From Charlotte, North Carolina; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Mike Tenay, with Larry Zbyszko (first half) and with Bobby Heenan (second half)
The nWo hit the ring to start the show to do some hype for the Starrcade main event. Not much to this one
nWo video package hyping the Eric Bischoff/Larry Zbyszko match at Starrcade
nWo video package airing clips of them beating Ray Traylor and WCW World Tag Team Champions The Steiner Brothers down. Pretty sure this one was directed by the same guy who did the Eric Andre Show. All it needed was a ranch dressing reference to make it plain
Ray Traylor v Vincent: Ray chases him around the ring at the bell, and Vincent steals the high ground, putting the boots to Ray as they head inside. Ray quickly fights back with a spinebuster, and an avalanche follows. Vincent staggers into a right hand, and Ray big boots him next, as Raven’s Flock makes their way through the crowd to their ringside seats. Vincent tries a comeback, but quickly gets corner whipped, and slammed. Scrapbuster finishes at 1:50. This was quick and harmless, but even in these two minutes Vincent looked incredibly terrible and rusty. Which I guess makes sense, given he barely wrestled in 1997, and this was his first televised match since October (aside from the World War 3 battle royal, which really doesn’t count). ¼*
Video package hyping Giant/Kevin Nash for Starrcade. A simple but very effective video that highlights all the big story points in sixty seconds
Nitro Girls are ready for a Coyote Ugly sequel
WCW Television Title Match: Disco Inferno v Yuji Nagata: Nagata peppers him with strikes to start, and an enzuigiri puts the champion down. Disco comes back with a backelbow, and he unloads on Nagata in the corner. Cross corner whip leaves Nagata begging off, but Disco falls for the trap, and gets dumped to the outside for Sonny Onoo to abuse. Back in, Nagata suplexes him for two, and he lands a koppou kick, as the crowd sits on their hands for him. Nagata with a forearm for two, but Disco fights back with an inverted atomic drop to set up a jumping clothesline for two. Gourdbuster gets him two, and a swinging neckbreaker is worth two. Onoo tries interfering, but Disco fights him off, and hits Nagata with the Chartbuster at 4:31. Both guys seemed to be trying, but the flow was choppy here. ¾*
Dean Malenko v Fit Finlay: WCW Cruiserweight Champion Eddie Guerrero sits in on commentary for this one, which Dean acknowledges on his way to the ring. They feel each other out, going back and forth, until Dean gets control with a side suplex. Snapmare allows him a chinlock, as Eddie does a wonderful job of getting the angle (and himself) over. Finlay fights back with an uppercut for two, and they spill to the outside, where Malenko reverses him into the guardrail. Inside, Finlay manages a takedown for a leglock, and a corner whip allows him a charge. Finlay with a rolling fireman’s carry slam for two, but a dropkick misses, giving us a reversal sequence that ends in Malenko hooking a victory cradle for two. Somersault cradle gets him another two, and a leg lariat finds the mark. He looks for the Texas cloverleaf setup, but here’s Eddie with a distraction, and Malenko gets clobbered. Finlay capitalizes with a tombstone for the pin at 6:02. *
Another Eric Andre video, this time with the nWo beating Roddy Piper up a bunch of times. Kind of weird that they keep hyping Piper week after week, considering he hasn’t wrestled since Halloween Havoc, and wouldn’t get into the ring again until March. He’s got nothing going on, why waste airtime instead of using it to get active programs/workers over?
