The SmarK Rant for WCW Monday Nitro – 11.17.97
By Scott Keith on 15 November 2025
The SmarK Rant for WCW Monday Nitro – 11.17.97
Originally written 11.14.25
Still trying to get through 1997 and get it wrapped up.
But first, a couple of pleas from longtime readers:
Hello, I have been a reader of yours since you were on Wrestleline. In my formative years as a fan, I learned alot from your articles and had lots of laughs along the way. Just finished listening to your interview with Brian R. Solomon, and I just wanted to say thank you for all of the content that you have put out over the years.
Also, I do have one quick favor to ask if you wouldn’t mind sharing this. It’s a link to Ray Russell’s GoFundMe. His family has been dealt a rough hand so close to the holidays and I really want this to work out for them.
And another one from David Martin:
Scott-
Not sure you project out to the doomers anymore but I’m wondering if anyone knows of any resources…my cancer surgery is scheduled for the 28th and I’m going to have a bag for the rest of my life. I’m now on disability because of low hemogoblin and side effects.
November 1st I lost my place to live and am stuck in between. I’m homeless until next week and it’s going to storm in Southern California…if anyone has any ideas to help, I’d appreciate them.
As always, thank you for the years of joy you and the doomers have brought to me, even in the darkest of times like this.
David Martin
Best of luck to all.
And now on with the show….
Last week, Sting has a pretty bad week at the hands of the now. If only he had been more tan and in shape!
Live from Cincinnati, OH
HOUR #1! THE HOUR THAT RELEASED THE EPSTEIN FILES!
Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay & Larry Z.
The New World Order joins us to start, and Scott Hall notes that they reviewed tapes of Larry Zbyszko’s matches, but even on fast forward he didn’t move. HAHAHAHAHAHAH. OK that was a good line. So Nash of course claims to be the true tag team champions in a storyline that didn’t really pay off with anything. Uncle Eric teases Bret Hart but then gives us Hulk Hogan instead…who then brings out RICK RUDE. Oh shit I forgot this was coming! Rude was of course clean shaven here after appearing on a taped RAW at the same time with a beard in one of the biggest atomic bombs of the Monday Night Wars. So Rick talks about how Shawn Michaels shouldn’t be claiming to be World champion since he didn’t beat Bret Hart, and the WWF is the Titanic sinking fast, which is why Bret and himself fled for WCW. Although to be fair, he wasn’t a big part of the WWF side and as noted by DX the next week, he was very easy to replace and his jump didn’t really have much long term effect beyond making Vince McMahon look like a chump for a week. Really that’s a lot of the lesson of the MNW, with Bischoff booking stuff for a short term shock value, but Vince knew how to play the long game.
Ray Traylor joins Mean Gene for a promo for some reason, but before we can find out what he has to say (spoiler: No one cares) the nWo attacks him from behind and beats the shit out of him. That’s a shame.
Glacier v. Meng
Meng delivers the chops in the corner and beats Glacier down, and then tries a senton and misses. Glaicer comes back with a backdrop, but Jimmy Hart calls Barbarian out, and then Meng just beats Glacier clean with the Tongan Death Grip anyway. Well that was a bizarre finish. So the Faces of Fear double-team Glacier and Ernest Miller tries to save, but he also gets his ass kicked. Tremendous babyface booking here. DUD
Alex Wright v. Steve McMichael
Yes this feud must continue for some reason. Wright attacks in the corner but gets backdropped. Mongo gets distracted by Debra and Wright stomps him down and gets a leg lariat for two, and they fight to the floor for a bit. Back in the ring, Wright goes to the top and misses a bodypress, but Mongo gets distracted by Debra again, leading to a frustrated Mongo tossing the ref for the DQ at 2:50. Ugh. DUD
Rey Mysterio v. Chris Jericho
They trade headlocks to start and Rey takes him down with a monkey flip and follows with a springboard dropkick. Rey misses a moonsault and Jericho slams him to take over before hitting him with chops in the corner and acting slightly heelish. Jericho? A bad guy? That’ll never work. Rey goes up and Jericho brings him down with a press slam off the top, and even THAT doesn’t pop the crowd. Jericho with a backbreaker and he beats on Rey in the corner, but misses a blind charge and then recovers with a powerbomb. Lionsault misses and Rey gets a sunset flip for two. Jericho with a double powerbomb for two, but Rey drops the dime to finish at 6:31. Pretty dead match for the most part but the finish looked spectacular and woke up the crowd. **. Jericho is notably showing more frustration afterwards, and that one DID absolutely pay off.
Eric Bischoff heads over to join the announce team, but Larry has had enough and goes after him, leading to the nWo jumping Larry and adding him to the list of victims this week. This feud had a lot of heat but they just never knew where to go with it.
HOUR #2! THE HOUR THAT USES CHATGPT TO CHEAT AT THE NYT MINI CROSSWORD!
