'd put Lex Luger's name on the belt yet.
  • "Hogan sucks!" from the crowd. So much for the bikers being "his people".
  • Hogan talked trash through the entire match.
  • Pretty much, this match unfolded as more or less a replay from Monday night with Luger pretty much taking the same beating throughout the match. You'd think that for the $30 I paid, they could've modified the script a little.
  • Hogan misses the LDOD.
  • The nWo stormed the ring toward the end of the match. Luger cleared the ring of all of them and, unfortunately this time, since Luger was in control Randy Anderson did not disqualify Hogan. When the shot with the bat happened, the referee didn't see it.
  • My guess is that is was a fake Sting. I reviewed the videotape and the hair was definitely the Sting "wig hair". Too short and too straight to be Sting. I'm guessing maybe Scott Hall as he was the only member of the nWo that did not rush the ring. (Since my original posting, I got an e-mail that said that Mark Madden and Lee Marshall said it was Hall, they said you could see his unshaven face under the mask or make-up.)
  • After the match, the Steiner Brothers and Curt Hennig came out to bring Luger back to the dressing room. As this was happening, the announcers talked about a fight in the dressing room. They had to stall and ad-lib while I guess the "fight" was being set up.
  • So, we cut to the back. There's no fight, and to make matters worse, Dennis Rodman is back there with the nWo bunch and Rodman is spraypainting the belt (Rodman's inept spraypainting got some on Konan who did not seem happy about it). Yadda, yadda, yadda. Oh, boy, seeing Dennis Rodman made it worth thirty dollars. The nWo mentioned something about "passing a test". Maybe Rodman was the fake Sting. That would make sense in the context of "Why in the world would they do a fake Sting again?" It was a chance to use Rodman, since he's worthless for anything else. Take into account that the shot with the bat was really weak, and the delay for Rodman to get out of the outfit before cutting to the nWo, and it might be him. Also, since the broadcast, I got e-mail from a guy saying fake Sting walked like Rodman and had dark skin under the mask.
  • So, let's review, shall we? If Luger hadn't done so well defending himself against the five, count 'em, five nWo guys that rushed the ring in addition to Hogan, and they had gotten just one shot in, Hogan would have been disqualified and Luger would have kept the belt. And, with five nWo guys surrounding the ring, the ref counts a pinfall on Luger. And, the twenty guys who helped Luger celebrate Monday night were nowhere to be found. Yeah, that's believable. That about a contrivance to increase a buy rate.
  • That ending sucked! Sad when the free Nitro is better than the pay-per-view. If anyone knows when I can find an animated GIF of money with wings on it flying away that I can use as a symbol for pay-per-views like this one, please let me know.
• Well, Hogan's champion again. Everybody settle back in for semi-annual title defenses and a champion that shows up once every three pay-per-views.

• Despite that for me, Worldwide came on after the PPV was over, it seems best to think about it happening before the PPV. Either way, it doesn't matter, because only one man on the card had a match at the PPV.
• High Voltage over Doc Dean and Robbie Brookside
  • New music for High voltage -> Newer match?
  • High Voltage is the official team of WCW Worldwide. Why? Well, over the last 5 months, HV has seemingly jobbed to every tag team in WCW from USA and Canada. I mean, they've lost the Steiners, Harlem Heat, Public Enemy, AFC and even the duo of Bobby "Hardwork" Walker and Jim "Jobbing" Powers. That kind of effort deserves something.
  • The announcers (Tony and the Brain) talk about Dean and Brookside's teamwork in the past, in England. Oh no, HV could be jobbing to teams on both sides of the Atlantic.
  • Kaos is the face in trouble till a Belly to Back suplex, tag to Rage, who goes casa a fire till Brookside catches him from behind.
  • High Voltage wins with their finisher ( I think). Kaos holds up Brookside (like Doomsday Device) and Rage gives him a crossbody block from the top rope. Anyone know the name of that move? If so, could you fill me in? Is that the Voltmeter?
• The Tablewackers/Public Enemy over Power Company
  • TPE came to the ring with a taped table, and Rocko Rock was wearing a baseball cap. When the table smashing duo got in the ring, Rocko put the hat on the ring announcer, and gave a fake kiss on the cheek. Both guys laughed.
  • While Rocko was busy fooling around, the Power Company thought it'd be wise for them to attack. Being the Power Company, they were of course wrong.
