WCW Monday Night Nitro - Monday, 11/03/97

By Creed from Creed's Wrestling Page

Show opens with highlights of Sting charging the ring after the Hogan/DDP match, with Tony screaming about the Sting/Hogan contract signing, and a nice fireworks burst.
Tony: "The World has been taking about the signing..." They have? I thought they were talking about the stock market drop...
More hype about the movie, and some scenes from "Assault on Devil's Island." A whole lot of shooting, and some inconsequential dialogue. Supposedly, it was rated as one of the top four cable movies of all time. Compared to what?!
They cut to footage of the contract signing - Hogan talks about Sting not showing, and he promptly shows to sign the contract without looking at it. (Not very wise, if you ask me.) He then backed away, using the bat to keep Hogan at arm's length.
Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko beat Rey Mysterio Jr. and Steve Regal when Malenko made the Cruiserweight champ tap out with the Texas Cloverleaf.
- Eddie and Dean? As a team? Are you serious?
- Rey and Regal? As a team? Are you suffering deja vu?
- Regal stands out like a sore thumb, the only non-cruiserweight in the ring.
- After a brief "Eddie sucks" chant, Rey and Malenko start it off. Some quick exchanges and reversals. I tried not to blink - I might miss three or four moves in that time...
- Tony points out that all four men came to the ring as if they were all wrestling seperately. When Eddie turns his back, Dean tags him in, and Regal comes in with a tag of his own.
- So far, there have been all kinds of nice moves but nothing that's really damaging. Then Eddie opens up on Regal, working the left knee.
- Rey gets the tag in, and Eddie and Rey go right to work. That great hurricarana of Rey's flips Eddie over like flipping a quarter, but Malenko steps in to break up the pin.
- Eddie launches the Cruiserweight champ up over his head, and Dean tries to catch him but gets tossed out of the ring with the rolling head scissors.
- Mysterio tries a springboard dropkick but Eddie moves and he nails Regal instead. So Eddie buries Rey with a great powerbomb! He goes to the top for the froggie, but Dean tags himself in, puts the Texas Cloverleaf on Mysterio, who promptly taps out.
- Steve Regal looked over Mysterio, just shaking his head, and Malenko left without incident. I'd love to hear what he's thinking: "Bloody dwarf couldn't cut it...sunshine."
Some 'exciting' news about Roddy Piper is yet to come. I'm afraid to ask...
The Nitro girls. Kimberly and the nipple girl are off to the side, and Bill's fav is right up front in the main group.
Piper apparently has nerve damage and will be out for an undetermined length of time. Didn't this happen last time he was a commisioner? He wrote himself into a match, then disappeared again?
Fit Finley defeated (Squire) Dave Taylor after a tombstone-style piledriver.
- Just what is that strange, single shoulder pad thing that Finley wears, anyway?
- I liked him better as the Belfast Bruiser, but Finley still looks mean enough to get the job done, though all the English wrestlers seem to have put on weight recently.
- What. What are all those fans looking at? It's too early for Sting, so it must be Raven and Co. Saturn has a match later tonight, which I'm looking forward to.
- I will say this - even though the fans are paying more attention to the Raven's Nest - these two men are putting on a great match. If they only had some decent heat, the crowd could really be into it.
- The tombstone piledriver finishes off Dave Taylor. I swear, every time I see this move, I think of Steve Austin's neck injury, and I would really like to see the wrestlers get away from it.
- Sign: "Raven - sit here!"
The Public Enemy threaten me if I try to change the dial, but considering their win/loss record lately, I might be able to beat them both in a handicap match anyway...
A commercial for the Nintendo 64 - I mention it because they show several games, starting with WCW vs. nWo World Tour. It looks great!
Promo for WCW Saturday Night - Lex and the Giant in a tag match. Do they do anything else these days, other than wrestle on WCWSN or PPVs?
The announcers are getting ready to show footage about the upcoming Hennig/Flair no disqualification match, but they get a phone call.
- Eric Bischoff is on the line, calls Larry a chump, and says he has some things to say.
