House Show Results from Spokane, WA, Thursday, September 18th

Josh H. sends the following results from a WCW House Show in Spokane, WA:

Between 5000 and 7000 people were on hand, and the crowd was very into the night as this was the first wrestling card in Spokane in God only knows how long. They were very vocal and there were a bunch of signs in the audience. The sign of the night was a large folding sign that said "Savage sucks, Liz blows".
The setup was a bit different. There was a large house screen to one side, and they were running a live in house feed. This made it real nice for me, as I was about 20 rows back on the floor and couldn't see much action outside the ring. It was very helpful to have that screen there, especially during the Savage/Page match which mostly occurred on the floor.
All of the wrestlers were a bit slow and looked tired during the show. I think that this was due to 1) a 7 or 8 hour flight to get there, 2) a 7:30 Pacific start time is really a 10:30 start time as they had just flew in from back east, and 3) they were all a bit nervous about Friday's "Battle in Seattle", the WCW's first house show there in over five years.
A quick question. Does anyone know if the wrestlers do anything to improve their spit? I notice that when someone got clocked hard in the matches, they spit, but it really sprayed when they did it. Some wrestlers (like Konan and Scott Steiner) were able to do this multiple time during their matches. Just wondering.
Also, has anyone noticed how the refs kind of act out the matches and really overdo the motions on Nitro? This is because they have to at house shows. There is no way that you can hear anything that the wrestlers or ref says unless they grab a mic due to the crowd and the distance. So they overdo everything so the people in the far rows can see it. Even the wrestlers do it to help get the crowd into the matches.
On a side note, now one came out with their managers, except Hall and Nash who came out with Syxx.
Now, on with the show.
It started at 7:32. Not bad for a 7:30 start time.
Dave Penzer asked everyone not to throw anything into the ring because there were lots of children present in the first 10 rows. This is a very valid reason, as when people did start throwing stuff, most of it went sailing over or across the ring into the seats on the other side.
Eddie Guerrero over Dean Malenko in a non title match.
- This was the best match of the night, without a doubt. While slower than they have done in the past with each other, it was still great and the match lasted between 25 and 30 minutes.
- Eddie grabbed a mic and said that he wanted to show everyone how he wasn't duch a bad guy. So he would make it a title match if JJ Dillion agreed (isn't he supposedly in the hospital and Piper is the Acting Comish?) and if Malenko would shake his hand and forgive him for everything he did.
- Eddie attacked before Malenko could shake.
- Two "Eddie Sucks" chants during the match.
- In an absolutely beautiful, and perfectly executed spot, Malenko went for a powerbomb. But Eddie flipped over Malenko's head and down his back, hitting with a sunset flip for a 2 count. It was very fluidly done by both men. You have to see them do this sometime.
- At one point, Malenko was pressing an advantage and Eddie, on his knees, grabbed the ref (Mark Curtis) to back Malenko off. Curtis kicked Eddie off and started to a different corner, but Eddie started following him on his knees. He ended up chasing Curtis half way around the ring on his knees.
- In another nicely done spot, Eddie was down in the corner and Malenko was talking to Curtis with his back towards Eddie. Eddie got up and went to hit Malenko with a Ax handle chop in the back, but just as he was swinging down with it, Malenko turned around. So Eddie followed through by dropping to his knees and pulling in his arms into a begging position.
- Eddie was working on Malenko's knee for most of the night, including a nice bit where he picked Malenko up and set him in the corner in a Tree of Woe. Then he hit with two dropkicks right to the knee with very nice contact on both of them.
- Eddie won it with a rollup in the corner and his feet on the top buckle for leverage.
The Ultimo Dragon over Alex Wright in a non title match (and the shortest match I have ever seen in my life!)
- Wright comes out dancing to boos. Then Dragon comes out to a huge pop. So Wright grabs a mic and starts going off on a spill. He says that he is the TV Champion and so he wants to do a second entrance so the fans can give him the respect he deserves. Then he walks back to the curtain and just stands there until they start playing his music again, and then he does his entrance to even more boos than the first time.
- By the time Wright is back in the ring, he has just wasted 5 to 7 minutes going through all this, and that really pissed off the crowd.
- Wright attacks the Dragon while he is disrobing and whips him to the ropes. The Dragon reverses it and hits a drop toe hold. Then the Dragon does that rollup of his, wrapping up Wright's arm in his leg and rolling over the top, and gets a three count about 20 seconds into the match! I am not joking.
- If I had blinked, I would have missed the whole match.
- That ending got the biggest pop of the night because Wright had really pissed everyone off, and they loved to see him humiliated like that. Even a squash has more action, but the set up for it was perfectly done by Wright.
  - Seriously though, I wonder if one of them was hurt or something, calling for a quick booking change. I find it hard to believe that the WCW would book something like this at a house show (or either wrestler doing it), unless they had to.
