WCW Monday Nitro - Monday, 12/15/97

By Bill

Trivia Question: Which WCW star is a dentist? Hint: It's not Dr. Isaac E. Yankem :-)
As for last week's trivia question, a number of people wrote me to correct it, saying that Tonya Harding escorted Art Barr to the ring. I will have to take your word on it, as the information I had was not firsthand. The book I got it from said that Harding escorted both Barr and Eddie Guerrero to the ring.
The mailbag:
- From Mark Dicus in Rockville, MD on the subject of Chris Benoit:
  ...am I the only one who sees Benoit repeating himself?
  It seems to me that Benoit having to fight flock members to get to Raven is an exact repeat of his path through the Dungeon of Doom to get to Kevin Sullivan. I guess we'll know for sure if Benoit and Raven end up in the bathrooms at Starrcade.
- From Dave Blazina:
  I agree with your comment about Hall and Nash's ability looking angry in the ring, Nash can look pretty damned intimidating when he wants to.
  I am officially frightened of Perry Saturn. I crouch behind the sofa and peer nervously over the top at the television during his matches.
- Here is a fascinating tidbit from Brad in Australia:
  In PWI's top 500 of 1993, number 384 was Disco Inferno. It goes on to say "Entered USWA claiming to be the 'intergender champ' (shades of Andy Kaufman), but has usually lost to Miss Texas". Seeing as Miss Texas and Jacqueline are one in the same, so perhaps Disco's jobbing to Jacqueline is nothing new? (The only thing against this is that it lists his stats as 5'8", 187 - then again, maybe he's grown a bit?)
- Doug Palmer from University of Western Florida sends in the following obituary. The obituary is sad enough in and of itself, but it's also sad that it takes a guy like Rip Tyler to die before he, or the sport, get some positive press:
  
