WCW Monday Nitro (June 9, 1997)

Original Airdate: June 9, 1997

From Boston, Massachusetts; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Larry Zbyszko (hour one), with Bobby Heenan swapping in for Larry for hour two

Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth arrive to the building, but Diamond Dallas Page is there to greet them, smashing up the window of the limousine before Macho can get away

 

Six-Man Tag Team Match: Ultimo Dragon, Juventud Guerrera, and Super Calo v Psychosis, La Parka, and Silver King: It's kind of weird that they were packing twenty thousand people in for Nitro, yet the pay per views were in buildings half that size. After some posturing, we get Dragon and Psychosis to start, and it's nice that the announcers actually take the time to explain Lucha tag rules for once. I never realized you could replace your partner without a tag if they go out to the arena floor. I've seen it happen a million times, but always figured it was just bad officiating, not an official rule. Everyone's taking bumps like crazy here, spilling to the outside like it's going out of style. Larry, of course, is quick to shit on it by referring to Silver King as 'Silver Fish.' Tenay sounded legitimately annoyed with him there. My main issue with Lucha is that it's really light on psychology, and really hard to type play-by-play for. You don't have to be a fan of the style, but no reason to be a dick about it. Dragon and Psychosis get into a wonderful reversal sequence, ending in Psychosis getting dumped over the top with a monkeyflip, so Parka takes Dragon over the top with a headscissors. Cue a dog pile sequence on the floor, and luckily Calo doesn't kill any kids this week. Dragon and Psychosis go back in, and Dragon uses a rana off the top to set up the Dragon Sleeper at 7:45. This was fun, and the crowd was eating it up. It's not hard to win over casuals with crazy high spots, and WCW both understood and capitalized on that during this period. **

 

Gene Okerlund brings Lex Luger out, and we learn that WCW World Champion Hollywood Hulk Hogan and Dennis Rodman will face Lex and Giant at Bash at the Beach in July. I get wanting to hype this immediately, but maybe finish promoting Great American Bash first? But Lex doesn't want to wait for July, he wants Hogan right here tonight

 

Ric Flair and Roddy Piper also arrive at the arena, and Piper notes that they may be dinosaurs, but they're hip dinosaurs. No arguing with that. Like Luger, they have no patience, and will face the Outsiders in a non-title match ahead of their title match at the Great American Bash. Damn WCW with their two pay per views with 'bash' in the title that force me to type out the full name each time. Damn them to hell

 

Alex Wright v Chris Jericho: Wright hooks a schoolboy for two right away, and he adds a facebuster while holding on to a headlock, as Tenay talks about Jericho's 'tour of the Orient.' Larry, of course, is dismissive. Chris knocks him to the apron for a springboard dropkick that puts Alex on the floor, but Wright manages to snap his throat across the top rope on the way back in. Alex with a springboard axehandle before bringing things back inside, and apparently next week Nitro will be in the United Center. Seriously, why weren't they booking these big cities/big buildings for their pay per views? Nitro is in Boston, Chicago. Pay per view is in... Moline? Wright with a vertical suplex to set up a flying kneedrop, but he takes too long, and Jericho rolls out of the way. Wright still manages to recover first with a spinheel kick, and a cross corner whip sets up a corner backelbow. Alex with a slam to set up a slingshot splash for two, but he telegraphs a backdrop, Chris countering with a sunset flip for two. Alex cuts him off again with a chinlock, but Chris manages to escape with a side suplex, as the announcers note that Dallas Page may have hurt his ribs during the limo attack earlier. Oh, did he ever. Wright goes back to the chinlock, using the ropes for leverage this time, but he gets busted by the official. Wright clotheslines him for two, but he stupidly argues the count, and Jericho schoolboys him for two. Wright quickly cuts him off again, and he gets a modified camel clutch, and at least Larry's critiques actually make sense now. Chris escapes, so Alex tries a corner charge, but hits boot. That allows Jericho a dropkick off the middle rope, and he adds a superkick, as Tenay does a good job of adding color by noting that Chris is fighting jetlag. Jericho with a powerbomb for two, and a corner clothesline leads to a tree of woe. Springboard bodypress, but Wright rolls through, and has a leveraged pin hooked at 8:39. This was generally fine, though underwhelming. * ¾

 