- First off, he says Hogan has challenged Sting on several occasions but he never showed, "because he was a coward." So it's Hogan challenging Sting, not the other way around. Whatever.
- Second, the nerve damage to Piper matches the brain damage he must have had to get in the cage with Hogan. That's funny.
- Third, he talks about how great "Devil's Island" was. He actually says Vince McMahon ran the Survivor Series against it to try to take attention away from Hogan's movie, but it didn't work.
- Assault on Devil's Island is now going to be made into a weekly series. Like I'll watch it.
- Also, the WHOLE nWo is going to be on hand next week, even Kevin Nash, with some kind of announcement.
  - Like Piper being injured? That's no reason to tune in! This better be good - some new members or something...
- (They'll run the footage later)
Yuji Nagata over Psychosis with the Nagatalock.
- This is one of those you can write in the results before the match even starts...
- They show some footage of when Sonny Onoo managed Psychosis, and talk about how he handles Nagata now. Come on guys, we need a better reason to get into this match than that.
- A nice springboard dropkick by Psychosis, and Nagata pouts outside the ring.
- Tony says Psychosis was offered 100 pesos as 'severance pay.' Tenay says he was in Mexico recently, "and 100 pesos is like 13 dollars!" Larry: "But you can live for five years on thirteen dollars in Mexico!"
- Tony talks about the Ultimo Dragon/Nagata feud, barely noticing the pin attempt.
- Psychosis goes for a hurricarana while Nagata sat on the top turnbuckle. I don't know if he was supposed to miss or not, but Nagata goes nowhere, and the Luchador fell on his back and head.
- Nagata mounts a comeback with a forward somersaulting kick, like the enziguiri but rolling over the top instead of sideways. He didn't get the power bomb quite right, though.
- Get this - the referee is standing right in front of Sonny Onoo arguing with him and somehow doesn't see the kick on Psychosis. This guy is pathetic!
- Nagata slaps on that strange, modified figure-four and Psychosis taps out.
- Onoo displays the peso bill again, saying how he'll feed all of Psychosis's family because he's a good man.
Raven is in a grade-school classroom, telling us all about his sordid childhood as we come back from commercial.
Disco Inferno submits to Saturn - NEW TELEVISION CHAMPION!
- Disco Inferno comes out to a huge crowd reaction. He really is a nice guy, very friendly.
- Saturn hops the rail as a siren goes off somewhere - is that supposed to be entrance music?!
- Disco jumps him as he comes in, but Saturn comes back quickly. Some interesting, non-standard moves.
- Raven stoicly stands watching the match, and Tony mentions that Raven has a special interest in Saturn over the others.
- Nice double-underhook hold by Saturn. I hope they really start to push the members of the Raven's Nest - they have some really good talent involved.
- A great armlock submission, forcing the arm behind the back of a prone opponent, also by Saturn - this hold will actually hurt, as my martial-arts instuctor roommate will tell you.
- Saturn knocks him around the ring, and goes back to the armlock submission, but Disco doesn't tap out just yet.
- Northern lights suplex with the arm held back! I am really impressed! Personally, I never had ECW coverage out here on the West Coast, so it's nice to see the guys that were getting all the hype over there.
- A nice kick by Saturn and a German suplex. But Disco fights back with a kick but his neckbreaker attempt is countered, and the "Rings of Saturn" is applied, a modified double armlock! Disco submits!
- After the match, the Raven's Nest storms the ring, but Stevie gets thrown out by Raven.
- Wow - only his second WCW match, his first Nitro appearance, and Saturn wins a title. I wonder if some of the long-time WCW wrestlers are upset with this...
No sooner than the celebration in the ring dies down, does Ric Flair come out for an interview with Gene Okerlund.
- Flair rants about Hennig, he's looked over the building three times but hasn't found him yet, but says if he finds him he will... well, you know.
- They show the footage that Eric supposedly made us wait to see, bits of the Havoc match and last week's Nitro.
- A reference is made to some men I've never heard of, but the Philly crowd goes wild, so I'm assuming it's a hockey thing.
- Ric invites every single nWo member to come down and take away his robe. Hey, this one is actually decent, a nice shade of blue.
