WCW Monday Night Nitro - Monday, 09/22/97

By Bill

As for my final thoughts about War Games, being a Horsemen mark, I emotionally didn't like the ending. Intellectually, though, it wasn't bad. Making someone submit by threatening their partner is a new twist on the whole thing. The last time I remember that was Arn and Tully winning the World Tag Team titles by making Robert Gibson submit on Ricky Morton's behalf as they were about to pull Morton's arm out of its socket.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I'm having a real hard time suspending my disbelief that no one came out to make the save on the Horsemen after Hennig turned. Especially with the cage door open (and Flair's melon being in it), if the angle were to be truly believable, someone(s) should have attempted the save.
As for the Hennig turn, I guess no one was that surprised. The TV taping before War Games where he didn't have Horseman music and played the heel certainly gave it away for me.
Curt Hennig has got to be the most vilified man in WCW right now. As much as Hall and Nash are supposed to be heels, they are extremely popular because of their senses of humor and their wacky interviews. Hennig, on the other hand, is a 24/7 man with a bad attitude. Even away from the arena, where some 90% of wrestlers are approachable and friendly, Hennig is a jerk to everyone.
The bad news is that for those of you, like me, that feel the nWo angle has run its course and it's time to wrap it up, tough luck. This thing with Hennig is meant to breathe new life into the nWo, who haven't added an impact player since Bagwell. Shoot, Chono and Muta are only making an impact in the Japan. Last time we saw Muta on Nitro, he jobbed to the Giant in a squash.
Someone noted to me that the reason why all of the combatants did not come to the ring at first during War Games last year is that it would have spoiled the Sting surprise(s). Good point.
Check out the Scoops 9/15/97 edition for an interesting shoot interview by Jim Cornette about the nWo. It's pretty damning.
If you weren't already convinced, the booking of that match should reassure you that the supposed legit heat between Flair and Nash over the nWo Arn Anderson parody was all a work. There is no way Flair would have gone for that booking if there was legit heat. My guess is that we will probably see some major payback at Starrcade.
My guess is that the victory by the Steiner Brothers giving them a title shot at Halloween Havoc makes their winning the titles there pretty much a lock. Supposedly, they were booked to win the titles at Road Wild, but it was changed at the last second because of the rash of title changes that was going on in the wrestling world at the time.
A few last tidbits on the Fritz Von Erich issue. It's interesting that while he was alive, you (at least I) never really saw anything in print theorizing that David Von Erich really died of a drug overdose rather than just a "naturally" induced inflammation of the intestines. Now, all the articles refer to David's death as "apparently of a drug overdose". However, all of the post-mortem articles about Fritz that I've seen did not mention anything about his possible hand in pushing the boys to the brink and possible culpability in the tragedies in the family. Whatever the truth is, no one deserves to lose five sons. Any "stage parents" out there should take a long look at the Von Erich family before pushing their kids into show business.
Also, on the subject of Sting plummetting from the ceiling, Rick S. from Whitewater, WI was at the show and said it was very believable if you didn't get a good look at the mannequin. In fact, just to fool the people in the crowd, someone dressed in a full Sting outfit walked out to the cable right before the mannequin was dropped.
For those of you going to the GMU Patriot Center for the house show on Friday, 9/26, three important notes:
1. I hope to see some WWW.DDTDIGEST.COM signs. Note that this goes to show how skewed my priorities are...I don't ask anyone to bring them to Nitro where they'll be seen by millions of people. I ask you to bring them to a non-televised house show, instead.
2. In case you're looking for me, I'll be easy to find. At the point you ask yourself, "Who are those idiots?!", the light bulb will go on and you'll realize it's me and my group.
3. If you've still got your voice the next morning, you didn't do enough of the following:
  - "Whooooooo!"
  - "Jarrett sucks! Jarrett sucks!...."
  - "One! Two! Three! Four! Five!..." as someone's head is being smashed into the turnbuckles.
  - "Buh!!" everytime someone hits a big roundhouse punch.
  - "One! Two! Three!" as someone is being pinned after their opponent hits their big finisher.
  - "Ooooooooh" after hearing the crack of a big chop to the chest.
E-mail of the week, about last week's Nitro, from Punk John:
Ok. When Ray Traylor Came out, he said "Hall, Nash, Bagwell, Mr Perfect, Norton.."