  • Tony talks about TPE as former Tag Team Champs. I had to go to Cubsfan archives to check that one out. A long 8 day reign from Sep 23 to Oct 1 in 1996 beating and losing to the Heat.
  • New TPE ending! Both members go to the same top turnbuckle with a PC person lying on the table and Rocko bodyslams Grunge through the PC guy and the table. Looked impressive.
• Chicago House Show hype interview: Lying Lee Marshall talks to Dean Malenko.
  A couple changes in the card:
  • Flair is now facing Jeff Jarrett? (Is Hennig in 4H?)
  • Dean is now facing Eddie Guerrero? (Is Dean out?)
  • Dean talks about their past feud, and how Eddie's now lashing out at Chavo, Jr. and Hector.
  • Dean: "Eddie is on my mind when I got to bed at night and when I wake up in the morning"
• Steve Regal over Billy Kidman
  • Of course, 5 seconds in to the match, the USA chant starts. Makes me almost miss Duggan.
  • Talk about how Alex Wright used to be like Kidman (attitude) but changed, and is now Cruiserweight champion
  • Quick match, ends with the Regal Stretch
  • Post match, Regal gets a few more licks in and then argues with the fans, to make sure we know he's a heel
• Dean Malenko over Hack Myers
  • What, Rick Fuller was busy?
  • Brain: " You know why they call him Hack? He cuts his own hair" If that joke flew right past you, you probably haven't seen Hack. Sorry.
  • Talked about Malenko's ferocity going after the titles, "He's more dangerous without a title"
  • Talked about his father, Boris Malenko, aka The Great Malenko.
  • Texas Cloverleaf for the win
• The new Macho Man Slim Jim commercial is awesome. BTW, in case you guys thought that was his real high school gym, think again. Savage went to Downers Grove North High School, and I (many years later) went to South. I've been in and around the North campus, and that's not the same place.
• Mortis w/ James Vandenberg over Mark Starr
  • Tony tells us that Mortis is wearing a mask because someone (Glacier?) destroyed his face. (Of course, the fact that he was a part of a jobbing tag team has nothing to do with it.)
  • Tony and the Brain point out that neither have seen Mortis enter the building, even when they're the first one there. "It's like he just appears." Both men wonder if it's someone we already know
  • Oh, there was match going on. Mortis won by a spinning leg kick off the second turnbuckle.
• Jeff Jarrett w/Debra McMichael over Barbarian
  • Wow, Queen Debra honors us with her presence at ringside.
  • I didn't catch the end of this match, but it's safe to assume that Jeff Jarrett beat the Headshrinking Barbarian by Figure Four leg lock.

• First, there's something that needs to be said. Luger is a tool. Some wrestlers make things happen and some are puppets. Luger is a puppet.
  • His first reign was less than ideal (he won it after the championship was vacated). And he was obviously a tool for Bishoff and Hogan this last week. Sad.
• Opening footage was of Sting tearing up the contract. Looks to be a show full of old news and lame matches. Ugh.
• But then Flair's here in the main event! OH YES!
• The Giant beat Vincent.
  • Do you really wonder how he won?
  • This match looked to be rather old. First, The Giant came out to Luger's music. Also, he was put together rather well... in a little better shape than he has been in lately.
• Psychosis and La Parka (accompianied by Sonny Onoo) beat the Texas Hangmen after a Leg Drop off the top rope by Psychosis.
  • The luchadors couldn't beat the bigger Hangman after a double headbutt off the top rope.
  • During the finishing move, Onoo was kicking the smaller Hangman outside the ring then La Parka took him down with a suicide dive.
• Syxx beat Lenny Lane with... THE FIGURE FOUR!
  • No, suckers. 'Twas with his usual Buzzkiller.
  • Syxx is overrated. Mr. J.L., the guy with the worst push rating in WCW, would break him in half in real life, BRA!
• Another airing of the Sting video. Time to go check if dinner is ready... nope. Ugh.
• Meng made his weekly Pro appearance and PINNED Terrence Black with... the Guzel.
  • Meng put the Guzel on with both men standing up. Then Black dropped down on his back, and was pinned before he submitted.
  • The booking of the ending was rather questionable. There is a reason that submission holds don't pin people. In this instance, Meng had one hand on Black's face and no pressure on Black's shoulders. This pinned him! Sad.
• Eddie Guerrero got the 1-2-3 over Julio Sanchez after a Frog Splash.
