This Week In The WCW

LOTS of stuff to say this week before getting to the Saturday Night report...
Nitro is three hours this week.
Just to let everyone know, as my work life is getting more and more hectic and I am spending less time at home, I am letting someone else do the Saturday Night reports. I will still be doing the Nitro reports and all the special features for the page. Giving up WCW Saturday Night will give me more time to keep Brushes With Greatness up to date and afford me more time to do features like the blading gallery. Also, I seem to be getting a rash of arena reports lately, which I think is great, but which also take some time. So, anyway, Steve Raymond "passed his tryout" last week and will be taking over WCW Sunday {Pro} starting on 9/6 and Ben J. has been "promoted" to take over my role as WCW Saturday Night reporter. So, the default line-up will be:
- WCW Saturday Night: Ben J.
- WCW Worldwide: The Cubs Fan
- WCW Sunday {Pro}: Steve Raymond starting 9/6 (I will be doing 8/30)
- WCW Monday Nitro: Bill
Now, after having said all that, I will be on an airplane while Nitro and the replay are on on 9/1 and 9/15. Thus for the 8/30-9/1 and 9/13-9/15 Saturday Night and Monday Nitro pairs, Ben J. and I will be switching roles. The flying out on Monday on 9/1 and 9/15 is a pain, but it does mean I will be able to watch Fall Brawl: War Games and be able to report on it.
As you might guess, I'm still pretty bummed about Arn Anderson announcing his retirement. The only thing I can compare it to is like having a relative pass away from a long illness. You know the end is coming, and you think you are prepared for it, but when it happens, you are still completely devastated. At least when somone sick dies, their suffering is over. For Arn, a man who truly enjoyed being inside the square circle, not only do the survivors suffer, but he lives on and suffers, too.
I sit back and think about how Ric Flair made it a point to stay in the camera angle while getting emotional and that no one else seemed to get emotional and I want to think that this is all a work, giving Arn a little more time to heal and make a totally triumphant return. However, I just watched a copy of the tape that someone sent me. When you watch it a second time, you can tell that even though Arn doesn't choke up at all during the interview, after he's done, he can barely control his emotions.
Thanks for everyone for all of the kind e-mails about Arn. I almost felt like I was getting sympathy cards. Monday had been a really bad day to begin with and I was sitting alone in a hotel room 2000 miles from home. However, since I was watching the Nitro replay, when I logged on to post my report my mailbox was already loaded up with wonderful e-mails to help drag me part out of the way out of my emotional pit. This page costs me a lot of money, a lot of time, and, believe it or not, has a minor cost in terms of my professional reputation. However, if I didn't have this page, I would have been in my hotel room, sitting alone and sulking about the whole thing without having anyone to "talk to" or commiserate with me. The e-mails I got that night and the next morning made this entire DDT Digest venture worth it. I got too many to respond to each personally so I'm thanking you all here. I can't thank you all enough. (Special thanks to Brian and David for sending me a copy of the tape.)
I will eventually be posting a number of them (without last names or e-mail addresses, of course) as part of the Arn Anderson Tribute.
I'm going to try out an idea and we'll see how it goes. Please send me your favorite Arn Anderson memory(s) and put "AA Memories" in the subject. I want to make a collection of his greatest moments, in the words of the fans themselves, part of the tribute page. I'm not sure how well this will work out, as Arn was more of a consistent day in and day out performer rather than a man to be remembered for a particularly great match, interview, or moment. However, if some memories do stand out in your mind about Arn, please send them in and as always, include your first name, last initial, and city and state. Thanks.
This week, the News from Dayton gave me a plug and a link so people could check out my Arn Anderson tribute. For those of you who were/are first-time visitors to DDT Digest as a result, welcome, and I hope you keep coming back. For you regular DDT Digest readers who haven't checked out the News from Dayton, I highly recommend you do. It is available via subscription and is a great weekly wrap up of wrestling news and rumors, especially for those of you with regular access to e-mail but without regular access to a Web browser.
As for the ratings, I got the following e-mail: "Nitro ratings are in... Arn Anderson's segment got a whopping 5.8! That's almost 6 million viewers! And he deserved it! By far the highest rated Monday night wrestling show ever, with the prevous highest 15 minutes segment being 5.2 for Luger/Hogan world title."
Joe F. checked in this week with the following e-mail: "You said that the WCW announcers called Sting's bird a vulture and you preferred buzzard -- me, I'm just glad to see Frankie getting work again, even if he is getting a little long in the beak. I figured his career was over after Koko dropped out of sight."
Occasionally, I get mail saying the Blading Gallery is down. Some of my pictures are on another server to save on traffic on DDT Digest. It seems that this secondary server is not as reliable as my primary one. Sorry, but I'm already paying big bucks for my main site and I need to offload some of the traffic.
For those of you who haven't heard, Jeep Swenson (a.k.a. Jeep the Mercenary) passed away August 18th at the age of 40 due to heart failure. In WCW, he is best known as a part of The Final Solution angle. Most recently, he starred as Bane, Poison Ivy's sidekick on the most recent Batman movie.
For those of you in the D.C./Baltimore area, tickets went on sale Friday, 8/29 for house shows on 9/26 at the George Mason University Patriot Center and 9/27 at the Baltimore Arena. Tickets went on sale at 10:00 a.m. and it took me an hour to get through for my tickets to the Patriot Center. However, while I was standing there like a jerk in a parking lot madly dialing a pay phone (long story), I did meet the Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Don Beyer (another long story). Suffice to say, it was an odd morning.
Depending on how you look at it, I lucked out. The floor was sold out but I got the first row, Row AA (sadly ironic, don't you think?) in the raised seating. At least I don't have to worry about anyone blocking my view. Lee C. wrote me and said he was able to get eighth row on the floor. Lee said there was a guy who had been in line since 4:30 a.m. who was able to get front row. I thought that was interesting because I always thought that all the front row seats were never publically available as they were always giveaways by the promoter or prizes from radio contests.
All I know thus far is that Ric Flair and Randy Savage are scheduled to be there at the Patriot Center. Presumably, Jeff Jarrett and Queen Debra will be there as well as they did a local autograph signing to open up ticket sales. Of course, you do know that Macho Man's presence means I'm bringing a case of Slim Jims. Most likely, the card, and the booking, will be exactly the same at the Patriot Center and the Baltimore Arena. If anyone has more info the upcoming cards, please let me know.
- Little did I know that there are actually at least three sizes of Slim Jims: Regular, Super, and Giant size. I, of course, bought a case of Giant size so that everyone in the arena will be able to see me being a idiot waving them around.

