KB Reviews WCW Nitro — page 8

Monday Nitro #69
Date: January 6, 1997
Location: Monroe Civic Center, Monroe, Louisiana
Commentators: Larry Zbyzsko, Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

So as I talked about, the Youtube channel I used got shut down and I
don’t have any of those shows left. That being said, it means we’ll get
to the PPVs and the Raws and Nitros a lot faster now. This is the
beginning of a new year and we’re beginning to build towards Souled Out
with the first man thrown out of the NWO, the Giant, challenging Hogan
for the title. Let’s get to it.

Glacier vs. Bobby Eaton

We immediately start with a match which is a cool thing to see.
Glacier takes him down with a leg sweep to start. An armdrag sets up an
armbar (yes, a non kick from Glacier) which goes nowhere. Bobby tries a
leap frog but Glacier rolls between his legs which results in Eaton
landing on him. Glacier kicks hits a spin kick for two and another kick
for the quick pin.

We recap the epic Bubba vs. Konnan feud. Tonight it’s a Mexican strap
match between an American an a Cuban in Cajun country. Only in
wrestling.

Big Bubba vs. Konnan

This is the touch all four corners style. Konnan slugs away but gets
clotheslined down quickly. Bubba whips him very slowly and Larry sounds
like he has a sore throat. Tony says Bubba is an integral part of the
NWO. I hope his parents got him a dictionary for Christmas. Konnan hits
him low with the strap so Bubba punches him in the face with the strap
around his fist.

Bubba taps the first corner and Konnan jumps on his back with a
sleeper. Bubba slaps two more corners along the way but Konnan breaks
the momentum. Tony and Larry talk about what Piper was saying last week
when he was leaving to avoid talking about his boring match. Konnan
starts his comeback and uses the strap to take Bubba down. He gets two
corners and has his momentum broken to further this. Konnan gets three
but is kicked down. For some reason this doesn’t mean the momentum is
broken so Bubba “punches” (you could fit a softball between his fist and
Konnan’s face) him into the corner for the win.

Rating: F. See, this is what I don’t get: what
reason is there for a strap match? It’s a feud that no one wants to see
with two guys that mean nothing at all and the ending was stupid. The
announcers didn’t care about it and this is the third week that this
feud has been going on. Oh and the replay shows that Bubba’s hand was
open so even if the shot had hit, it would have been more like a
backhand slap.

Bubba beats him down post match to make sure the NWO looks strong.

Gene is with Kevin Sullivan and has a tape for him but Sullivan
doesn’t want to see it. He says there’s something between the two of
them that can’t be settled. Gene says the footage is of someone other
than Benoit/Woman and Sullivan says it better not be before he leaves.

Here are the Horsemen minus Benoit. Anderson is upset that he’s not
here but Flair implies that he’s off screwing Woman. Debra runs her
mouth again about how great the rest of the team is and how they’re
always here but Benoit never is. My goodness she’s annoying. Woman is
ugly and fat apparently and Mongo is a professional. Speaking of
annoying, here’s Jeff Jarrett to say he should get Benoit’s spot.
Anderson vetoes that almost immediately because Jeff whines too much.
Jeff says that Anderson has played second fiddle the whole year so he’s
here to talk to the horse’s head, not the rear. Guess what happens.

Jeff Jarrett vs. Arn Anderson

Arn is in street clothes and beats Jeff all the way to the ring. Jeff
comes back and gets sent to the floor but comes back in, hits a
neckbreaker and puts his feet on the ropes for the pin.

Flair goes after Debra for some reason and Mongo gets in his face.
Flair has to break it up and this is making my head hurt. In case you
can’t tell, Benoit isn’t around but that’s ok with Flair. Jarrett wants
in and Debra thinks Jeff is cute so she supports his membership. Mongo
supports who Debra supports but Anderson doesn’t want Jeff in and Flair
is stuck in the middle. This is of course being done while the NWO is
invading and the most elite group is too busy fighting because of Debra.
Don’t you just love that Bischoff booking? Anderson walks out. He would
only have one more match on Nitro so that’s one of his last walks out.

Souled Out ad.

TV Title: Steven Regal vs. Diamond Dallas Page

And there’s no Page. Regal comes out to new music and there’s a replacement.

TV Title: Steven Regal vs. Jim Duggan

These are old stomping grounds for Duggan who used to be a big star
in Mid-South. The bell rings and the NWO comes out to take over
commentary. Now we get the match going as I think Nash thanks his third
grade teacher for making him awesome. Oh wait that’s Eric. Duggan takes
over with clotheslines and the NWO implies Page has joined them. The
match turns into a boxing match with Duggan taking over.

The talk turns to Souled Out because that’s what announcers in WCW
do. They talk about the Miss NWO contest at the PPV as Duggan knocks
Regal to the floor again. Duggan takes him down with a shoulder and I
don’t think Regal has gotten a single shot in yet. Regal finally gets in
some kicks to take over but Duggan punches him back. Off to a chinlock
as the announcers talk about the WCW contract issues. Savage can’t join
the organization apparently. The guys collide and Duggan gets the tape
out. He knocks Regal out (referee is cool with it) but the time expires.
The match would have run about eight and a half minutes.

Rating: D. Now I’m sure a lot of people are going to
say “You just don’t get the point and the show is supposed to be about
pushing the NWO.” Yeah, I do get that. However, it gets REALLY annoying
hearing about it the whole show. It’s like Cole today: we get it but he
keeps saying the same things over and over because we’re too stupid to
get it the first time. It gets old in a hurry and it’s only going to get
worse.

Duggan waves a WCW flag post match.

Jim Powers vs. Hugh Morrus

The announcers talk about Jim Duggan and how the NWO announcers
wouldn’t talk about the Giant because they’re cowards. Powers hits his
usual stuff which is mostly no sold. Morrus takes him down and the
moonsault gets the pin. Basically a squash.

Hour #2 begins.

We recap the Horsemen split from earlier.

Rey Mysterio vs. Psicosis

Ok this has to be good right? It’s not that the matches so far have
been bad but if they’re treated like nothing of importance, why should I
care about them? When you have the NWO driven down your throat the
whole time, you get annoyed by the matches which aren’t that great in
the first place. They spin around a lot and Rey is sent to the floor.
Psicosis hits a rope assisted moonsault but mostly misses to give Rey
the advantage.

We hear about Liger winning the J-Crown but not the Cruiserweight
Title because the match was signed before Dragon won that title. Makes
sense. Psicosis takes over and hits a nice top rope spinwheel kick for
two. Rey gets sent to the floor and Psicosis sets for a dive. After
slipping the first time (but landing on his feet in the ring) he dives
to the floor and slams his face into the barricade in a painful looking
spot.

Liger vs. Dragon for the title is announced for COTC. Psicosis takes
Rey down again and hits the guillotine legdrop (love that move) for two.
A BIG powerbomb gets two and we hear about the Steiners coming back to
challenge the Outsiders at Souled Out. Another powerbomb attempt is
countered into a sunset flip with a bridge for two. Mysterio goes to the
apron and hits the West Coast Pop for the pin. It’s as sudden as it
sounds.

Rating: B-. Yeah this was good. First and
foremost….well first and foremost the match was good. Second and
secondmost, the announcers didn’t talk about the NWO the whole time.
They talked about some other cruiserweight stuff, but at least it was
related to this. That helped things tremendously here and the match was
much more enjoyable as a result. Good stuff.

We get a clip from Starrcade of Eddie getting beaten up which apparently is the wrong clip.

Kevin Sullivan vs. Chavo Guerrero

We were supposed to see a clip of Sullivan at Starrcade hitting
Benoit. They start fast and Sullivan doesn’t even take his robe off.
Chavo gets sent to the floor but comes back with a missile dropkick to
both Sullivan and Jimmy Hart. We get the aforementioned clip of Sullivan
breaking a chair over Benoit’s head at the PPV. Things slow way down
and Sullivan hits the Tree of Woe and double stomp for the pin. Too
short to mean much but it wasn’t bad.

We get a clip of Hogan hitting Piper’s hip with a chair last week.
Piper screamed incoherently the whole time he was taken out so we spend a
few minutes trying to figure out what he was saying because it’s so
important right? We even get EXCLUSIVE footage of Piper being put into
the ambulance and Piper shouts even more. He’s since said it was the
last night of his career. Right.

US Title: Alex Wright vs. Eddie Guerrero

Syxx stole the belt at Starrcade but Eddie faces him in a ladder
match at Souled Out. They shake hands to start and exchange dropkicks
with Wright’s knocking him to the floor. Back in and it’s time to talk
about Hogan! Eddie takes him to the mat as some idiot says this is
boring. The champ comes back with a kind of leg lariat and the slingshot
hilo for two.

Off to an armbar (on the right arm for some reason) as this match is
totally being ignored. Clothesline gets two for Wright and it’s off to a
chinlock. Wright snaps off some European uppercuts and it’s back to the
chinlock. Here’s Syxx to make sure our NWO quota is met for the
segment. He sits on a ladder while wearing a belt and Tony says go up
and knock him off of it.

Eddie looks at Syxx and walks into a northern lights suplex and then a
backbreaker, both for two. Back to the chinlock for a bit and then Alex
hits a top rope sunset flip for two. Spinwheel kick looks to set up a
top rope double ax for no cover again. Northern lights suplex the sequel
gets two. Alex goes up again but Eddie jumps up and hits a superplex
for no cover again. Frog Splash keeps the title in El Paso.

Rating: B-. See, this is a good example of the
opposite of what I was talking about earlier. This was actually
interesting and a good match which just happened to have a lot of NWO
talk in it. I can overlook the chatter when the match is good which this
was. I’d love to see some more of these two with about fifteen minutes
and less Syxx.

Road report from Lee Marshall. Did he ever actually do anything on Nitro other than this?

Amazing French Canadians vs. Harlem Heat

The Heat clears the ring to start and Tenay actually brings up the
history between the managers. Stevie and Jacques start us off and Stevie
controls with power. Booker comes in, misses an elbow but Spinaroonis
up. Harlem Side Kick takes Jacques down but Oulette comes in to cheat.
Back in and a piledriver gets two for Jacques. Stevie comes in off the
tag and cleans house. The Canadians mess up with a flag and Stevie
knocks Oulette out so a powerbomb/top rope elbow combo can pin Jacques.

Rating: C-. Not a bad match here but it’s the
textbook (what class is that? I’d love to take it) example of a filler
match. You had a good team and a bad team and the good team beat the bad
team with a double team move. I’m not sure what else there is to say
here but it wasn’t bad or anything.

We get a clip from Starrcade of Luger vs. Giant and Sting whispering something in their ears.

Lex Luger vs. Meng

It’s a power match of course with neither guy moving much off
anything done to them. Meng runs him over and stomps away. Then he
stomps some more. A piledriver puts Luger down for two. Lex comes back
with the forearm and a powerslam for two. Meng misses a charge in the
corner and there’s the Rack but the referee goes down. Barbarian runs in
and takes a powerslam as well. He Racks Barbarian and that’s good for
the submission. Tenay: “Does it matter?” Tony: “You’re right Mike it
doesn’t matter.”

Rating: D. Just a power match here but not a very
interesting one. The ending makes it even worse as it was just stupid. I
can get the referee not noticing in a stretch but seriously? Tony and
Mike saying it doesn’t matter? Wait why am I surprised by this at all?
Nothing match and that’s the main event people.

Here’s the NWO for the big ending segment. Eric praises Hogan for
beating Piper twice in a week and then Giant by himself. Hogan talks
about a battle royal which either never happened or that I don’t
remember at all. I think it was the former and that he was talking about
the ending to last week’s show. Here comes Giant and the people are two
rows deep on the apron.

Giant cleans house and has Hogan all to himself. The right hand is
caught and Bischoff hits Giant in the back while his legs were wide
open. Nice job Bruce Lee. Hogan gets in a chair shot and Giant goes
down…again. The NWO beats him down for awhile and then go to the
announce desk. Sting comes out and checks on Giant. Sting points the bat
at the NWO and drops the bat to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. Not a very good show this week
but there were two very solid matches which bring it up a lot. This is a
good example of where you can summarize the issue the NWO story had: if
you didn’t like that story, you were screwed. It’s annoying hearing
about it all the time but at least we didn’t have to hear about how
great Piper the savior was this week. It’s a better show than recently
due to the two good matches but other than that, not much due to having
too many squashes.

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Monday Nitro #67
Date: December 23, 1996
Location: Macon Coliseum, Macon, Georgia
Attendance: 4,900
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Mike Tenay, Larry Zbyszko

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

It’s the go home show for Starrcade and one of the last shows of
1996. I can’t believe I’ve actually gotten this far in this series.
Anyway, as usual the wrestling isn’t the focus here but then again, it
isn’t supposed to be on a go home show. I’m looking forward to next
week’s show a little bit more though because of reasons we’ll get to
next time. Let’s get to it.

We open with a clip of a match from 5 weeks ago where Benoit beat Eddie with a nice sunset flip.

US Title Tournament Semi-Final: Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero

There’s no Woman. Winner of this gets Page on Sunday for the title.
They start off fast and Benoit takes him down with a shoulder block.
Eddie comes back with chops in the corner as Tony can in fact confirm
that Benoit is back from Germany. Gee thanks Tony! Taskmaster says that
he’s the real chess master and that he’s got Benoit in his trap. Page
joins commentary. After cutting away from the match for the Sullivan
promo, we cut to the announce table to watch Page sit down.

Benoit hooks a headscissors on the mat but Eddie reverses into a
headlock. Eddie keeps that headlock for awhile despite Benoit’s best
efforts to get out. Page talks about the Guerreros: Hector, Chavo,
Mondo, Harpo, Zeppo and so on. They go to a test of strength position on
the mat with Benoit on top. Eddie gets a rollup for two as we take a
break. Back with Eddie getting LAUNCHED onto the top rope in a huge Stun
Gun.

A big belly to back gets two for Benoit as he yells as Eddie about
who he is. He says he’s not Sullivan for some reason. A big powerbomb
gets two. Off to a chinlock as Page is doing very well on commentary. He
sounds like he’s having a blast. Eddie grabs a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker
out of nowhere and loads up the Frog Splash but Benoit stops him and
hits a superplex to put both guys down. A delayed cover gets two.

Benoit pounds him down but Eddie gets all fired up. Benoit drapes him
across the top rope and covers for two but he grabs the ropes so it’s
broken up. They go to the corner with Benoit trying a belly to back
superplex but Eddie knocks him off and jumps off into a spinning Frog
Splash to go to Starrcade.