Akira Hokuto v Malia Hosaka: Akira's WCW Women's title is not on the line. Hokuto is sporting a weird mask that appears to be designed to allow her to sniff her own BO. Hokuto blitzes her, and uses a hairpull tosses, with authority. Hokuto with a suplex, but Malia fights back with a spinkick, and she adds a clothesline. Malia with a matslam and a flying bodypress for two, so Sonny Onoo distracts her, and Hokuto grabs her with a northern lights bomb at 1:42. This was too short to go get out of first gear. Afterwards, Hokuto continues the beating drawing Madusa out to make the save. It's honestly impressive that she's even able to run with those things. Also, why does she keep bridging while using German suplexes to make the save? You're not going for a pin, woman. ½*

 

Gene brings the Steiner Brothers out to bitch that they're the top contenders, which draws Harlem Heat out to contest the point. So we're gonna have a top contender's match at the Great American Bash, which these four celebrate by brawling with each other. Sister Sherri cheerleading the Heat during the brawl is awesome

 

Konnan v Steve McMichael: Kevin Greene attacks Steve during the entrances, but his sneak attack actually backfires, with McMichael dropping him across the rail while fighting him off. But Greene won't stay down, and the brawl continues! Meanwhile, Konnan is suddenly down in the ring, with a broken broomstick sitting beside his head. Apparently someone jumped him off camera. Has anyone checked with Brett Favre? Anyway, all this results in the match being ruled a no-contest without ever taking place. Thank you so much, mystery attacker!

 

WCW World Champion Hollywood Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff arrive, and man, these crowds are hot, aren't they? And it's sustained heat, unlike the WWF crowds on RAW, who pop for certain things, and then are dead silent for most of the show. So Hulk is out to let us know that he doesn't feel like wrestling Lex Luger tonight, as Eric works to get 'bite me' over as a catchphrase. Hulk notes that Lex isn't in good enough shape to get into the ring with the champ, so maybe he should workout some more. Do some more butt clenches, Doug. Well, at least he didn't complain about his tan. And why is Hulk wearing a Syxx nWo shirt? Anyway, all this draws captain butt flex himself out, and he forces the issue for the match

 

Hollywood Hulk Hogan v Lex Luger: Hogan's WCW World Title is not on the line, and this is actually his first televised match since Uncensored back in February. Lex knocks him to the outside right away, as the rest of the nWo show up to back the champ up. Those white nWo shirts are not a good look. Inside, Hogan rakes the eyes, allowing him a clothesline to set up a pair of elbowdrops. The crowd is crazy hot for all of this. Hulk with a backrake, and he goes to work with some turnbuckle smashes, but Lex turns the tables, and throws a clothesline. Hogan suckers him into the corner to cut off a comeback, however, and a corner clothesline connects. Hulk with a side suplex for two, and a bodyslam sets up another elbowdrop, but Luger dodges. Lex with a bodyslam of his own, which draws the nWo in, but Luger fights them all off. Torture Rack for Hogan, and we have a new... no, that's in a couple of months, sorry. But we do have a winner at 4:54. This wasn't much, but it was energetic, and the crowd was on fire. And it actually had a clean finish, shockingly! The nWo immediately put a beating on Luger after the bell, and no one from WCW bothers to even try making the save. I guess Sting is still sore about the whole distrust thing, but where the fuck is Giant? Probably had to take a shit, or something. I mean, he is a big dude, you can imagine. *

 

Gene brings JJ Dillon out, and someone please save that poor sheet of paper from this maniac! Dillon fines Randy Savage $50,000 for his actions last week, and he adds a stipulation to Randy's match with DDP at the Bash: it's now Falls Count Anywhere. This draws Savage out in the crowd, and Macho thinks he should just cut a check for a hundred grand, because he's going to kick JJ's ass again right now. That brings Dallas Page out to respond, and you can guess what happens next. Parcheesi!

