WCW Monday Nitro (March 3, 1997)

Original Airdate: March 3, 1997  

From Atlanta, Georgia; Your Host is Tony Schiavone with Larry Zbyszko (hour one) and with Mike Tenay and Bobby Heenan (hour two). This is notably WCW’s last ever event at the Omni before the building closed down in May, and was demolished in July

The nWo arrive in a Hummer limousine, while another limousine arrives carrying the President of Turner Sports (Dr. Harvey Schiller)

Konnan and Hugh Morrus v Jeff Jarrett and Steve McMichael: Morrus and Jarrett start, and Jeff wins a criss cross, allowing the Horsemen to pinball Hugh around a bit. Jeff with a ropechoke, but he misses a straddling version (Hugh moved too soon, making Jeff look like a moron), and Hugh pounds him into the corner. Tag to Konnan for a rolling clothesline, and back to Morrus for a flying twisting bodypress, but he hits Konnan by accident. That allows the tag to McMichael, and he comes in hot, Roseanne Barr the door. He passes out 3-point stances, but here come Public Enemy to go after Debra. That leads Jarrett to run out to help, but a tug of war with the briefcase backfires - hitting Steve, and allowing Konnan to score the pin at 3:13. Well, that was quick. That bullshit draws Ric Flair and Arn Anderson out to mom and dad them, and it's a repeat of the same thing from last week when Mongo hit Jarrett, since the Horsemen are the most boring group on the fucking planet, and apparently they want to hold on to that title.  ¼*

Diamond Dallas Page v Rick Fuller: Fuller powers him into the corner, but Page reverses a cross corner whip, and puts him down with a side suplex. Fuller fights off a Diamond Cutter attempt with a chincrusher, and he uses a bodyslam to set up a legdrop for two. Dallas comes back with a clothesline, however, but Rick blocks the Cutter a second time. He tries another bodyslam, but this time Page counters with the Cutter at 2:05. DDP may be the only guy whose selling game actually took a hit when he turned babyface. But, boy, he is sure getting over now. Afterwards, Gene Okerlund comes out to talk about the attack from the nWo last week, as they transfer the heat for the feud from the Outsiders to Randy Savage. ½*

Juventud Guerrera v Rey Mendoza Jr: Once again, they make zero attempt to disguise the fact that Mendoza is Villano IV, which I still don't get. Guerrera fights off some holds with a spinkick for two, but he runs into a clothesline as he runs the ropes, and Rey hammers him. Guerrera manages a headscissors to send him to the outside for a baseball slide, but Rey blocks a springboard, and vertical suplexes Guerrera on the floor. Inside, Rey with a cross corner whip and an overhead suplex for two, but Guerrera counters another suplex with a neckbreaker. He adds an elbowdrop before diving with a springboard flying legdrop for two, and a snapmare sets up a chinlock. Rana into a cradle gets two, as I notice that Rey has tons of blading scars, which is unusual for masked wrestlers. Guerrera backdrops him over the top and dives with a tope through the buckles, which I didn't think anyone did before Sami Zayn, so cool. Guerrera with a rana back into the ring, but a corner charge misses, and Rey goes up. Guerrera follows to try a superplex out to the floor, but Rey keeps fighting, so Guerrera just crotches him on the rope instead, then knocks him off with a spinheel kick. Flying 450 splash finishes at 5:04. Fun little showcase for Guerrera. **

Kevin Sullivan, Jacqueline, and Jimmy Hart show up to cut an unscheduled promo on Chris Benoit and Woman. Kind of funny hearing Jackie's hyping up the Omni, and declaring it "my house," when the venue was only weeks away from being demolished

nWo denim jacket ad

Dean Malenko v Mike Enos: The great thing about Malenko's 'heel turn' is that it was barely a heel turn at all. Like, he was never really a babyface to begin with, and now he's just a slightly more aggressive version of the same character. Which is awesome, I hate it when babyfaces turn, and suddenly they're like night and day different people than the character we've already accepted. Dean tackles him down and unloads, then into the corner for choking. Enos tries fighting him off, so Malenko dropkicks the knee to put him down, and then stomps the shit out of the part to teach him a lesson. Now you know he's mad. He's producing shit from the leg, that's legit. To the outside, Dean uses the guardrail to abuse the leg further, but Mike manages to throw a knee on the way back in, and he release overhead suplexes Malenko. Unfortunately, that only buys him a few seconds, and Dean goes right back to wrecking the leg. Grapevine punishes Enos, but he makes the ropes for force a break, so Dean goes up with a flying bodypress, but Mike rolls through for two. That buys him enough time to shoulderblock Malenko down, but the leg slows down a splash, and Dean dodges. He unloads in the corner, so Enos tries a slam, but Malenko counters into a cradle at 4:28. A little too long for what it was, but it had a fine story, and Enos sold (surprisingly) well. ¾*

Okerlund brings out Eric Bischoff to gloat about stripping Giant and Lex Luger of the tag title belts last week, but Harvey Schiller joins him, and suspends Bischoff for abuse of power. Watching Eric grovel is pretty great, and the fact that they got the actual President of Turner Sports to play the part (as opposed to an actor) added realism. Good segment