Rating: B+. This is the best match I’ve seen on
Nitro in a very long time. Eddie and Benoit of course has classic after
classic and this was a very good one. The Frog Splash at the end was
great and Benoit was feeling it with that high impact stuff. Very good
match and an awesome opener. Eddie would win the title on Sunday.

Here are the Horsemen for some talking. Anderson says that a focused
Benoit wouldn’t have lost. Last week he had to sit through a beating
from Sullivan because he was the one sitting on a couch when the husband
got home. Anderson goes on a rant against Benoit but Debra decides to
cut him off and say no one likes Woman. She has plenty of friends that
Benoit can have an affair with. Benoit says he doesn’t appreciate being
told things like that because he was one of the ones that helped reunite
the Horsemen. He actually tells Debra to talk to the hand as Mongo
comes in to stop him. Flair has to play peacemaker.

Here’s the NWO with Hogan, Vincent, Ted and Liz. We get a spotlight
on demand and Hogan says he smells Piper Mania. He’s the biggest star in
the world, Hollywood loves him, Piper is a coward, etc. Tony says Piper
isn’t here tonight. Now I know a lot of you would expect me to rant and
rave about how stupid it is that WCW would have the go home show
without the face in the main event of the biggest show of the year
there, but at this point, why would you be surprised? It’s late 1996 and
Hulk Hogan vs. Roddy Piper is the main event. Hogan poses to
“entertain” the people.

Trailer for Marked Man, which somehow proves that Piper is a bigger star according to Tony.

Tombstone vs. Lex Luger

Tombstone is 911 from ECW. This is your standard monster vs. hero
match as Lex gets overpowered but then growls a lot and comes back. The
Rack ends this quick. Not quite a squash but close enough.
Giant comes in post match and Lex hammers on him a bit. He gets Giant
in the Rack but the NWO comes in. Lex drops Giant and runs.

Here’s a video from last week where there were two Stings. We also
get a clip from the ending of the show where the WCW guys jumped Sting
and that proves he’s NWO in WCW’s stupid minds.

JL vs. Rey Mysterio

The match is discussed for all of 4 seconds as we talk about how WCW
needs a leader. JL sends him to the floor as JL misses a dive. Rey hits a
rana off the apron to pop the crowd but Tony doesn’t even stop talking
about Starrcade. Springboard legdrop gets two for Mysterio. Rey tries a
rana but gets caught in a sitout powerbomb for two. Mysterio comes back
with a moonsault press for two. Top rope rana sends JL to the floor and a
suicide dive takes both of them out. West Coast Pop misses and JL tries
La Magistral for two. JL goes up but Rey hits a super rana for the pin.

Rating: C+. Not bad again here but the focus being
on Hogan vs. Piper for the most part got annoying. By that I mean it got
annoying about an hour ago. At this point it’s expected every time
there’s a match. Rey was so fun to watch at this point before his knees
turned into something that is jealous of pudding’s toughness.

Rey comes up to the announce table and says that Sting is WCW. He was
defending himself because Rey jumped on him last week. Since that’s
logical and common sense though, Larry and Tony basically brush Rey off.
We even get the Holding Out For A Hero tape from last week. Larry and
Tony swear up and down that Sting is NWO. This company deserved to go
out of business with how stupid they were. In another WCW gem, here’s
this exchange. Tony: “Rey we’ve found that tape.” Rey: “Would you please
play….” Tony: “WE ARE LIVE WITH THE SECOND HOUR OF MONDAY NITRO!!!” I
give up man. I just do.

The NWO has sworn that Piper is here.

They REAIR Hogan’s promo from earlier. I rarely do this but I fast forward through this.

Glacier vs. Buddy Lee Parker

Glaicer kicks a lot, chops a lot, then kicks a lot more. He hits his
Cryonic kick which Parker kicks out of for no apparent reason. A second
one finishes this.

Amazing French Canadians vs. Public Enemy

Tony keeps hyping this as the holiday edition but there’s nothing
other than a few decorations on the set. The Canadians sing O Canada in
French. Tony and Tenay say it’s the wrong words, because apparently
FRENCH Canadians should speak English right? Public Enemy jumps them and
let’s get this over with. Naturally it’s not really a match as the
Canadians are sent to the floor.

They manage to double team Grunge a bit though as the announcers talk
about Hogan vs. Piper. I can live with it in a garbage match like this.
We get to an actual match with Jacques beating on Grunge. The Canadians
get a table set up but Rocco makes the save. Public Enemy finally says
screw it and breaks the table over Jacques for the DQ. Total mess rather
than a match so no rating.

We recap Bubba joining the NWO last week.

Konnan vs. Big Bubba

Nick Patrick is referee and he doesn’t have a neck brace anymore.
Bubba beats Konnan down to start but then goes after Jimmy. This allows
Konnan to dive through the dives to take Bubba out. He dropkicks him
into the steps and then stands around like an idiot. Patrick takes
forever to count so Bubba can come back in and get in a right hand.

The match grinds to a total halt because Bubba doesn’t seem
interested in hurting Konnan at all. This results in a lot of slow
choking which kills the crowd after a hot start. There’s a smother and
Bubba claims Jimmy hit him, so Patrick throws him out. Konnan makes his
comeback and throws Bubba over the top for the lame DQ.

Rating: D-. This started fast but oh my goodness
this stopped dead after about 90 seconds. Bubba was so pathetic on
offense and the whole thing died once he took over. Konnan wasn’t a
great guy in the ring but he was trying harder here than Bubba, which
really should summarize things for you.
Lee Marshall calls in.

TV Title: Steven Regal vs. Dean Malenko

Dean takes him down to the mat but Regal is like tut tut and takes
over. They go into a test of strength position and both nip up to try to
escape it. This was before Regal got addicted to everything on the
planet and could still be awesome in the ring. Regal takes over with a
cravate on the mat. They’re still pushing the idea that heavyweights are
vastly superior to cruiserweights so Dean is a big underdog.

Sonny Onoo comes out and is quickly ejected so there wasn’t much of a
point to that cameo. The crowd is pretty much dead for this but the
match is fine. Off to a headscissors on the mat as Regal keeps control.
Regal shifts over to the arm and into a modified abdominal stretch. They
go to the corner and Dean hits a dropkick to take Regal down as Regal
comes out of the corner.

Both guys are down now so Regal hooks a full nelson. Regal now goes
for his 8th body part, taking out the knee. Dean reverses his half crab
into a Texas Cloverleaf attempt but Regal grabs the rope. The American
hits a release German to the Englishman to take over. A brainbuster
hits….and there’s the time limit. Gah that gimmick gets old but at least
they didn’t announce it.

Rating: C. The match was pretty boring for the crowd
because it’s heel vs. heel. On the other hand though, the technical
stuff was really fun as you had two guys that could pretty much do
anything in the ring. The array of submissions got a little old but at
least it never got boring, which is a rarity on Nitro half the time.

Rick Steiner vs. Jeff Jarrett

The fans want Sting but they get a Steiner powerslam to start. An
elbow hits Jarrett as well as Jeff is in trouble early. He comes back
with a middle rope clothesline as the announcers talk about how high the
buyrate is going to be. Here’s the NWO Sting (with Heenan actually
realizing it’s the fake one for once) to try the Death Drop on Jarrett.
Steiner hits Fake Sting with a clothesline and Jarrett pins Fake Sting
to end this. Why would you cover him? Why would the referee count it?
Why am I surprised?

Here’s the NWO to close the show. Hogan talks about how he got a
verbally written letter from Piper, admitting that Hogan is the icon.
Piper’s music plays….and it’s Bischoff dressed as Piper. He does a bad
Scottish accent and talks about Wrestlemania. Bischof insists that a
referee get out here as Tony says wrestling has reached a new low and
refuses to call this stuff.

Eric lays down for Hogan and gets pinned with one foot. He bows down
to Hogan and here’s the real Piper, after probably half the audience has
left because they were told he wasn’t here. He has a full band with
him. And the NWO runs in to beat him down and end the show. Sting
watches from the rafters.

Overall Rating: D+. This show is rapidly going
downhill. The matches have stopped meaning much of anything, the
announcers have reached levels of stupidity that I didn’t think existed
(which would be crushed in the near future) and the PPVs they build to
would get worse and worse, starting with a bad Starrcade coming up on
Sunday. The shows are still watchable at this point, although they’re
getting weak in a hurry.

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Monday Nitro #65
Date: December 9, 1996
Location: Independence Arena, Charlotte, North Carolina
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Heenan, Mike Tenay

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We continue to head towards Starrcade tonight and if my memory is
right, Piper is in the building tonight. There’s another member joining
the NWO tonight as well but it’s not like the rest of them to put it
mildly. There are a lot of matches tonight too so they should be pretty
quick each. Let’s get to it.

Here’s Piper to open things up. Piper says it’s nice to be home. He
used to live at a Days Inn here before it was pretty. The last time
everyone saw him, there were a bunch of NWO guys pounding on his leg.
Piper hops around the ring on one leg. On December 29, he’s supposed to
fight Hogan in Nashville. He has six kids so he has to win this one.
Piper is bombed it seems. His seven year old told him that Hogan was
younger than him and has two good legs so what chance does he have?

Piper talks about boxing Mr. T. at Wrestlemania 2 and being asked to
take a dive. He said no, so they added extra padding to his gloves to
make sure the punches didn’t hurt T as much. I’ll leave that one alone.
There’s a guy in the audience with an NWO sign. Piper says nothing bad
about the NWO because he’s a free agent. He talks about a promo they did
of six guys in one room in leather drinking and not one woman. Our hero
ladies and gentlemen. He knows Hogan is here so let’s just do it
tonight.

Mike Enos vs. Michael Wallstreet

Michael grabs a quick fireman’s carry to start and it’s a feeling out
period. About a minute in here’s DiBiase. Enos hits a powerslam but
gets distracted by DiBiase. DiBiase has papers in his hands and
Wallstreet hits a quick Samoan Drop for the pin.

DiBiase hands Wallstreet the papers and he seems pleased. DiBiase leaves before anything else happens.

We get a video of Woman and Benoit with Woman talking about how she’s
obviously not in the Florida Keys and that Kevin can’t find him. She
meant it in Baltimore when she said if Sullivan kicked Benoit one more
time she was gone. It’s not the 1950s anymore so she’ll do what she
wants. Benoit talks about how Sullivan fancies himself a chess player.
Well Benoit’s bishop just took Sullivan’s queen. We cut to Sullivan who
is speechless.

Hugh Morrus vs. Renegade

Renegade still has a job? They fight for control with power moves to
start which gets no one an advantage. Morrus changes things up with a
spinwheel kick to take Renegade down. Small package gets two for
Renegade. Morrus’ bearhug is quickly countered into one by Renegade
which is quickly broken up as well. Morrus says to hit him, so Renegade
punches him down. Can’t say he doesn’t take orders well. Hugh suplexes
him down and the moonsault ends this. Better match than you would expect
actually.

Joe Gomez, Renegade’s partner, pulls him out of the way of another moonsault.

Sullivan comes out post match and wants to talk to Tony who played
the video of Benoit and Woman. Kevin says it’s a ratings game but that
video wasn’t sent to WCW. It was sent to Sullivan, so why didn’t they
ask Sullivan if they could show it? Tony is a pawn in a game to get
ratings. Sullivan says he has a personal life and stuff that he does
outside of this ring. Next time there’s something to show, screw the
ratings because Sullivan has people to take care of. I didn’t remember
this angle all that well but it’s starting off well.

Video on Sting set to, and I kid you not, Holding Out For A Hero.

Here’s Kevin Greene of the Carolina Panthers who got a big win
yesterday. I know this because Tony has reminded us of it every 47
seconds. He doesn’t like Mongo and he doesn’t like the NWO. Greene would
love a chance to fight Hogan.

Cruiserweight Title: Jimmy Graffiti vs. Dean Malenko

So Graffiti loses to Dean and then to Rey, then he gets a title
match. I’ll never understand how the title contenders selection process
works. Chain wrestling to start and Graffiti taking over with a
hammerlock. Dean gets up and clotheslines Jimmy to take over as we take a
break. Graffiti is in control with brawling stuff when we return.
Clothesline gets two. Graffiti misses a charge in the corner and they
head to the floor.

They both try a suplex but both guys are down as a result. A
superkick puts Dean down for two. A powerbomb puts Dean down as well but
Graffiti wastes time. After a very delayed cover, Graffiti tries a
front suplex but Dean rolls through into a small package for a quick pin
to retain the title.

Rating: C. Not a bad match but Graffiti was nothing
of note at all. This was just an appetizer until we got to the Dragon
feud which was more interesting. The ending was a good one as Dean used
his wrestling abilities to catch the lazy Graffiti off guard. Not a
great match but a good ending.

Sonny Onoo has lost his accent but says Dragon will destroy Dean at Starrcade.

We get some clips of the triangle tag match from World War 3.

Nasty Boys vs. Faces of Fear

If you’re expecting anything other than a fight here, raise your hand
so I can point at you and laugh. They go split screen almost
immediately and the Outsiders are standing on the ramp. I have no idea
who started but it’s Sags vs. Barbarian now. Sags goes to the floor to
fight Meng and it breaks down again. The NWO has left. Ok so it’s back
to Barbarian and Sags in the ring and there’s a tag to Knobbs. It breaks
down again and Knobbs has Barbarian pinned but there’s no referee.
Jimmy GOES UP TOP with the Megaphone but it hits Barbarian. Meng hits
Knobbs with the Megaphone and it gets the pin.

Rating: C. Ok so with this, if you’re going just on
the wrestling this is somewhere between a Divas match and two kids in
the back yard. If you’re going on entertainment and keeping things
moving, this was incredible. That being said, we’ll put it somewhere in
the middle. It’s a total brawl that has no order to it at all, but like I
said that’s all you should have expected.

Here’s Flair for an interview. He comes out to the Horsemen music but
he’s on his own. Flair is still injured here but his arm isn’t in a
sling anymore. He praises the Panthers again and bows down to Greene,
who he says he doesn’t like. Flair asks Piper to come out here to a big
Charlotte welcome.

Flair talks about Piper getting here on a Greyhound bus and now he’s
got a home next to Phil Knight (Nike boss) in Oregon. Piper has taken it
upon himself to challenge Hogan, whose name draws a bunch of boos.
Flair talks about the losses to Hogan haunting him but now Piper is here
to rectify it. Piper says this is his last shot and he appreciates the
offer but he wants to do this on his own.

Hour #2 begins.

We have a recap of the opening segment and then the announcers talk about said segment.