WCW Saturday Night - Saturday, 08/30/97

By Bill

Ultimo Dragon made Psychosis submit to the Dragon Sleeper.
- Surprisingly, this match had a couple really bad spots. At one point, Psychosis did a backflip off the top turnbuckle until Ultimo Dragon. Ultimo Dragon moved a little bit and wasn't hit. However, even though Psychosis sold the miss, Ultimo Dragon sold being hit.
- After the match, Psychosis, Sonny Ono, and Silver King stomped a mudhole in Ultimo Dragon.
"The Iceman" Dean Malenko made Jon Paul submit to the Texas Cloverleaf.
- After the match, Malenko called Jarrett out as he did not want to wait for War Games. Debra "prevented" Jarrett from getting into the ring.
Okerlund interviewed Alex Wright. Wright is pretty funny as the German Heel.
- Wright on Ultimo Dragon: "They call him Dragon because I'm going to drag him from pillar to post."
- Gene: "Those are nice clothes, where did you get them?"
  Alex: "In Germany of course!"
  Gene: "That's not true, I happen to know you can get that jacket in a biker shop in San Francisco."
"The Cat" Ernest Miller and Glacier def. The Faces of Fear via DQ (I think) because The Faces of Fear were winning.
- I can't figure out why the match really ended. Barbarian had just nailed Glacier with a Mafia Kick and Miller was caught in the Tonga Death Grip. Seeing as the Faces of Fear had the match in hand, and Miller and Glacier won't cleanly job to anybody, I guess the DQ was the only option.
- After the DQ, Wrath and Mortis rushed the ring. All six men started brawling.
Prince Iaukea pinned Johnny Swinger following a cross-body block.
- Johnny Swinger seems to be attempting to assume Disco Inferno's role in WCW.
- Before the match, Stevie Richards goes to Raven, who is in the front row, to apologize. Richards braces himself assuming he is going to be hit. Raven just walks off.
WCW U.S. Heavyweight Champion Steve "Mongo" McMichael def. Jeff Jarrett via DQ when Eddie Guerrero and Alex Wright interfered.
- Jarrett was WAY over as a heel and Mongo was WAY over as a face in this match.
- Queen Debra was showing a lot of leg.
- Jarrett, Guerrero and Wright started stomping a mudhole on Mongo and Benoit and Hennig did a run-in to make the save.
Yuji Nagata made Silver King submit to a reverse figure-four leglock.
- Hey, he stole "The Last Dance" from Disco Inferno!
"Crippler" Chris Benoit made "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton submit to the Crippler Crossface after a flying headbutt.
- Cut to the back before the match and High Voltage is beating up Rocco Rock in the locker room.
High Voltage def. Public Enemy via DQ when Rocco Rock hiptossed referree Mark Curtis over the top rope.
- Johnny Grunge came out alone to start the match. Rocco Rock came out later, house a-fire, with his right arm taped and cleaned house...including pitching the ref.
The Steiner Brothers def. Vicious and Delicious via DQ when Harlem Heat interfered.
- The ending spot was terribly done. The booking for the match was that the Einsteiners would win by DQ; however, when Harlem Heat interfered, they attacked both teams equally. The referee's "decision" made no sense.