- When asked about becoming a 14-time champ, Flair says he'll try to win World War 3, focusing on taking out Curt Hennig "for life!"
The Nitro girls dance, and we get the usual "Nitro Party" promo.
Scott Hall loses to Chris Jericho after a surprise cradle!
- Hall is wearing some kind of championship belt - I had to remember the Steiner goons are the new champions. So what is he wearing?
- They show a kid with Sting-like face paint holding an nWo Hogan doll. Pick a side, kid!
- ...of course, Scott Hall has to have a mike:
  - Scott Hall practices crowd control, getting everyone to sing along with "too sweet" and "who's here to see the n...W...o...?" And gauging by the crowd's reaction, this is definitely nWo country.
  - Scott: "I got a little more business, then I'm gonna beat up Chris Jericho." Um, okay...
  - Hall gets Larry's attention, calling him a "decent announcer." But on his (Larry's) best day, he couldn't touch the Wolfpack - and his best day was ten years ago! Ouch!
  - But Hall says Larry couldn't even beat "Eazy E" Eric Bischoff, and they show the footage from Havoc when Hall counted a bogus pin while Bischoff had his foot on the laid-out Zbyzsko.
  - Interesting - Hall actually says that he and Bruno (Sammertino, I assume) should go themselves over.
- Hall throws the toothpick before he goes to work on Jericho, including about two dozen slaps to Jericho's head, but the Lionheart fights back with two great kicks!
- Scott gets back into it, with a nice fallaway slam. He tells Larry "this one's for you!" as he sets up for the Edge, but Jericho slips out of it, cradles him and gets the pin!
- Jericho celebrates for about half a second until he's attacked by the nWo member, who gives him the Edge he planned earlier, adding a second one for good measure.
- Hall points to the ref, as if he's going to slap him around, while a "Larry!" chant starts, but Billy Silverman, the new ref wisely runs out.
- Wait! Here comes Larry to stop a third Edge on Jericho - he brings the open contract for Hall.
- Larry: "You're in a hurry to leave? I got something here you haven't signed yet! Come on, sign the dotted line!" But Hall bails out of the ring and walks away as Larry tries to egg him into it. "You are afraid of a two-handicap broadcaster!" Heh.
A nice segment by Tenay on Luchadores. He names several of the great moves they use, and we see a nice blend, which looks like a highlight of anyone working for WCW in a mask.
Some of the Philly football plays are at ringside mugging to the crowd, yelling a bunch of stuff, none of which is understandable.
Some hyping of the nWo's appearance next week, as well as the matches to come in the second hour.
Next match - a Lucha Libre battle royal, won by... the Giant?!
- Participants: Damion, Villano IV, El Dandy (Nitro debut), Villano IV, Ciclope (in a Halloween costume?!), Silver King, Juventud Guerrera, and Villano V.
- Strangely, Juventud's music played while all the wrestlers entered, one at a time.
- Nice springboard leg scissors by Juventud!
- This match is almost impossible to call - you thought the first match went fast, try it with eight Luchadores!
- I think when this is over, I may watch this a couple more times, just to see everything I missed!
- A great move by... uh-oh... the Giant is coming out!
  - Chokeslam on Dandy, Ciclope! A Villano is shoved aside, Silver King is pressed overhead and tossed onto a Villano!
  - Silver King off the top, but the Giant catches him, and drops him in a great powerslam!
  - Giant says Thanksgiving, a time to eat, is right around the corner - but this Giant is hungry now.
  - The Giant puts down Kevin Nash, calling him "the Little Big Man," and promises to not only eliminate him at World War 3, but throw him into the crowd. This I gotta see...
A commercial for WCW vs. the World for the PlayStation - a good game, I thought.
Nitro girls again - I have to watch, since they're wearing the same outfits they wore during the now-famous nipple incident.
"Nature Boy" Ric Flair gets the win over Alex Wright with his patented Figure Four.
- Forgive me, but I love Alex Wright's music. Always have. Just don't expect me to dance to it...
- "Queen Debra" accompanies Wright to the ring, as a sign says: "Alex Wright needs dance lessons." Heh.