Rey Mysterio Jr and Juventud Guerrera v Psychosis and La Parka: Juvi and Psychosis trade off to start, with Guerrera dominating. Rana works, but Psychosis throws a clothesline to turn it back, and he passes to Parka to boot him. Back to Psychosis for a flying guillotine legdrop, and Parka snapmares him for two. Parka with a powerbomb for two, but a double team backfires, allowing Juvi a victory cradle for two. Psychosis cuts off the tag, however, and they go back to working Guerrera over. Rey gets the tag, and Roseanne Barr the door! Rey and Juvi with some nice combos to send both heels to the outside, and they follows with stereo dives. Back in for more combos, but Psychosis pulls Rey out of the ring, and the heels double up on Guerrera again. Juvi and Psychosis do a crazy slam reversal off the top that I’m surprised hasn’t had a bigger impact on history (or been emulated), and then Guerrera lands a flying 450 splash for the pin at 6:32. And that crazy slam thing doesn’t even make the cut for the replay, somehow! Fun stuff, with great combos, and eye-popping spots. **
Gene Okerlund brings Ric Flair and Arn Anderson out, and naturally they get a great reaction in Horsemen country. Also in the ring is Doug Dillenger with a couple of Charlotte PD officers, and the Horsemen announce a $15,000 donation to a police fund on behalf of WCW. Not a lot of meat to this, but it’s always fun seeing Flair and Anderson blow the roof off in Charlotte
Gene brings JJ Dillon and Eric Bischoff out to hammer out the rules for Eric’s Starrcade match with Larry. Eric manages to negotiate kicks and punches as legal moves to capitalize on his martial arts background
Nitro Girls
Chris Jericho v Scott Hall: This marks one of the few times the crowd is firmly in support of WCW in Hall’s pre-match survey. Chris dives in with a flying sunset flip for two to kick start the match, and a small package is worth two. Lionsault gets two, but Hall catches a bodypress in a fallaway slam, and cross corner clotheslines Jericho. Again, but Jericho reverses, and he hooks a schoolboy for two. Reversal sequence ends in Hall delivering a chokeslam, and the Outsider’s Edge finishes at 2:29. This was really short. Watching the replay, I just realized that 1-800-COLLECT was sponsoring replays for both RAW and Nitro at the same time. They really wanted that wrestling fan business. ¾*
Nitro Party video
nWo video package featuring clips of them beating up Giant a bunch’a crunch’a
Steve McMichael v Meng: No match, as McMichael is found laid out in the back, following an off-camera attack from Bill Goldberg. Goldberg decides to go out and face Meng himself, but Steve recovers from the attack, and brawls with Bill in the aisle until officials are able to intervene
Nitro Girls prove that botches aren’t only for wrestlers, as the Kimberly somehow manages to mess up the same dance move, like, three times before finally pulling it off
WCW World Tag Team Title Match: The Steiner Brothers v Konnan and Scott Norton: The nWo attack before the bell, but the champs quickly fight them off, and clean house. Meanwhile, Tony notes that this is, without a doubt mind you, the ‘most important’ Nitro in history. I dig making each show seem important, but what exactly about tonight makes it even a contender for that? Like, I can see them making the case on the night Lex Luger beat Hollywood Hogan for the title, or something, but we don’t even have an announced main event tonight, and nothing especially earth shattering has happened thus far. Rick Steiner and Norton have a miscommunication that nearly ends in Rick suffering a broken neck, but thankfully doesn’t. Rick hits Norton with a 2nd rope clothesline, but an attempt at another gets him slammed off, and Norton delivers a shoulderbreaker for two. The heels work Rick over, but he fights them off long enough for a tag, and the Brothers quickly go for the kill, so Vincent runs in for the DQ at 3:56. Afterwards, the nWo triple team the champs, until Ray Traylor runs in to make the save. ¾*
Booker T v Randy Savage: They trade wristlocks to start, and then measure each other, dominated by Booker. Booker holds an armbar, but Macho fights him off with a cheap shot in the corner, and he unloads jabs. Irish whip, but Booker reverses, and knocks Randy to the outside. Booker follows to hammer him out there, and Macho eats the rail. Booker with a backelbow on the way back inside, and a bodyslam sets up an elbowdrop, but Macho dodges. Booker shakes it off with a Harlem sidekick, so Randy bails, but Booker is on him with another whip into the rail. Splash against it misses, however, and Savage whacks him with a chair to take control. Randy drops him across the rail for good measure, and he dives with a flying axehandle out there. Still not satisfied, Macho sends him into the steps, and then he finally takes it back inside to hook the leg for two. Clothesline finds the mark, as some idiot jumps the rail, and tries to attack Macho. That doesn’t go well for him. But it does trigger Booker’s comeback, and the referee gets bumped as Booker lands a dropkick. Booker stays focused with an atomic drop and an axekick, but Miss Elizabeth trips him up to prevent the Harlem Hangover. Savage capitalizes by knocking him to the outside for another chair shot, and Randy lands the flying elbowdrop at 6:44. This was the most motivated we’ve seen Savage in a while. He always seemed to enjoy himself when he could go out there and work with a hungry young worker, and he had a nice back and forth battle with Booker here. **
Nitro Girls! Now with hats!