WCW Worldwide - Sunday, 08/31/97

By The Cubs Fan

Big NEWS, it's in my report, but I'll tell you now. You know that Chicago house show I've been talking about in my reports for the longest time? The main event used to be Hogan/Nash vs Giant/Luger. Well, it's changed a slight bit, HOGAN VS LUGER FOR THE TITLE! Now I wish I got tickets...
Congrulations to Steve Raymond on doing a good job in my abence. I just can't get over that I missed my fav WCW jobber, Rick Fuller, winning his first (and maybe only) match! You miss a week, you miss a lot...
While I was gone, I happened to take in a Cubs game at Wrigley. I swear to God, I saw a Harry 3:16 sign. What the heck does that mean, I just spelled your *** backwards?
On to the show...
Worldwide starts off with a NEW opening, NEW graphics, NEW (ok, remolded) studio, and NEW jobber matches :)
First match, Jeff Jarrett w/Queen Debra over Scott Armstrong
- Get this, JJ was the face, and Scott was the heel in this match :?
- Tony "Let's go to a clip of Jarrett at the Clash of the Champions". WTH? A CLIP?!? A RECENT CLIP?!? What's going on, this is becoming a decent show!
- Giant, Mortis, Jericho all later on. Giant, a main eventer, on this show? Has EB gone mad?
- Not a total squash for once, as Scott got to show some of his skills
- Brain (yep, same old announcers) spent the match sticking up for Debra. He was "blinded by her beauty".
- Match ended when JJ caught Armstrong's legs after a missed dropkick, and turned it into a figure four for the win
- Bobby and Tony talk about Clash of Champion, Alex over Ultimo, Sting's Vulture
Lying Lee with Jimmy Hart
- Long time, no see for the Mouth of the South.
- If you have been paying attention to my reports, you would be noticing that all these interviews have been hype about the Chicago show, this Sunday (I'm not going, although after finding out what I'm about to say, I really wish I was)
- Just a slight change to the card: HOGAN VS LUGER FOR THE TITLE!!!!
- Let me say that one more time: HOGAN VS LUGER FOR THE TITLE!!!!
- Hart's being interviewed because he's managed both men, and so he knows them both.
- Hart: "Luger should bring all his friends, because Hogan's sure to being the nWo"
Second match, Dean Malenko over Dave Heath
- Bobby: "Bad luck isn't as bad as bad breath"
- Malenko spent the whole match working on Heath's arm, and was compared to Arn in that respect. I found that strange, as Dean, Mr. Heath, and I know how this match will end and knew it had nothing to do with his arm :)
- Heath almost won a couple times, and pulled off some good moves
- Match ended with a drop kick to the knee, and surprising no one, a Texas Cloverleaf
Third match, Chris Jericho over Doc Dean
- Clip of Clash of the Champions, where Eddie Guerrero doesn't feel like stopping when the bell rings
- Lots of hype for Giant's apperance later on
- Speaking of Giant, Tony wants Giant to be the first man on the WCW War Games team, followed by Luger. Sting is discussed, but both men don't think that he'll settle for anything less than one on one with Hogan.
- Another close match, am I detecting a pattern?
- Brain: "WCW needs a leader" mentions Piper (?!?), Luger, Flair as possibilities. Tony comes back with, "One leader, Sting".
- Doc Dean pulls off an impressive top rope hurricarrana, but fails to get the pin
- Boston Lion Tamer for the win (3 for 3 submissions)
Clash of the Champions footage
- Alex vs Dragon, Alex wins, but is too hurt to dance :(
- Main Event chaos, an accidental(?) Diamond Cutter
- The Cro..er, Sting's apperance and his bird of choice
Lying Lee with Dean Malenko
- More hype for the Chicago show, and HOGAN VS LUGER!
- Buff facing Flair now? Do they just change the card every three weeks?
- Dean talks about Eddie, JJ fueds
Fourth match, Mortis w/James Vandenberg over Terrance Black
- Tony: "The two most domaint wrestling franchises WCW and nWo will square off at War Games" Why are the best? They have THE talent, Tony tells us.
- Black looks a little bit like Pittman
- Talk about Faces of Fear and Masters of Universe, and their recent run ins. BTW, that match has been added to War Games.
- "Navy Seal" was visable on TB's tights.
- Match was close again until...
- With Mortis flipped out of the ring, TB decided to plancha him but missed real bad and landed face first on the floor. It looked real bad, and luckily...
- Mortis ended it quickly afterwards...executes the Flatliner for the win
Fifth match, Giant over Rick Fuller
- Fuller is 6'7", 345 pounds according to Tony, but he was about to look very short.
- Again, how the heck did I miss Fuller's win?
- Team members for WCW will be announced this week on Nitro
- No music again, Tony explains it by saying he is so recognizable, he doesn't need any music
- Fuller looked so short compared to the Giant, like Rey, Jr. standing next to McMichael
- Brain: "As time goes by, the Giant will just keep getting better and better".
- A change, a complete squash finished by a chokeslam for the win.