Chris Jericho vs. Bobby Eaton

Eaton takes him down quickly and hits the top rope knee almost
immediately. Jericho comes back with a powerslam and an inset interview,
saying WCW will prevail. He isn’t done with Nick Patrick yet either.
Suplex sets up the Lionsault for two. It wasn’t a finisher yet. Alabama
Jam misses and Jericho hits the missile dropkick for the pin. Pretty
much a squash.

We recap the Rick Steiner/Sting issues.

The Steiners are in the arena to talk about Sting. Scott says it’s
crazy to hand Rick Steiner a bat but when Scott did that, he saw
something in Sting’s eyes. He has no idea what it is though. Sting has
done the same thing to Lex and them and those three are all WCW. Rick
says they’re waiting for his next message.

We recap Lex vs. Giant, which isn’t really a feud. This is more like a
video on Lex set to his theme music and not much Giant. It’s Lex vs.
Giant at Starrcade.

Craig Pittman vs. Arn Anderson

Pittman and Long have parted ways apparently. An inset interview by
Sullivan says he blames this on Arn. Next week they’re going to fight.
Anderson stalls a lot and Tony says that there’s more video from Benoit
and Woman for Sullivan. We take a break (why?) and come back with more
stalling. Anderson drops to the floor and wraps the knee around the post
but is slammed off the top. Tony says that doesn’t happen often. I’d
hit him if I could right now. Code Red is countered by grabbing the
ropes and they head to the outside. Briefcase to the ribs, DDT, NEXT.

Gene asks Okerlund where Woman and Benoit are. Anderson says Benoit
is in Germany and 2 + 2 = 4. Anderson says love stinks and it’s his
fault. Debra goes on a rant against Nancy and McMichael says focus.
Anderson tells benoit to come home and says he has a bone to pick with
Woman.

Lee Marshall is in Pensacola.

US Title Tournament Semi-Finals: Diamond Dallas Page vs. Jeff Jarrett

Man this would have been different three and a half years later. The
winner of this gets the winner of Guerrero vs. Benoit at Starrcade. This
continues the streak of “put DDP in the ring with guys that could have a
watchable match with a grizzly bear so that he gets better.” Jarrett
has a small advantage to start but Page kicks him in the ribs and poses.
They fight over a top wristlock and we take a break.

Back with Page in control and slamming Jarrett down. Jarrett comes
back with an enziguri and a swinging neckbreaker for no cover. The fans
start booing something and a sunet flip and clothesline both get two for
Jeff. A Blanchard slingshot suplex sets up a middle rope fist for two.
There’s a sleeper and Page is in trouble.

The referee is looking at something else as Page hits a discus lariat
for a big reaction. Page punches him down and suddenly is over like
crazy. A top rope clothesline gets two. Page is sent to the floor and
here are the Outsiders. Nash distracts so that the Razor’s Edge can kill
Jarrett. Page didn’t see it and gets the pin.

Rating: B-. Remember what I’ve said before about
talented guys getting time means a good match? This is a similar version
but Page wasn’t quite good yet. Jarrett was reliable though and could
easily get a good match out of Page at this point. The reactions for
Page are getting much stronger very quickly and WCW capitalized on it
too.

Page says he doesn’t need the NWO because the Diamond Cutter does
whatever he needs. One more time: leave me alone. He wants to know where
they were last year when he was voted Most Improved by PWI. It reminds
him of a girl he picked up in a nightclub and the next thing he knows,
she wants a full time thing. In short, stop calling!

Rick Steiner vs. Scott Norton

We have about five minutes left in this show so this isn’t lasting
long if at all. And there’s no Steiner. It’s Roddy Piper instead and
he’s MAD.

He gets a chair and gets in the ring. Piper says nothing is happening
until Hogan gets out here because it’s time to fight. Here’s Bischoff
instead but Piper says get out because he wants Hogan. Eric says the NWO
has left and here comes the garbage. He says he tried to keep Piper out
of WCW for his own safety. Eric says that Hogan will beat him up on the
29th and then he limps out of the ring to imitate Piper. Piper gets the
chair and here’s the NWO. He has the chair and says bring it on but no
one gets in. Kevin Greene gets in also and they stand tall to end the
show.

Overall Rating: C+. Most of Starrcade is set at this
point so the next few weeks are going to be a lot of buildup shows and
that’s ok. This show was entertaining enough but we need Hogan and Piper
in the same ring soon. It’s not a bad show and the wrestling is good,
but it was still a few weeks/months before we get to the Sting vs. Hogan
stuff and the real drama begins. This is just kind of keeping things
warm until then.

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Monday Nitro #64
Date: December 2, 1996
Location: Hara Arena, Dayton, Ohio
Attendance: 3,800
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’ve got four Nitros to go before Starrcade and five to go before
1997. I can’t believe we’ve gotten this far but somehow here we are. The
shows up until then are pretty much all build to Starrcade, as you
would expect them to be. Also expect some more of the US Title
Tournament to play out tonight. Let’s get to it.

The Steiners come out immediately and say they want to finish this
with Sting tonight. We get a clip from last week of Sting attacking
Rick.

Glacier vs. Hardbody Harrison

This is Glacier’s first match since October. I’m not quite sure why
they stopped the character for that long but it didn’t do him any
favors. Harrison was actually in a big lawsuit against WCW where he said
he was discriminated against for being black. In reality, he was a
jobber and that’s about it. Glacier wins in like a minute with a spin
kick.

Some Cincinnati Bengals are here as well as a minor league hockey team.

Amazing French Canadians vs. Joe Gomez/Renegade

Gomez and Jacques get things going here and things break down
quickly. Gomez is thrown to the floor and Parker stomps him for a bit.
Hogan vs. Piper has been upgraded to the match of the millennium. Things
break down again and there’s the hot tag (with a mild pop) to the
Renegade. He hits the handspring elbow in the corner but the Canadians
take him down with ease and the Cannonball off the top ends this.

Rating: D. Why the Quebecers were here is beyond me
but they were also in the WWF for awhile after this so who knows.
Nothing to see here but it’s nice to see actual jobbers like Gomez and
Renegade. They’re better than guys like Heath Slater….somehow. Anyway,
not much here but it got the Canadians on TV for some reason.

Arn Anderson says he’s known Piper for a long time and that Hogan can
be beaten, which he’s proven before. Flair told Anderson that Piper was
the toughest fight he’s ever had and Anderson believes him. Piper is
focused and Piper will give him a receipt. This is said over an NWO
chant. Piper will be here next week.

Faces of Fear vs. Robert Gibson/Scotty Riggs

Barbarian pounds Riggs down quickly as we get a split screen of
Bagwell joining the NWO last week and the NWO destroying the Faces of
Fear and Harlem Heat. Off to Gibson as they work on the arm of
Barbarian. Meng comes in and double teaming puts him down also. Meng
takes over with the power game and the Faces of Fear hit their backdrop
into a powerbomb spot to a big reaction.

A piledriver basically kills Riggs dead but Gibson makes the save.
Faces of Fear vs. Outsiders at Starrcade. Riggs finally gets a breather
and brings in Gibson. An enziguri puts Barbarian down but after a
distraction by Meng, Barbarian kicks Gibson’s head off for the academic
pin.

Rating: D. Total dominance here as the Faces of Fear
have no one else to beat up on before Starrcade I guess. Gibson’s time
had passed so he went to the WWF with Morton soon after this. Riggs
would flounder until Raven showed up and gave him something to do soon
after this. The match was nothing though.
Riggs hits the Faces of Fear with a chair to make them leave.

We see some clips from the Baltimore house show that I mentioned
before between Sullivan vs. Benoit. They fought everywhere and into the
bathroom. The Dungeon of Doom came out of the stalls to beat Benoit up.
Back in the ring, Woman came in to save Benoit.

Kevin Sullivan vs. K.C. Sunshine

James is just barely more famous as Sean Casey from OVW. You
shouldn’t recognize that name. Total dominance as Taskmaster sends him
outside twice in two minutes before winning with the Tree of Woe and
double stomp.

Sullivan says that after Baltimore, Benoit is hurt. Sullivan is hurt
too and he’s got a story for Benoit. Sometimes the sweetness wears off
and even if he has to dig his own grave, either Sullivan or Benoit will
be buried alive because it’s about three instead of two.

Cruiserweight Title: Dean Malenko vs. Billy Kidman

The winner gets Dragon for the title at Starrcade. Also the US Title
tournament ends at Starrcade. Very technical match of course with both
guys fighting for control on the mat. Dean is sent to the floor but
avoids a plancha. A powerbomb on the floor takes Kidman down as Sonny
Onoo comes out to take pictures.
Brainbuster gets two for Dean back in the ring. Kidman gets in some
knees and a middle rope dropkick for two. They trade pinning
combinations with both guys getting a few twos. The match gets fast
paced so let’s talk about Piper vs. Hogan. A superplex takes Kidman down
but Onoo flashes his camera in Dean’s face. It doesn’t really matter as
the Shooting Star gets knees and the Cloverleaf ends this soon
thereafter.

Rating: C+. Fun match but the ending didn’t really
make a lot of sense. What was the point of Onoo cheating if Dean was
going to win clean just a few seconds later? I don’t really get this one
but it could have been a lot worse. These two had some good chemistry
and Kidman was starting to get more regular time which is a good thing.

Big Bubba vs. Jeff Jarrett

Hour #2 begins. Jarrett speeds things up to frustrate Bubba so the
power is used to take Jeff right back down. Bubba chokes him down on the
ropes and Jimmy helps a bit. Bubba accidentally clocks Jimmy and Jeff
goes up top for a cross body for two. The Figure Four is countered and
Jimmy throws in the Megaphone but Bubba misses. Jeff rolls him up for
one and then dropkicks the Megaphone into Bubba’s face for the pin
instead of a DQ.

Rating: D+. Not bad here but was there a reason as
to why there wasn’t a DQ in there? Either way, this wasn’t anything of
note. The Dungeon was so worthless at this point other than as heel
jobbers but they kept the feud going with the Horsemen for about six
months as Benoit was wasted with Sullivan.
The Steiners call out Sting again. He pops up in the rafters and
stares, as is his custom. Rick shouts up a challenge and Sting nods.

Here’s the NWO minus Hogan. They storm the announce desk and
apparently they’ll be running things now. Eric and the Outsiders are
doing commentary now and we get a clip from what looks like 1995 of
Hogan beating up Vader. Now we see a clip from a few months ago of the
NWO beating Flair down. Now it’s Hogan beating down Savage and
spraypainting his outline.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Dave Taylor

Taylor takes over with European uppercuts to take Eddie down. A nice
jumping headscissors takes Eddie down again and it’s off to a standing
armbar. Eric says whoever wins the tournament has to defend against
Giant. Eddie takes over, knocks Taylor down and the Frog Splash ends
this quick.
Lee Marshall yells at Eric from Charlotte.

Arn Anderson vs. Jim Powers

Anderson sends him to the floor quickly and domination is on. Powers
gets a cross body for two and Arn doesn’t seem thrilled by him hitting
it. Anderson destroys him until Powers gets in his jobber offense, as in
a clothesline and running kneelift. DDT ends this squash quickly.

US Title Tournament First Round: Chris Benoit vs. William Regal

This should be good. Regal is TV Champion. Chain wrestling to start
as they get into a test of strength position and fight over the control
for the opening minute. Both guys use some nice moves to take the other
to the mat. I think Regal is busted open. The camera goes wide so I’d
assume there’s something wrong. They pound on each other in the corner
and the wide shot gets a little annoying.

Regal hammers on him for awhile but Benoit comes back with chops and a
slam. The Swan Dive hits but Benoit can’t cover. The delayed cover gets
two so Regal tries a tombstone. Benoit reverses into one of his own and
Regal goes to the floor. A dive misses and Regal takes over again. They
go up top and Regal hits a butterfly superplex for two. Benoit grabs a
release German and Hall makes fun of the wide shot which we’ve never
left. The Dragon Suplex pins Regal.

Rating: B-. The place popped big for the win but the
camera angle got pretty annoying. It’s pretty clear that it was due to
the blood on Regal’s head which is something you can’t get around. They
hammered on each other for a good while here and the physical style was a
nice change of pace from what you usually see on Nitro.

The other Horsemen say things are great and Anderson wants to know
what’s up with Woman. Benoit says it’s cool but Anderson doesn’t buy it.
Mongo gets on him for it too. Debra doesn’t like Woman (calling her
Nancy) either. She goes on a LONG rant about how Woman is going to tear
everything apart. Anderson is worried and tells Benoit to get this
together.

Lex Luger vs. Rocco Rock

Hall and Nash rip into Luger the whole time as Grunge helps to choke
away. Luger gets in a few shots but gets caught in the cheating again.
Now repeat that for about a minute and a half. Lex finally wises up and
keeps things in the middle of the ring and Rock doesn’t have a chance.
Grunge interferes again but the team finally collides and Rock gets
caught in the Rack for the tap out.

Rating: D. This was another short match and nothing
really happened in it. It’s more about keeping Luger on TV until they
get something to do with him. Public Enemy never really fit in WCW and
it’s getting pretty clear at this point. They would actually stick
around for almost two years which really surprised me when I looked it
up.

Sting vs. Rick Steiner

Sting comes through the crowd as the NWO brags about how he’s their
boy now. Sting has the bat but throws it away. He turns his back to Rick
and Rick blasts him. Scott throws him back in and Rick pounds away.
Death Drop kills Rick though and Sting picks up the bat and points it at
both Steiners. He hands it to Rick and turns around but Scott stops the
blast with it. Sting leaves.

Sting looks at the NWO and points the bat at them before leaving through the crowd.

The NWO brags about having Sting to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. This show was better but without
Hogan and Piper around, there isn’t much going on here. The problem the
shows with and without Hogan and Piper have is like comparing The Rise
and Fall of ECW to Forever Hardcore. In Rise and Fall you can see all
this stuff but without it they talk about everything so highly that you
want to see it. The problem is that you get tired of hearing of it after
awhile because you can only get so far on the talking. Piper is back
next week though so a lot of those problems will be solved then. Still a
pretty decent show though.

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Monday Nitro #63
Date: November 25, 1996
Location: Wimomico Civic Center, Salisbury, Maryland
Attendance: 3,278
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Mike Tenay, Larry Zbyszko

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

Back to WCW here as we’re into the Eric Is Evil period. We’re also a night after World War 3 which Giant won, earning him a world title shot. Other than that there isn’t much else to report from the show, especially not like a 6 page review of it. We’re on the road to Starrcade now, which will wind up being another non-title main event. Let’s get to it.

We open with the opening sequence which still has Hogan in it in the red and yellow.

Tony and Larry talk about the contract signing between Roddy and Hogan. It’s officially signed for Starrcade. We also start a US Title Tournament tonight.