  - If not and Alex just did the job like that, I have to give him a lot of credit. It takes guts to do that, and he really did a great job setting it up.
Rey Misterio, Jr over Konan in a No DQ "Grudge" match
- This match was really slow for these two. Both men did do a great job of selling each other through the whole match though and it lasted about 20 minutes.
- Near the beginnig, Konan brought in a chair. They chair stayed in the ring being used by both men until Mark Curtis put it outside the ring near the very end.
- In a very funny spot, Konan was outside the ring and he grabbed a beer from a fan. Then he jumped up on the apron and started drinking it as Misterio hit him with a dropkick. This sent the beer (he even spit our what was in his mouth), cup, and Konan flying.
- At one point, Misterio hit Konan with a standing Moonsault and covered for a two count. Then he grabbed the chair and climbed up it, hitting another Moonsault from the chair for another two count.
- Misterio won it with his Hurricarana Rollup, although it was very weakly done and he only hooked one leg.
Curt Hennig over Jeff Jarrett to retain the US title.
- This was the worst match of the night. It went 10 minutes with nothing much but rest holds and very little crowd reaction.
- Contary to what I have seen on the 'Net, Hennig is not the least bit fat. He might not have the sculpted look of Scott Steiner or Lex Luger, but fat, no.
- Hennig was not wearing the nWo singlet that he did on Nitro, but he did come out with a nWo shirt on.
- Hennig won it when JJ went for the figure four and Hennig kicked him off into the corner and into the Fishermanbuster.
Steiners over Harlem Heat.
- This was one of the better matches of the night and went 15 to 20 minutes.
- Harlem Heat did a good job of heckling the crowd and were definitely heels in the match.
- The fans were really into the match and really loved the Steiners. Lots of "Woof, woof, woofs" for Rick all throughout the match.
- Not as many suplexes in this match as one would expect. Only one from each Steiner and one from Booker T.
- Rick took his usual beating for much of the mat before tagging out to Scott who cleaned house.
- A very nice spot to end of the match. Scott rolled Booker T up in a small package. But the ref was distracted by Rick Steiner, who was in the ring in a corner, so Stevie Ray pulled the small package over with Booker T on top. Then the ref turned around (towards the fans so he didn't see the rollup) to see Stevie climbing the rope with his hands up in victory, so he went over to get him off and out of the ring. So then Rick pulled the small package back over with Scott on top and grabbed the ref for the three count while Stevie Ray was still up and heckling the fans.
Randy Savage over Diamond Dallas Page in a Death match (No DQ, no countouts, only a ten count wins it.)
- DDP got a huge pop and lots of Diamond Cutter hand signs from the audience.
- Nothing technical here, just a very nicely done brawl with most of the action outside the ring.
- Savage slipped out of a Diamond Cutter early in the match.
- DDP sprang over the top rope onto Savage on the outside in a kind of Suiside Dive without a run up.
- I missed a bit of this match putting film into my camera.
- Savage won it when DDP somehow got smacked below the belt (I missed it so I am not sure exactly what happened) and couldn't get up before the 10 count.
- DDP sold the blow all the way back to the dressing room
  - He also looked very pissed and didn't play up the crowd afterwards. I think he accidently took some or all of the blow and was really hurting.
Lex Luger/the Giant and Hall/Nash with Syxx wrestle to a no contest when referee Nick Patrick decided that the match had gotten out of control.
- The Giant is huge. You really have to see him in person to understand just how big he is.
- Hall and Nash came out second and not to nWo music. Does anyone know if they do this often, or do I see the wolfpack splitting from the nWo soon?
- Nash hit the Giant with his belt to start the match, so the Giant was slumped done in his corner (in the ring, incidently) for almost the enitre match.
- Nash did very little work (if you can call it that) during the match.
  - I would guess that he was very drunk tonight.
- At one point, Nash tagged in Syxx and Nick Patrick allowed it.
  - Syxx actually did more/better work than Nash did in this little bit. Nash should be embaressed.
- Luger took a beating for the entire match until Hall stomped the Giant a couple of times, waking him up.
- The Giant did the flip from laying down to standing up with some help from the ropes. It is really impressive to see a man of his size do this.
- In another really nice spot, the Giant whipped Nash into the corner, then whipped Hall into Nash, and then Syxx into both of them. Then he Stinger Splashed all three of them in the corner. It was funny to see.
- Nick Patrick called the match just before Luger racked Hall and the Giant Chokeslammed Syxx. Then Luger racked Nash for good measure.
  - I see Nash's hand in this booking. The crowd was not happy at all with the way it ended.
- Syxx really sold the chokeslam and wouldn'Òt get up at all.
- Nash declared Spokane nWo country as the fans started to throw stuff into the ring. No one had any aim whatsoever and all they did was hit the fans on the other side of the ring. I also saw many people in nWo shirts throwing stuff at them. As I said, the ending really pissed everyone off.

House Show Results from Spokane, WA, Thursday, September 18th

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