  • Scott Hudson said that Eddie's injury knocked him all the way down to the bottom of the cruiserweight rankings, and he has to work his way up. But "Superstar" Scotty Riggs, one of the great wrestlers of our time, gets a title shot EVERY WEEK. Sad.
  • Eddie put Julio in a camel clutch. It seems that The Iron Sheik's move is coming back in style.
• "Nature Boy" Ric Flair beat Scott Armstrong with the Figure Four.
  • It was kind of laughable to see Flair in the Pro arena... a bigger than life guy in an arena that's smaller than my elementary school gym. However, it was nice to see quality wrestlers on the Pro for once.

• When my girl and I were watching Road Wild, and DiBiase was making his way to the ring, she asked me, "What did DiBiase do during his time off?" I looked and the screen and said, "Obviously, a lot of eating".
• In thinking about it, this year's Road Wild was probably as bad as last year's Hog (Road) Wild. Traditionally, Uncensored is always the worst pay-per-view of the year, and this year they did a pretty good job with that, although the end result angle of "The nWo can challenge for any title at any time" was a big joke. Maybe Road Wild will take its place as the bad pay-per-view of the year. Assuming they don't do anymore nWo pay-per-views, that is. Actually, they were supposed to have a second nWo pay-per-view this summer. I'm assuming it got scrapped given how badly the first one sucked.
• On a pretty regular basis, I get e-mail asking me what the deal is with Sting. Now, you all know I love getting e-mail, but I hate answering the same question over and over, hence my FAQ. So, it an effort to get everyone on the same page, I'm going to give a brain dump of everything I know. Plus, I've got five hours to kill on my flight to Arizona and a good 90 minutes worth of power on my laptop battery. Always remember, folks, I am not an insider. I have a few people that have decent connections to a wrestler or two write me, but by no means do I have a direct line into what's really going on behind the scenes. I leave that to Al Isaacs at Scoops. There's actually two questions, really. The first is, when's Sting going to finally wrestle again. The reports on this conflict. Originally, the story was the next time he'd be answering the bell, it would be at Starrcade against Hogan. Now, the latest word is Halloween Havoc. Given how the fans are now starting to boo the angle, and the negative reaction WCW will get about Road Wild, with some luck it may be pushed up further. Now, the bigger question, what gives with the whole angle to begin with? Why has one of their main event wrestlers not wrestled nor spoken for ten months? There are a number of theories that I've either read or had e-mailed to me. Some of them are pretty zany, but I'll present them all here with the final one being my one which I have not read anywhere else:
  • Sting's dead. That's why his face is covered with paint and he doesn't talk, so you won't know it's not the real Steve Borden. Uh, no. Contrary to the rumors you may have read on the 'Net over the last year, Sting, along with Sgt. Craig "Pit Bull" Pittmann, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, and "Maniac" Matt Borne, is very much alive and well. Those death reports, along with the reports of Lex Luger's steroid-induced cancer, were all Internet hoaxes during the last year. And, in case you are wondering, false death reports didn't start with the Internet. Back in the 1970s, I remember being told that Mikey from the Life Cereal commercials had died, from eating Pop Rocks, no less. More than twenty years later, some people still believe that one.
  • Sting's having contract trouble / Sting is mad at how little The Outsiders have to wrestle. Doubtful. You're not going to take a guy sitting on the fence with contract trouble and make him the centerpiece of a major angle which includes paying him to do almost no work for an entire year. Interestingly enough, when the angle first started in October last year, the prevailing theory at the time was that Sting had already wrestled the number of times specified in his contract for the year and he would start wrestling again in January. Well, it was a nice and very plausible theory at the time, and was reported by some very reputable sources, but time has borne that out to be false.
  • Sting's father passed away and Sting is rethinking his career. Doubtful. When you think about it, it makes absolutely no sense. When my father died, it didn't occur to me to rethink my career as a computer consultant. Why would a professional wrestler rethink his career choice?
  • Sting had plastic surgery that went bad at they are waiting for it to heal. While that would explain the make up, I really don't think so. Cool theory, though.
  • They are using the Ultimate Warrior method of making Sting more popular. This theory comes from yours truly, and I think it is the real deal. Sting's been fighting the good fight for WCW for ten solid years. Loyal to the company and loyal to the fans, having been a face for all but the earliest part of his career, back in the UWF. He's kind of done all he can do, unless you want to put him in a role like Hulk Hogan had in the WWF in the mid-1980s, where Sting would be unbeatable. Well, given the talent pool of the WCW, that's not possible.
