Original Airdate: December 8, 1997
From Buffalo, New York; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Bobby Heenan
Ray Traylor v Konnan: Konnan runs away at the bell, doing a bunch of stalling. Ray manages an avalanche once they engage, and a pair of right hands grounds Konnan. Konnan goes to the eyes to buy time, but he criss crosses into a powerslam, and bails again. Ray follows for a whip into the post, but Konnan reverses, and he puts the boots to him out there. Inside, Ray manages an awkward looking slam out of the corner, and it’s so awkward that neither guy seems to know who should sell it. Konnan recovers first and delivers a cross corner whip, when the lights die, and they stay off for-fucking-ever before finally coming back up with Konnan down and out. What in the world took them so long to get from A to B there? Ray capitalizes with a cover, and Konnan is pinned at 5:35. This was really bad, and the finish wasn’t well executed. -½*
Steve McMichael v Barbarian: I feel like this could easily go very deep south. Like, Alabama deep. Mongo holds a standing headlock to start, as the crowd gets distracted by something going on in the stands, and ignores the match. Mongo unloads in the corner, and a corner clothesline rattles Barbarian. Clothesline to the back of the head puts him down, but Barbarian gets fired up, and throws a clothesline of his own, before dumping Steve to the outside. Barbarian follows to send him into the steps, so Mongo tries turning it into a slugfest, but he loses. Inside, Barbarian pumphandle-suplexes him for two, and a bodyslam sets up a 2nd rope dive, but Mongo gut-punches him to block. Steve makes a comeback, so Barbarian tries cutting him off with a big chop, but Mongo soldiers on with the tombstone at 4:07. This wasn’t a trainwreck, unfortunately. Afterwards, Meng comes out to attack, choking Steve down in the Tongan death grip. ½*
Gene Okerlund brings Disco Inferno out for a talk, since apparently when Disco goes to the bathroom, people aren’t sure which door he’ll walk into. How dated. Anyway, he thinks Jackie is a jokie
Gene brings Buff Bagwell out, and Buff wants to challenge Lex Luger to a rematch from last week, on the grounds that this is Buffalo, and, well, he’s buff. You really can’t argue with that logic
Dean Malenko v Prince Iaukea: WCW Cruiserweight Champion Eddie Guerrero sits in on commentary for this one. Feeling out process to start, with both guys pretty evenly matched. Dean lands a dropkick, and manages a takedown, allowing him to work the leg. Malenko with a nice turnbuckle smash, followed by a side suplex for two. Chinlock, but Iaukea counters to a hammerlock, and he cross corner clotheslines Dean. Cross corner whip, but Dean blocks the crash, so Iaukea knocks him to the outside. Iaukea with a springboard flying schoolboy for two on the way back in, but Malenko reverses a sunset flip for two. Both guys pop up and throw clotheslines for a double knockout spot, and Dean is up first with a leg lariat for two. Backslide, but Iaukea blocks, so Dean goes with a butterfly powerbomb into the Texas cloverleaf at 3:50. This was fine, just too short to really develop. *
Nitro Girls
The nWo present a commercial that’s wall to wall clips of them beating up Giant
Kevin Nash thinks he’s the true giant of wrestling, and he’s game to prove it any time Giant is ready. The other guy's literal name is ‘giant’
Gene brings Giant out, and he feels that he is the true giant. Again, it’s literally his name. Let’s take his word for it. No one ever questioned Andre, did they? And he had ‘Andre’ and ‘the’ in his name in addition to just ‘giant.’ This Giant is 100% giant. So Giant tells Nash he’ll be bringing a surprise to Starrcade: the chokeslam. I don’t think this fella quite understand the meaning of the word ‘surprise’
Nitro Girls: the sequel
Chris Benoit v Lodi: Lodi is stepping in for Raven here, who has no showed. Benoit doesn’t take too kindly to the substitution, dumping Lodi to the outside right away, and sending him into the steps out there. Benoit with a brutal chop on the way back in, and he puts the boots to him, as the announcers debate how to pronounce Lodi’s name. Chris takes his head off with a clothesline, and a cross corner whip follows. Another chop, and Benoit takes him upstairs for a vertical superplex. Flying headbutt drop finds the mark, and the Crippler Crossface finishes at 2:21. Benoit certainly made the most of those two minutes. Afterwards, Benoit calls Raven out, but he’s nowhere to be seen. ¾*
Gene brings Ric Flair out to react to the news of Bret Hart joining the nWo, and Flair isn’t worried. In fact, he thinks comparing Hart to himself, that’s like comparing John Elway to Jim Kelly (with Kelly in the front row, and digging the shout out)
