This Week In The WCW
This Week In The WCW
WCW Monday Night Nitro - Monday, 01/27/97
- The show started off with Bischoff, Hall and Nash at the announcer table calling it nWo Nitro. They brought Randy Anderson out and fired him for accepting a free ticket to nWo Nitro in violation of WCW "no payola" policy. Bischoff then brought out the Steiners and stripped them of the belts which they then threw on the ground. Bischoff then supposedly suspended their pay for six months.
- The Steiner Brothers def. The Faces of Fear with an over the head belly to belly suplex.
- Sister Sherri and Harlem Heat were in the crowd.
- Hall threatened Jerry Saggs and said he will get even for what happened in Shreveport.
- The Giant pinned The Roadblock following a chokeslam.
- The Roadblock was flipped over the top rope for a table spot during the match.
- The Giant challenged Hogan to fight him for the title tonight.
- Jeff Jarrett def. Eddie Guerrero via DQ when Steve "Mongo" McMichael nailed Jarrett with the metal suitcase to prove to Debra that he wears the pants in the family. Guerrero retains the WCW U.S. Heavyweight Title.
- The tape of Hogan jobbing to Piper was played but stopped before the end by Bischoff. He came out, destroyed the tape, and told Schiavone "Don't ever do that again".
- The Ultimate Dragon pinned Billy Pearl with a double chicken wing into a belly to back suplex into a bridge.
- Okerlund interviewed The Four Horsemen who now claim to have their act together.
- "The Total Package" Lex Luger racked Ron Powers. *yawn*
- In a post match interview with Okerlund, Luger said he'd be willing to team with the Giant against the nWo.
- "The Enforcer" Arn Anderson and Steve "Mongo" McMichael def. The Amazing French-Canadians when McMichael pinned Rougeau after mailing him with that stupid metal suitcase.
- When McMichael double-clotheslined Rougeau and Ouelette, Heenan commented "That's picking up the 7-10 split".
- Anderson worked at least 80% of the match. When McMichael was in there, he didn't have to sell a single move by the AFC.
- The Outsiders def. The Extreme (Ace Darling and Kevin Storm) when Hall pinned Storm following an Outsider's Edge. The Outsiders retain the WCW World Tag Team Championship
- The Extreme look like The Nasty Boys after a visit to a fat farm.
- "Taskmaster" Kevin Sullivan pinned "Desperado" Joe Gomez following a reverse heimlich.
- The match included Sullivan hitting Gomez in the back with a chair by throwing it at him. That had to hurt.
- Hogan and Bischoff came out and Hogan accepted Giant's challenge. Sting and Macho Man appeared in the rafters.
- "The Man of 1,000 Holds" Dean Malenko made Jerry Flynn sumbit with a Texas Cloverleaf.
- I don't think it was a defense of the WCW Cruiserweight Title as Flynn looked a little too big.
- Jerry Flynn is a real good worker and happens to be a George Thorogood look alike.
- A telegram arrived and it was announced that Piper would be fighting Hogan for the title at 2/23 Superbrawl. I guess they are trying to hold on to the few viewers they have left after the abysmal nWo Souled Out.
- "The Laughing Man" Hugh Morrus pinned "The Crippler" Chris Benoit after a moonsault which was set up by Benoit getting chaired by Sullivan.
- The referee didn't see the chair shot as he was distracted by a woman who jumped the railing to get at Woman (it was a work).
- Afterwards, the woman who jumped the railing is Miss Texas did an interview with Okerlund, Sullivan, and Jimmy Hart. The angle is that this is supposedly the woman that Sullivan had chosed Nancy (Woman) over some ten years ago. Yeah, right. If you've never seen her, she's about 5' 8", black, a body builder, and has a tattoo on her left bicep. I didn't know who she was and a couple people sent me e-mail telling me who she is.
- During the interview, she railed on Woman and Debra McMichael. She wasn't getting over with the crowd. Okerlund, God bless him, tried to get her over but no one cared.
- The Hogan/Giant match ended in a DQ when The Outsiders rushed the ring. What a surprise. As the Giant was cleaning house, Luger came to the ring wearing an oversized WCW shirt. The immediate assumption on my part was that there would be an nWo shirt underneath, or so I was supposed to think. When Luger came in, Hall and Nash motioned to Luger as if he was supposed to start beating up the Giant. Luger stood alongside the Giant and Nitro ended.