Heenan said: "I think Perfect went where the money was..." They cut his mic off for a second. On the way to the ring, Hogan grabbed a fan's sign that said: "Hey McMahon...Bite me!" and held it up for the camera. In the crowd someone held up a sign that said: "Slam Flair's head in a cage? It would be an honor!" You could have a drinking game: Just take shots every time someone calls Hennig perfect.

We are taped from Salt Lake City, UT. Show starts with the Nitro Girls. Schiavone, Tenay, and Zbyszko are anxiously awaiting Piper's announcement. Bischoff comes prancing out and tells Zbyszko not to interfere in nWo business again. Hmmm, I wonder what Piper's announcement is related to. Zbyszko has them roll the footage of Nash jackknifing Bischoff. Hah! Then Zbyszko berates Schiavone for running away from Bischoff previously. Zbyszko relates: "When the space shuttle blew up and bodies were flying everywhere, Dan Rather stood his ground!" Just goes to prove that Alan Alda's quote in Crimes and Misdemeanors is true. "Comedy is tragedy plus time."
Rey Misterio, Jr. pinned Silver King with a missed hurricarana.
- Before the match, Misterio gave his outer mask to a youngster at ringside again. And, once again, the kid looked totally nonplussed.
- Misterio was really over in Salt Lake City.
- Raven comes to ringside. Amazing how that is supposedly more interesting than what is going on in the ring.
- Wow! Misterio scores a reverse Frankensteiner from the top turnbuckle.
- Eddie Guerrero came up on the apron after the match and got clobbered by Misterio for his trouble.
In a big upset, Bill Goldberg pinned Hugh Morrus after a long standing suplex.
- Get rid of Goldberg's tattoos, and he's a dead ringer for "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Right down to the attire.
- Hugh Morrus is over tonight.
- Oh, my! Goldberg kicked out after a No Laughing Matter! No one has done that before!
- Goldberg refused to interview with Okerlund after the match. Given that, I like Goldberg already.
- Tenay was stumped and didn't know who Goldberg was. In fact, neither do I. Can anyone tell me. And before you e-mail me, it's not Perry Saturn. Goldberg's missing some of Saturn's tattoos.
In a another big upset, Disco Inferno pinned "Das Blunderpinned" Alex Wright after opposing cross body blocks. Disco Inferno is the new WCW World Television Champion!! Disco Fever, Disco Fever, Disco Fever, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!!!
- Lots of slapping one another to start the match.
- Alex Wright does a sternum stomp from the top rope. Schiavone has never seen it before. Odd, because I have.
- Disco Inferno was really over tonight.
- Alex Wright took what looked like a stiff top rope crotching during the match.
- Either of them may have taken a legit bad shot in the ending. If not, they both sold it very well.
- Oh, no! It's the angle that wouldn't die! After the match, Jacqueline comes out and says everyone knows why Disco was gone for six months and she wants to fight him. Disco says not to push it and he storms off. That was really odd.
In the third big upset in a row, Hector Garza pinned Scott Hall with a roll up.
- Hall and Syxx come to the ring. Hall calls Luger out to no avail. Hall then calls Zbyszko to the ring. Zbyszko won't get in the ring until Syxx leaves so Zbyszko goes back to the announcing booth. Hall was to "wrestle one for Kev" and challenges anyone to come out. Hector Garza comes out.
- Hall starts off the match by ripping off Shooter Curtis' pocket and mussing his hair.
- After beating up Hector Garza some, Hall twists Curtis' ties, pulls out his shirt and kicks him in the butt. Garza sneaks up behind Hall and rolls him up for the quick three-count from Curtis.
- As you might imagine, Hall was more than a little peeved. Hall lays waste to Garza and Curtis. A round of Outsider Edges, on the house!
Ultimo Dragon, Juventud Guerrera, Ciclope, and Lizmark Jr. defeated Psychosis, La Parka, and Villanos IV and V when Juventud Guerrera pinned La Parka with a hurricarana.
- New bright red mask for Ciclope.
- One of the Villanos got a slap in on Lizmark, Jr. that people in Provo heard!
- Bodies everywhere outside the ring!
- Onoo holds Ultimo Dragon for Psychosis to hit, but guess who takes the hit? Onoo.
- As much as I like La Parka, it was good to see Juventud score a win. Juventud is one of the most underrated wrestlers in WCW.