- Whoo! The music starts, and the one and only Ric Flair makes his entrance, fireworks and all!
- Flair: "You're not Mongo's woman anymore - Mongo gave me permission - you're gonna ride Space Mountain tonight!" Now that's funny.
- Alex dances for Flair - kid, this ain't an audition. Flair struts and gets a "Whoo!" from the crowd.
- After some goofing around, Wright gets serious, but Flair goes right to work with backdrops and those chops you can really hear across the arena.
- Wright starts to leave the match but comes back, not without some stalling though. But it does no good, as Flair goes right back to the chops!
- Nice spin kick by Wright, who starts a comeback, but Flair fights his way out of the corner he was in, only to have Wright stomp him down again.
- Flair has landed at least fifteen chops by now - Wright's chest must sting like he tried to shoplift a beehive!
- Slick Ric rolls out of the ring, but Wright brings him right back in with a nice suplex. But he can't seem to keep his momentum, as Flair continues to dominate the match.
- The announcers are teasing us with all the possibilities, with the World War 3 winner facing the winner of the Sting/Hogan match. They offer us Hogan/Nash, DDP/Sting, Giant/Sting, and Lex/Sting. I might point out these are all matches we should be seeing anyway...
- After some action out of the ring, Alex works over Flair, then sends him to the corner, and we get a nice Flair Flop. But Wright misses the slignshot plancha attempt.
- Wright is so tall, that when Flair holds him up for a vertical suplex, it really looks impressive. Flair follows up with the figure-four, and gets the win in short form.
- Debra looks quite upset as she comes in and calls for help for her man Alex.
Steve "Mongo" McMichael is pinned by Ray Traylor after a "spike slam."
- Ray Traylor, the man without a gimmick - or a decent win - comes out for his match.
- Mongo's new music fits him nicely - I just have to get used to hearing it.
- We saw some Traylor matches with Scott Norton lately, that were sub-par, due to the large size of the men, let's hope this one is better.
- An exchange of arm yanks and leg kinks, with way too much yelling from both men.
- Traylor shoves the ring steps aside and spits. Thank you. I didn't need to see that.
- The announcers mention all the people who haven't had much exposure lately, like Hugh Morrus and Dean Malenko, all people rumored to be considering jumps to WWF, as possible winners of World War 3.
- Mongo and Traylor knock each other around, until Bill Goldberg walks out, still wearing the Super Bowl ring of Mongo.
- After McMichael gets done yelling at Goldberg, he walks right into the move now called the "Ray Traylor spike slam." I still think my roommate's suggestion of the Traylor Trash is cool, even though it's not PC...
Another obnoxious plug for the Nitro Party contest.
"The founder and originater of the Diamond Cutter" comes out for an interview - BANG!
- Page is asked about his matches against Hogan and Savage last week. He says he is "living a dream." He gets to do exactly what he wants to do, and he's "loving every minute of it."
- He says beating Hogan by DQ wasn't enough for him, it was standing toe to toe with him after the brutal match with Savage the night before and "Hogan STILL couldn't get the job done!"
- DDP says no one wants it more than he does (winning at World War 3), and says Hogan should be very worried!
They run down the road schedule, while the Nitro girls show a bit of improvement in their choreography.
The Steiners defeated the Public Enemy in a Philedelphia Street Fight, retaining the World Tag Team titles.
- Public Enemy gets a huge hometown welcome as they set up two tables on top of each other.
- The tag team champions, the 'roid raged, five-move, Steiner Brothers show up and go to work.
- We have to go to split-screen as the two pairings are too far apart to keep track of.
- Rocco Rock and Scott are out at the announcing table, banging metal ojects into each other, while Johnny Grunge wraps a cord around Rick's neck.
- Rocco leaps off the entrance platform but gets caught by Scott, who later bashes him into the large "WCW" at the entrance.
- All four men come back to the ring, and Public Enemy gain an advantage after Scott misses a double-axehandle and crashes into the guardrail.
- The ending of the match has Rick placed between the tables as one of PE goes to the top turnbuckle. DiBiase almost pulled him out in time, but as whoever that was that came off the top was on the ground, Scott rolled out for a pin.