  Tyler was 'Confidant', Friend to many people
  
  by Gordon Paulus, News Journal Sports Editor
  
  Pensacola News Journal, 12/5/97
  
  In the ring, pro wrestler Rip Tyler was a "bad guy". But not out of the ring.
  Tyler, whose real name is Wallace Dean Vaughn, died Wednesday. He was 57.
  He wrestled in Pensacola and surrounding areas in the 1960's and 1970's.
  "He was one of those wrestlers all the fans loved to hate", said Joan Griffin of Pensacola, who was his fan club president in the 1960's. "He was mean as a devil inside the ring, but gentle as a lamb outside it. He was my best friend in the whole wide world".
  Retired wrestler Terry Lathan of Mobile said Tyler is one of the top ten wrestlers of all time.
  "When I first started wrestling, he taught me the ropes", Lathan said. "That big leg drop that Hulk Hogan (New World Order) uses, he got it from Rip Tyler".
  When Tyler and other local wrestlers were returning from out-of-town matches, they would often stop by Jean Barker's house in Pensacola after midnight for coffee.
  Her daughter, Kathy, wrestled with Tyler, under the name of Kathy Masters.
  "Rip was my confidant", Jean Barker said. "We all just looked up to Rip. He was like the brother I never had. It didn't matter if you had a dime or a hundred million dollars, Rip looked at our heart. That's the kind of guy he was".
  Vaughn lived in Flomation, Al for the last five years with his wife, Ann. He had two daughters.
  He was a former member of St. Mark United Methodist Church in Pensacola.
  He was a board member of the Gulf Coast Wrestling Reunion and a former coach with the Brent Baseball Senior League.
  The funeral will be at 1 p.m. today at Harper-Morris Memorial Chapel in Pensacola and burial will be at Pensacola Memorial Gardens.
- From Mookie at Fredonia:
  Since you said something about fans being encouraged to jump in the ring by seeing stuff like Jim Kelly and Bruce Smith get involved from the crowd, I wanted to tell you this:
  During the break before the Hall-Page match, after Hall did his little survey, a fan jumped the railing and entered the ring. He started jumping around like a moron, 'til Randy Anderson spotted him. Anderson dismantled the guy, landing two punches before wrestling him to the ground. Security then grabbed him.
- Mookie later sent the following (before you jump to conclusions about Rude being a bully, keep in mind who was arrested for assault):
  Evidently Rick Rude got in some trouble after the card on Monday...Here's a transcript of a news story from the local NBC affiliate.
  Anchor: "Another sports story tonight you'll hear only on channel 2. World Championship Wrestling. About 19,000 fans jammed into Marine Midland Arena monday night, for a match, but they missed the real action. Wrestler Ravishing Rick Rude is charged after a bar fight at the Amherst Marriott. James Calder of Amherst says he's got a black eye, chipped teeth, and bruised ribs, after Rude and other wrestlers blocked his path in front of the bar."
  Calder: "They thought it was going to be a game I guess, playing pinball with me or something, and I said, 'OK, musclemen'. And when I said that somebody grabbed me from behind, turned me around, spit in my face, and started punching me."
  Anchor: "Calder faces second degree assault charges. Rick Rude is charged for resisting arrest. He could not be reached for comment. Both men are scheduled to be back in court on Tuesday."
  During the piece, they showed a crowd shot from Nitro, and some old WWF footage of Rude wrestling, against Jimmy Snuka of all people. Also, they had close ups of that guy's bruises. The whole thing took about 30 seconds to air.
  I was hoping that The Buffalo News would have an article about it, but they didn't.
For whatever it's worth, it's likely won't be traveling for the next couple of months, last week being my final week in Arizona. As a result, I should be covering Nitro on a regular basis. As for Thursday Thunder and the rumored cancellation of {Pro} and Main Event, I'll be doing the appropriate shuffling of my guest reporters.
As for the reason DDP is wearing jeans to the ring, a number of people let me know it's the same reason Saturn is wearing jeans to the ring...to hide the knee brace.
A number of people pointed out that "Lodi" is "Idol" spelled backwards. Finneymer suggested that it might be the start of a trend and that they'll rename Elizabeth after a city in Oklahoma. (Think about it...)
I don't know how if you saw WCWSN or not, but I was kind of let down by Goldberg's interview. He was articulate and intelligent, and I was disappointed for that reason. I liked him better as a silent bad-ass. My guess is that rather than turn him into a Perry Saturn, they are turning him into a Steve Austin.
I've gotten a report that Jesse Ventura was spotted in the CNN towers. Jesse as an nWo announcer? We'll see.
Jason Kwak pointed out that both Tony S. and Iron Mike had to cover their faces during last week's "Hear no evil..." sequence because they were laughing so hard.
Todd Coulombe was at Nitro last week and said that after they went off the air, Hogan had to be coaxed into the ring, and Sting blocked all Hogan's punches and Hogan eventually took off.
If you haven't gone there lately, you really should check out the interviews, and other stuff, at Off The Top Rope. Mike-B has got some great exclusive interviews with people like Hack Myers and Snot Dudley. I especially liked the one with Snot Dudley, because it gives a great insight into what it's like trying to build a career as a professional wrestler.
A number of people let me know that it was not Juventud Guerrera that one of my readers saw on RAW, just a guy who looks like him and dresses like him.
And, now, on to the show...