US Title Tournament First Round: Arn Anderson vs. Lex Luger

That’s quite an opener. They slug it out to start and Lex knocks him to the floor very quickly off an attempted shoulder block. Arn has taped ribs. Back in and Lex works on the arm, instead of going after the ribs which his finisher focuses on. Has there ever been a smart muscle guy? The arm work goes on for awhile and the fans aren’t all that thrilled with it.

Anderson fires off some shoulders to the ribs of Lex. Luger kicks Anderson in the ribs and then goes right back to the arm. When Larry Zbyszko is telling you that you’re missing the point, you know you’re in trouble. That’s not a knock on Larry, but he rarely went past pointing out the obvious. We take a break and come back with Lex breaking a chinlock. Arn keeps up the offense and we go to the floor.

Anderson almost punches the post but stops himself just in time. Lex grabs him and slams Arn’s back into the post then into the ring. It only took him about eight minutes to get the idea. Back in a suplex puts Arn down and Lex calls for the Rack. Instead we hear Giant talking about how he’s the US Champion which is the most wanted title in the world. Lex and Arn keep at their usual stuff and Lex can’t quite Rack him. They go to the floor where Lex manages to Rack him. It’s a double countout.

Rating: D+. This was a far better match once Luger realized he had a brain and worked on the body part that was injured coming in. Giant getting involved didn’t really add anything to the match but he’ll probably be popping up for the rest of the tournament. Arn was on the verge of being gone and his last regular singles match would be in January.

We get some stills of Dragon vs. Mysterio last night where Dragon kept the J-Crown. We get the same from Jericho beating Patrick, which I think was the NWO’s first loss, if you consider Patrick an official member at this point. Jarrett lost to Giant as well and Sting beat Jarrett up.

Here’s the NWO but I don’t see Hogan. Bischoff talks about being powerbombed in Baltimore back before Hogan joined. He realized that he wanted to be part of the power rather than consumed by it. A few days later, he met with Hall and Nash and joined up. As for the guys in the back, everyone has 30 days to transfer their WCW contracts to NWO contracts or they’re voided.

As for Piper, don’t get out of hand or deal with Bischoff. As for the US Title, possession is 9/10 of the law. The American Males come out and Bagwell joins the NWO. Bagwell takes Riggs out and the fans cheer for the NWO.

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Disco Inferno

Page takes him down immediately and crotches him on the top rope. Disco grabs a pair of swinging neckbreakers and that’s about the extent of his offense. Page spins around the shoulders and wins with the Diamond Cutter. Just a squash here.

Page talks about how it’s clear why the NWO wants him but he isn’t in it yet. As for being friends and neighbors with Hall, Nash and Bischoff, that doesn’t mean he’s a member either. He doesn’t seem thrilled with Eric’s recent actions though.

TV Title: Steven Regal vs. Tony Pena

Pena is more famous as Villano IV but he’s out of the mask here. Regal grabs the arm to start but Pena flips out of it. Regal flips out of that as well and takes over again. Pena gets in a few shots and a DDT for two. Regal easily takes him down and the Regal Stretch ends this. Nothing to see here.

Rick Steiner, being seen for the first time in months, says he and his brother have been in Japan. He says the Steiners are WCW but he wants to know what’s up with Sting.

US Title Tournament First Round: Konnan vs. Eddie Guerrero

Eddie speeds things up and sends Konnan to the floor. There’s his signature big dive to the outside to give him control. Hour #2 begins and Tony walks up to the broadcast booth. Konnan comes back with the rolling clothesline and chokes in the corner. Konnan takes him to the mat and then powerbombs him for two. Fisherman’s DDT gets the same.

Eddie comes back but Konnan stops him with a gutwrench bomb for two. Off to a leg lock as Brain compares the Guerreros to the Three Stooges. Konnan goes up but jumps into a dropkick. Eddie goes for the Frog Splash but Konnan pops up and a superplex gets two as Konnan picks him up. He sets for the Power Drop but Eddie rolls out of it and lands on Konnan for the pin to advance.

Rating: C+. Not a bad match at all here with Eddie really getting to showcase himself around this time. Konnan picking him up was kind of an odd choice for him but I don’t think he was ever a cerebral guy. They did a decent fast paced match here and Konnan busted out some decent power moves, which is stuff he isn’t that remembered for but did pretty often.

We get some more stills from last night.

Big Bubba vs. Rick Steiner

Bubba takes over quickly but Rick hammers him to the floor and drops a double axe on the top of his head. Back in the ring an elbow drop gets two. There’s a German for two. Sting pops up at the top of the arena and comes down the steps. The Steiner Bulldog hits but Rick knocks Bubba to the floor instead. Sting comes through the crowd and hops the railing. He lays Rick out with the Death Drop and Bubba gets a splash for the pin. Not enough to rate but it was there for the storyline rather than the match.

Lee Marshall is in Dayton this week. Apparently he got beaten up last night.

Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Psicosis

Ultimo Dragon comes out to watch. Feeling out process to start and Psicosis throws him over the top. That isn’t a DQ for whatever their reason is this week. Back in the guillotine legdrop gets two. Psicisos tries Splash Mountain but Rey hits his signature rana out of it for the pin. This was uncharacteristically short for a cruiserweight match.

Time for the Hogan/Piper contract signing from the night before. This is straight footage from the PPV so I’ll be copying and pasting it from that review.

Piper comes out with a contract in his hand. Bobby suggests that Piper is a bigger movie star than Hogan. I’ll leave that for you guys. Bischoff, Vincent and DiBiase come out sans Hogan. The next night Bischoff would say either join us or have your contracts voided which went nowhere but it got Bagwell to join.

Bischoff has power of attorney for Hogan so he can sign for Hogan. In a great bit of continuity, Piper shoves Vincent aside and tells him that he taught Vincent how to fight. Piper trained Vincent (Virgil in case that doesn’t ring a bell) to fight for his first match back in 1991. Piper says he can wear a leather jacket because he’s tough enough to unlike Bischoff. Piper really does come off as a badass here and this really did feel big. The problem was he actually had to wrestle.

Piper more or less says he doesn’t care about a count out or a DQ but just winning and here’s Hogan, Liz, Hall, Nash, Syxx and Giant. Bobby thinks Piper is outnumbered. I wonder if it was the 9-1 odds that made him think that. Hogan gets on the mic and lifts Piper’s skirt, showing the scar Piper has from a hip replacement. Why not just hold a big sign above their heads saying OLD GUYS?

Hogan signs the contract which Piper brought with him. For no apparent reason the match was NON title and when Piper won with a sleeper, he didn’t win the title. To say the fans were pissed would be an understatement. Piper jumps Hogan but gets caught. Hogan gets a chair and hits the weakest chair shot ever to the scar. Good to see the NWO is only taking ten minutes on this segment.

Alex Wright vs. Jeff Jarrett

They fight over a wristlock to start as the announcers talk about Hogan vs. Piper non-stop. Wright speeds things up which is like Kryptonite to a Memphis guy. Jarrett hits a snake eyes to break the momentum but Wright hits a spinwheel kick (first move called by the announcers at 90 seconds in) and a slingshot splash for two. A side kick misses in the corner though and the Figure Four ends this. Not much here but Wright was always someone I liked watching.

We go over some stills of the battle royal last night with the ending being Luger vs. five members of the NWO and eliminating all but Giant, who he did manage to Rack.

Faces of Fear vs. Harlem Heat

Stevie vs. Meng to start us off. Meng pounds him down and they be clubberin Tony! A big boot from Ray takes him down and the Harlem Side Kick drops Barbarian. In a really impressive move, Meng backdrops Booker into a powerbomb by Barbarian. That looked awesome. Everything breaks down quickly but it settles into Meng vs. Booker. Stevie comes in to kick Meng in the head which doesn’t have much effect. They go to the floor and the NWO runs in for the DQ.

Rating: D+. Not much here but the point of it was to have a bunch of guys out there so that the NWO could run in. It wasn’t bad for the most part and a power brawl is always worth at least a glance. The Faces of Fear would get a mild push until the end of the year and I’ve heard far worse ideas. Having some Island Monsters is a tried and true method for a tag team so why not them?

The NWO beats down all four of them and Tony makes a statement: “There is no way WCW can beat down a gang like this.” The NWO here is Vincent, Syxx, Hall, Nash, Giant and Bagwell. That’s a formidable team, but WCW’s roster has what, let’s say 30 guys? Are you telling me that five guys apiece can’t take down Vincent or Bagwell? I get that the NWO was smart, but why did it take years for WCW to just send the whole locker room out there and beat the stuffing out of the NWO? I get why you can’t do that from a booking perspective, but why not from a kayfabe perspective? Was that ever answered? Posing ends the show.

Overall Rating: C. This wasn’t a horrible show but it was more about holding the fort than anything else. They have awhile before Starrcade and without Hogan and Piper here, there wasn’t much going on. Bagwell joining didn’t mean much and neither did the whole contract issue as I think it only added a handful of new guys if that. Nothing great tonight but it certainly wasn’t a bad show.

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Monday Nitro #62
Date: November 18, 1996
Location: Florence Civic Center, Florence, South Carolina
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Heenan, Eric Bischoff

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We have finally arrived at something interesting. This is one of the shows where something actually happens and it happens at the end of the show. I know that’s kind of spoiling it, but this was over 15 years ago so it’s not exactly a huge deal. The matches tonight look like their usual uninteresting selves, but we’ll get to those as they come. Let’s get to it.

The show opened at like 7:55 this week, which was annoying for fans. Either way it opened with the NWO laying out various people with chairs and then taking over the announcers’ table. They intimidate Tony and Larry and talk about the triangle match. Two of the guys that are laid out are the Nasty Boys. Hall talks about the Faces of Fear and they walk out. The Faces of Fear jump them in the back and the Outsiders get knocked out the door.

Oh I forgot: this is the go home show for World War 3.

After a break, Tony says the attack was during a dark match. They air part of it but not the chair parts. Tony goes off on Larry for not getting in the Outsiders’ faces and walks off the broadcast. MAN this show just got a lot better!

Juventud Guerrera vs. La Parka

Larry has to hold the commentary himself here and is cool with that. Mike Tenay comes out a few moments into the match. Juvy hits a hard clothesline to take over and Parka breakdances up. This is La Parka’s WCW debut according to Tenay who wasn’t a loud annoying man at this point so I’ll listen to him. Out to the floor and Parka hits a suicide dive. They both go up top but Parka gets crotched and a springboard rana gets two for Juvy.

Lionsault Press gets two for Juvy but a springboard is countered by a dropkick by La for two. Out to the floor and Parka hits a plancha. There’s a surfboard by La Parka. I still love that move. Juvy hits a missile dropkick for two. There are multiple empty seats on the side opposite the hard camera. Juvy hits a springboard rana for two. Why isn’t the crowd more into this? This has been a pretty solid match.

A spinning victory roll into a rana gets two. La Parka goes up but misses a Swanton Bomb. Juvy Driver is countered into a messy small package for two. A DDT gets two for Guerrera. This is a shockingly good match. Juvy grabs a tornado DDT out of nowhere for two. These are some very close twos and the crowd could not care less. You uncultured swine. Guerrera goes up for a spinning rana but Parka holds the ropes and hits a reverse Whisper in the Wind (Jeff Hardy’s inspiration?) for the pin after about twelve minutes.

Rating: B. I might be overrating that but man I was getting into this at the end. Also points for surprise value here as who would have expected one of the most interesting TV matches in months from these two? This wasn’t a technically sound match and it’s not a classic or anything, but it was fun and they had me wanting to see who was going to win. That right there means a lot and probably means more than anything else a match can do. Very fun stuff.

Quick video on how Ultimo Dragon won the J-Crown Title.

Cruiserweight Title: Dean Malenko vs. Ultimo Dragon

Rey gets an inset interview, wanting a rematch with Dean. Dragon grabs the leg to take him down. Rey vs. Dragon on Sunday. They trade rollups and the Tiger Suplex, the move that would eventually get Dragon the title, gets two. Spinwheel kick puts Dean down and they head to the floor. Back in and Dean goes for the leg, hooking up the Cloverleaf. That draws in Sonny and in the melee, Dean throws Dragon over the top for the DQ.

Rating: C-. This was kind of puzzling to me. I mean, I get that they can’t put the title on Dragon yet because they were saving that for Starrcade, but at the same time, what was the point in this match at all? Both guys have matches on Sunday, but this doesn’t make either of them look weak or strong. I don’t really get it.

We recap last week with the French Canadians and the Heat, which we could barely see last week due to the Nasty Boys.

Amazing French Canadians vs. American Males

Parker is now dressed as a member of the French Foreign Legion. Also on Sunday it’s the Canadians vs. the Heat and if the Heat win, Sherri gets five minutes with Parker. Oulette vs. Bagwell gets us going. The Males clear the ring to start and it’s off to Riggs vs. Jacques. Jacques does some nip-ups for exercise I guess and grabs a headlock. My goodness Tenay is so much nicer to listen to than Tony.

We get to the important part of the match with the Males colliding to give us miscommunication, which is the whole reason they’ve been around more often lately. Rougeau slams Oulette onto Riggs as the Canadians dominate. Now we get some Canadian miscommunication and Bagwell comes in to clean house. Riggs gets in the way, kneeing Rougeau in the back to send him into Bagwell. Their heads collide and Jacques gets the pin.

Rating: D+. The match was ok I guess but I absolutely do not care about either of these teams. They’re not interesting at all but thankfully the Males will split soon. As for the Canadians….why? What is the appeal of them? They would show up again in the WWF in the Attitude Era for some reason. I still don’t get why but whatever.

Hugh Morrus vs. Lex Luger

Luger has been racking everyone in sight lately and they’re usually big guys. I wonder if we’ll see the same here. Nah I’m betting on Morrus. Anderson has even more to say about Luger, more or less the same things he’s been saying all month. I’d almost rather watch the Baltimore card they keep talking about than the PPV. The fans want Sting. Flair is going to be at the Baltimore show apparently.

Morrus hammers away on Luger with the power moves. This is the same match Luger has been doing lately but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. Luger makes his comeback with a back elbow but runs into one of his own. Hugh goes up but misses a splash. There’s the call for the Rack and there’s the submission. There’s some confusion here as Luger doesn’t quite have him up but in the half second he did, Morrus tapped. Luger didn’t realize it though so he tried it again. He yelled when the referee stopped him and I think he thought it was a DQ or something.

Rating: D. Pretty basic power match here as Luger continues his march through every big man in the company on his way to World War 3 where he’d do quite a bit of tossing out big men. The story for him was pretty well written so I can’t complain much about it. Decent enough match here but about as predictable as you could ask for.

