–Tony Schiavone and Dusty Rhodes call this evening’s action, taped from Atlanta, Georgia. According to thehistoryofwwe.com, these matches took place on October 18 and 25.
–Opening Contest: Paul Orndorff (25-8) beats Chuck Williams after a piledriver at 2:02:
Orndorff’s theme music woes continue and he walks to the ring sulking. Distracted, Orndorff takes an early powder before ducking a flying shoulder block and quickly hitting the piledriver for his seventh-straight win.
–Backstage, Orndorff gets a call from Gary Spivey. Orndorff tells Spivey of his mirror-breaking incident, with Spivey’s head appearing in a cloud above Orndorff’s head as WCW reuses old footage of Spivey’s initial motivational talk for the conversation. FedEx delivers Orndorff a package, which is thankfully not his termination notice, and he is given a new black mirror. There is even a penny that falls out that is heads up so Orndorff is rejuvenated by good luck. Orndorff has sold this angle well, but he is still doing little in the midcard other than beating jobbers.
–V.K. Wallstreet (4-2) defeats Eddie Jackie with the Stock Market Crash at 2:05:
The most interesting aspect of this squash is that Wallstreet wrestles in his suit after Jackie tries to get a jump on him. He does not use a hold throughout the bout, just slowly pounding on Jackie to set up the Stock Market Crash.
–Gene Okerlund interviews Wallstreet, who tells the rest of the roster to keep their hands off his threads. He says he might bribe his way to a win in the World War 3 battle royal.
–Diamond Dallas Page (w/the Diamond Doll) (22-3-2) defeats Mike Davis after the Diamond Cutter at 4:04:
Page still has Johnny B. Badd’s Badd Blaster that he stole last month on Monday Nitro. He tells him during ring introductions that he can come and get it. There is also some dissension between Page and the Doll as he turns away from her effort to kiss him before the match begins. Davis, who Schiavone calls a youngster (a balding one would be more appropriate), gets to show some kip up action in escaping a wristlock and scores a near-fall from a dropkick. He scores another when the Doll accidentally gives a Page elbow a six instead of a nine. Page rallies from that shock to push Davis into the corner and hit the Diamond Cutter to prevail.
–Okerlund interviews Page and the Doll. Page says that he lost the television title at Halloween Havocbecause of Maxx Muscle, who has since been fired. Page reiterates his offer to Badd of the Doll for the title, with the Doll worried that Page values the title more than her. She walks out of the interview, freaking Page out.
–Chris Benoit (7-1) wrestles Eddie Guerrero (10-2-3) to a double count out at 11:58:
This marks the third time Benoit and Guerrero are wrestling over the last month, with the series tied at one match each. A large portion of the match is spent on the mat, with Guerrero stretching Benoit with a Gory Special and camel clutch. Benoit responds with some hard strikes but his flying headbutt misses. While all this goes on, the Atlanta crowd is dead, possibly tired from a long taping. Even Splash Mountain from Guerrero fails to get much of a reaction. The lack of energy takes its toll on how the match comes across but that does not stop Benoit from pulling out all the stops as he gives Guerrero a super-duper side suplex, but that knocks both men out. The Atlanta crowd hates that finish, booing as medics fill the ring. The finish also means that neither man earns the “WCW Saturday Sweep” of winning matches on all Saturday shows. This was not as intense as their initial Monday Nitro encounter, but it had some fun reversals to put over both men’s technical skills. Rating: ***
–Dean Malenko demonstrates the Texas Cloverleaf in a video package to put over his “Man of 1,000 Holds” gimmick.
–Kevin Sullivan introduces Hugh Morrus to the Master as the next member of the Dungeon of Doom. This changes Morrus’ name from the Man of Question. And why would Morrus be a great acquisition for the Dungeon when he failed in his initial quest to destroy Randy Savage?
–Duane Gill beats Hugh Morrus via disqualification after tossing Gill over the top rope at 1:38:
Since Morrus’ past as the Man of Question is not recognized, his win-loss record will be reset as a new character. Gill was a longtime WWF jobber, where he spent a night wrestling with Barry Hardy as the Toxic Turtles, a ripoff of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. His bigger fame would come as Gillberg during the Attitude Era, going on to win the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship. Morrus shrugs off Gill’s offense and tosses him over the top rope, earning a disqualification. Undeterred, Morrus rolls Gill into the ring and gives him the No Laughing Matter moonsault.
–Non-Title Match: Harlem Heat (WCW Tag Team Champions w/Sister Sherri) (48-8-3) defeat the Border Patrol when Booker T pins Mike Diamond after a Harlem Hangover at 2:30:
The Border Patrol is a new team with black and yellow tights that feature the outline of the United States on them. They are composed of Michael Modest and Mike Diamond, but Schiavone and Dusty do not give them names during the match. Modest eventually got a contract in the dying days of WCW but was not retained the WWF so he had to make a living on the independent circuit. Diamond did much of the same, also wresting under the name Maxx Justice. He enjoyed a brief run in Japan’s NOAH promotion in 2002. The newcomers fall victim to Harlem Heat’s power, with a sidewalk slam from Stevie Ray and the Harlem Hangover of Booker T putting Diamond down for the count.
–In a pre-taped promo, Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage are back in grim reaper gear, with Hogan sporting a sword and Savage wearing his left arm in a sling. Savage says that Sting was not there for him on Monday Nitro when Lex Luger attacked him. Hogan repeats his assertion that Sting is a little dog and produces a dagger, vowing to make Sting the first hit list victim since Savage failed to bring them the head of Meng on Monday.
–Call 1-900-909-9900 to hear about five members of the WWF who have given allegedly given notice that they are leaving the company.
–Sting (34-2) defeats Bunkhouse Buck (w/Colonel Robert Parker) (5-12) after a sunset flip at 8:06:
Sting defeated Buck when he was United States champion on the September 9 edition of WCW Pro. Doing so was a relatively easy task as Buck’s losses have more than doubled his win total for the year. Buck works the arm for a long time after Sting’s blind charge on the floor sends him into the ring post. It makes for a dull encounter because Sting offers no resistance until Buck misses a leg drop, possibly a piece of foreshadowing of how Sting wants to avoid that move against Hulk Hogan on Monday Nitro. After spamming atomic drops, Buck moves out of the way of a second Stinger Splash but falls victim to a sunset flip when Sting floats over a Samoan Drop effort. That runs Buck’s winless streak in singles matches up to six. Rating: ½*
–Okerlund interviews Sting, who says that Hogan is paranoid of the enemies he has made in WCW. He paints himself as the champion of WCW since he welcomed Hogan into the company when there were not a lot of people who would have done so. He vows to put Hogan in his place on Nitro.
The Last Word: Outside of Chris Benoit-Eddie Guerrero, this show left viewers with little to get into. If anything, it just served as a vehicle to remind fans on several occasions that they needed to watch Monday Nitro to see Sting face Hulk Hogan. Sting’s promo at the end was great, making a coherent argument for why he has been treated unjustly by Hogan, who is lost in his own fantasy world.
Up Next: WCW Main Event for October 19!