    So, what to do, what to do? Take a look at the Ultimate Warrior. The guy hasn't wrestled regularly for years, except for a very short comeback a few years ago. However, in some ways his popularity has not diminished. People go crazy just over rumors of his return. In some ways, he's a hotter commodity because he's so mysterious. I think that's what WCW is doing with Sting. WCW is turning him into a "mystique" wrestler, ala the Ultimate Warrior, by making the fans want him even more because they can't have him. Of course, fans starting to boo Sting's ass right out of the building like on last Monday's Nitro may be giving WCW the hint that, in my mother's words, "it's time to s**t or get off the pot".
  Anyway, those are my thoughts. Feel free to comment, disagree, or pose other theories, but, please, no more e-mail asking me "What's the deal with Sting?"
• Well, I'm in a new hotel in Scottsdale. Nicer place, but the TV reception sucks. You have no idea how embarassing it is to be a 31-year-old computer professional who has as his only question when making hotel arrangements, "Does the hotel carry TNT?"

• WTF? Was there no Robin Hood tonight? I've turned the TV on at 7:52 p.m. Arizona time and Nitro is already in progess. What's going on? I guess I missed the first hour. I'm sorry, folks. In a panic, I rushed an e-mail off to Ben J., who was able to crank out a quick report in under an hour. It's pretty bare bones as it was a rush job because of my screw up, and you may want to say thank you to Ben for coming through in the clutch.
• Giant seen in the back being served some papers.
• Michael Buffer is rumbling.
• Wolfpack out to yammer; said to bring anybody out for a match; Bobby Starr & David Moore came out to Steiner's music...a squash. Steiners came through crowd and cleared the ring. DiBiase, as if he has anything to do with the Steiners' success, holds up the belts as a token of superiority.
• Meng vs. Wrath; Meng pinned Wrath w/Guzel (dumb like on Sun {Pro})...Mortis out to attack Meng; Barbarian out.
• Steiners w/Ted out w/Mean Gene; yammer yammer yammer; Nick Patrick came out and said Pee Wee did something more questionable than he did.
• Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Jericho; everything Jericho did was called lion-something by Tenay: Lionheart Lariat; Lion tamer; Lionheart airplane spin; Eddie wins w/frog splash
• Nitro girls; Alex Wright dancing with them and drove them all off; Wright w/Gene-o; more yammering in German...
• Dean Malenko over Jeff Jarrett via DQ.
  • In the ring, JJ tried to run for home, but Mongo came out from the dressing room, and JJ turned around.
  • Dean eventually got JJ in the Texas Cloverleaf, but then Eddie Guerrero runs to the ring, and attacks Dean.
  • Mongo runs in, clears the ring except for Dean. Mongo extends his hand out to Dean, but Dean attacks him.
  • Mongo left the ring, but said that he respected Dean for being so tough.
• Hennig agrees to be Flair's partner at the Clash of the Champions. However, it is not an agreement to be a Horseman. However, he will be proving his mettle in main event tonight against Savage. Flair says "...and no one hates Savage more than I do!" Uh, what about "Diamond" Dallas Page?
• Bischoff comes out on a Harley followed by Norton. Then Hall, Bagwell, Syxx, and Vincent come out. First, they sing Happy Birthday to Hulk Hogan who is filming a movie in Montreal. That sucked. Then Bischoff tells us that the piece of paper handed to the Giant in the first hour by the police, which I missed, was a restraining order to stay 50 feet away from Bischoff. Bagwell then measures 50 feet from the ring by counting his steps and paints a line with spray paint. Giant comes out and steps over the line. Denver's finest come haul the Giant away even though Larry Zbyszko, who feels responsible for it, tries to talk him out of it.
  • The thing that makes the angle really ludicrous is that the police based the enforcement of their restraining order on Buff Bagwell's measurement.
• The Steiner Brothers def. "Crippler" Chris Benoit and Steve "Mongo" McMichael when Rick Steiner pinned Mongo after a belly-to-belly over the head suplex that dropped Mongo and his head and (legit, I think) knocked him out cold.
  • Boy, Tenay is a genius. It took a rocket scientist like him to figure out that Sting is waiting for a contract with Hogan's name on it before he signs up with WCW again.
  • Tenay talked up an upcoming autograph session with three wrestling greats: Okerlund, Heenan, and Hennig. Okerlund?! Okerlund???!!! Argggggh!!