Dark Match: The American Patriots (Todd Champion and Firebreaker Chip) defeated the Samoan Swat Team (Tonga Kid and Samu).
The show opens with a graphic dedicating the show to all law enforcement officers who have given their lives in the line of duty.
We are live from Horsemen Country, Charlotte, NC! And Bret Hart is here, tonight. No way Bret is going nWo, imho.
As the announcers are doing their introductions, the nWo first team music plays, and the nWo appears. And even Chono is with them. As they get to the ring, they look under the ring and Vincent has binoculars and is on the lookout for Sting in the rafters. Bischoff starts off by introducing Chono who says something in Japanese (how about a translation from someone?). Hennig gets introduced next. Hennig says he is going to retire Ric Flair at Starrcade. Next, to fill up the three hours with anything but wrestling, Hogan calls Sting a coward. Bischoff looks awfully distracted during Hogan's monologue. After listening to the nWo, we go to the commercial.
- Sign: "Party At Flair's House"
- Sign: "Hogan Sucks". Simple, yet effective.
- After the bit, an nWo black-and-white nWo commercial with clips of Zbyszko getting beaten up in fast motion. Reminded me of watching the Munsters.
- Coming back from commercial, another nWo black-and-white commercial making fun of the Steiners.
A replay of Ric Flair trashing Bret Hart and "inviting" Bret Hart to Charlotte.
Ray Traylor pinned Vincent following the Traylor Trash.
- The guy with the "FLAIRFAN" North Carolina license plate is in the crowd.
- Okay, we spend all that time listening to the nWo, and then the next thing I see is Vincent coming down the aisle. Looks like it's going to be a long three hours.
- The announcers talk about the Steiners saving Ray Traylor's bacon on WCWSN. Yep, there is going to be a six-man tag match at Starrcade.
- Here comes the Freak Show, uh, I mean Raven's Flock, through the crowd.
- According to Mike Tenay, Ray himself calls his finisher "Traylor Trash".
Montage of clips of Giant and Nash promoting Starrcade.
Nitro Girls, dancing around the announcers' booth.
WCW World Television Champion Disco Inferno pinned Yuji Nagata following a Chartbuster. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah...
- Larry Z., in railing on about the nWo, talks about how the Charlotte Coliseum was built on the blood, sweat, and tears of men with tradition, such as Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Arn Anderson, Magnum TA... Nice that he mentioned Magnum.
- Sonny Onoo tries to interfere and gets a Chartbuster over the top rope for his trouble. Nagata gets hit with a Hot Shot (for you Eddie Gilbert fans), a Chartbuster, and it's over.
Dave "Not-So-Fit" Finley pinned "The Iceman" Dean Malenko following a reverse piledriver.
- Eddie Guerrero once again joins the announcing crew for a Malenko match. Iceman gives Eddie a long stare on the way to the ring.
- Ouch, that looked like a stiff kick by Finley on the side of Malenko's head.
- Eddie once again makes fun of how dull Dean Malenko is. Guerrero: "The only respect I have for Malenko is that he can keep a straight face when someone tells a joke".
- Eddie goes to the ring toward the end of the match. He gets up on the apron and takes a shot in the mouth from Malenko. That sets Malenko up for a Pearl Harbor job from Finley and the finish.
- The nWo Piper commercial is shown before going to commercial. Gee, think Piper's coming back for Starrcade?
Rey Misterio, Jr. and Juventud Guerrera defeated Psychosis and La Parka when Juventud Guerrera pinned Psychosis after a 450 splash.
- La Parka only does the air guitar on the way to the ring, not his entire entrance. And it loses something when it's done to Psychosis' music.
- I really hope this is the beginning of a push for Guerrera.
- Psychosis is wearing the new, smaller mask again. I liked the big buffalo head better. On the bright side, he's got a lot of tattoos. Plus, the normally white part of La Parka's outfit is yellow. Looks like Pepé peed on it.
- The evil luchadores cut the ring in half and Guerrera takes an early beating.
- Misterio's tights look like long underwear.
- Great lucha libre moves during this match, with some great camerawork.
- More great moves and near falls...I can't even name them.
- Now I feel better...La Parka does the one legged hop and gets dropkicked. Then he does the knee wobble on the apron and gets clobbered again.
- Sitting alone in my TV room, I was clapping at the end of the match. It was awesome.