Luger wants to win the battle royal and then the title from Hogan. And here comes Sting. The bat is red here and Sting shoves Luger back with it. Then he hands it to Luger and walks away. Luger says nothing and we go to a break.

Hour #2 begins.

We look at a clip from Saturday Night where Patrick and his attorney. Long and Jericho come in and after a weak set of arguing, Jericho vs. Patrick is set for Sunday with Jericho having one arm behind his back.

Chris Jericho vs. Johnny Grunge

I guess this is a warmup match for Sunday. Everyone is asking Heenan about Jericho apparently. That man gets talked to a lot. Nick Patrick is here scouting. As for the match, what exactly are you expecting? It’s Johnny Grunge vs. Chris Jericho. Jericho comes back with a spinwheel kick to send Grunge to the floor. Back in a release Stun Gun puts Chris down. Grunge brings in a chair and drops Jericho onto it. Somehow that isn’t a DQ but a backdrop over the top is. Go figure. Now he brings in a table and accidentally puts himself through it. A missile dropkick by Jericho ends this.

Rating: D. Well this was different. I guess they really wanted to put Jericho over strong here as DQ rules don’t seem to apply to him. Just a very strange match (a running theme tonight) with Grunge using a bunch of stuff that you don’t often see in a regular match but it wasn’t terrible.

Jericho says nothing of note but Teddy Long comes out and ups that by really saying nothing of note.

Here’s the NWO at the broadcast booth. Heenan bails and Hogan makes Bischoff say a bunch of things that aren’t exactly true but Hogan wants to hear.

Page comes out and says he’s still not NWO. The NWO comes up to him and Page turns them down again.

Jeff Jarrett vs. Bobby Eaton

This should be good. Jarrett messes with Eaton’s hair to start and that’s just asking for trouble. A punch sends Bobby to the floor and Eaton goes into the post. Jarrett hooks the Figure Four for the quick tap and here’s Flair. Match was like a minute long.

Flair endorses Jarrett post match. Also Jarrett says we need to unite. Sting is watching and Flair says Jarrett is a Horseman.

Big Bubba vs. Jim Powers

No Teddy with Powers now so I guess that association is over. Eric seems to avoid the Piper subject. Bubba hits the slide under the rope uppercut and off to a weak chinlock. Bubba dominates for awhile until Powers gets the standard jobber offense in. And there’s the Bossman Slam to end it. Just a squash.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Benoit

These two had a lot of matches on this show. Woman is looking good tonight. They immediately go to the mat and Eric tries to keep up with them. Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker gets some control for Eddie but Benoit tries the same, only to be countered. Benoit takes it to the mat and hooks the Crossface which isn’t a big move yet. Sullivan says he’ll be waiting in Baltimore.

Slingshot hilo gets two for Eddie. They go to the mat where Benoit takes over. Off to something kind of like a reverse hammerlock followed by some modified Rings of Saturn. A powerbomb is countered into a sunset flip by Eddie for two. We take a break and come back with Benoit getting a few two counts. Gorilla press puts Eddie down.

Top rope superplex by Benoit puts both guys down and gets two for the Canadian. Eddie grabs a small package and Saito Suplex to set up the Frog Splash. Benoit moves but Eddie rolls through. Standing rana by Eddie is rolled through into a sunset flip and a fast count wins for Chris.

Rating: C+. Decent match here which was a nice change of pace from what we’ve had for the most part tonight. The ending was good if a little rushed. These two have had so many matches that they could probably have a decent one blindfolded, so that always helps. Fun stuff before we get to the serious part.

Eric is in the ring and says that he’s sorry for what Hogan made him say. Gee, you mean a wrestling announcer lied? Anyway, he says he tried to get Piper to sign to face Hogan but couldn’t. They’re going to keep trying though. Cue Piper for I believe his first appearance on Nitro. He says he’s never heard so many lies in his life. Well other than when he was talking of course. Piper is glad to be back in the Carolinas. His son was born here.

Piper quotes LL Cool J of all people to say Bischoff is lying. Eric is noticeably nervous. Piper talks about Eric coming to Portland and talking to his managers. He asks Eric if the road to Piper’s ranch is crooked or straight. Eric nervously says he doesn’t remember and here’s the NWO. Hogan and Eric hug, and Eric is NWO. Hogan flat out says Eric works for them. The Outsiders hold him and Hogan says how awesome he is. We’ve got cops in here as well as security and they break things up. Tenay and Heenan freak and Piper says he’ll have the contract ready at World War 3 to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. This was much better than last week as they had a very nice blend of the drama and the wrestling, which was the hallmark of WCW. World War 3 would pretty much suck but that was the tendency for most of their PPVs. Piper vs. Hogan didn’t quite set the world on fire but it got people watching and set up Hogan’s dominance of 97 so that’s a good thing for them.

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Monday Nitro #61
Date: November 11, 1996
Location: Bayfront Arena, St. Petersburg, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Larry Zbyszko, Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

There isn’t much to talk about for this show. The NWO is dominating of course and Piper is in this somewhere. WCW is still looking for a leader which they never really would find. Other than that there isn’t much else to talk about here because that’s all that really mattered. The big stuff happens next week. Let’s get to it.

While the announcers talk to open the show, some guy has an envelope in the crowd and security gets rid of him. It’s not acknowledged but it’s almost impossible to miss.

We talk about Jarrett vs. the Horsemen as Jarrett had implied he was a Horseman but Benoit and Mongo didn’t like that. This feud would go on FOREVER and drive me crazy the while time. They air the whole segment from last week which is Jarrett making a rambling football analogy.

Chris Benoit vs. Jeff Jarrett

An inset interview by Kevin Sullivan implies he had Woman before Benoit. Jarrett grabs an arm drag and struts. A drop toehold takes Benoit down and Jarrett walks over his back as we take a break. Back with Benoit pounding away on him and it’s a brawl. Jeff kind of botches a neckbreaker as he loses Benoit swinging through it. Jarrett keeps control but Benoit gets all violent to take over.

Back to the mat in a brawling style as this has been a lot less technical than you would expect from these guys. Jeff starts in on the leg but Benoit hammers away at him. He drapes Jarrett across the top rope and they slug it out over the apron. Jarrett suplexes Benoit to the floor….and here’s Sting to drop Jarrett with the Deathdrop for the DQ.

Rating: C-. Not bad here but they weren’t going for a technical masterpiece this time. The idea was that Benoit was mad about Jarrett talking about being a Horseman so it wasn’t meant to be a big display of amateur skill. The ending hopefully gets rid of Jarrett wanting to be the leader of WCW.

Benoit teases getting in to fight Sting but thinks better of it.

Tony and Larry starting talking about Dr. James Andrews and the envelope guy from earlier runs up to the table and hands Tony the envelope. It’s a tape with a note saying it was a hit in Europe in 92 and something about Piper wanting Hogan. When I mentioned it earlier, I didn’t know something else was coming later from it. That’s rather cool.

The point of Andrews was a video we get about Flair getting his shoulder worked on by him.

WCW Women’s Title Tournament First Round: Zero vs. Malia Hosaka

Zero is Sonny Onoo’s chick in this. She no sells everything and we’re in squash territory here. Razor’s Edge into a powerbomb ends this in about a minute and a half.

DDP is asked about the NWO interfering in his matches. Page says he has nothing to do with them and doesn’t need them. The Outsiders come out and offer him a spot on the team but Page says he’d be #8, so how valuable do they really think he is? Nash talks about politics and how Bischoff is Page’s neighbor. Page says that has nothing to do with the spot he has and that’s about it.

Ciclope vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

Ciclope has what would be Jericho’s heel music in 1998. Ultimo Dragon is out at ringside with the J Crown Titles. Ciclope takes him to the mat but Rey makes it technical to escape. A springboard rana sends Ciclope to the floor and there’s a big dive on top of it. Another springboard winds up with with Ciclope clotheslining him down. A sunset bomb sends Rey to the floor as Ciclope is doing better than expected.

More dominance by the less famous one here as he hits a DDT off the top (think the Orton elevated DDT) as Dean is watching from the aisle. Psicosis is behind him but I don’t think Dean knows he’s there. Off to a chinlock by Ciclope which is actually a choke. There’s a group of fans in the front row in shirts that spell out NWO 4 Life. A standing Lionsault is caught in something like a tombstone by Ciclope. They go up and Rey ranas him to the floor. Back in the West Coast Pop ends it.

Rating: C+. Pretty nice match here with Rey making the comeback that he got pretty famous doing. Not exactly a classic as they only had about 5 minutes, but for a free TV match, this was pretty much fine. Rey would get back into the title hunt in the next year as it was Dragon who got Dean to end the year.

The NWO fans come out of the entrance ramp before the NWO itself comes out for the Cable Ace Awards. Hall calls TNT a show instead of a network. They take over the announce table (the one at ringside, not the booth) and say they’ll want the awards. Nash brings up winning WarGames and talks about how they want Nitro. That happens in 2-3 weeks apparently.

Hour #2 begins.

Lex Luger vs. Scott Norton

Anderson says that he’ll get Luger at a house show in Baltimore on the 23rd. Norton overpowers him to start but seemingly drops Lex on a backbreaker attempt. Sting is in the rafters/at the top of the crowd. Out to the floor where Luger clotheslines the post which quiets the crowd down a lot. Back in and a flying tackle puts Lex down and we take a break.

Back with Norton draping the arm across the top rope. Norton stomps away on Luger like he’s a bad virus. Lex tries to start a comeback but Norton no sells a lot of clotheslines. Eric talks about the tape that apparently we’re going to see later. Norton goes up but jumps into a clothesline. The Rack ends this clean.

Rating: D+. Just a power match here but nothing of interest at all. Norton was as generic of a power guy as you could ask for but he did a decent job in that role and was around for a lot of years in WCW as a result. Sometimes just being a power monster is good enough for a job and he was here.

Heenan picks Dean Malenko for World War 3.

We see the attack on Jarrett by Sting earlier in the show.

Luger says that he still hasn’t heard from Sting.

Lee Marshall talks about Nitro next week as usual.

Amazing French Canadians vs. Harlem Heat

Colonel Parker is with the Canadians now. This is a rematch from Saturday Night. The Canadians take over to start but the Heat ram them together to take over. Booker hits the axe kick and we cut to the back to see the Nasty Boys trying to get in. Doug Dillinger won’t let them in. They finally go split screen as Sherri gets into the ring. The Nasties leave but see someone we can’t quite see. Sherri and Parker get into a fight for the no contest. I’m not rating it due to how much we didn’t see and how the split screen was mostly her standing around. I’m curious as to who that was the Nasties were talking to.

Upon further review (as in I looked it up on the internet) it was Ed Leslie, or Brutus Beefcake.

Konnan vs. Chris Jericho

Konnan has a belt which I’d assume is a AAA title. We actually get a shot of a hockey card with Jericho’s pappy on it. Jericho gets sent to the floor and Konnan hits the rolling clothesline. Then he hits another inside. Well at least he’s keeping the symmetry. Nick Patrick is referee here so expect something screwy. Konnan hits him in the knee and a powerbomb gets two. Now he works on the arm. The Canadian hits a German on the Cuban and a victory roll gets two. Another bridging move gets two. They hit the ropes and Konnan dropkicks Jericho who brushes into Patrick’s arm which Patrick calls a DQ.

Rating: D. This was a pretty dull match which was there so they could continue Jericho vs. Patrick. I’m not sure when they’re going to finally have Patrick admit he’s NWO but if I remember right it was before the PPV. He definitely was NWO at Souled Out but I thought it was before then.

Miguel Perez Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera

This starts immediately after we get back from a break. Perez was one of Los Boricuas in WWF and other than this, he had one match on a major WCW show which was back in 1992. Oh my goodness he’s a hairy man. I’m not exactly sure what you want me to say here as this is your standard cruiserweight style match with both guys moving around well but mostly just to pop the crowd. Standing moonsault gets two for Perez. They go to the floor and Perez flattens him with a powerbomb on the floor. Back in a tornado DDT is countered by Juvy but the 450 misses. A rolling victory roll gets the pin for Perez.

Rating: C-. Like I said, this was just like any given match that had two Hispanic cruiserweights in it. I don’t really know what else there is to say about it as it came and went. It wasn’t bad but Perez wasn’t all that impressive. I’d assume this was a tryout match for him so I’m not that shocked that he wasn’t around anymore.

DiBiase thanks Sting for taking Jarrett out. He and Vincent hold up an NWO shirt for Sting whenever he wants it.

Faces of Fear vs. American Males

This is the official main event if you go by what the last match is. We get word that the video is a music video which is going to be enough to explain Piper’s feelings about Hogan. Eric says that he still has had issues with Piper’s management and that he had a good time with Piper and his family in Oregon. Remember that, as it becomes important later. The Faces of Fear pound the Males down before the Males can even get their jackets off. We’re told that Piper vs. Hogan will be as big as Tyson vs. Holyfield. Not hot tag brings in Riggs but Bagwell pulls Barbarian’s feet at the wrong time. Meng kills Riggs with a kick to end it.

Rating: D. This was here to reenforce the idea that the Males aren’t on the same page. You would get a lot more of these short matches that were just around to advance the idea of a single angle back then rather than now. The Males thing would be settled next week, as would a lot of other stuff. Yeah in case you didn’t get it, next week is where a lot of stuff changes, making this week pretty much just a filler before then.

Jimmy Hart wants to know why the Nasty Boys are getting a title shot and not the Faces of Fear. He wants a triangle match. Jimmy would actually get his request.

Here’s the video, which is Piper boxing…and singing? The song appears to be called I’m Your Man. It’s a music video which has Piper training, on the beach, and that’s about it. There’s a still from the music video with Hogan looking up at a marquee at the Hollywood Bowl with Hogan vs. Piper listed as The Ultimate Bout. Really? That’s it?

Here’s the NWO and Hogan in particular. Liz is in a Santa mask. He brags about Santa With Muscles and tells Piper to bring it on. Hulk poses to end the show.

Overall Rating: D. This one really missed for me. Like I said it’s really more of a filler show than anything else, with that music video being something very strange. It’s not a particularly bad song or anything, but it’s just so out of nowhere and strange to see Piper singing. Anyway, nothing of note to see here tonight and that made it one of the weaker shows from Nitro in awhile.

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Monday Nitro #60
Date: November 4, 1996
Location: Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Attendance: 7,568
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re into November now and World War 3 is in three weeks. Well 20 days but you get the idea. Ok so it’s really 15 years ago plus a few months but we’ll be here all day if we get into that. Anyway after last week, there’s not much to go on so hopefully we really get things going tonight. Let’s get to it.