- Rick must have got a piece of table hit his neck area, as a brief shot of him bleeding was seen, but the cameras quickly changed views to longer shots so the blood wasn't visible - standard WCW policy.
A great piece of video showing the World War 3 from last year at high-speed. Amazing how they cut it all down to just 60 seconds or so...
Michael Buffer does his bit to announce the main event. Boy, I want his job - travel the country, yell for about three minutes, get paid some very decent money.
Lex Luger beats Curt Hennig by DQ while he has the Torture Rack on!
- Curt Hennig, the man hailing from Robbinsdale, Minnesota, is announced as the originator and master of the Hennigplex. I don't remember it being called that when I first saw it in use...
- Lex doesn't seem to get much reaction from the crowd, at least not as much as he used to, anyway. Perhaps that is because he doesn't do anything of consequence these days.
- They lock up right after the bell, but Hennig takes a few moments to compose himself after such a difficult move. Then Hennig tries a go-behind hold, but Luger shoves him off.
- Another lock-up, this time with Luger getting a headlock on. He's shoved to the ropes, but the Total Package just runs down Hennig.
- Hennig changes his attack, using Flair-style chops, kicks, and punches to take down Luger but eats another clothesline as we go to commercial break.
- As we come back, Curt is yelling at a fan - it's funny, it looks like he's straightening the fan out! But Luger pulls him back in the ring by his hair.
- Hennig turns it around with some great kicks, pummeling the bigger man. Resorting to chokes, an elbowsmash outside the ring, and a slingshot under the bottom rope, Hennig dominates the match.
- Tony: "Snapmare takeover..." Hennig uses his rolling neckbreaker move. Heenan: "Snapneck takeover..."
- The U.S. Champ has taken over this match, having slowed the pace down considerably. Ever notice that more often than not, the face will go for a quick pace, but a heel wants to slow things down?
- Hennig yanks Lex's neck over the top rope, and suddenly realizes he should make a pin, but obviously it's too late.
- Wow! Hennig tried to whip Luger into the corner, but Luger reversed, and Hennig came flying out of the corner!
- Luger took over, with some huge atomic drops, and the big forearm! He goes for the Torture Rack, but Hennig rolls out of the ring. He goes for a chair, but Ric Flair shows up to attack him!
  - Hennig rolls away from Hennig into the ring, and backs into the Torture Rack!
  - Flair pops Luger, who promptly drops Curt Hennig, and Flair chases Hennig to the back.
  - Luger follows, having words with Flair as "we are out of time!"
So let me see if I understand - we can run 20 minutes over, but not 25? This was a good show, though - expect another ratings win here.

Gin sends the following house show report from Philly:

I have one problem...my VCR messed up and didn't tape Nitro, I'm willing to pay for shipping & handling for someone to send me their Nitro tape, if you could tell your readers this I'd be grateful!!!! (Contact Gin if you can help out.)
I got to my seat at 6:40. The entrance music is playing and already people are drunk, loud and rowdy. Four Horsemen music comes on and "Whoo's" erupt all over the building, its sounds like a bird sanctuary in here!
On the way to the ladies room, I see two guys trying to put the diamond cutter on each other over cement. I almost hope they succeed.
ECW merchandise is all over!!!!
The nWo fans were really loud and obnoxious, starting with some comments about my Raven Sign.
The people I spotted backstage included Stevie Richards (including glasses and his hair tied back), Jimmy Hart, Zybyszko, Doug Dillinger, & Nick Patrick.
Theres some guy with WCW who from my seats kinda looks like HBK (some little kids even said it was him).
DARK MATCHES:
- Franky (Lenny?) Lane defeated by some jobber whose name couldn't be heard over the sound system, ECW chants less than a minute into this match., when it was over a "Refund" sign was flashed.
- Disco Inferno defeats Jacqueline
  - Disco has a death wish, he comes out in a NY Rangers jersey, NOT A GOOD IDEA!!! Crowd hates Disco, seems to be into Jackie though Disco gets the pin with what looked like a Stunner!!! Out comes Harlem Heat, down goes Disco. Harlem beats up Disco for a bit then carries Jackie back to the dressing room.