  • On the finisher, it looked like Mongo was not flipped over far enough so as to land on his back and he landed on the back of his head instead. Ouch! Benoit looked legitimately pissed and did not attempt to break up the pin. Referee Mark Curtis checked on him afterward and Mongo was able to roll out afterward, but it looked like something definitely went wrong there.
  • As we were fading to commercial, you heard Heenan saying something like "He nailed him good".
• Luger came to the ring for an interview with Okerlund. Luger, while blowing his lines, talked about the great unity the WCW showed, friend and foe, after he won the title last Monday. Yeah, where were they when he was getting his ass kicked by the nWo at Road Wild? Puh-lease. Hmmm, I guess Nick Patrick came out earlier and questioned Randy Anderson's officiating at Road Wild. Luger, rightfully so, defending Randy Anderson saying that if Randy hadn't reffed that way, being slow to disqualify, Luger would have never won the championship in the first place. Then he took off his shirt to squeals of glee.
  • Man, I've seen Chris Benoit give better interviews.
• "Diamond" Dallas Page pinned Buff Bagwell after a Diamond Cutter set up by DDP throwing Bagwell into Vincent, who was standing on the apron.
  • You know, when Kimberly makes that Diamond Cutter symbol, it makes me think...ahhh, never mind.
  • Thank you, Tony Schiavone, for pointing out that WCW unity requires more than partying than when there is a big win and they should have helped Luger at Road Wild.
    • You know, when you watch Star Trek, you have to suspend some disbelief. You have to believe that everyone in the universe speaks the same language. Forget the universal translator crap, when someone is on another species' planet and traveling in disguise, even with their stupid translator, the aliens are going to notice their lip movements don't match the sounds. Anyway, as a viewer, you just suspend disbelief. I am really having a hard time suspending my disbelief that not one of the 20 guys that helped Luger celebrate on Nitro helped him out at Road Wild. That's just dumb.
  • DDP pretty much put Bagwell over in this match except for the finish, and he even needed help for that.
• WCW World Television Champion Ultimo Dragon retained the championship by making Mortis submit after a reversal of a flatliner into a powerbomb and then a Dragon Sleeper.
  • Chants of "Boring" from the crowd early in the match.
  • As Mortis was setting up for the Flatliner, Ultimo Dragon patting him on the arm to say "time to let me reverse this" was very obvious.
• Oh, no. Another Sting contract signing attempt. Hmmm, this time, James J. Dillon, Suuuper Genius, has a contract with an nWo member's name on it, Syxx. Gee, now Sting will sign! The announcers are beating to death the fact that Sting wants Hogan as this is going on since, seemingly, no one has thought to tell Dillon this wacky theory. Dillon's standing there like an idiot unable to figure out the mystery while the crowd chants "Hogan!" Well, getting the crowd to chant Hogan is one way to keep them from booing Sting out of the building again.
  • They lowered Sting into the crowd tonight. What were they thinking?
  • For the love of Pete, enough already with this angle. I'm sorry I missed the first hour. I probably missed the excitement of Raven not signing a contract, too.
• Randy "Macho Man" Savage def. Curt Hennig via DQ when "Diamond" Dallas Page ran in and attacked Hennig and Savage attacked DDP and Curt Hennig went back to the dressing room and DDP attacked Savage and Scott Hall attacked DDP and Lex Luger cleaned house of Savage and Hall.
  • According to the announcers, Eric Bischoff and "Wrestling's most dangerous free agent" Curt Hennig had a conversation earlier tonight. Another thing I missed.
  • Telegraphed move of the match: Hennig kicks Savage and Savage sits up and sits there for a length of time only slightly shorter than Glacier's entrance waiting for Hennig to give him the running somersault snapmare.
  • The was pretty boneheaded of DDP to interfere on Savage's behalf. What did he think would happen when he interfered in a match between his two mortal enemies?
• According to Scoops, dark matches were:
  • Syxx and Konan def. Super Calo and Ciclope when Konan made Super Calo submit to the Tequila Sunrise. According to his reporter, Syxx gave Ciclope a widely cheered bronco ride. Towards the end of the match, Ciclope lost his mask and Konan tossed it away.
  • "Nature Boy" Ric Flair and "Crippler" Chris Benoit def. Harlem Heat by DQ when Miss Jacqueline jumped onto Flair to prevent him from putting the figure-four on Booker T.