Sting is in the rafters. DiBiase, Vincent and Giant are in the crowd and looking up at him.

Tonight we start a tournament for the new WCW Women’s Title.

Eric isn’t here tonight, but rather in Portland trying to get Piper to sign a contract. Remember that. It becomes REAL important in a few weeks.

We get a clip from Havoc where Piper yells at Hogan. Tony says the fans have demanded it, including over the internet. Tonight a word is promised about the signing.

Marcus Bagwell vs. Brad Armstrong

Sting leaves before the match starts. Man even he hates Buff. Riggs it at ringside too. Random question but where have the Steiners been? Are they still out from the car wreck thing? Bagwell does the clap thing and to his credit, the crowd is doing it with him. Technical match for the most part as they’re on the mat a lot. One thing that’s unrelated to the match: there are fans in the front row leaning over people (nice guys) to try to see themselves on a screen. I guess there are monitors or something by the entrance. That helps a lot as far as the videos they play.

We take a break (in the opener? Between Bagwell and Armstrong?) and come back to Armstrong hitting some armdrags (with his strong arms I guess) to frustrate Bagwell. Bagwell hits him in the face and the brawl is on. The fans are getting into this too. A dropkick puts Bagwell down and he gets tossed to the floor. Bagwell does just the same, hitting a dropkick and a clothesline to put Armstrong on the floor. There’s a dive to the floor and Brad is in trouble.

The NWO is in the crowd. They seem to be in the same place we saw them earlier so presumably they’ve been there the entire time. Why we’re looking at them and should be surprised to see them eludes me but a lot of what WCW did eluded me. Ok now they’re leaving. A tornado DDT gets two for Armstrong. There’s a gutbuster for Bagwell and what looked to be a forearm to put Armstrong down. We get the same ending from Fall Brawl 95 with Johnny B. Badd vs. Pillman where they both hit cross bodies and Bagwell lands on top for the pin.

Rating: C+. Marcus Bagwell vs. Brad Armstrong got 15 minutes and a commercial on Nitro and IT WAS GOOD. I’m in an alternate universe here. Brad was almost always at least watchable but Bagwell was a tag team guy and the same wrestler he was five years earlier, so why in the world did this get so much time? I’m not sure but it worked pretty well.

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Ice Train

We’re reminded of the NWO watching Page last week. Page whispered something to Nick Patrick before this starts. The NWO (Outsiders) are in the crowd watching again. Train easily overpowers Page to start and knocks him to the floor. Page is starting to look a lot like he would during his main run. The Outsiders leave. Page guillotines him on the top and hits a top rope clothesline to take over.

Tony says Teddy has become a role model for young people all over the world. I can see the tag team matches being made on playgrounds all over the world. Sunset flip (and a bad one at that) gets two for Train. Larry says Piper vs. Hogan would be the biggest match of the 20th century. I never thought I’d say this, but Larry has been in bigger matches than that would be. Pancake puts Train down for two.

Swinging neckbreaker gets the same and a huge kickout, sending Page onto Patrick. A powerslam and two splashes get a slow two. Page gets knocked to the floor when the Outsiders come in and destroy Train with the title belts. Patrick is on the floor with Page. The champs leave and the Cutter ends this.

Rating: D+. This was more angle than match, which is something you can usually say about Teddy Long’s clients’ matches. It’s cool to see the Outsiders doing something to pull someone up and it certainly worked with Page. Was there a kayfabe reason why Patrick never went on medical leave? I never got that.

Cruiserweight Title: Dean Malenko vs. Scotty Riggs

Dean vs. Psicosis is announced for the PPV. The bell never rings so technically this is just a big prematch exhibition. Riggs has a bad shoulder coming in. Tony: “Well he’s trying to win. That’s a good sign.” Well what else would he be there for? A pottery class? Syxx pops up in the crowd as Riggs hits the post shoulder first. Riggs doesn’t seem to mind as he turns on the jets and sends Dean to the floor. There’s a plancha and back in a top rope double axe gets two. Scotty goes up again but Dean falls against the ropes and Riggs crashes onto the apron. Bagwell throws him back in and Dean gets an easy pin.

Rating: C. Not a bad match here and it foreshadows the troubles that the Males would have. Ok so maybe foreshadows is too big of a word given that they would only last like 3 weeks but you get the idea. Dean looked good here as did Riggs, and that ending fall looked awesome and painful at the same time. Decent little match.

We get a clip from last week with Mongo helping steal a win for Benoit.

Hector Guerrero vs. Chris Benoit

Hector is Eddie’s older brother and possibly even more talented. He’s also a dead ringer for Eddie if you just glance at him. I’ve often gotten them confused until I took a good look. Flair has had his surgery and Anderson is out with a back injury. On Saturday, Benoit said Sullivan is no longer the man he used to be. Sullivan pops up and says he’ll hurt Benoit in Baltimore. He’s actually talking about a house show.

Hector speeds things up and hits almost a Vader Bomb from the top rope out to the floor onto a standing Benoit. Benoit’s shoulder is still taped up. Hector works on the arm and mixes up the attack on it, because Hector Guerrero is smarter than most wrestlers. He goes to take the tape off and we take a break. After an NWO t-shirt ad, we come back to Benoit hitting a knee to put Guerrero down.

He draped Hector over the top rope with a release suplex and Guerrero is in trouble. Benoit works over the ribs and hooks an awkward abdominal stretch. Hector is basically crouched down and Benoit is bending over. Benoit hammers him down as Tony hypes up how amazing the second hour is. There’s the explosion. Hector grabs a small package for two. Guerrero speeds things up and uses a rolling tumbleweed style cradle for two. Woman breaks it up which isn’t a DQ. Benoit grabs a rollup via the distraction and uses the ropes for the pin.

Rating: C+. Another long match which again works. Benoit could move better this week which is a nice perk. Hector wouldn’t be around that much I don’t think so this was really just to avenge Eddie I guess. Nothing that great but they were moving well out there and the psychology worked so big points for that.

We look at Giant and Jarrett from last week. The Horsemen and Jarrett are in the aisle and Jeff says he’s the lead horse right now. Was he ever officially inducted? Benoit protests and says business pertaining to the Horsemen will be dealt with by a Horseman. Jarrett talks about getting WCW together as Sting watches. He just kind of goes on and on while we look at Sting.

The announcers talk about Sting.

Lee Marshall is in Florida for next week’s Nitro.

WCW Women’s Title Tournament First Round: Reina Jubuki vs. Madusa

Jubuki is Akiri Hokuto under a mask. Reina takes over quickly to start and chokes Madusa down. Another female Japanese wrestler comes out and watches. Her name is Zero apparently. Sonny Onoo rants like a heel Japanese man would in pro wrestling. Madusa hits something like what we would call the Stratusphere but Jubuki hits a release suplex and missile dropkick for two. The American grabs a quick German to pin the Japanese for the win. Too short to rate but it was way better than most modern female matches.

Michael Wallstreet vs. Chris Jericho

Wallstreet takes it to the mat quickly but Jericho works on the arm and then grabs a headlock. He tries to speed things up and Wallstreet fires him through the ropes. Tony calls the attorney of Nick Patrick a Schyster. I have a feeling there was a wink in there somewhere. Wallstreet pounds away as the announcers debate what the name Lionheart means.

Off to a chinlock and after awhile we look at the crowd. I can’t say I blame them as things got really boring all of a sudden there. Jericho comes back to break up the boring chants which were coming quickly. Missile dropkick sends Wallstreet out to the floor. Jericho gets sent into the post but as they come back in he grabs a quick small package for the pin.

Rating: D+. Nothing special here at all but they didn’t have much to go on. Jericho needed the ring time at this point and putting him in there with a veteran like Wallstreet was a good idea. This wasn’t all that bad but it’s nothing interesting at all. Basically just a way to make sure people remember who Jericho is.

Patrick and his attorney are here again and Jericho says there’s nothing wrong with the neck and that Patrick works for the NWO. Somehow this turns into an argument about Jericho’s dad playing in the NHL. Teddy comes out to yell at Patrick too. The attorney brings up Teddy being suspended while he was a referee like 8 years ago. Jericho cuts him off and says that’s the past, what Patrick is doing today.

We get a video from last week with Luger chasing after Sting to end the match with Booker.

Lex Luger vs. Booker T

Before the match we get an inset promo from Luger saying he’ll be waiting for Sting whenever he’s ready to talk. Luger grabs a delayed vertical suplex to start and seems to be more focused than he was last week. An elbow puts Booker on the floor and we take a break. Tony promises that if anything happens during the break, we’ll see it on replay. There’s no replay, so I guess we can assume that they just stayed in the same place during the break.

Powerslam gets two for Lex. Booker grabs a release Stun Gun to take over. Lex gets thrown to the floor where he takes a kick to the ribs from Sherri. Booker works on the back out on the floor. Back in the ring a hooking kick puts Luger down again. Side kick results in Booker crotching himself and Lex makes his comeback. He hits a powerslam and calls for the Rack but Booker grabs the rope. There’s a side kick to take Luger down and Colonel Parker is here to hug Sherri. An enziguri puts Lex down but Parker gets on the apron for some reason. Booker yells at him so Luger rolls him up for the pin.

Rating: D. This was a chore to sit through. The problem basically was that I don’t think anyone thought Booker was going to get a decisive win here so it was just kind of waiting around until the end of the match. That’s a very boring kind of match to watch and I stopped this whenever I could to do ANYTHING else. It wasn’t bad but it was very uninteresting.

Sting is still watching.

Eric Bischoff calls in and says that things are going well with him and Piper, but there’s no match signed, due to attorneys and agents interfering. He won’t say what’s wrong but he’s going to talk to Piper in Toronto next week. This goes on for awhile. Remember this segment. It becomes very important later.

Remember last week where we saw part of the Hogan vs. Piper showdown from Halloween Havoc but it was clipped for time? Well here’s the FULL version! That eats up ten minutes.

Here’s the NWO to end the show. Hogan demands a spotlight so he feels like he’s in California. Here’s a clip from Santa With Muscles, as we’re actually playing the “my B-movie is better than YOUR B-movie” game between Piper and Hogan. Hogan, as Santa, beats up some goons/thieves in a mall. Back in the arena, Hogan talks about the Cable Ace Awards or something and threatens to come to the ceremony and steal Ted Turner’s award. Is there a point to this at all? Hogan says Piper is scared and hiding out with Savage somewhere. He poses to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. Well it was better than last week due to the matches and wrestling being a lot better, but at the same time, nothing happened here. That’s the problem with having a main event like the big battle royal as everyone of note is in there and there might be a few other matches on there, most of which are just midcard matches. Things pick up speed soon enough though.

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Monday Nitro #58
Date: October 21, 1996
Location: Mankato Civic Center, Mankato, Minnesota
Attendance: 4,034
Commentators: Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan, Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko

Reviewed by Tommmy Hall

It’s FINALLY the last show before Halloween Havoc which took forever to get to. The main event tonight is Benoit vs. Savage which should be good, although it probably won’t be up to their capabilities due to the whole Liz thing from last week. This should be a better show than last week’s which was nothing all that interesting. Let’s get to it.

We open with talking about Savage and the Liz tape from last week. Larry reiterates that WCW needs a leader.

Chris Jericho vs. Bobby Eaton

Should be good. Tony says Sting is here and has a match scheduled with JL. Syxx and NWO Sting are here. After a break we’re ready to go. Patrick is referee and is still hurt. Jericho speeds things up to start and hits a dropkick and shoulder block to control early. Eaton comes back with a bad powerslam for no cover. Jericho hits the springboard dropkick to put Eaton outside. If Jericho wasn’t so pale I’d think he was the Cheetah Kid from last week.

Eaton works on the arm back in the ring. They slug it out and this match probably needs to end soon. They’re just not clicking out there. Jericho sends him into the post and they hit the floor. The Canadian’s elbow hits the post but Eaton misses a shot and stumbles up the aisle. Back in and Eaton hooks a swinging neckbreaker for no cover. A top rope kneedrop mostly hits for two. Jericho hits something like a jumping superkick and then a missile dropkick for the pin.

Rating: D+. Really surprising here as the match didn’t click at all for the most part. The ending was a lot better but other than that they looked totally out of sync. Jericho would get a lot better and I don’t think Eaton would be around much longer after this. Jericho would get Syxx on Sunday.

Jericho says that in six days he’ll get the first win over the NWO. He actually would, but it wouldn’t be until World War 3.

Video on Mysterio and how awesome he is.

Dean Malenko vs. Jimmy Graffiti

Graffiti is more commonly known as Jimmy Del Ray of the Heavenly Bodies. Graffiti takes over early and looks pretty stupid in his shirt with the word Graffiti on it and jean shorts. A Batista Bomb gets two for Graffiti as does a superkick. Malenko comes back and knocks him to the floor where he lands on the top of his head. Fake Sting is watching this and filming it. This prompts Tony and Larry to discuss if Rey has joined the NWO.

Dean hits a clothesline in the corner and a suplex but the Cloverleaf is broken up. Graffiti gets in his bit of jobber offense and they both go to the floor off a Malenko cross body. Back in and Graffiti tries something resembling a dropkick but gets caught in a powerbomb kind of move. The Cloverleaf ends this clean. It gets the Power Pin of the Week which is a sponsorship thing despite it not being a pin.

Rating: C-. Just a long squash here as Graffiti was never any threat to Deano Machino. I really don’t know why they brought in Del Ray of all people but he was fine for a jobber role I suppose. Dean would get the title back from Rey on Sunday before losing it to Ultimo Dragon at Starrcade.

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Craig Pittman

We get a montage of Diamond Cutters before the match. Teddy is with Pittman here. He really didn’t have a good group of guys around this time. Teddy and Patrick get in an argument about 2 seconds after the bell rings. Page rams Pittman into Long to take over quickly. This has all the makings of a squash. Page pancakes him down for two. Pittman kicks out and shoves Page onto Patrick, injuring the referee’s back to a big pop. Out to the floor for a bit where Pittman works on the arm. Code Red (cross armbreaker) goes on but Teddy distracts the referee for no apparent reason. Diamond Cutter ends this.

After the too short to rate match, Teddy is accused of being NWO. He yells at Patrick and Patrick says it was Teddy’s fault, which is true.

Tony talks to Nick who says he didn’t hear Page give up. He’s accused of being the NWO referee again and he says it’s Randy Anderson again.

We look back at two weeks ago where Flair was attacked to write him off TV for his legit shoulder injury. We also see Jarrett challenging the Giant for Havoc.