WCW {Pro} Wrestling - Sunday, 08/31/97

By Bill

Scott "Flash" Norton pinned Chip Minton following a combination vertical suplex and brainbuster.
- Scott Hudson: "Chip Minton has great athletic credentials. He was an Olympic bobsledder."
  Zbyszko: "Big deal. It's not athletic when the sled's doing all the work."
- Zbyszko: "Vincent's only claim to fame is that he looks like Scatman Crothers".
Silver King and El Dandy def. Bill Payne and Butch Long when Silver King pinned Butch Long following a spin slam (Al Perez' old finisher).
- At first, you'd think this would be uninteresting, but it's nice to see the jobbers on both sides get a chance to show some offense. Plus, the match had a 100% workrate.
"Crippler" Chris Benoit made Scott Armstrong submit to the Crippler Crossface after a flying headbutt from the top turnbuckle.
- Scott Armstrong got an early advantage. Scott Hudson theorized that it was due to Benoit being distracted due to Arn announcing his retirement on Monday. Uh, Scott, I think Arn was TV Champion when this match was taped.
Chavo Guerrero, Jr. pinned Bobby Starr following a side Samoan Drop.
"Nature Boy" Ric Flair made Billy Kidman submit to the Figure-Four Leglock.
And, if there is anyone out there that actually enjoys Sunday {Pro}, it is being pre-empted next weekend and, rather that 5:05 p.m. EDT on Sunday, 9/14, it will be 12:05 p.m. EDT on Saturday, 9/13. The date and time change is a one time thing to promote Fall Brawl.

WCW Monday Night Nitro - Monday, 09/01/97

By "Spine Buster" Ben J.