 

Lee Marshall is in Chicago Illinois with the 1-800-COLLECT Road Report

 

WCW United States Title Match: Dean Malenko v Jeff Jarrett: They trade holds to start, feeling each other out. Criss cross ends in Malenko hooking a rollup for two, and he adds a small package for two. Jeff tries a sunset flip, but Dean counters with another cradle for two, and the challenger wisely bails to break the momentum. The announcers are doing a good job of getting the psychology at play over here, and thankfully Larry is gone, otherwise he'd just talk about how he could beat both guys. Back in, Dean pounds him in the corner, but Jeff reverses a whip into the ropes, and latches on with a sleeper. Malenko reverses, but Jeff quickly escapes, and hammers the champion in the corner. A weird looking DDT gets two (Malenko basically sold it with a flip), but Jeff telegraphs a backdrop, and Dean is able to throw a clothesline. Malenko with a hanging vertical suplex for two, so he dumps Jarrett to the outside, then lugs him right back in for a bodyslam. He puts Jeff in a modified surfboard, then shifts to a grapevine to wrench on the leg. Dean whips him into the ropes to hit with a nice dropkick for two, but another whip into the ropes gets reversed, and Jarrett plants him with a tombstone. Figure Four, but Dean reverses it on him, so Jarrett grabs the ropes. Both guys pop up, and Jeff gets the better of it with a clothesline. Backdrop, but he telegraphs it again, and Malenko kicks him in the knee. He uses a powerbomb to set up the Texas Cloverleaf, but Jarrett counters with a cradle for two. Malenko responds with a backslide for two, so Jeff uses a neckbreaker for two - selling the leg all the while. Malenko gets to the top with a flying axehandle, but Jeff blocks, and he takes Dean back up for a vertical superplex. Eddie Guerrero shows up as both guys are down, and a distraction from Debra McMichael allows Eddie to hit the champ with the Flying Frogsplash. Jarrett staggers to his feet, Figure Four, new champion at lucky 13:13. This was a good, strong effort. I didn't care for the interference finish, but if it's used to set up a feud, there's nothing wrong with it, especially since Jarrett isn't being positioned as a conquering babyface champion anyway. ** ½

 

Gene brings the Dungeon of Doom out, and apparently this is Kevin Sullivan's big return. I honestly never even noticed he was missing. Even after all these years, I still have a really hard time buying him as any sort of threat. It's one thing against Chris Benoit, but remember when he was supposed to be Hulk Hogan's nemesis? Anyway, Benoit comes out to brawl with Kevin, but quickly gets beat down. Well, that was mostly pointless

 

The Outsiders v Ric Flair and Roddy Piper: The Outsiders' WCW World Tag Team Title is not on the line here. Man, who did Dean Malenko piss off? No one wants to go to the apron at the bell, so we get a big brawl to start. Why is Flair dressed like he's joining the Wolfpac? The Outsiders dominate the brawl, and the dust settles on Piper taking the heat segment. Kevin Nash sets up a Powerbomb, so Piper goes low to block. One for Scott Hall too, but Syxx distracts Flair, preventing the tag. That quickly spills into the ring, and the Outsiders are disqualified at 5:38. This was really bad as a match, and kind of had the opposite of its intended purpose, as it made me want to see the PPV match for the title less than I did before. So the nWo continue the beating, until the Four Horsemen run in to back them up, but that only draws more nWo out. So now Kevin Greene hits the ring, which is kind of weird, since he's going after Mongo, which technically puts him on the heel side. Well, here come Harlem Heat, but the Steiners attack THEM in the aisle to continue their brawl from earlier. More WCW reinforcements arrive in the form of Glacier, but Wrath and Mortis attack HIM in the aisle, as the crowd chants for Sting. Heenan does a great job of getting the chaos over, sounding like a war reporter taking shelter during a bombing. The Dungeon of Doom show up to go after Benoit again, and the nWo are killing poor Flair in the ring. That draws Diamond Dallas Page out (to a big pop), and he runs wild, but quickly gets overwhelmed when Hollywood Hogan shows up to knock people out with the title belt. And with the nWo standing tall, finally Sting comes down from the rafters, and the Fleet Center comes unglued! Sting holds everyone off with his bat, and then hooks a fallen DDP up to his harness, flying away with him to get away from the heels and end the show! Yeah, so the match may have sucked, but as a show closing segment, this was pretty awesome. Just total chaos for an extended period of time, with a whole evening's worth of pull apart brawls boiling over into a giant riot. DUD

 

BUExperience: Both shows were really fun this week, but Nitro had better wrestling, and even more excitement than RAW. I mean, it’s hard to beat Hogan doing a clean job, a title change, and that closing segment.

 

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	6/9/97
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	2.2	3.4
Total Wins	17	66
Win Streak		49
Better Show (as of 6/9)	34	46