Piper came out for his "big" announcement: Larry Zbyszko will be the special referee for Hall vs. Luger at Halloween Havoc. Yeah, so what's the big announcement that we all tuned in for? By the way, Benoit supposedly has a concussion from Halloween Havoc. Boy, I hope that doesn't adversely his current wrestling tour of Europe. Piper: "I've had more cage matches than Brigham Young had wives!" Piper said he is going to chew Hogan up, etc., etc., etc. The high point was Piper accidentally calling the nWo the NWA.
WOW!!!! The Faces of Fear defeated The Steiner Brothers when Meng pinned Rick Steiner with the Goozle in a clean job!
- I don't think I've ever seen the Steiner Brothers cleanly job before!! Wow, all this just to beat RAW in the ratings!!
Bischoff and Hogan came to the ring. Yadda, yadda, yadda. A whole lot of nothin'.
Randy "Macho Man" Savage pinned "The King of Swing" Stevie Richards after his patented elbowsmash in a complete squash that took about two minutes.
- Heenan: "Mark Curtis is in a green trash bag out back." Schiavone: "No, he's not." Heenan: "You're right, why waste a perfectly good green trash bag on Mark Curtis? Just throw him right in the dumpster."
- Liz actually spoke and said a sentence. Something about DDP being in Savage's shadow.
- Before the match, Savage said he is giving Hennig a present...Liz will be escorting Hennig down the aisle later.
- It was announced that DDP/Savage has been signed for Halloween Havoc.
- Liz actually started to choke out Richards at one point during the match.
- Savage threw Stevie Richards into the railing at Raven. Raven stood up and...did nothing.
- After the match, Raven came into the ring and stared down Savage and then went over to Richards and gave him a DDT. And my question is, so what?
This week only, WCW Saturday Night is starting at 7:05 p.m. EDT for an hour.
Booker T. (by himself) defeated Konan and Scott "Flash" Norton via DQ when Vincent interfered even though Konan and Norton had just given Booker T. a spike piledriver.
- Booker T. came out with Jacqueline and no Stevie Ray. Booker T. grabbed the mic and said that his brother pulled his Achilles and can't wrestle. He will take on any one of those guys. Norton said that Booker T. signed for a tag match..."sucka'!".
- Great pop from the crowd every time Vincent got clobbered.
Nitro Girls. Three of them, anyway.
U.S. Heavyweight Champion Curt Hennig pinned Jeff Jarrett following a fisherman's suplex to retain the title. Of course, Jarrett was unconcious at the time due to Liz distracting the referee so Savage could hand Hennig the belt while he was in the figure-four and brain Jarrett. Of course, Jarrett had to purposely sit up to make this spot work.
- Curt Hennig gets the nWo "A" team music on the way to the ring. And he winks into the camera.
- Heenan has a morbid fascination with Flair getting his melon cracked at War Games. Schiavone's getting annoyed.
- A big hole in the ring opening up and swallowing both these wrestlers is the best ending I can think of for this match.
- Jarrett slams Hennig's head into a chair. Heenan: "That gives a new meaning to going to the chair."
- The nWo came to the ring after the match to stomp a mudhole in Jarrett. The Giant made the save. Why? I have no idea.
- Show's over.

King Leo of King Leo's Wrestling Page sends in this arena report:

Before I begin, I'd like to give a word of advice to anyone who wants a tip on how to fully enjoy a live card: don't worry about pictures. If you must, have someone else take them. I'm going to regret that I was more worried about pictures than I was about yelling and screaming. If you're not hoarse for at least 36 hours following the event, you didn't do your job right. I could talk normally afterwards and was only a little croaky the next day at work, whereas following the WWF card I attended, I accidentally left my camera in the trunk and could hardly talk afterward and was hoarse the entire next day. Another reason my voice could have stayed intact was that just when something exciting happened, they went to commercial and the crowd settled down.
I had four tickets for this event. One of my friends who attended the WWF in Salt Lake earlier this year wanted to go, but had to go to college and said he couldn't make it. Randy, a guy I used to work with, got my first two tickets, and I asked Jake, a friend of mine who hasn't watched wrestling in years--even kind of jokingly--if he wanted to go, and there went my final ticket.
We left Roosevelt at around 1:00 and arrived in West Valley at about four that afternoon. When we pulled into the parking lot, the attendant was picking up the cones and told us that since we were early, we didn't have to pay the $4 parking fee.