Ron Studd vs. Jeff Jarrett

Flair comes out to watch this match. He gets in the ring before it starts and tells Jarrett to strut. The fans aren’t all that thrilled. Flair struts and gets cheered, so they do it again. Ric shakes Jarrett’s hand and that’s that. The match actually starts now and Studd is a giant. Jarrett manages a suplex and a bad figure four ends this.

Jarrett says it’s time for WCW to band together to take out the NWO. Also Giant won’t be able to chokeslam him. Flair comes up and says that he’ll be back to get his revenge for his injury.

Hour #2 begins. The announcers talk as usual.

Lex Luger vs. Roadblock

Roadblock weighs about 400lbs. He goes right after Luger and that doesn’t work all that well for him. A clothesline sends Roadblock to the floor and he’s rammed into various metal things. Back in Luger slams him but can’t hit the jumping elbow. In an inset interview, Anderson says that time is running out on Lex and he’ll make him quit Sunday. A kneedrop gets two for Roadblock. Luger starts Hulking Up and calls for the Rack but drops the big guy twice. The third time works and Roadblock insta-taps.

Rating: D+. Just a basic power match for a hero to show off like Luger did here. Roadblock was another huge guy that did practically nothing while the other guys would beat him up and it was supposed to be impressive. I think Luger would beat Anderson on Sunday in one of Anderson’s last big time matches.

Buy the NWO Shirt!

Lee Marshall is in Phoenix and Nitro is there next week. Why did they keep doing that? I still don’t get it.

Harlem Heat vs. American Males

Eric talks about the Braves beating New York tonight, which he says needs to become a tradition. It’s a jab at Vince so Heenan cracks up. Eric says this is non title but Patrick holds up the titles anyway. More WWF jabs as Riggs vs. Ray starts us off. Power vs. speed here with the power team taking over, hitting a World’s Strongest Slam to put Riggs down. Bagwell comes in and we talk about Savage a bit.

Marcus throws Stevie over the top but it’s momentum or whatever despite Bagwell THROWING HIM OVER THE ROPES. We take a break and come back with Booker getting worked over by Bagwell. Booker powerbombs him down and the Outsiders are here. The NWO wants Nitro apparently. Stevie pounds away and since that’s the extent of his offense it’s back to Booker. The Hangover misses and here’s Riggs again. Everything breaks down and Riggs goes after the Heat’s managers, allowing the Harlem Side Kick to end him.

Rating: D. This was really boring as the Heat seemed completely uninterested. The Males would be split up next month as Bagwell would turn heel for the first of about 8,000 times. This wasn’t much of a match and it wasn’t very good, primarily due to Booker having to do all of the work for his team.

Faces of Fear vs. Fantastics

The Fantastics? REALLY? They brought these guys out of mothballs? Don’t get me wrong: they were my favorite 80s NWA tag team so I’m not complaining, but this is late 1996. This falls under the category of Greg Valentine. This would be their only WCW match too. Fulton chops away at Meng and he’s like dude….no. The announcers talk about Savage some more and they’re not sure if he’s here, despite him being scheduled for the main event.

A double dropkick puts Meng on one knee and the announcers say that the Fantastics have no chance in this. Eric keeps telling us the Braves score because that’s required for some reason. Fulton tries to fight back and Eric laughs when he punches and kicks. A piledriver kills him dead but Fulton makes the save. The double headbutt hits and Eric is all happy because Sting might be here. Hot tag brings in Rogers and he gets in some offense but his cross body gets caught and a big boot from Meng ends this.

Rating: D-. I love the Fantastics, but I have NO idea what they were thinking bringing them in here. They looked old and pale and the Faces of Fear destroyed them. It was a total squash and Eric was burying them on commentary. It’s not like they were a regular team either. This was their only match in WCW and I think Rogers would go to ECW for awhile. I don’t get this one at all.

Remember that Liz video that Eric was afraid messed Savage up? Let’s watch it again, because that’ll get Randy’s head straight right? Liz still loves him is the point of this. Eric says he has more footage for later.

JL vs. Sting

And it’s the NWO Sting. The whole NWO comes out to watch. A few fans are fooled for a bit but it becomes clear what’s going on pretty quickly. The NWO comes out of the crowd sans Hogan. Total squash and the Deathlock looks to end it in like a minute, but the REAL Sting comes out. He’s in all black and has white facepaint. The match is thrown out.

Sting debuts the Death Drop and he destroys the Fake Sting. The NWO lets this happen so everyone thinks Sting is NWO. He hooks the Deathlock and the NWO comes in. DiBiase offers him a spot on the team and the whole team tries to tempt him. Eric is WAY too intense about this. I get that it’s supposed to be serious but he gets all melodramatic about it.

Hall asks a legit question: what does Sting have to show for carrying the WCW banner this whole time? Sting talks about the Fake Sting and says the real version may or may not be in their price range. The only thing for sure about him is that nothing’s for sure. He leaves and you can hear the money being printed from here.

Chris Benoit vs. Randy Savage

Eric has left to try to flag down Savage. Here’s Savage but he’s all in black and they’re “street clothes”. I’m not sure what street people walk down looking like that but I don’t think I want to be there. Eric apologizes and rolls some tape. It’s from the 3 Ninjas movie set with Hogan hosting things for lack of a better term. Hogan talks to the director and says he has a lot of things he needs to do and that it can’t go over budget.

The NWO takes over production of the film. Giant is the new director, Hogan is producing and Liz has a cameo. Hogan makes Liz say she loves Randy. Hogan is in a wig here and it’s really not working for him. This is really bad. Hogan sends Liz to his trailer with Giant escorting her. Hogan comes into the trailer and yells at her. He and Giant talk a bit more to end this.

Back in the arena Savage isn’t sure what to do. There’s no match of course. Savage says it just occurred to him how fragile friendships and relationships can be. Business and marriages can be fragile too. Life is also fragile and with that Savage leaves. Eric calls him back…and that’s it.

Overall Rating: D-. Really weak show here, which is the second in a row. Havoc sucked and the Savage vs. Hogan match was a big reason why. It wound up being a comedy match and Savage was just fine after the last two weeks of him being all mopey and depressed. This built up the PPV a bit but overall, there wasn’t much here. At least we don’t have to hear the words Slim Jim’s every 8 seconds now.

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Monday Nitro #57
Date: October 14, 1996
Location: Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee
Attendance: 6,930
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko, Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re in Lawler country tonight as the seemingly never ending build for Halloween Havoc continues. Thankfully with this set of two I’ll be doing we’ll get to that show so we can get to November and Eric joining the NWO. The show tonight is nothing all that significant but we’re getting closer to 1997 which stuns me that we’ve gotten this far. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Savage getting destroyed while Liz was held and forced to watch.

Dean Malenko vs. Brad Armstrong

Armstrong beat Dean on either Saturday Night or at a Clash. There are NWO fans holding up big signs on the non-camera side, because the fans behind them don’t need to see right? Nick Patrick and his neckbrace are refereeing again. There’s an NWO chant. Brad speeds things up and sends Dean to the floor. Malenko is heel still here. Into the ring again and Dean hooks something like a seated abdominal stretch.

The announcers talk about Sting being gone for awhile already. Man they had no idea what was coming did they. Brad gets some two counts, including one off a nice Russian leg sweep. Belly to back gets the same. Dean gets a SWEET rollup into a three quarter nelson for the pin. Armstrong got caught.

Rating: C-. Fairly uninteresting mat based match here but I’ve seen far worse. Brad and Dean worked a more technically based style here and while it’s good, it doesn’t do much for the audience. That being said, they were more interested in the NWO stuff than the match, but that’s modern wrestling for you. Nothing great but it was fine.

The NWO gets here.

Jim Duggan vs. Mr. Wallstreet

This is a rematch because this is the feud the world is dying for right? The idea is that Nick Patrick screwed Duggan out of a win in the first match so this has a different referee. Duggan uses power to start as Larry blasts Hacksaw every chance he can. Wallstreet comes back with a clothesline for one and then goes to a chinlock. Larry talks about the amount of water in the average human’s brain for no apparent reason. Leg drop by Wallstreet and it’s off to a chinlock again. Wallstreet jumps into a boot and Duggan tapes up his fist. Wallstreet gets it away but the three point clothesline ends him.

Rating: D. What in the world was this on TV for? It wasn’t a bad match or anything, but it’s IRS vs. Jim Duggan in 1996 on national TV. I don’t get it at all but I’d assume it’s because Duggan is one of Hogan’s buddies. Not a horrible match, but for the life of me I don’t get it. This was a rematch on top of that. Why did it need to be on Nitro? Isn’t that what Saturday Night was for?

Hugh Morrus vs. Jim Powers

The inexplicable kind of push of Jim Powers continues. Tony thanks “Mr. Lawler” for promoting the show. He’ll be at the flea market on Thursday, which is where the USWA had a lot of their shows around this time. I’m legit surprised by that. Powers slams him down and gets a cross body for one. Morrus rolls to the floor and I’m still wondering why Powers is getting TV time.

Back in and Morrus remembers he’s against Jim Powers and takes over. Suplex gets two. Flair isn’t here tonight. Morrus seems really bored out there and I can’t say I disagree with him. Flair’s shoulder injury is worse than previously thought. It would result in him being stripped of the US Title I believe. Powers gets a sunset flip for two.

A knee lift puts Morrus down as Teddy is complaining about Patrick’s cadence of the count. Oh yeah it’s bad as it takes four seconds to count one. Powers gets a small package and there’s no count because Patrick is holding his neck. A belly to back sets up the No Laughing Matter for Morrus’ pin. The count was fine there. Teddy gets in Patrick’s face post match.

Rating: D-. I get the idea of Patrick being crooked and not counting properly and all that. That’s an old standard angle and it works fine. But why in the world are they using it on Jim freaking Powers? I don’t get it. He’s JIM POWERS. They couldn’t use this on anyone else? Was this really the best option they had? Not the Steiners or someone like that? I don’t get it.

Greg Valentine vs. Lex Luger

Again I don’t understand why Greg Valentine kept getting time on this show. He’s fine in the ring, but why him of all the people that were available? Luger has taped ribs due to the attack by Anderson last week. Valentine goes for the arms instead. That’s what we mean by lack of psychology. Thankfully he wakes up and punches Lex in the ribs to take over. Luger can’t suplex him because of the injury.

Valentine works on the back as Anderson is watching in the back on a monitor. Greg works on the back as DiBiase and Vincent are standing in the crowd watching. Hogan has demanded to make an announcement tonight. Valentine works on the back some more. I’m glad the arm work only lasted a few seconds. Tony and Larry want to know where Sting is because they need him.

Luger’s back is rammed into the corner and it’s been all Valentine for the most part here. They collide and both go down. Lex starts his comeback and hits the forearm smash for two. Valentine gets an elbow up and puts his feet on the ropes for a rollup. As he’s arguing with the referee the ribs heal enough for the Rack to get the submission. At least he was wincing during the hold.

Rating: D+. Not a horrible match or anything but it was almost eight minutes long. Just like in the previous match, I don’t get it. WCW made some curious moves at this point but at the same time you can’t say that the results didn’t work so the complaints would be at a minimum here. Actually they’re not even complaints but rather questions.

Tony talks to Nick Patrick and tells him that the fine against Randy Savage will be $500 instead of $1 million. Also Savage has to miss the first five matches (not said if that means the first five Nitros or not) of 1997. Patrick says WCW will be hearing from his lawyers. Tony shows us a clip from NWO Saturday Night which was the NWO segment where they would beat up jobbers in an empty arena. They had their own referee in a ski mask and it looked a lot like Patrick. He says it looks more like Randy Anderson, who is about 6 inches shorter than Patrick.

Mike Enos vs. Randy Savage

Hour #2 begins during Enos’ entrance. There’s no Bischoff for commentary. Oh ok he’s going to interview Savage during the entrance. Eric intercepts him and there’s a TV monitor wheeled in. Savage says if Hogan is here, let’s do Halloween Havoc here tonight. Eric wants to talk about Liz and Savage says don’t go there.

We look at a video message from Liz sitting on a swing in front of a tree. She says she’s sorry and that she was doing things to get his attention when she thought she was doing them out of anger. Savage built her this swing apparently. To the best of my knowledge, the fans can’t see any of this. Liz asks him for forgiveness and says she’s made a lot of bad choices. The worst was siding with Hulk so he could hurt Savage. Liz needs Savage and begs him not to leave her alone. She feels the same way about him today as the day she said I do.

Back in the arena and Savage looks stunned. Eric says he didn’t know another way to do this. You know, because locker rooms don’t exist right? Savage doesn’t know what to say and has a great look on his face. Eric won’t shut up and leave him alone so Savage walks out and heads into a conveniently waiting limo. No match with Enos obviously.

Eric is on commentary now. The announcers debate whether or not it was a good idea to tell Savage about the message.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Cheetah Kid

Cheetah is allegedly Rocco Rock in a mask but I’m not completely sure on that. Oh there’s no way that’s Rocco. He’s ripped and much darker skinned. Ah apparently Cheetah Kid is a character Rock used to play when he was starting out. That makes much better sense. Apparently this is a local guy from Memphis getting a tryout. Works for me. Eddie flies around a lot but gets caught in something resembling an Angle Slam for two.

A nice powerbomb gets no cover for Cheetah. This is really just a tuneup for Eddie before his match with DDP at Havoc. Eddie gets sent to the floor and Cheetah hits a springboard dropkick as Eddie is on the apron. Cheetah goes up and gets crotched so Eddie can hit the rana off the top and the Frog Splash for the pin. Not enough to rate but Cheetah wasn’t bad at all. I’m curious as to who he was.

Video on Jeff Jarrett.

Lee Marshall is on the road and talks about how great it’ll be next week in Minnesota. Ok then.

Big Bubba vs. Jeff Jarrett

Since this is in Tennessee Jarrett is very popular. Eric makes fun of Jarrett’s country singer gimmick and says it’s about wrestling here. Bubba gives him a chance to run and Jarrett doesn’t seem interested. We do a Memphis level stall as both do various kinds of taunting before Bubba grabs a headlock. Now we’re talking about the WWF for awhile and the AWA. Oh it’s Hogan who said he made both of those companies. Well the AWA collapsed after he left so maybe he didn’t make it but he kept it alive for awhile in a way.

Out to the floor and Bubba keeps control. Jimmy Hart gets in some shots and Jarrett glares him away. Off to a chinlock so Bubba can talk to Jeff a bit. He hits a solid big boot to put Jarrett down. The announcers get bored so they talk about the NWO for awhile. Big right hand gets two for Bubba. He misses a charge into the corner and Jarrett hits an atomic drop but goes after Hart before the Figure Four. Bubba hits a spinebuster and smacks the referee. Jimmy slides in the Megaphone which is dropkicked into Bubba’s face for the pin.

