WCW Monday Nitro - Monday, 12/08/97

• Trivia Question: What current WCW star was managed for one match by Tonya Harding at an event in Portland, Oregon in June of 1994?
• Chris Jericho just opened his own home page at http://www.chrisjericho.com/
• The mailbag:
  
  
  • From James Thornsberry:

    I was just wondering, have you ever seen Alex Wright and Vanilla Ice in the same place at the same time?

  • From Joe Gagne at Holy Cross College in Worcester, MA:

    After continually playing WCW vs. NWO World Tour for the NTS, some observations:

    --The graphics for the game are impressive, except that Flair looks like a mutant and DDP is really fat.

    --Whoever programmed the moves did a bang up job. For the Ultimo Dragon, there's everything you'd expect: tiger suplex, running powerbomb, moonsault, Asai moonsault, Dragon Sleeper. Except they gave Scott Hall a Niagra Driver instead of the Outsider Edge.

    --Eric Bischoff is in the game. As a wrestler. Yes, you can be Eric Bischoff. He doesn't have much offense, just armbars and what-not. Whenever I fight him, he kicks me in the nuts repeatedly. That figures. Still, there's nothing more satisfying than having Chris Benoit pin a bloody Bischoff after a powerbomb :)
    [Editor's Note: The Eric Bischoff character was a last-minute replacement for Jeff Jarrett.]

    --Ditto for Glacier.

    --You can go out into the audience and get a variety of weapons, like a table part, chair, bat, etc. Does this game take place in the ECW arena? But when your wrestler goes to grab a weapon, sometimes there isn't one, and the wrestler just shrugs his shoulders. Pretty funny.

    --Ric Flair's "power" move: He gives the opponent a chop, he gets chopped, does the Flair flop, begs on his knees, then suckers the guy in and gives him a thumb to the eye.

    --It's fun to change the wrestler's attire, so you can have the surfer Sting or Luger in "All American" gear. Is that legal?

    --Letdowns: No entrance music or Nitro references. But still an overwhelming thumbs up.

• I was watching WCWSN on 12/6 and I've got to tell you, La Parka has, by far, the best ring entrance in all of wrestling. If you have the tape, go back and check it out again, it's about 20 minutes into the show. If you haven't read it already, you can read Creed's description.
• 35,000 feet in the air, and I can't escape it. The in-flight newsreel had a feature on Michael Buffer. I missed the first half of it fumbling with my headphones and knocking my laptop to the floor. The only thing tangible I got out of the second half of it was that he trademarked the phrase eight years ago. One of the clips had DDP stompin' a mudhole in Randy Savage and the clip ended with the nWo first team music. So, if anyone else is flying United Airlines in the next couple days and sees the entire segment, please let me know what I missed.
• As for that 12/13 Bret Hart autograph session I mentioned last week, I got a message that it has been canceled.
• A number of people let me know that Billy Idol On Steroids goes by the name Skank and he is from the WCW Power Plant.
• A number of people also let me know that the old lady at ringside at last week's Nitro is a Knoxville wrestling mainstay. She always has the same seat and the promoters always send her a free ticket.
• Robyn from League City, TX wrote me with an interesting theory. The Zbyszko/Bischoff angle may be a set up for Larry's long-rumored nWo turn. I have another theory about the Zbyszko match. I think that is where the whole Nick Patrick turning back to the nWo is going to come into play. I doubt they would have a Nick Patrick screwjob for the main event of Starrcade as everyone would feel really ripped off.
• John Pabst noted that Buff Bagwell came out to the nWo first team music last week. Could have been a mistake or it could be a "promotion" of Bagwell into Syxx's role.
• I just got confirmation that I do have Starrcade tickets, so Chan and Charlie will be doing the official DDT Digest Starrcade report. I am only going to be doing an arena report. I wasn't real happy with the play-by-play I did from inside the arena at Halloween Havoc and Starrcade's too important to not have someone doing a great job with the report. However, since I won't be home until real late that night, don't expect their report, nor mine, until sometime on Monday the 29th.
• And, now, on to the show...