Gene Okerlund in the ring with Doug Dillinger (a retired Charlotte police officer) and two Charlotte police officers. Gene Okerlund introduces Charlotte's own...ARN ANDERSON!! The roof just about comes off the place. Arn talks about how he loves Charlotte and feels at home. Anderson tells Hennig that his problems with Flair are far from over. With that, Arn introduces Ric Flair and the roof does come off the place. Ric gives a $15,000 check to the Charlotte police department for their memorial to the 22 officers that have been slain in the line of duty in the police department's history. Ric Flair wants this to be the greatest Nitro ever, so he challenges Curt Hennig for tonight, because there is no way even the entire nWo could beat up Ric Flair in Charlotte, NC. With that, Ric and Arn leave and the crowd blows the roof off again. We fade into a picture of the memorial statue.
J.J. Dillon is interview by Okerlund. Dillon says Bischoff is trying to worm out of the Starrcade match. Bischoff comes out and says he is not a wrestler and he will only wrestle if punches, kicks, and knockouts count. J.J. Dillon agrees as long as submissions count. Ummm, since when don't they? I have no idea what the point of that was, other than filling up three minutes. The Flair/Anderson spot must have gone long.
An nWo black-and-white commercial with the Sting doll getting beat up again.
Nitro Girls. Schwingggggg!!!
Scott Hall pinned "Lionheart" Chris Jericho following a Outsider Edge in quick, clean job.
- Zbyszko correctly points out that submissions always count.
- Sign: "Somebody Kill Syxx". That's a little rough.
- Hall does his survey and practically gets booed out of the building.
- Hah! A sign with "Ba-Ba-Booey 3:16" with a big drawing of Gary from the Howard Stern show. With big, huge lips, of course...
- Jericho gets the early offense, but Hall comes back.
- Boy, that is a funny face Jericho makes when he sells a move.
- Vicious chokeslam by Hall on Jericho. Hall follows it up with his Frankenstein-like imitation of the Giant.
- The announcers again mention that Hall has a title shot coming up at Slamboree. I hope it's not against Hogan.
- Before going to commercial, a runner-up Nitro Party video. About 200 college kids in a lecture hall watching it on a big screen. The high point was a bunch of cute girls doing Nitro Girls synchonization. They were a little overdressed, if you ask me...
  - Just a reminder to those of you who've told me I'm invited if you win the grand prize, I will hold you to it.
- Coming back from commercial, the nWo video of the Giant getting his giant ass kicked.
Heenan joins the announcing team and flubs his first line. "Flair wants Sting!" Weird...usually he's not this drunk until later in the show.
Mongo was supposed to wrestle Meng, Meng comes to the ring, and we're waiting for Mongo's entrance. Cut to backstage, and Goldberg is standing over a flattened Mongo. J.J. Dillon comes over and says that since Goldberg has taken out Mongo, Goldberg will have to wrestle in his place. Interesting logic. Goldberg screams "You want another victim??!!" and he storms out to the ring. In a cool sequence, a camera follows Goldberg from the backstage area to the ring. As Goldberg gets the ring, Mongo runs out to attack him. About twelve Keystone Cops have to separate them. Cut to commercial and there is no match.
- How did Mongo recover so quickly...did Goldberg use a Vulcan Nerve Pinch to knock him out?
Nitro Girls. Kimberly does a headstand on the first turnbuckle. It takes her three tries before she can get up there. Reminded me of Lex Luger trying to rack Roadblock.
WCW World Tag Team Champions The (Ein)Steiner Brothers defeated Konnan and Scott "Flash" Norton via disqualification when Vincent interfered.
- Ray Traylor made the save on the Steiners after the match.
Randy "Macho Man" Savage, with help from Elizabeth pinned Booker T. following the patented elbow from the top rope.
- A fan tries to rush the ring. Savage gives him a couple of kicks to the head and security drags him away.
  - On a somewhat related note, I read on Scoops that the Main Event at a recent WWF house show got canceled because Shawn Michaels and Hunter Hearst Helmsley turned around and went back to the dressing room as they were getting pelted with garbage on their way to the ring. You're only ruining it for yourselves, folks.
- Later, the ref takes a bump. As Booker T. goes to the top, Elizabeth grabs his leg, allowing Savage to take advantage of the situation. Savage dumps Booker T. outside, chairs him again, and rolls him in for the big elbow as Elizabeth wakes up the referee.
"Crippler" Chris Benoit made Scotty "Blackbeard" Riggs submit to the Crippler Crossface.
- Riggs jumped in the ring even though Raven was announced.
- Riggs get an early advantage via Pearl Harbor but Benoit turned that around quickly.