As was mentioned on the telecast, the E Center is a brand new arena; in fact, Nitro was the first ticketed event, so security was a little lenient. We found an unlocked door that looked like it went into the ticket office, so we went in. The doors were all closed inside, but were unlocked. Jake and I picked one door and it went right into the arena. The set, including the ring, had already been set up and some of the lucha libre stars were in the ring, all unmasked, but it was dark so their identity is safe. I recognized La Parka and I thought one was Dean Malenko but it turned out to be one of the Villanos. Another guy who found the same unlocked door saw Rey Misterio Jr. Eventually, someone found us and nicely told us to leave. Randy and Shane went the same place after we left and they saw Lex Luger and also Vincent on a pay phone.
Jake and I then went to watch the wrestlers in the parking lot. The guard there was friendly and let us look at the list of wrestlers who were allowed to be in the back area. We found out that almost everyone was already inside, but we did see a few people. One of the men who had been there since noon yelled to Diamond Dallas Page, and he waved. He then left in a limo, windows rolled down, and he waved again. One of the people there was from out of state and just happened to be in town visiting a friend. He said that at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, DDP signed autographs and posed for pictures.
Curt Hennig and Ray Traylor arrived together and just left their car in the middle of the parking lot, but the security guard told us that Dillinger said that if the wrestlers caused any trouble to let him know and he'd take care of it, so eventually the car was moved.
Other people who just walked around in the parking lot included Lex Luger, The Giant, and Larry Zbyszko. The second highlight of the day was when Scott Hall, driving; Hollywood Hogan, passenger; and Syxx, in the back seat, drove out of the parking lot and drove back in maybe 20 minutes later. I was about five feet away from Hulk Hogan, my childhood hero. Even though I don't really care for his NWO persona, he is still an icon, and it was pretty cool. After Hogan stopped being my wrestling hero, it was Razor Ramon (Scott Hall).
The doors were supposed to be opened at 4:30, but were 15 minutes late. We bought programs for $5, which turned out to be the WCW Magazine (cover price $3.95). I also bought a Ric Flair shirt (Flair's picture on the front with "The Nature Boy" on top and "Ric Flair" on the bottom, "13 time World Champion" on the back) and the original nWo t-shirt (I figured if Curt Hennig and Ray Traylor can hang around together in the parking lot, I could have both shirts).
Upon entering the arena, I noticed that a big section of seats was blocked off to make room for lights and another section blocked off for the set. I also don't think that there was a sellout, but I could be wrong because I don't know if the entire top section of seats were on sale or not. Also, most of the people on the floor left their seats and crowded up front.
Some attendants put bottled water underneath the ring, so I thought maybe someone was under there, but I don't think so because they put a whole case under each side.
Wildcat Willie started the show (boooring) and then Dave Penzer introduced Salt Lake radio personality Uncle Nasty to a pretty big ovation. Uncle Nasty then yelled about something for a minute and then left (he was also a participant at the WWF card at the Delta Center in June). In a previous live Nitro report you mentioned the warning that he gave about the 12 year old children, and he gave the same lecture. He mentioned the signs and how there were cameras that could pick up anyone in the arena.
The best sign of the night was "Sting is a Mormon", but the ones who had it never showed it at all during the card. I don't think anyone took it away, so I guess they were just embarrassed.
The only opening hour commentator who got much of a response other than polite applause for Tenay and Schiavone was Larry Zbyszko, who got a huge response and a chant.
The fireworks were deafening and when flames came out, I could feel the heat from the other side of the arena.
The fans were generally clueless as to what was going on in the announcers booth. When Eric Bischoff started to yell at Zbyszko, I only figured out what was going on after a "Larry" chant broke out. They were nice enough to show the footage of Bischoff being jackknifed by Nash and Luger pinning Scott Hall at Fall Brawl, though.
Before getting to the matches, I just have a general statement to make about the commercial breaks on TV: unless a match went through a break, nothing happened. I think that the Nitro girls continued dancing during the television opening, the general rule was that nothing happened during the break until Penzer started a countdown to television time. The one exception was that after the break following the first match, he mentioned that if the fans kept it up, WCW might have to return to Salt Lake. During another break in the first hour, Penzer commented on all the people without shirts. There was one group that had painted "NWO 4 Life" on themselves, one that had "Hogan vs. Sting" (the breakdown of this was "Ho," "gan," "vs., and "Sting." (on reviewing the tape, when Bischoff came out with Hogan, there was a closeup of the first guy mentioned on the "Hogan vs. Sting" chest painting and one commentator said that he must be Bischoff's mother.) He said that there was one guy "over there" who didn't have anything painted at all, and then the crowd went nuts. I couldn't figure out why, but I was told that the brunette female fan who was shown twice in closeups sitting on a man's shoulders took her top off. Penzer was speechless, and the police pointed at her but nothing happened. I only got the first two hours on tape, so I'm not sure if they showed her again or not, but I don't think they did.