3 hours... time to settle in for the long haul. Hard to believe that at 11 p.m. I'll still be sitting here typing in wrestling results. I better put my VCR on SLP!
Starts off with absolutely the best video package that I've seen from WCW. Bill, I hope you taped it!
- It documented AA's career and showed highlights from the Minnesota Wrecking Crew, the original 4 Horsemen, Arn with Larry Z. and Arn as the owner of the TV Championship.
- "This program is dedicated to Double A, Arn Anderson, The Enforcer, Four Horsemen."
- This report is dedicated to the master of the Spine Buster and the DDT.
This is the third season of WCW Monday Nitro.
Jeff Jarrett and Eddie Guerrero (w/Debra) lost to Mongo and Benoit in screw-job ending #1.
- Jarrett put Mongo in the figure four, Eddie to the top rope to nail Mongo, and Malenko comes out! Dean topples Eddie off the top rope, perches there himself and nails Jarrett with his knee. Mongo rolls over for the win.
- Mongo wears that big belt well. It doesn't take up half his torso like it did on Malenko.
- Flair and Hennig, in street clothes, came into the entrance-way in a show of unity.
- A whole lotta stalling before the match finally started.
- Commercial break. Ugh. Hmmmmmmmmmm... the Pack is gonna WHOOP Da Bears.
- Eddie goes for the Frog Splash on Benoit, Mongo goes over and holds his leg, Benoit with the Super-Plex.
- Eddie on the apron suplexes Benoit onto the floor! A great match!
Flexy Lexy: "Double A -- what can I say? We've been the best of friends, the worst of enemies. ... A happy retirement. We're gonna miss you, bud."
Hall and Savage and Liz come out to the announcer's booth.
- Larry Z. tells Tenay and Tony to stay put.
- The three musketeers run off after a while.
- Hall and Savage vs. DDP and Flexy Lexy in the main event...AGAIN! Kinda pales in the face of Lex vs. Hogan for the title.
Mortis beat Silver King (w/o Onoo) (that's a lot of o's!) with the Flatliner.
- The announcers want WCW to do something to the nWo to prevent them from taking over the set. How soon they forget that the nWo is supposed to be a separate promotion. Sad.
- The Flatliner takes a really long time to execute.
- Not a screw-job ending amazing! However, the Faces of Fear come out and clear the ring after Mortis and Wrath called them out.
Nitro girls with really tight really short black shorts. MMMmmmmmmmmm... Nitro Girls.
Footage of Arn from Bash at the Beach, the July 17, 1994 edition. You're getting this, right Bill?
- Arn Anderson DDT'd Dustin Rhodes and rolled his partner on top of him for the win.
HA! During the commercial break, a commercial for the WWF!! They're coming to a local arena (US Air Arena -- near Washington D.C.) sometime soon.
Replay of the Bischoff/Sting episode last week.
- Eric said that Hogan put Piper out of wrestling. If the reports are true, then Piper will face Hogan in a cage at Haloween Havoc. Nice, Eric.
- How many times has this footage aired now? Let's see: Originally aired last week, again on Saturday Night, once on Pro, and another time on Worldwide and probably on Main Event too! That's six times, including this one. Enough is enough!
Yuji Nagata beat Dean Malenko in screw-job ending #2.
- Debra comes out and distracts Pee Wee Anderson, Jarrett comes out and pulls Dean's head over the top rope as Jarrett falls to the floor. Nagata rolls him up for the pin while Jarrett holds Malenko's leg down to prevent a kick out.
- Tenay says Nagata is a Greco-Roman champion, and competed at Olympic trials.
- Since this is a 3 1/2 hour show for the fans in the stadium, do they pay the same price as a 2 1/2 hour show?
DDP on Arn: "Double A -- when I think of you, the first word that comes to my mind is 'Respect', because when you got in that ring, you gave it all."
Hour #2. Still two hours left. Nitro girls out in same outfits. More crap about Nitro Parties from Tony S.
The Ultimo Dragon dropkicked a chair into La Parka (w/Onoo) for the win.
- Tony S.: "What an ovation for the Dragon." Uhm, Tony... there was dead silence. Sad.
- Onoo had the picture (framed) Silver King took of the Dragon in the Dragon Sleeper, applied by Onoo with Psychosis in the background.
- Tenay: "These are world travellers. They wrestled in Mexico City over the past weekend."
- Dragon beat Psychosis on Saturday Night this past weekend, which, of course, is a live show. Sad.
- Dragon tried to get Onoo up for a suplex, but La Parka put a stop to that.
- These matches are of high quality and great workrates! A rather impressive show! Not a lot of extra footage, squashes or interviews. Hey, we havn't even seen Gene-O yet! OH YES!