Hugh Morrus v Randy Savage: Savage gets in Kelly’s face on the way down to the ring (smacking his hat off in the process), so Morrus attacks, and lets Kelly get some shots in. And that makes it all the more obvious what an actual skill and artform pro-wrestling is, as Kelly’s shots look unbelievably loose and phony. Morrus with an avalanche on the way inside, but Macho fights him off, and sends him into the steps on the outside. Back in, Macho tries a whip into the ropes, but Morrus reverses, and delivers a powerslam. Flying elbowdrop, but Randy dodges, and blasts Hugh with a clothesline. Bodyslam sets up his patented flying elbowdrop, but he pulls Morrus up at two. He wants another flying elbow, but then pulls him up at two again. The referee complains, so Savage decks him, and goes to the top a third time. This time the lights die again, and when they come up, Macho is knocked out, and wearing a Sting mask. I assume Morrus picked up the DQ when Savage decked the referee at 3:43, though no decision was ever announced. ½*
Eric Bischoff and Rick Rude come out to warn us not to buy the WCW announcers’ fake news, and if this lights out stuff keeps going on, the nWo is going to start taking the announcers out for spreading lies. Rude was great here, very intense. So were the announcers, really doing a great job of selling their fear. Great moment at the end, as Rude forces each of their hands into one of the ‘hear no evil/speak no evil/see no evil’ positions, with Heenan all too eager to immediately comply in a very funny (but real) manner
WCW Television Title Match: Perry Saturn v Disco Inferno: Saturn dominates as we get going, but Disco fights him off with such fury that Saturn ends up on the outside. Disco follows to send him into the steps, but Saturn fights him off on the way back in, and he puts his challenger in a bow-and-arrow. Disco reverses, so Saturn suplexes him, but misses a flying legdrop. That allows Disco a corner whip, but they collide, and Saturn falls out of the ring. Disco follows with an axehandle on the floor, but Saturn reverses him into the guardrail. He tries a charge, but Disco backdrops him into the crowd, taking out the Flock in the process. Inside, Disco unloads on the champion in the corner, but Saturn reverses a neckbreaker on him. Saturn with a pumphandle-suplex for two, but Disco counters a powerbomb with the Chartbuster at 4:22. This was decent. *
Video of some frat boys having a Nitro Party
Nitro gals
Lex Luger v Buff Bagwell: The poor announcers are still on an emotional rollercoaster due to Rude’s yelling. They measure each other a bunch in the early going, mostly dominated by Luger. He grabs a standing headlock, but Bagwell escapes with a side suplex, and he puts the hurt on the lower back. Cross corner whip and a kneelift work, and Buff grounds him in a reverse chinlock, as the announcer bicker over Tony and Mike perceiving Heenan to be cheerleading Bagwell. It’s not great, but it feels real, especially compared to the over produced sound byte style announcing we get today. Lex escapes the hold with an electric chair and makes a comeback, but Bagwell bails. Luger chases, so Scott Norton gets in his face, and Lex just stands there staring at him like an idiot until the countout at 5:19. You’d think, of all people, Luger would be familiar with how countouts work. This was junk, and the finish was ridiculous. DUD
nWo video featuring clips of WCW World Champion Hollywood Hulk Hogan cutting various promos on Roddy Piper. Kind of a weird use of airtime, considering they were full steam ahead on Hogan/Sting at this point
Sting video teaser
Diamond Dallas Page v Scott Hall: Page is still sporting the taped ribs here, so Heenan floats a theory about how they simply can’t heal because Dallas won’t take a week off. Bob Orton syndrome! They feel each other out in the early going, and Page gets control, delivering a clothesline for two. Hall fights back with a cross corner clothesline and a 2nd rope bulldog for two, and a fallaway slam is worth two. Hall works an abdominal stretch, as the commentators announce that if Larry Zbyszko can defeat Bischoff at Starrcade, he’ll earn a match with Hall sometime in 1998. ‘Sometime’ indeed. Hall keeps working him over, and it’s Outsiders Edge time, but Page backdrops him to block. and he makes a comeback. He looks for the Diamond Cutter to finish, but WCW United States Champion Curt Hennig runs in for the DQ at 7:09. This was a total nothing match. Afterwards, the nWo do a beatdown, and Hulk Hogan comes out to join the party. He was really making easy money in ‘97, wasn’t he? So, as the nWo gloat, another Sting dummy rappels from the ceiling, crashing through the ring just like last week. The nWo think it’s hilarious, but then the real Sting comes out of the hole, and fights off the nWo, sending Hollywood running for the hills. DUD
BUExperience: I have to give the edge to RAW this week. It wasn’t a very good show, and they treated the in-ring portion like a complete afterthought, but at least it had a sense of urgency. This Nitro felt like more wheel spinning, despite being just weeks away from the biggest show in the promotion’s history - though it was nice to see Hogan and Sting finally have some interaction again.
Monday Night Wars Rating Chart
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.