Diamond Dallas Page v. Villano IV
DDP rolls him up for two right away and hits him with the lariat, but the other Villano trips him up and allows IV to take over with choking. Senton gets two and the other Villano comes in with a flying kneedrop behind the ref’s back, and that gets two. Page comes back and hits them both with a dive, and back in with a flapjack and Diamond Cutter to finish at 3:20. The other one tries to come off the top, but Page hits HIM with another cutter and leaves via the crowd. Once again I just want to say how incredibly unlikely it was that sleazeball manager DDP suddenly decided to become a wrestler late in life and turned into a beloved folk hero with an ungodly over finisher. Wrestling is so wacky, man. Fun match. **1/2
WCW Cruiserweight title: Eddie Guerrero v. Dean Malenko
Speaking of sleazeballs, Eddie was at his slimy heel best at this point, just looking so badass walking to the ring and sneering. Eddie with a backbreaker right away and he beats Dean down and hits him with a dropkick. Malenko comes back with a suplex, but Eddie slugs away in the corner and chokes him out before going to a chinlock. They fight to the top while Rey comes out to watch and we take a break. Back with Eddie choking Dean out on the ropes, but Malenko hits him with a faceplant and puts the boots to him. Eddie wants a handshake, so Dean accepts and then lays him out for two. Eddie comes back with a dropkick and necks Dean on the apron, but Dean takes him down for the cloverleaf and Eddie has to make the ropes. Eddie with the Gory Special and they trade near-falls off that until Dean gets a wheelbarrow suplex. Another cloverleaf but Eddie counters for two, so Malenko powerbombs him and goes to the top. Eddie cuts him off with a superplex for a double down, but Eddie goes back to the top and Dean brings him down with his own superplex and it’s another double down. And this one produces the first double countout I can ever recall seeing, as neither guy can answer the 10 count. Well that finish sucked. They’re literally inventing new ways to do terrible finishes on these shows. The match was GREAT up until that dumb ending, though. Like seriously, WCW, the referee 10 count is a HEAT SPOT to build up to the babyface comeback, it’s not actually supposed to be a finish. ***3/4
WCW TV title: Saturn v. Scotty Riggs
Kidman offers Riggs one more chance to join the Flock, but that doesn’t seem to be forthcoming. So Saturn beats Riggs down, but Scotty dropkicks him to the floor and back in for a backdrop. I should note that someone at ringside has a sign that says “Oh my god they killed Kenny”, which was pretty edgy for 1997. For you kids out there, it would be the equivalent of someone today holding up a “6 7” sign. Saturn hits him in the eyepatch to take over and follows with a northern lights suplex for two. Riggs makes a comeback, now with his eyepatch missing and his bad eye exposed. Hopefully he doesn’t get pudding in his eye. I’ve heard his doctor told him not to get pudding in it. They fight to the top and Riggs slugs Saturn to the floor, but then dives into the front row and hits the Flock instead. Raven of course lets his group take the bullet and no-sells it, and Saturn gives Riggs a DROP TOEHOLD OF DOOM into the stairs to presumably injure the eye again. Back in the ring, Saturn hits a flying legdrop and finishes with the Rings of Saturn at 5:25. Last week Saturn covered up his injuries with matwork in the title win over Disco, but this week it was pretty obvious that he was hurting and didn’t have it. *1/2
WCW World tag team title: The Steiner Brothers v. Buff Bagwell & Scott Norton
It’s yet another nWo attack in the aisle before the match, as the Steiners get laid out and beaten down and we move on. Like Tony is literally just like “Oh well, guess we’re not getting this match!” as they brush off an advertised title match.
WCW US title: Curt Hennig v. Lex Luger
Lex tosses him around and gets a backdrop (ARRRRRRRRRGH!) to set up a clothesline (AAAAAAAAAAAGH!) and then slugs Curt in the corner to set up a Flair Flop. Hennig fires back with chops and a necksnap before putting the boots to him. MEDICAL UPDATE, WITH TONY SCHIAVONE: The Steiners are gonna be OK. Well thank god. Lex comes back with a suplex and throws more punches in the corner (OOOOOWWWWW! OWWWWWWWW!) but Hennig necks him to regain control as the crowd is dead for this one. Like they should literally just advertise the nWo run-in finish before the match starts so people can hit the merch stands and get a headstart on the traffic. Hennig with a sleeper as this match goes nowhere, and Lex suplexes out of that. “That needle wasn’t on E” notes Tenay. Oh we know Lex’s needles are rarely empty. Hennig bumps the ref to buy time and knocks Lex out with the belt, and back in for the Perfectplex, but the ref calls for the DQ at 7:00 of boredom. ½*. Well I guess at least it wasn’t the nWo running in this time.
Scott Hall v. The Giant
Kevin Nash chases off Bobby Heenan and takes over commentary, while Giant powers Hall into the corner and Nash denies Tony’s accusations of the nWo potentially interfering here. Giant puts Hall down with chops while Nash is still confident about Scott’s chances here. Hall bails and goes after Giant’s hand, presumably to neutralize the chokeslam, and then back in Hall stomps the hand until Giant gets upset and puts him down with headbutts. The hand is too injured, but he powers up and…the nWo runs in for the DQ at 5:30. What a fucking waste of time this entire show was.
Spoiler: World War III was also a giant waste of time to burn off a PPV so they could get to Starrcade. Oh yeah this was the go-home show for World War III, which you probably didn’t notice because I barely felt compelled to mention it at any point during the show. Obviously there’s ony one notable thing to watch from this one, and it happens during the first segment and then you can turn it off again and miss nothing.