- After the match, the Dragon bodyslammed Onoo then put him in the Dragon Sleeper. Parka ran him off with the chair.
Double-A, in a Yankees cap, from Starrcade, August 13, 1985 edition: "I'm the pain doctor and I'll tell you something. You listen up, because all I have to say is I'm Double A, baby. Just like AAMCO transmissions, I'm going to give you a lifetime guarantee on injury."
Buff Bagwell (w/Scott Norton and Vincent) beat Glacier (w/o Ernest Miller) with the Blockbuster. OH YES!
- Bagwell mocked Glacier's martial arts hand movements then broke down laughing.
- Lex Luger, DDP and Ric Flair are the first three members of Team WCW for War Games.
- Another lost angle: Whatever came about with Glacier's head gear that was stolen by Team Vandenburg?
- Larry Z.: "Is it my imagination or is Bagwell's head getting smaller?" HA!
- Bagwell no-sells the Cryonic Kick. He's up in seconds.
- Glacier's first loss in singles competition.
- Glacier, I hope you wake up in a cold sweat tonight after having a nightmare about your future...tag teaming with The Renegade!!!
Arn's tag-team partner, Larry The Legend: "Well, every dog has his day, Arn, unfortunately, yours came way too soon. Almost a legendary career (does hand roll off his forehead), but you are wrestling history."
Video package on Piper.
Lizmark Jr. beat Villano IV and Villano V with a Moonsault in screw-job ending #3.
- Villano IV was supposed to be the wrestler, but Villano V switched with him and he was ultimately pinned.
- Rey Misterio doesn't need surgury on his knee, and will come back, with a knee brace, in the next month.
- Fans cared about this match so much that the second Raven entered the building, everyone stood up and turned around. Watching Raven walk around is more exciting that the ring action. Nice.
Gene-O w/Luger (in street clothes). Yammer, yammer, yammer.
- Luger calls DDP out. No DDP. This angle is developing quickly. Sad.
Arn Anderson with Bobby Eaton in the ring on Worldwide, April 12, 1993.
- Arn: "You don't have to worry, Bobby. I'm not gonna hit cha, I'm not gonna hit cha."
- Bobby starts to leave the ring, and Arn nails him!! Bobby is thrown off the ropes, and SPINE BUSTER!!
Nitro girls in short, tight white shorts this time.
- Disco Inferno comes out!!!! He starts dancing and the girls leave.
- Wright comes out and does his dance. Disco Inferno does his dance.
- Larry Z.: "Are these the Nitro Boys?" HA!
- Wright pushes Disco Inferno, and Disco Inferno pushes back.
- Tony S.: "Just beat each other into oblivion and we won't have to worry about either of them."
Alex Wright pinned Hugh Morrus with his feet on the ropes for extra leverage after a Spin-Wheel kick.
- Morrus does Wright's dance! HA!
- The Laughing Man should get together with Capt. Lou Albano and trade beard tie-up devices.
- Disco Inferno out to ringside. Disco Inferno hits Hugh Morrus on the back of his head. Pee Wee Anderson lets the match continue, as Morrus beats up Disco Inferno.
Bobby Heenan: "For me to stand here with ten seconds and talk about the great things Arn Anderson has done, I can't do it. To Arn Anderson all I can say is 'Thank You.' I wish I had more time with you. So do the people."
Tony S.: "We are graced with the presence of some of the most beautiful women on the planet," as the Nitro Girls are on the set. More crap about the Nitro Parties.
Footage of Sting at the end of the last Clash of the Champions. As I repeat this word for word, I wonder how many times has THIS been shown!!
Stevie Richards beat Damien in screw-job ending #4.
- On his way to the ring, Damien gets a DDT from Raven!!
- Damien is pushed into the ring by Raven, and he is OUT! Richards gives Damien CPR. Raven comes up on the ring apron, Stevie Richards looks at him, and Raven points to Damien. 1-2-3.
- Bobby: "What a great match!!" HA!
Dean Malenko: "When I look back at some of the great competitors that graced this sport, I can think of Arn Anderson at the top of this list. Arn, it's been a real privilege, and I wish you the best in the future."
- Rewinding and listening to these tidbits a few times and typing them in before the commercial break is over isn't easy. What it DOES do, though, is pass the time pretty well!
Hour #3! And we are graced with Lee Marshall's "On The Road" report, straight from the backstage area! Nice how Marshall can be seen with the wrestlers that evening in the hotel's bar!
Gene-O w/Big Bubba! HA! Who cares!!
- Bubba: "Since I came to WCW, I've used many different names, many different outfits..."
- HA! That's an understatement!