There were basically three cameras for ring action--one on the near side of the entry way, one on the far side of the entry, and another who stood on the ring apron to get closeups. The action didn't go into the corner where the closeup man was standing very often.
Rey Misterio Jr. recieved a loud ovation--maybe the second loudest of the night. I noticed from the tape that the loud ovations seemed to be toned down on TV while the restless moments when nothing happened seemed to be more enthusiastic. It seemed like the whole crowd was chanting "Eddie sucks!", and when Misterio dove onto Guerrero, everyone was on their feet. I don't think I've ever heard quite the response to Guerrero as he got for diving onto Eddie. There wasn't really much else to say about Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Silver King except that nobody really noticed Raven going down to ringside except those whom he passed.
Hugh Morrus recieved a semi-decent pop and were unsure of what to think about the Goldberg guy. Most people were just trying to figure out who he was (on our way home, we thought he might have been the man formerly known as Warlord, but upon review of the tape, I don't think so.) One note on Goldberg's backflip before the vertical suplex: from my seat, it looked to me like he missed a move, but it looked like a genuine backflip on t.v.
The crowd was indifferent about Disco Inferno to begin with, but it grew to dislike when he danced in the ring--there were a few dancing with him--but Alex was booed loudly. On the chest stomp, Wright obviously hit the floor with most of the weight on the floor rather than Disco's chest. There's not much else to say about that match, but the cross-body blocks weren't nearly as impressive in the arena. Also, as the match progressed, the crowd was more and more in favor of Disco Inferno--when he won the title he recieved the third biggest pop of the night.
When Hector Garza came out to fight Scott Hall, Hall was slapping his thigh and running around like a kid on a stick horse; I was hoping that they'd show that on TV, but they didn't. When Mark Curtis was placed in the Outsiders' Edge, from the back it looked like rather than holding him up for torture, Hall might have been waiting for Curtis to get into proper position to absorb the impact.
There's nothing much to say about the lucha libre match that wasn't seen on TV, but I'd like to say that Ciclope looked like a big pumpkinhead and Sonny Onoo's spinning heel kick totally and obviously missed their mark. The pileup was very impressive and the only bad part about that match was that there was so much action outside the ring that I forgot to watch what was going on in the ring.
Roddy Piper was incredible. It was hard to tell what Mean Gene was saying, so I didn't quite catch what he said at the beginning, but when the snare drums went off, the bagpipe music started and Piper walked out, the feeling was just indescribable. For anyone who's never been to a live card, there's no way to express the great feeling when you hear the first few notes of the theme of a legend like Piper and then realize who is about to walk out. The only thing I can think of that could be better would be to be on the recieving end of the cheers.
Those at home didn't miss much in the second hour. I couldn't tell what was going on when Meng applied the Tongan death grip to Rick Steiner because I was watching Scott Steiner and The Barbarian--they looked like they were reaching under the ring for something and I figured they were going to get a drink.
Macho Man was alright, but I just couldn't really applaud him. He is much better as a face with a recognizable theme like Pomp and Circumstance. The whole Raven angle makes absolutely no sense to anyone at the arena, and is especially confusing to someone who hasn't watched wrestling for several years, like Jake. He did get a basic idea, though, by the article in the WCW Magazine.
The Booker T./nWo handicap match would have been a lot better if Jacqueline had been Booker's partner. If she wants a shot at Disco Inferno's Television title, she should have to wrestle. Same comment about Sting.
When you say there were only three Nitro girls, they were all really out, but they must have only shown the three on T.V.
Nothing much to say about Hogan except that the crowd really didn't seem to care. The only other comments I have about the card is that Clay, a guy I used to work with before he went to college caught Curt Hennig's gum and I might have seen Scott Norton in the parking lot, but maybe not.
The night would have been a whole lot better if it had been a three hour program. Two hours really isn't very long.

WCW Monday Night Nitro - Monday, 09/22/97

By Bill

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