WCW United States Title Match: Eddie Guerrero v Ultimo Dragon: Sonny Onoo, selfie pioneer. Feeling out process to start, and Eddie manages a rana, but Dragon dumps him to the outside to prevent a follow-up. Cue abuse from Onoo, but Eddie no-sells him, and elbows Dragon on the way back inside. Backdrop, but Dragon lands on his feet, and throws a series of strikes to put the champion down. Spinheel kick connects, followed by a handspring bodypress, but Eddie rolls through for the pin at 2:47, despite both being in the ropes. Not sure if that was intentional, or that they were just badly out of position. The match was too short to go anywhere, regardless. Afterwards, Gene comes out to talk Dean Malenko, and Eddie is done trying to apologize to that little prick. And speaking of which, here's Dean to get in his face, and this is our US Title match for Uncensored. Good on them for giving Eddie the ball, and giving him challengers he can actually work with. I know it doesn't seem so odd in a world where Guerrero was WWE Champion, but in 1997 seeing guys this size compete for the secondary title was pretty unique. ¼*

Scotty Riggs v Michael Wallstreet: I really dislike this referee. Not sure what it is, but there's something about him that disturbs me. Riggs peppers him with stuff to start, and delivers a flying axehandle for two. Wallstreet dumps him to the outside to buy time, and it's weird seeing him wrestle in cargo pants. Mike Rotunda is just a guy who could never get a decent pro-wrestling outfit together, could he? So many gimmicks, and each look terrible. Wallstreet works him over, but Scotty dodges a clothesline out of the corner, and hits a 2^nd rope dropkick. Flying sunset flip gets two, so Buff Bagwell runs in to attack before Riggs can put it away, causing a DQ at 4:28. This was pretty boring, and no one gives a shit about either worker. DUD

Lee Marshall is in Panama City Florida with the 1-800-COLLECT Road Report

Roddy Piper needs partners to fight the nWo at Uncensored, and since it's Piper, he wants to duke it out with any potential partner before accepting them. That leads to a string of unnamed unknowns coming out for Roddy to 'test,' in a segment that runs on for well over fifteen minutes, and feels like forever. I remember getting wrapped up in this live back in 1997, but it's not a good segment at all. The concept isn't bad, but it dragged on for too long for something that didn't feature any names for the audience to connect with

Rey Mysterio Jr v JL: They trade off to start, ending in both guys throwing dropkicks for a stalemate. More feeling out, and Rey hooks a sunset flip for two, then dives with a springboard flying corkscrew senton for two. JL fights him off with a pop-up flapjack for two, and a magistral cradle is worth two. Bodyslam, but Rey slips free, so JL clobbers him with a clothesline instead, and he goes up for a flying headbutt drop, but Mysterio moves. Rey tries a cross corner whip, but JL reverses him to the outside, and comes at him with a baseball slide. JL with a somersault senton from the apron, but Rey brings him off the top with a rana for two on the way back in. JL fights back with an inverted atomic drop, but Rey wins a reversal sequence with a springboard flying rana into a cradle at 4:08. They had the unenviable task of trying to get the crowd back after the Piper segment killed them, and so this was pretty spot heavy, though not much else. * ½

Okerlund brings Madusa out for the first time in forever, and she's unhappy with Bischoff, who is apparently the reason she's not getting any work lately, despite 'dropping a world class title in the trash can' to come to WCW. Terrible promo, she seems drunk. Anyway, Luna Vachon comes out to attack for a brawl, as the fans laugh at them. Awesome. I like how basically the same three or four women made up the entire divisions of both major promotions' women's rosters in the 90s

WCW World Champion Hollywood Hulk Hogan leads out the nWo for their interview, and we get the whole group this time. Definitely a better visual than when he comes out with only a couple of guys, like they've been doing. Though it does expose how bloated the group has become. Like, Hogan, Savage, The Outsiders, even Syxx, sure, but so many extra guys. Especially ones that weren't even former WWF guys. Sting (the real one) is notably with them, though he's just kind of standing there silently, and not palling around with the others. It's also kind of fun to see Macho Man as a heel again for the first time in a decade

Uncensored ad

The Steiner Brothers v Giant and Lex Luger: Rick Steiner starts with Luger, and they trade off a bit, dominated by Lex with a big clothesline. Nice sell from Rick there. Rick fights back with a powerslam before passing to Scott Steiner for a belly-to-belly suplex, followed by a butterfly powerbomb. Lex with a powerslam of his own to block a charge, and it's over to Giant to big boot Scotty down. He adds an elbowdrop for two, so Rick blind tags in, and dives with a flying axehandle. The Brothers use a tandem vertical suplex for two, and then the match stops dead as Luger comes in to get in Scott's face, and they just kind of stare at each other for a while. They're about to get back to business, but now here comes the nWo through the crowd, so Piper and his jobbers return to back the WCW guys up. Meanwhile, we've just abandoned the match, so I guess it's a no-contest at around 5:00. Everyone stares at each other for a few minutes, until a big brawl breaks out, though Sting doesn't participate. And that's the end of the show. ¼*

BUExperience: This wasn’t a bad episode, but I enjoyed RAW a lot more.

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	3/3/97
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	1.9	3.4
Total Wins	17	52
Win Streak		35
Better Show (as of 3/3)	25	42