- My name is Ray Traylor. This "nWo Forever" is a bunch of CRAP!! I didn't receive one letter, one card... all I got was one letter from Eric Bischoff saying my services were no longer needed.
Big Bub... err... Ray Traylor beat Prince Iaukea with the move formerly known as the Bullet Slam.
- Traylor really killed Iaukea. Coulda had the pin after a sit-down splash, but didn't. Just kept beating on Iaukea.
- Bullet Slam is now called the Traylor Slam?
J.J. "The Big Tub of Goo (Copyright Eric Bischoff)" Dillon: "Arn Anderson is one of the original Four Horsemen. And he was on top of his game during the glory years. And now, Arn is, and always will be, an icon among the Horsemen."
Gene-O w/The Four Horsemen!
- Syxx comes out in a wig and does "MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN GEEEEEEEEEEEEEN WHOOOOOOOOOOO!"
- Konnan comes out in a "Bears" coat and sunglasses.
- They call Hennig out (with Horsemen music) and Bagwell comes out and throws the towel behind his back.
- "I'm out here screamin' at the top of my lungs and I don't even know why. WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
- HA!
- Syxx/Flair: "I'd like to introduce to you, my best friend, the Enforcer of the Four Horsemen, Arn Anderson."
- Nash comes out as Arn: Big ol belly, neck brace, hobbling around and those glasses.
- Arn/Nash: "The beer's on ice." He then mocks Arn's speech. "My left hand... the significance of that... that's the hand I open my beer with."
- Syxx/Flair mockingly crying.
- Announcers: "Security is in the back holding back the Horsemen." HA! They were probably back there laughing their asses off.
- HA! They take off their over-shirts, and show off new black shirts, with horses' asses w/ "I II III IV" on em.
WCW Monday Nitro, June 17, 1996:
- Arn: "Everybody in this building is in shock, and all over the world, when they like Arn Anderson Flair at their worst, but these people always they like somebody that says what they're gonna do AND THEN THEY DO IT!"
- Uhm, OK Arn!
Speaking of the Bears, they're losing 18-11 to The Pack.
Chris Jericho vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. for the belt. No Contest.
- Eddie comes out and tells Chavo that he gave him a title shot nine months ago.
- Scotty Riggs comes out. Prince Iaukea comes out. Damien comes out. Billy Kidman comes out. Ciclope, Super Astro... and everybody starts fighting everybody. Villano's come out, Alex Wright and the Dragon, Silver King, Super Calo...
- Suicide Dives, Planchas, Flying off the top rope, Dragon Sleeper on Wright. Eddie nails Jericho in the ring with the belt then Frog Splash! Everybody else is cleared out.
The Giant: "Arn Anderson, Future Hall of Famer, from the Giant, Future World Heavyweight Champion, congratulations on your retirement, you deserved it, you earned it."
- What crap! He's talking like Arn just won every belt in WCW at once!
- And I'm glad The Giant said "Heavyweight," else I would have been surprised that he wasn't in the ring a minute ago with all the cruserweights! Sad.
Bishoff and Hogan come out. Nice that Hogan could take the time to make an appearance.
- Hogan: "Who has Sting beaten? Nobody. I want Sting. Come on down! The title's on the line, ya jabrone!"
- Tony: "If Sting comes down now, both of them are going to need a new pair of drawers!" HA!
- Dillon comes out. Yammer, yammer, yammer.
- Hogan: "Here's my answer," and he nails JJ!
- Bischoff holds JJ down, and Hogan works him over. Then they spray paint JJ's shirt.
Savage and Nash (w/Liz) DDP and Luger.
- After Savage and Nash came out, there was a commercial break. Ugh.
- There hasn't been a match in a long time!
- Luger and DDP (w/Kimberly) come out separately to their own music then stand in their own corners.
- DDP beats up on Hall then Savage. Another commercial break. Ugh.
- DDP doesn't tag in Luger during the match while Savage and Hall come in and out.
- It's 11:00 EDT. Three hours isn't enough to get everything done? Sad. The replay isn't going to be done until 2:30! HA!
- Hall and Savage take over the match, pounding on DDP. Luger keeps getting suckered in to the ring so DDP is double-teamed.
- DDP lays out Hall, makes a tag and Luger comes in a house a-fire. Three Atomic Drops on Hall. Four! FIVE! Hall is still standing, so Luger goes for the flying forearm, and nails DDP when Hall ducks out of the way!
- Luger racks Savage, but Hall covers DDP for the pin because Nick Patrick didn't see DDP's tag to Luger.
And with that, I am (thankfully) outta here, to sleep away my continuing hangover from last night.