• Dark Match: Juventud Guerrera defeated Johnny Swinger.
• Ray Traylor pinned Konnan after the lights went out and Konnan was flat on his back, unconcious, in the middle of the ring when they came back on.
  • Sign: "Defile 3:16". Huh?
  • After chasing Konnan outside the ring for a while, Traylor gets the early advantage.
  • Announcers talking about Starrcade being the biggest match in Hogan's and Sting's careers. I dunno, definitely Sting's biggest match, but I think Hogan/Andre at Wrestlemania III was bigger.
  • Partway through the match, the lights flicker and go out. Funny...the announcers' microphones still have power.
  • Lights come back on, and Konnan is flat on his back, out like Ellen DeGeneres.
  • Ray looks confused, puts his foot on Konnan's chest, and gets the pin.
• Replay of the beating DDP got last week.
• Steve "Mongo" McMichael pinned Barbarian following a Tombstone Piledriver that came out of nowhere.
  • Tenay admits that even though the announcers had a good time laughing last week, the nWo must have a plan for the Zbyszko/Bischoff match. What's next, Iron Mike, you gonna' tell us the sun's going to rise in the east tomorrow?
  • Cameras cut to Raven's Flock for a mercifully short period of time. Then, again, things could be worse, the cameras and announcers could be focused on the match.
  • Meng rushes the ring after the match and it's Goozle time for Mongo.
  • I really wish the announcers would stop calling Mongo "McMichaels".
• Okerlund calls Disco Inferno out for an interview. Disco Inferno comes out all flustered. Okerlund: "The guys in the back...when you go to the restroom, they don't know which door you're going to come out of." Disco's ticked. If anyone has anything to say, they should say it to his face.
  • This angle's really starting to bug me. Aside from the fact that Disco Inferno is a great worker, in the all of 20 seconds I spent with Disco Inferno, he seemed to be a genuinely nice guy.
• Just to keep everyone informed, Hogan will be facing Sting at Starrcade. Just in case you've missed the promos.
• Return from commercial, Bagwell comes out unannounced and gets in Okerlund's face and challenges Luger for tonight. Buff: "You know why he can't beat me? Because I'm buffed and I'm in Buffalo!" Hah!
• "The Iceman" Dean Malenko made Prince Iaukea submit to the Texas Cloverleaf.
  • OK, I bite. How come Iaukea got to come out second?
  • This is a teacher vs. student match. Malenko trained Iaukea.
  • Eddie Guerrero joined the announcing team for this match.
  • See saw battle between the two combatants.
  • Eddie: "Imagine going to the movies with this guy...Hey, Dean, what movie would you like to see? 'Uh, I dunno'"
• First appearance of the Nitro Girls.
• In the crowd, Jim Kelly and Bruce Smith.
• Black-and-white promo by Kevin Nash challenging Giant for Starrcade.
• Back in the ring, Okerlund introduces the Giant. Giant accepts the challenge.
  • Sign: "All I want for Christmas is my boss chokeslammed"
• More Nitro Girls. Gosh, almighty, Spice is such a babe.
• Announcers are talking like Giant and Nash haven't been fighting each other all over the country for the last few months. Uh, this match is not a first-time one-on-one encounter.
• "Crippler" Chris Benoit absolutely destroyed Lodi (Skank) making him submit to the Crippler Crossface in a complete squash. Man, it was a human sacrifice.
  • Wow, someone has a nice charcoal drawing of the original Four Horsemen. Nice to see that I'm not the only one who remembers Ole Anderson.
  • Benoit was supposed to face Raven. This is one super-long buildup to a Benoit/Raven match at Starrcade.
  • Skank's name is Lodi, I guess.
  • Lodi looks like Phil Collins in the face.
  • Benoit doesn't let Lodi get a single move in the entire time. Just destroying Skank, I mean Lodi. Reverse knife edges that they heard in Troy, NY.
  • After the match Benoit grabs the mic, "Quoth the Crippler, nevermore! Raven, get your wanna-be, egotistical rear-end out here! You say you had abuse in your childhood? Come to the ring and face the Crippler for some abuse!"
    • Wow, first good interview Benoit has ever given. And it was a good one.
  • The Flock doesn't rush the ring after the match, as they are completely lost without Raven, who is absent this evening.
• Okerlund interviews Ric Flair. Flair challenges Hennig to a cage match at Starrcade. Okerlund asks Flair about Bret Hart joining the nWo. Nice lack of segway, Scheme Gene. Flair has no patience for Bret Hart and says "the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be" is standing in the ring. You think Flair means Okerlund? Then Flair says that comparisons between Bret Hart and himself are like comparing John Elway to Jim Kelly. Whooo!!
• "The Laughing Man" Hugh Morrus defeated Randy "Macho Man" Savage via DQ when Savage attacked the referee, I guess.
  • Before the match, Savage knocks Jim Kelly's hat off. Kelly and Bruce Smith grab Savage and start giving him really lame forearm shots. Morrus grabs Savage and pulls him into the ring.
    • Great, more encouragement for people to jump the railing.
  • Morrus gets the early advantage, but misses an elbow from the top rope and gives Savage the opening.