  - Note during this match trash was already being trown into the ring at Disco.
Out comes Wildcat Willie to get us psyched for Nitro, instead we get psyched to throw stuff at him and we do.
Rey Misterio Jr & Lord Steven Regal vs. Eddie Guerrero & Dean Malenko
- Yes, you read right. Rey got the roll up pin but was hurt after the match. "Eddie sucks" and "Deport Eddie" chants less than two minutes in to the match.
Nitro Girls, this is one very, ....uh,.... ambitious crowd tonight.
I don't know what you at home were watching, but when Raven showed up, no one was looking at the ring. After they take their seats, several nWo dweebs are giving the "Flock" a bunch of "fertilizer" and I'm waiting for some one to get their butt kicked. Kidman gets up and gives them a few words, and Stevie Richards is, well, Stevie Richards laughing and smiling, and flashing "Yay!" and "Boo!" signs at the crowd. Raven just sits there like a zombie ((wow that was an unexspected reaction from him,....not))
The smoke is choking in here!!!!
BEST moment of the night while trying to get pictures of Raven, I see Stevie Richards trying to get the attention of the Cotton Candy vendor, after he gave up, I flagged the vendor down and told him that I wanted to buy Stevie Richards some cotton candy the guy tells me OK and that I should stand up when he points to me. I did, but just as the guy points to me, everyone jumps up for Ric Flair. Nuts! I tried yelling to him but a staff member told me to go get in my seat. JERK!!!!!!!
Outside, I saw Curt Hennig & Bill Goldberg leaving together, Nitro Girls leaving, (I think) Alex Wright leaving, and the bloddy Steiner coming back from the hospital, (in case you didn't see, the boy had some BLOOD on him after the P.E. match. The Nitro Girls didn't sign autographs but waved and were nice, Goldberg signed a few and Hennig (big surprise) ignored us.
The show its self was pretty lame but the experience was GREAT!! Harley C. sends this arena report:
- Dark matches:
  - Lenny Lane lost to Chavo Guerrero Sr., yes Sr., after a moonsault.
    - Chavo is so old, he makes Flair look like Jericho.
  - Disco Inferno (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah) beat Jackie with the Chartbusterstunnerwhatever.
    - A LOT different from Havoc - Disco actually fought her
    - A lot of pushing by Disco
    - Jackie nailed a DDT and a flying cross body block
    - Run in and mudhole stomping by Harlem Heat after the match
- I dont know if you could hear, but there were many LOUD ECW chants, basically anytime an ECW guy came out or if something cool happened.
- Lee Marshall doesnt call in from anywhere. I saw him before the card and asked him how he called from somewhere else if he was here. He said he was going to call from my house. I told him if he comes in my neighborhood, I'll beat him up. He got all upset and walked away quickly.
- Loud "Lets go Flyers" chant
- Loudest pop: Flair, by a mile. Side note: I wooed so hard my throat hurt.
- Best Signs:
  - "DDP I did your wife"
  - "Bischoff raped my dog"
  - "I hate Michael Buffer"
- Another side note - Dillinger took my Sonny Onoo fears Mr. Fuji sign-said it was racist. Yeah, like their whole angle with him isn't.
- No one liked it when I threw a box of toothpicks in the air when Hall came out.
- I don't know if you saw on TV, but Rick Steiner was completely busted open after the table thing. I couldn't see exactly what happened from my seats, but Scotty looked REALLY (legit) angry and threw the pieces of the table back in the ring.
- Not much happened after cameras went off. Flair and Luger just kind of stared each other down.
- Crowd was real upset at the end - loud boos when Penzer told us to drive safely.
- Last note - if by chance I win the Nitro party, I will beat the living bejeezus out of Wildcat Willy if he comes to my house.
- The funniest thing of the night was when two fans started fighting. Rather than punch, they tried to do moves on each other. One guy tried a diamond cutter (bang) and he fell down the stairs.
Back to DDT Digest

WCW Monday Night Nitro - Monday, 11/03/97

By Creed from Creed's Wrestling Page

Back to DDT Digest