Chris Benoit v Scotty Riggs: Raven sends another member of his Flock against Benoit, as opposed to working the match himself. Riggs whips him around in the early going, but gets swatted back with chops, and Chris dumps him front-first across the top rope. Benoit puts the boots to him, but Riggs gets fired up, and delivers a matslam. Again, but Benoit counters with a snapmare, and then delivers another one to set up mounted punches. He tears Scotty’s eyepatch off, and wow, never noticed how much Sick Boy looks like Adam Cole. They spill to the outside, where Chris keeps cracking him with those chops, but Scotty feeds him the rail to buy time. Inside, Riggs chokes him down, but Benoit lifts his knees to block a splash, and delivers a flapjack. Chris goes up with a flying headbutt drop, but Riggs blocks the Crippler Crossface with a chincrusher. Suplex, but Benoit counters to the Crossface at 4:39. Benoit didn’t look as crisp as usual this week, and other than really laying in with those chops of his, it wasn’t a very notable performance. Afterwards, Benoit calls out Raven again, but he’s nowhere to be seen, so a frustrated Crippler dives into the crowd to tackle the entire Flock! Unfortunately for him, he’s badly outnumbered, and he gets a beat down for his trouble. ¾*
Sting video package. Set to the most depressing music imaginable for a wrestling video package
Gene brings JJ Dillon and Eric Bischoff back out, as apparently Eric has been ‘throwing a tantrum’ backstage over who the referee for his match at Starrcade is going to be. They debate potential officials, with Eric turning down any WCW official JJ suggests, and Dillon refusing all of Eric’s nWo member choices. Finally, Dillon relents, and says, fine, it can be an nWo member - but only if JJ can pick which one. Eric is overjoyed, so Dillon brings Bret Hart out, in his Nitro debut. The announcers go crazy about what a huge moment this is (and they’re not wrong), but boy, did this go south fast. So Bret will be happy to referee, since he knows better than anyone what happens when there’s poor officiating. I get the idea of Bret as the referee after what happened to him at Survivor Series, but this feels like a terrible use of one of the biggest stars in the sport. This was a very weak introduction. I mean, the guy was the undefeated WWF Champion, and everyone watching knew the story well (unlike, say, when Ric Flair jumped to the WWF in 1991, but many of their fans weren’t that familiar with him). How was their first angle not Hart coming in and challenging the winner of Hogan/Sting to determine the true world champion (or some version of that)?
nWo video package showing them beating Lex Luger down
Gene brings Buff Bagwell out, and he’s still calling out Luger, for, like, the third week in a row. Lex answers, and we’ve got a match
Lex Luger v Buff Bagwell: Lex unloads with right hands at the bell, and he uses a backdrop, followed by a pair of clotheslines. Buff begs off, but Lex stays on him with a turnbuckle smash, and a corner clothesline. Lex puts the boots to him in the corner, but a charge misses, and Buff bootchokes him down. Bagwell with a corner whip, but a charge of his own hits boot, and Lex clotheslines him again. Powerslam follows, and he looks for the torture rack, so the nWo run out. Lex fights them off, but he accidentally tosses Bagwell over the top in the chaos, and that’s a DQ at 2:07. This was just a quickie to set up the Starrcade match between the two. ¼*
nWo video featuring clips of them beating up Diamond Dallas Page
WCW United States Title Match: Curt Hennig v Ric Flair: Hennig cuts a lengthy promo before the match, which felt like he was dragging it out to pad time. Flair gets a huge reaction, of course. Hennig tries to attack during the entrance, but Flair fights him off! He goes to work in the corner, but Scott Hall runs in right away for the DQ at 0:18. Really? After spending the whole evening hyping up Flair’s big return to action in his hometown, and booking it as the main event, they do a DQ finish in eighteen seconds? The nWo do a big beat down after, so a bunch of WCW guys (DDP, Luger, Steiner Brothers) run out to make the save, but Flair ends up getting carried out with an injury anyway. After the ring is cleared, Page calls the nWo out, but two idiot fans run in instead, and referee Randy Anderson nearly kills one of them, with Page saving the poor kid. DUD
The nWo join us to close the show with more grandstand challenges to Sting, but the lights flicker, and he appears in the rafters, as MORE fans try rushing the ring. What is going on tonight? The lights die again, and when they come back up, Sting is at the entrance, standing on top of the tunnel (right over the WCW logo), literally watching over WCW. That’s a great image, and the announcers do a good job of getting over the significance
BUExperience: Despite the announcers hyping it as the ‘most important’ episode of the show ever, this was mostly just the usual, with little of actual note aside from Bret Hart’s (rather flat) debut. It wasn’t a bad episode by any means, but at three hours it felt endless, and the main event felt like a really terrible bait-and-switch. I’d call RAW the hotter show this week, but definitely check out the Booker T/Randy Savage match to catch a rare motivated performance from Macho during this period.
Monday Night Wars Rating Chart
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