G.P. was at Nitro. Here is his arena report:

Live From Pensacola, FL - This will be a quick recap of the events from inside the Pensacola Civic Center. I will not go into details about the matches but I will give you some of the reactions from the fans and some insights into what the live audience was seeing. Please note, I have not seen the tape of this so I'm not real sure what you did see in TV land.
I arrive in the Civic Center about 6:25pm, the place is about 2/3 full but people are still coming in. If you have never been to a live PPV or Nitro/Raw, they begin filling one side of the arena up first (opposite of the cameras) and do not let people sit on the camera side until the side that will be seen most of the night is filled.
We get the usual annoucements about throwing things but this time they asked all the kids to stand. And then they pointed out that if you throws something and miss, you might hit one of the kids. I didn't like them using the kids that way but it was effective.
Dark Match: Jerry Flynn versus someone (Name could have been Fisher, big black haired man with goatee). Flynn won in a bad match with the reverse spin kick.
Wildcat Willy came for his usual routine but it's a new Willy to me and he has a much better show that includes laser batons and lot more aerial moves. But Willy does look a lot like a Macho Man clone now.
Nitro Girls introduction: Kimberly comes out with the Nitro girls and she introduces them all to the audience. They do their best routine of the night before the cameras are even turned on.
Sign Check: Annoucer comes on and wants to see all the signs. Only one or two get taken because of wording, they apparently don't take many signs anymore. Some of my favorites were: Disco Inferno - ICON (And this was before his return), Kimberly Marry Me - Bang, God is Arn, Push the Armstrongs (Pensacola area is home to several of the Armstrongs)
Televised Broadcast Begins:
Eddie/Jarrett - Benoit/Mongo: If you would have told me a year ago that Mongo would get the loudest noise in this match, I would have said you were crazy, but that is exactly what happened. Great excitement in the arena for this match but a long stalling period right after the match got started killed a lot of excitment (commerical break, I believe). Some good "Jarrett Sucks" chants throughout match. Good reaction from the crowd.
Silver King - Mortis: Sliver King works hard but match was not over with the crowd. Not bad but the first of the "Let's get through it" matches.
Dean Malenko - Yuji Nagata: Real dead match, I like Dean Melenko but he can't carry the audience like he can carry a match.
La Parka - Ultimate Dragon: Fans are behind the Dragon. I'm not sure if you saw La Parka at the end but he starts to go for the chair when UD has Sonny Ono, sees that UD has not completed his Dragon Sleeper move and falls back down hurt. La Parka had started to get up and had the chair in his hands and then went back down to allow UD to finish. It was real funny if you were watching the whole ring and not just Dragon and Ono.
Buff Bagwell - Glacier: I know Glacier's push is over but he still has a great entrance in a live audience. Bagwell works the crowd well. Buff has a lot of talent and should be back with a belt soon. The Buff Blockbuster is a great live action finisher, it sure looked like it hurt.
Lizmark, Jr. - Vilano IV and V: Everyone knew that the great double switching would occur. Everyone also went to the concession stand and bathrooms. Can you say "Intermission Match"? Bad match for a live audience with a lot of missed spots. Raven coming through the crowd was the highlight of this match.
Nitro Dancers and then Disco Inferno. I had thought Disco would have gotten a bigger reaction because he was hot when he left but I really believe a lot of people didn't know who he was. I'm glad he's back and I hope they use him well.
Alex Wright - Hugh Morrus: Morrus is over with the crowd big time. Alex gets a good amount of heat but not great. Crowd was behind Hugh and I was hoping for another quick belt change but no luck.
Steve Richards - Damien: Yawn, and one good slap. Raven goes back through the crowd with very little fanfare.
Bossman to Ray Traylor speech. No where as good as Arn's Speech from last week. WCW needs more young talent and not the Bossman with a non-gimmick.
Ray Traylor - Prince Iaukea: Yawn again. Did you think the Prince was going to win on Traylor's return?
Parody of the Four Horsemen: This went over real well until the end. I got a lot of laughs out of it and I'm a major Flair mark. If I'm not mistaken that was Syxx, Bagwell, Konan and Nash [Note from Bill: It was.]. Fans took it well to the end and I think it just got a little long.
Cruiserweight Battle Royale: This was confusing but had a few high spots with people jumping out of the ring. Two funny moments, Super Calo busts his butt coming out of the entrance way but he never stops from hitting the floor and getting up and then making it to the ring. And second, the referees going around the ring and telling all the wrestlers to stop and leave. The wrestlers would stop in midfight and look at the ref and start to leave. I did notice that Scotty Riggs must be working out with Buff Bagwell still because he is getting big.
Hulk Hogan/Eric Bischoff: Great crowd reaction. Say what you will about the man, but Hogan draws heat. I don't like him but the fans react to him. But where was Sting? There was alot of mad people in my area that wanted Sting to make an appearence.
Hall/Macho Man - Luger/DDP: Hall goes around the ring before the match and reads all the signs. He is laughing with the crowd and having quite a good time. I assume a commerical is on because this takes awhile. A producer comes down and talks to Hall and he relays a message to Macho. Couldn't figure out what it was about but must have been how long the match will last. There is only five minutes left in TV time so it is either going to be short are they are going to go over and over they do go.
At the end, Luger and DDP are in left in the ring. Luger waits a long time and then tries to help DDP up but he pushes Luger away and leaves the ring by himself.
Overall impressions: This was my third Nitro and like all the rest, they are just better on TV. This was not a bad night and was actually better than the Nitro from Atlanta I attended but it was not as good as the first Nitro in Pensacola last December. The Civic Center was about 3/4 full with approximately 6500-7000 fans which was better than the 5600 in December. On the way out, a lot of fans were mad that Sting did not show. One man was heard to say "I paid $25 and Sting didn't even show, I feel cheated". And I heard several more voices like that. But like I said, the TV viewing makes everthing seem so much better.
Final Word: Not a bad show, only a few bad matches and only a few real good ones. It was worth my time but three and half hours did get long. I'm sorry if I had some misspellings but I will not be reviewing this as I've got to get-up and work tomorrow. See ya.

This Week In The WCW

WCW Saturday Night - Saturday, 08/30/97

By Bill

WCW Worldwide - Sunday, 08/31/97

By The Cubs Fan

WCW {Pro} Wrestling - Sunday, 08/31/97

By Bill

WCW Monday Night Nitro - Monday, 09/01/97

By "Spine Buster" Ben J.

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