WCW {Pro} - Sunday 12/28/97
- {Pro} was preceded by Little Monsters, one of the few movies that features both of the Savage brothers. We tuned in just in time to catch one of the greatest lines in movie history as the Maurice's last words are, "Remember, when there's a bed, there's a way." That was followed by Gene Okerlund's weekly claim of "Somebody's gonna get pasted...What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday evening." Usually, you have to watch television for hours to obtain two quotes that good.
- The {Pro}gram opened with the clip of Bret saying, "Nobody knows better than I do what its like to get screwed over by a referee." Scott Hudson and Mike Tenay then preceded to hype the Sting-Hogan match, which we would grow accustomed to throughout the night. Tenay and Hudson made sure to inform the audience that this, like every other pay-per-view that WCW has produced the past three years, may determine the fate of mankind as we know it. Tenay wore his Nitro shirt as a further reminder to fans that their product is better than {Pro} exhibits.
- {Pro} opened with Dean Malenko defeating Alex Porteau with the Texas Cloverleaf.
- Porteau is best known as the answer to the trivia question, who did Barry Horowitz defeat for the Global Wrestling Federation's television championship?
- Porteau was also hired by the World Wrestling Federation as Alex "Pug" Porteau along with wrestlers such as Dirty White Boy Tony Anthony (T.L. Hopper) and Bill Irwin (The Goon) at a time when the WWF was attempting to create character jobbers. His Stamford stint was very limited.
- This was a solid demonstration of mat wrestling, yet the fans did not seem to enjoy it. These were not wrestling fans and a match with so few high spots was not appreciated. Both wore black boots and black knee pads. Malenko even wore black trunks. Neither has the charisma of a Stone Cold Steve Austin to excite a nonwrestling crowd without a gimmick.
- Tenay claimed to be heading on a leer jet to take him to Starrcade for the pay-per-view. Perhaps "The Professor" still feels people believe that this show is live.
- Porteau's most exhilarating move was what Tenay labeled the Dragon Screw Leg Whip. The most impressive thing about the move is its name. Porteau did get a two-count.
- The segment concluded with This Week in WCW Motor Sports featuring Mark Martin. We will be saddened to no longer report on WCW's motor sports any longer.
- Chris Jericho then defeated Buddy Lee Parker with the Lion Tamer submission.
- Jericho was impressive hitting a dropkick from the top rope and a doublehook underneath into a backbreaker.
- Buddy Lee walked the middle rope during the match. If he was one rope up and two feet taller he might pass for the Undertaker.
- One topic that many have addressed lately is the future of Chris Jericho (Chris Irvine). Due to some comments he made during an online chat with Prodigy (http://www.1wrestling.com/chris.htm), many have speculated that Jericho is WWF bound. Due to his Stu Hart training and Canadian heritage, others insist Jericho will join Bret Hart and his brothers-in-law in WCW to establish a Canadian faction similar to the Hart Foundation. We choose not to speculate. If you are interested, e-mail Jericho himself at wallofjericho@webtv.net.
- Bobby Walker (w/Teddy Long) beat Willie Worthy.
- I never knew Bobby Walker had a finishing maneuver.
- It was also weird not seeing Bobby working hard at the job.
- Main Event: La Parka, Silver King & El Dandy defeated Hector Garza, Juventud Guerrera and Ciclope.
- Six Mexicans. Three masks. What were the odds?
- They should just start these trios matches with four on the floor so the other two guys could jump out of the ring onto them. It always happens so why not just save time? We're not complaining though. La Parka did a springboard backflip in this match and Garza a corkscrew plancha.
- It would be futile to go into any more detail.
- La Parka pinned Ciclope with what appeared to be a corkscrew plancha of his own from the top rope.
American Male sends the following results from the pre-empted 12/21 {Pro}:
- Renegade pinned Lenny Lane with a side backbreaker.
- Renegade came out to Marc Mero's WWF music.
- Lane shows potential. He could be a cruiserweight contender soon, as this was his first loss on {Pro} in awhile.
- Buddy Lee Parker pinned Mike Nova with a slingshot kneedrop.
- Finally the Sarge gets a victory, for him, this is his Starrcade. Wasn't he in a previous Starrcade: Battlebowl?
- Scott Hudson says Nova is a martial arts expert. Yeah, well, Nova makes Jerry Flynn look like Jackie Chan.
- Bobby Blaze pinned Ciclope with a Northern Lights suplex.
- Blaze's second victory on {Pro} in as many weeks.
- Ciclope almost broke his neck on a back bodydrop. Not a surprise.
- Ciclope came out to Konan's old face music.
- Konan/Konnan/K-Dog/K-Dawg made Hardbody Harris/Harrison/Henderson submit to the Tequila sunrise.
- HH apparently couldn't afford a FULL pair of tights as one of his legs was ripped off. One of these days the beads on his head are going to be classified as an international object of anyone ever headbutts him.
- Barry Horowitz pinned Bradley Cain with his "Horowitz 3/4 nelson cradle".
- Haven't seen Barry get a win since Skip in 1995. I know he also beat T.L. Hopper but who cares about that. Barry looked good, as always, give him a mini push already. He gave Disco Inferno a good match a few weeks back.
- Alex Wright made quick work of Ultimo Dragon in under 4 minutes with the German suplex.
- This was a rematch from earlier in the taping (not shown on TV) when Dragon won.
- Mene Gene stated Alex has a brain aneurysm that might be career ending. Sad.