Rating: D+. This was a Memphis match for the Memphis crowd which doesn’t do a thing for the TV audience. That being said, they’ve had the last few months of shows booked for them so I can’t complain about something like that. Jarrett would be the replacement for Flair soon and would get into a feud with McMichael soon enough. He wouldn’t get over or anything, but who cares about that.

Jarrett is announced as the replacement for Flair.

Harlem Heat vs. Faces of Fear

This was supposed to be for the titles but the Heat said no so it would be a guaranteed title match against the Outsiders. Meng vs. Booker starts us off and Meng hammers him down quickly. Here are Benoit, Mongo and Debra for no apparent reason. Oh that’s right they’re scouting the Faces of Fear for the PPV. Stevie comes in and hammers on Meng but after missing a dropped elbow it’s off to Barbarian.

Stevie hits a bicycle kick to put Barbarian down. Come on people, learn your racial stereotypes. He chokes away and brings in Booker to give some variety to things. Hook kick gets two. Meng breaks up what was presumably the missile dropkick and Barbarian hits a belly to belly superplex. Back to Meng who hits a Batista Bomb for two. A double headbutt has Booker in trouble but Meng won’t cover.

Booker gets a bad looking sunset flip and the Outsiders are here. They’re in the front row this time and the match comes grinding to a halt again. Everyone stops to look at them on the floor and I think it’s a double countout. Knowing this show there was a pin in the ring and we just didn’t see it but whatever.

Rating: D. Total clash of styles here and it didn’t work well at all. Everyone was pretty much just killing time until the Outsiders came out for the match to end. I’m going to assume it was a no contest. I guess it makes sense for this not to be for the titles but it wouldn’t have hurt anything I don’t think.

Eric talks about Savage and how Hogan is going to be in trouble at Havoc.

Here’s Hogan for the final segment of the show. The rest of the NWO complete with Liz comes out behind him. Current total number of males in the NWO: 8. Hogan thinks Savage could at least come out here and fight. He talks about being in Hollywood filming the next 3 Ninjas movie and can push whatever button he wants on Savage. Hogan calls Liz an actress and she tries to slap him but fails.

Here come the Nasty Boys in NWO shirts. Hogan calls them family and says if they need anything just to let him know. Knobbs has the contract and says there’s a screwup in it because the decimal point isn’t right. Hogan hasn’t signed it and says the Nasties shouldn’t have the shirts on yet. There’s the beatdown for the Nasties. Hogan says this is just a little bit of what will happen to Savage at Havoc. He says Liz wanted him when she and Savage were married. Liz is coming with him to Hollywood to finish his movie.

The NWO takes over the broadcast booth again to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. Not their best show here as it feels like we’ve been building up to Havoc for six months at this point. The whole Savage vs. Liz thing is interesting but it’s nothing that was going to go anywhere since Savage would join the NWO early next year anyway. Thank goodness the next show is the last one before the PPV because it needs to move on to WW3 already. Weak show but not awful.

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Monday Nitro #57
Date: October 14, 1996
Location: Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee
Attendance: 6,930
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko, Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re in Lawler country tonight as the seemingly never ending build for Halloween Havoc continues. Thankfully with this set of two I’ll be doing we’ll get to that show so we can get to November and Eric joining the NWO. The show tonight is nothing all that significant but we’re getting closer to 1997 which stuns me that we’ve gotten this far. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Savage getting destroyed while Liz was held and forced to watch.

Dean Malenko vs. Brad Armstrong

Armstrong beat Dean on either Saturday Night or at a Clash. There are NWO fans holding up big signs on the non-camera side, because the fans behind them don’t need to see right? Nick Patrick and his neckbrace are refereeing again. There’s an NWO chant. Brad speeds things up and sends Dean to the floor. Malenko is heel still here. Into the ring again and Dean hooks something like a seated abdominal stretch.

The announcers talk about Sting being gone for awhile already. Man they had no idea what was coming did they. Brad gets some two counts, including one off a nice Russian leg sweep. Belly to back gets the same. Dean gets a SWEET rollup into a three quarter nelson for the pin. Armstrong got caught.

Rating: C-. Fairly uninteresting mat based match here but I’ve seen far worse. Brad and Dean worked a more technically based style here and while it’s good, it doesn’t do much for the audience. That being said, they were more interested in the NWO stuff than the match, but that’s modern wrestling for you. Nothing great but it was fine.

The NWO gets here.

Jim Duggan vs. Mr. Wallstreet

This is a rematch because this is the feud the world is dying for right? The idea is that Nick Patrick screwed Duggan out of a win in the first match so this has a different referee. Duggan uses power to start as Larry blasts Hacksaw every chance he can. Wallstreet comes back with a clothesline for one and then goes to a chinlock. Larry talks about the amount of water in the average human’s brain for no apparent reason. Leg drop by Wallstreet and it’s off to a chinlock again. Wallstreet jumps into a boot and Duggan tapes up his fist. Wallstreet gets it away but the three point clothesline ends him.

Rating: D. What in the world was this on TV for? It wasn’t a bad match or anything, but it’s IRS vs. Jim Duggan in 1996 on national TV. I don’t get it at all but I’d assume it’s because Duggan is one of Hogan’s buddies. Not a horrible match, but for the life of me I don’t get it. This was a rematch on top of that. Why did it need to be on Nitro? Isn’t that what Saturday Night was for?

Hugh Morrus vs. Jim Powers

The inexplicable kind of push of Jim Powers continues. Tony thanks “Mr. Lawler” for promoting the show. He’ll be at the flea market on Thursday, which is where the USWA had a lot of their shows around this time. I’m legit surprised by that. Powers slams him down and gets a cross body for one. Morrus rolls to the floor and I’m still wondering why Powers is getting TV time.

Back in and Morrus remembers he’s against Jim Powers and takes over. Suplex gets two. Flair isn’t here tonight. Morrus seems really bored out there and I can’t say I disagree with him. Flair’s shoulder injury is worse than previously thought. It would result in him being stripped of the US Title I believe. Powers gets a sunset flip for two.

A knee lift puts Morrus down as Teddy is complaining about Patrick’s cadence of the count. Oh yeah it’s bad as it takes four seconds to count one. Powers gets a small package and there’s no count because Patrick is holding his neck. A belly to back sets up the No Laughing Matter for Morrus’ pin. The count was fine there. Teddy gets in Patrick’s face post match.

Rating: D-. I get the idea of Patrick being crooked and not counting properly and all that. That’s an old standard angle and it works fine. But why in the world are they using it on Jim freaking Powers? I don’t get it. He’s JIM POWERS. They couldn’t use this on anyone else? Was this really the best option they had? Not the Steiners or someone like that? I don’t get it.

Greg Valentine vs. Lex Luger

Again I don’t understand why Greg Valentine kept getting time on this show. He’s fine in the ring, but why him of all the people that were available? Luger has taped ribs due to the attack by Anderson last week. Valentine goes for the arms instead. That’s what we mean by lack of psychology. Thankfully he wakes up and punches Lex in the ribs to take over. Luger can’t suplex him because of the injury.

Valentine works on the back as Anderson is watching in the back on a monitor. Greg works on the back as DiBiase and Vincent are standing in the crowd watching. Hogan has demanded to make an announcement tonight. Valentine works on the back some more. I’m glad the arm work only lasted a few seconds. Tony and Larry want to know where Sting is because they need him.

Luger’s back is rammed into the corner and it’s been all Valentine for the most part here. They collide and both go down. Lex starts his comeback and hits the forearm smash for two. Valentine gets an elbow up and puts his feet on the ropes for a rollup. As he’s arguing with the referee the ribs heal enough for the Rack to get the submission. At least he was wincing during the hold.

Rating: D+. Not a horrible match or anything but it was almost eight minutes long. Just like in the previous match, I don’t get it. WCW made some curious moves at this point but at the same time you can’t say that the results didn’t work so the complaints would be at a minimum here. Actually they’re not even complaints but rather questions.

Tony talks to Nick Patrick and tells him that the fine against Randy Savage will be $500 instead of $1 million. Also Savage has to miss the first five matches (not said if that means the first five Nitros or not) of 1997. Patrick says WCW will be hearing from his lawyers. Tony shows us a clip from NWO Saturday Night which was the NWO segment where they would beat up jobbers in an empty arena. They had their own referee in a ski mask and it looked a lot like Patrick. He says it looks more like Randy Anderson, who is about 6 inches shorter than Patrick.

Mike Enos vs. Randy Savage

Hour #2 begins during Enos’ entrance. There’s no Bischoff for commentary. Oh ok he’s going to interview Savage during the entrance. Eric intercepts him and there’s a TV monitor wheeled in. Savage says if Hogan is here, let’s do Halloween Havoc here tonight. Eric wants to talk about Liz and Savage says don’t go there.

We look at a video message from Liz sitting on a swing in front of a tree. She says she’s sorry and that she was doing things to get his attention when she thought she was doing them out of anger. Savage built her this swing apparently. To the best of my knowledge, the fans can’t see any of this. Liz asks him for forgiveness and says she’s made a lot of bad choices. The worst was siding with Hulk so he could hurt Savage. Liz needs Savage and begs him not to leave her alone. She feels the same way about him today as the day she said I do.

Back in the arena and Savage looks stunned. Eric says he didn’t know another way to do this. You know, because locker rooms don’t exist right? Savage doesn’t know what to say and has a great look on his face. Eric won’t shut up and leave him alone so Savage walks out and heads into a conveniently waiting limo. No match with Enos obviously.

Eric is on commentary now. The announcers debate whether or not it was a good idea to tell Savage about the message.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Cheetah Kid

Cheetah is allegedly Rocco Rock in a mask but I’m not completely sure on that. Oh there’s no way that’s Rocco. He’s ripped and much darker skinned. Ah apparently Cheetah Kid is a character Rock used to play when he was starting out. That makes much better sense. Apparently this is a local guy from Memphis getting a tryout. Works for me. Eddie flies around a lot but gets caught in something resembling an Angle Slam for two.

A nice powerbomb gets no cover for Cheetah. This is really just a tuneup for Eddie before his match with DDP at Havoc. Eddie gets sent to the floor and Cheetah hits a springboard dropkick as Eddie is on the apron. Cheetah goes up and gets crotched so Eddie can hit the rana off the top and the Frog Splash for the pin. Not enough to rate but Cheetah wasn’t bad at all. I’m curious as to who he was.

Video on Jeff Jarrett.

Lee Marshall is on the road and talks about how great it’ll be next week in Minnesota. Ok then.

Big Bubba vs. Jeff Jarrett

Since this is in Tennessee Jarrett is very popular. Eric makes fun of Jarrett’s country singer gimmick and says it’s about wrestling here. Bubba gives him a chance to run and Jarrett doesn’t seem interested. We do a Memphis level stall as both do various kinds of taunting before Bubba grabs a headlock. Now we’re talking about the WWF for awhile and the AWA. Oh it’s Hogan who said he made both of those companies. Well the AWA collapsed after he left so maybe he didn’t make it but he kept it alive for awhile in a way.

Out to the floor and Bubba keeps control. Jimmy Hart gets in some shots and Jarrett glares him away. Off to a chinlock so Bubba can talk to Jeff a bit. He hits a solid big boot to put Jarrett down. The announcers get bored so they talk about the NWO for awhile. Big right hand gets two for Bubba. He misses a charge into the corner and Jarrett hits an atomic drop but goes after Hart before the Figure Four. Bubba hits a spinebuster and smacks the referee. Jimmy slides in the Megaphone which is dropkicked into Bubba’s face for the pin.

Rating: D+. This was a Memphis match for the Memphis crowd which doesn’t do a thing for the TV audience. That being said, they’ve had the last few months of shows booked for them so I can’t complain about something like that. Jarrett would be the replacement for Flair soon and would get into a feud with McMichael soon enough. He wouldn’t get over or anything, but who cares about that.

Jarrett is announced as the replacement for Flair.

Harlem Heat vs. Faces of Fear

This was supposed to be for the titles but the Heat said no so it would be a guaranteed title match against the Outsiders. Meng vs. Booker starts us off and Meng hammers him down quickly. Here are Benoit, Mongo and Debra for no apparent reason. Oh that’s right they’re scouting the Faces of Fear for the PPV. Stevie comes in and hammers on Meng but after missing a dropped elbow it’s off to Barbarian.

Stevie hits a bicycle kick to put Barbarian down. Come on people, learn your racial stereotypes. He chokes away and brings in Booker to give some variety to things. Hook kick gets two. Meng breaks up what was presumably the missile dropkick and Barbarian hits a belly to belly superplex. Back to Meng who hits a Batista Bomb for two. A double headbutt has Booker in trouble but Meng won’t cover.

Booker gets a bad looking sunset flip and the Outsiders are here. They’re in the front row this time and the match comes grinding to a halt again. Everyone stops to look at them on the floor and I think it’s a double countout. Knowing this show there was a pin in the ring and we just didn’t see it but whatever.

Rating: D. Total clash of styles here and it didn’t work well at all. Everyone was pretty much just killing time until the Outsiders came out for the match to end. I’m going to assume it was a no contest. I guess it makes sense for this not to be for the titles but it wouldn’t have hurt anything I don’t think.

Eric talks about Savage and how Hogan is going to be in trouble at Havoc.

Here’s Hogan for the final segment of the show. The rest of the NWO complete with Liz comes out behind him. Current total number of males in the NWO: 8. Hogan thinks Savage could at least come out here and fight. He talks about being in Hollywood filming the next 3 Ninjas movie and can push whatever button he wants on Savage. Hogan calls Liz an actress and she tries to slap him but fails.

Here come the Nasty Boys in NWO shirts. Hogan calls them family and says if they need anything just to let him know. Knobbs has the contract and says there’s a screwup in it because the decimal point isn’t right. Hogan hasn’t signed it and says the Nasties shouldn’t have the shirts on yet. There’s the beatdown for the Nasties. Hogan says this is just a little bit of what will happen to Savage at Havoc. He says Liz wanted him when she and Savage were married. Liz is coming with him to Hollywood to finish his movie.

The NWO takes over the broadcast booth again to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. Not their best show here as it feels like we’ve been building up to Havoc for six months at this point. The whole Savage vs. Liz thing is interesting but it’s nothing that was going to go anywhere since Savage would join the NWO early next year anyway. Thank goodness the next show is the last one before the PPV because it needs to move on to WW3 already. Weak show but not awful.

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