  • Savage could pin Morrus after the first big elbowdrop but pulls Morrus up to deliver another. Savage pulls Morrus up a second time, knocks out the referee, and starts to go up again. Lights go out, you hear electricity crackling (must be High Voltage), and you can see some action in the ring due to a strobe effect. Lights come back on, and Savage is out, flat on his back, with a Sting mask on his face.
  • Now, I'm no wrestler, but if I were Savage, after what happened to Konnan, I'd have come out with a few reenforcements for this match.
• Bischoff and Ric Rude rush the announcers' booth. They say that if the lights go out again, the announcers are gonna get a beating as they are WCW and WCW controls the lights. Rude then goes up and forces the announcers hands into the "See no hear, hear no evil, speak no evil" positions. Pretty embarassing.
• Disco Inferno pins Saturn following the Chartbuster to regain the WCW World Television Championship. YES!!!!!!
  • Disco Inferno gets the early advantage, the advantage see saws, and then outside the ring. Saturn gets back body dropped into the Flock.
  • The Chartbuster comes out of nowhere, and it's a clean job.
  • The Flock rush the ring after the match, and Disco makes like a banana and splits.
  • Wow, jobbing a title is a long way to go just to show how the Flock is lost without Raven's leadership.
  • Disco Fever, Disco Fever, Disco Fever, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!!!
• Another lame Nitro Party video.
• More Nitro Girls. No nipple, but you do get to see a little of the sport bra on the tall blonde.
• Buff Bagwell defeated "The Total Package" Lex Luger via countout when Luger was too busy beating up Vincent and jawing with Norton outside the ring.
  • Luger does his pec wiggle on the way to the ring. Man, if I could do that, I'd go to work with no shirt on everyday and just do that all day long. Imagine coming into my office and seeing me sitting behind my desk doing that...
  • The announcers talk about how quickly they'll be out of there if the lights go out again. More or less a contest to see which of the three of them is the biggest pansy.
  • Many impromptu posing contests during the match. Luger does the pec wiggle again.
  • This match sets a record for how many times Bagwell posed during the match.
  • Norton comes sauntering to the ring during the match even though Vincent is already at ringside.
  • More fuel for the upcoming Nick Patrick nWo turn. Even though his decision was technically correct, it was pretty lame.
• Another new black-and-white Sting promo with eerie music and no voiceover. Not bad.
• "Diamond" Dallas Page defeated Scott Hall via DQ when the nWo rushed the ring.
  • Sign: "Hire me, I'll do the job"
  • Schiavone going on and on about being sick of being threatened.
  • Hall takes his survey. "Survey says, one more for the good guys".
  • Page got ripped off on his way out...there was no big fireworks boom when he and Kimberly did the Diamond Cutter symbol.
  • Somebody in the crowd held up a big Undertaker cut out right in the middle of the camera view.
  • Jim Kelly, in the crowd, gives the Diamond Cutter symbol before the match.
  • Even though they are such goofballs outside the ring, one thing I've got to give to Nash and Hall is the really pissed off look they get on their faces during a match.
  • Lots of punching and kicking to start the match. Some vicious clotheslines going both ways.
  • Wow! A top rope bulldog from Hall...just like how the Steiners pinned him for the World Tag Titles.
  • Why is DDP always wearing jeans for his matches?
  • Hall does the abdominal stretch with grabbing the top rope for leverage out of the referee's line of vision.
  • Announcers note that if Zbyszko beats Bischoff, he gets a match against Hall at a future PPV.
  • Pancake by DDP, set up for the Diamond Cutter, and...
  • The nWo rushes the ring.
  • DDP takes a beating and eventually eats an Outsider Edge.
  • Garbage comes flying into the ring.
  • A Sting dummy comes plummetting from the ceiling, through the canvas again. Randy Anderson stares for a long time into the hole in the canvas. I can see what's coming here.
  • Hogan prattles on calling Sting a "dummy" and says Sting is in hiding.
  • Hogan has the nWo pull the "dummy" out of the hole so he can beat it some more and they hang it over the ropes.
  • Hogan pulls the mask off the "dummy" and, SURPRISE, it's Sting. Way too telegraphed.
  • Sting starts cleaning house and gives Hall a Scorpion Death Drop. Hogan is outside the ring wondering what to do as we fade to black.

I did not have great seats at Nitro, but I will tell you this. When Chris Benoit hit Billy Idol, we could hear it loud and clear in the UPPER DECK! That had to smart just a little!
Sting and DDP picked up the dummy and waved bye-bye to the croud with the dummy's hands and then Sting got on the second turnbuckle and gave the old Sting holler...HUGE POP! Sting and DDP both walked over to Kelly and Smith, hugs all around, very nice.
They also announced a charity that Jim Kelly is hosting selling candles to benefit research for a disease that his son has, he is terminally ill.

• Trivia Answer: Eddy Guerrero
• See you for Nitro again next week.