WCW {Pro} Wrestling - Sunday, 01/26/97
WCW {Pro} Wrestling was preempted by a TBS Andy Griffith marathon this week.
nWo Souled Out - Saturday, 01/25/97
- The show opened with a caravan of 18-wheelers and garbage trucks bringing the nWo to the arena. The show had a very slow start. It took forever to get to the action.
- Masa "My Hero" Chono pinned "Lionheart" Chris Jericho following a Mafia Kick following a table spot.
- Like all matches in the show, Nick Patrick was the referee and the WCW wrestler came in to no music and a degrading intro.
- Rather than repeat myself for every match, I'll note here that one camera view was a fish eye lens which was really annoying. Also, in every match, the WCW wrestler would have won the match early on if not for slow counts by Nick Patrick.
- During the match, Sister Sherri, Harlem Heat, Faces of Fear, Mongo and Mrs. McMichael, Brian Knobbs, Arn Anderson, and referee Randy "Pee Wee" Anderson showed up and quietly took their seats. I can understand why the wrestlers would be there, but a referee? Hmmm, I wonder why a referee would be in the crowd...
- Bischoff commented that Jerry Saggs wouldn't dare show up after what he pulled. It looks like WCW is going to turn the Hall-Saggs shoot into an angle.
- After this match, and the other matches, they introduced two of the ten entrants in the Miss nWo contest. They were all bonafide biker chicks and a couple of them were pretty heinous. Out of the ten, there was only one that was really good looking and two that were kind of cute. A couple were very plump middle aged women.
- "Big" Bubba Rogers def. "The Laughing Man" Hugh Morrus in a Mexican Death Match after running him down with a Harley.
- A Mexican Death is one where you win when your opponent is unable to get up on a ten count. Pinfalls don't count.
- The beginning of the end came when Morrus missed a moonsault from the bleachers onto the arena floor. Then, Rogers started up one of the Harleys at ringside and ran Morrus down.
- Of course, Morrus wasn't actually run over, the spot was done like a Jim Duggan tackle where, in reality, Morrus sidestepped it at the last second.
- After seeing two more of the Miss nWo contestants, the person watching it with me commented, "So, they couldn't get any good looking women to fly out to Iowa on their own nickel".
- Jeff Jarrett pinned M. Wallstreet after Mongo nailed Wallstreet with the metal suitcase (at Debra's insistance) and Mongo intimidated Nick Patrick into making a fast count.
- At one point in the match, Jarrett had Wallstreet in a figure-four in the middle of the ring and Patrick dragged them both over so Wallstreet could reach the ropes.
- During the break, the band leader started screaming stupid things into the microphone and it was really annoying. Then, the band played. They sucked. It went over about as well as Run DMC did at Wrestlemania about ten years ago. When the song ended, there was absolute silence from the crowd.
- Buff Bagwell pinned Scotty Riggs after the Buff Blockbuster.
- The Buff Blockbuster is Bagwell's new move. Perched on the top turnbuckle as your opponent is about to superplex you, you somersault over him and give him a Rude Awakening. Not bad for Buff.
- There were a number of clear "Bagwell sucks!" chants during the match.
- Bagwell did a full moon at one point when Riggs pulled the back of Bagwell's tights down.
- The end of the match came while they were using the really annoying fish eye view.
- Scott "Flash" Norton def. "Diamond" Dallas Page via countout.
- Sting appeared in the rafters during the match. There was never a close up and the angle was never furthered so one can only assume it was the nWo Sting.
- While the match was going on, the nWo second team rushed the ring. They said they were giving Page one more chance. Page said things were now settled and he put an nWo shirt on. He reached out to shake Norton's hand and, Bang! Diamond cutter! Page popped everyone and high-tailed it into the crowd and, thus, lost the match by count out.
- Buff Bagwell took the mike and said "This will never happen again. This guy had his last shot." Then he gave a Bronx Cheer. The Bronx Cheer was the last thing you would expect. It was pretty funny.
- The Steiner Brothers def. The Outsiders when Scott Steiner pinned Scott Hall after Hall was victim of a bulldog from the top rope by Scott Steiner. The Steiner Brothers are the new WCW Tag Team Champions!
- While battling outside the ring, someone must have said, "F*** you!" to Scott Steiner because he said, very clearly for all of the pay per view audience to hear, "F*** you, too!" to someone in the crowd. Bischoff was (legitimately) pissed as that was obviously not part of the script and definitely not family entertainment.