- Later in the match, Benoit rips the eyepatch off Riggs. Riggs is still wearing the Jake Roberts cloudy contact lens in his right eye. The lens is less cloudy than last time, which means that Riggs will at least eventually be able to ditch the patch.
- In another cool sequence, as if I was watching a martial arts match, the Crippler Crossface gets locked on out of nowhere.
- Benoit hasn't had enough, he grabs the mike, trash talks the Raven-less flock, and then jumps into them. He eventually gets thrown back in the ring and is the unlucky recipient of the Rings of Saturn.
Dillon and Okerlund are in the ring again, talking about how upset Bischoff is backstage. I guess it's time to finish the spot from earlier. Bischoff comes out and he now wants to pick the referee for his match. Dillon: "Randy Anderson". Bischoff: "Too fat, Kevin Nash". Dillon: "Scott Dickinson". Bischoff: "He's as fat as you. Syxx.". Dillon: "One of your guys, as long as I get to pick which one". Bischoff: "OK".
To which, Bret Hart comes out. Bret says he'd be honored and Bischoff is giddy. But Bret then tells Bischoff tells not to expect any help from him because "Nobody knows more than me what it's like to get screwed over by a referee". Bischoff keeps quoting $7.5 million dollars. Bret turns around to show his Hart Foundation jacket, which I would have thought would be a copyright problem. Bischoff looks confused, Bret leaves, and we cut to commercial.
Black-and-white nWo Lex Luger commercial.
Back from commercial, Okerlund is in the ring, introduces Luger, and Bagwell comes out. (And the music changes to nWo first team music.) Buff on Luger: "He hasn't beat Buff, he can't beat Buff, and he won't beat Buff". Luger comes out and comes into the ring. (What was Luger doing backstage?) Luger calls Bagwell pathetic. Luger says that when Buff came out, he went to the production truck and they said he can have as much time as he wants for a match. (Ahh, that's what he was doing.) Buff says there is no referee. To which Nick Patrick comes out. Buff says he's not warmed up, to which Luger slaps him, so...
Buff Bagwell defeated "The Total Package" Lex Luger on an over-the-top-rope DQ.
- Luger dismantles Bagwell early in the match.
- Bagwell eventually turns it around but then Luger comes back out of nowhere.
- Heenan as Luger is setting up for the Torture Rack: "He's going for the Total Package!" That ain't water in that cup he's drinking out of...
- Vincent and Norton rush the ring only to get popped by Luger. Bagwell rushes Luger only to get tossed out over the top rope, resulting in Bagwell winning via DQ.
  - Possibly more set up for Nick Patrick's second heel turn, although I read on a rumors page that the heel turn had been canceled.
  - I think the last time I saw an over-the-top DQ, it was done by Arn Anderson. That should tell you how long ago it was.
Black-and-white nWo promo ragging on Page.
"Nature Boy" Ric Flair defeated WCW U.S. Heavyweight Champion Curt Hennig via DQ when Scott Hall interfered about 15 seconds into the match.
- Hennig starts off with the microphone and prattles on aimlessly. Then he challenges anyone in the crowd to take him on. (What is he, nuts?) He then spits at the thought of the 13-time World Champion. He goes on and on, unfortunately without a script, until we go to commercial.
- A commercial for a local pawn shop. Talk about your targeted marketing. We come back, and...
- Ric Flair comes to the ring and attacks Hennig. The match goes for about fifteen seconds and Scott Hall comes in and Hennig gets DQed. The rest of the nWo rushes the ring and go to work on the bad ankle and lay a world of hurtin' on Flair.
- DDP, The Steiners, and Luger make the save on Flair. Steiners and Luger carry an injured Flair back to the dressing room.
- DDP stays in the ring and challenges Hennig. Two fans rush the ring, one doesn't make it and one gets clobbered by Randy "Shooter" Anderson.
- The nWo, finally including Hogan, comes to the ring and Page leaves through the crowd.
- Hogan challenges Sting and the lights go out. "Sting" is in the rafters with a spotlight on him.
- The lights come back on and another fan is in the ring getting the crap beat out of him by security.
- The lights go out again, come on, and Sting is standing on top of the WCW sign at the entranceway.
- Hey, Santa Claus is in the third row!
- Sting comes off the sign, starts walking to the ring, and...
- Fade to black...

Trivia Answer: Villano V. This information can be found in this month's WCW magazine. I am curious if he comes to the aid of anyone who might legitimately get a tooth knocked out.
See you for Nitro again next week.

WCW Monday Nitro - Monday, 12/15/97

By Bill

Tyler was 'Confidant', Friend to many people

by Gordon Paulus, News Journal Sports Editor

Pensacola News Journal, 12/5/97

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