- For the finish, Nick Patrick had been knocked out and Randy Anderson came out of the crowd to count the pinfall.
- Eddie Guerrero def. Syxx in a ladder match by clocking Syxx with the U.S. belt and knocking Syxx off the ladder.
- Now, in addition to being the WCW U.S. Heavyweight Champion, Guerrero has physical possession of the belt.
- Guerrero was introduced as "The Mexican Jumping Bean".
- It was a great match. It included Guerrero being suplexed out of the ring and Syxx dropkicking Guerrero at the top of the ladder.
- After the match, Guerrero went into the crowd and was congratulated by Knobbs, Barbarian, and Meng. Arn Anderson raised Guerrero's hand in victory.
- A 200 lb. woman around 40 years old was picked at Miss nWo. She was given a bouquet and walked around the ring and got to sit on her throne, a toilet. Frankly, it was humiliating and I felt sorry for her.
- The Giant presumably def. "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan via DQ when the entire nWo rushed the ring and did a mudhole stomp on Giant.
- Hogan came to the ring escorted by three of the Dallas Cowboys.
- In the match, the Giant attempted a flying elbowsmash from the top rope. Also of note, Hogan bodyslammed the Giant.
- Hogan gave the Giant the Leg Drop of Doom and the Giant no-sold it. Giant then gave Hogan a chokeslam. The Giant cleanly had Hogan pinned and Nick Patrick refused to count to three. Hogan was absolutely motionless and three times Patrick counted to two and stopped saying Hogan's shoulder came up. For his trouble, Nick Patrick was treated to a chokeslam. In comes Bagwell. Chokeslam! In comes Vincent. Chokeslam! In comes Wallstreet, he stops, stands straight and basically waits for the Giant to come over and deliver a chokeslam. (Lame!) In comes Bubba. Chokeslam! In comes Syxx. As Syxx is getting chokeslammed, Hogan nails Giant with a guitar Bischoff hands him. Hogan then pulled Giant's tights down in the back as the Giant was laying face down on the canvas. (Scott Hall pulled them right back up which leads one to think Hogan's little stunt was not part of the script.) As the nWo spray painted their name on Giant's back, the crowd chanted, "We want Sting!" When the painting was done, the credits rolled.
WCW Saturday Night - Saturday, 01/25/97
- "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan pinned Disco Inferno after a sock in the mush with a taped fist.
- For those of you keeping score, Disco Inferno's "Can't figure out my new leglock" angle is now ahead of Steve Regal's "Keeping my title through a time limit draw" by a score of 5 to 4.
- Ultimate Dragon made J.L. submit with a reverse figure-four into a bridge.
- High Voltage def. Ace Darling and Kevin Storm when Kaos pinned Ace Darling after the Voltmeter.
- "Lionheart" Chris Jericho pinned Super Calo after a missile dropkick.
- "Squire" Dave Taylor pinned "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton by using the ropes on a cradle.
- The Faces of Fear and "Laughing Man" Hugh Morrus def. "The Enforcer" Arn Anderson and Steve "Mongo" McMichael via DQ when Jeff Jarrett interfered on Anderson's and McMichael's behalf.
- This was an impromptu handicap match because Benoit didn't show. The fact Benoit didn't show was a work.
- As they were in Green Bay, the humanoids got a good "Bears suck!" chant going for McMichael.
- The match had a lot of bad spots. At one point, Anderson needed to make a tag. He was left by himself in the middle of the ring for about fifteen seconds. Theoretically someone should have been preventing him from making the tag but no one was. Thus, he looked silly as he was seemingly struggling against some unseen force preventing him from making the tag.
- After Jarrett made the save, Anderson and McMichael left Jarett there to take a beating until the refs saved him.
- The cops had to hold Jarrett back from attacking Anderson and McMichael during their post-match interview.
- "Diamond" Dallas Page pinned Mark Starr following a Diamond Cutter.
- Scotty Riggs pinned The Gambler with a Perfectplex (which Riggs has renamed as the Ameriplex).
- "Lord" Steven Regal made Chavo Guerrero, Jr. submit with a Regal Stretch to retain the WCW World Television Championship.
- Public Enemy def. Harlem Heat via DQ when Sister Sherri interfered on Harlem Heat's behalf.
- Sister Sherri and Johnny Grunge did a table spot together.