Slobberknocker Central Monday Night Recap #259 October 30th, 2000 The Opening Word: Let's waste no time this week, and get right to the shows ... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WCW Monday Nitro: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours+. Location: Irvine, California. Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Scott Hudson & Mark Madden. HOUR ONE: - Stills from Halloween Havoc open the show. - A white limo is parked outside, bearing WCW's new CEO. Huh? After the pyro Schiavone says "you've all heard the talk ..." Wonder if they'll drag this out to the start of the next hour? My prediction: Ric Flair, and I say that because I'd heard earlier in the day that he'd be on tonight. - MARK JINDRAK/SEAN O'HAIRE vs. THE FILTHY ANIMALS (w/ Konnan & Tygress) Rey has a staredown with Jindrak, the top of his head barely reaching Jindrak's nipples. Konnan & Tygress sit in on commentary and badmouth the Tag Champs, which pisses me off because 1) WCW doesn't need to be burying guys who mights stand a chance at getting over, and 2) it's not like anyone in Konnan's crew has any more credibility. Rey's a great wrestler and athlete, but he's so clearly out of his element when paired off against guys two feet taller than him. Rey & Kidman would look like shit if Jindrak & O'Haire weren't willing to go out there and sell for them, so someone tell Konnan to shut the hell up. Jindrak is given a legdrop to the nuts by Rey, and is down for the pin, but the ref counts VERY SLOWLY. Jindrak kicks out. Mysterio then sees Alex Wright at ringside--late for his run-in, I'd assume (because of the slow ref count). Mysterio dives on Wright. Disqo Inferno comes in the other side and hits Kidman with the Chartbuster. O'Haire then puts Jindrak on top of Kidman and points out the cover to the ref. - Commissioner Sanders is talking to Kevin Nash when Scott Steiner walks in and grabs Sanders, demanding he get the title shot tonight. After Steiner leaves Nash starts to say something about picking your fights, but they cut away before he finishes. - KWEE WEE vs. RENO The announcers are heavily hyping the "who's in the limo?" angle, signaling it's just that--an angle--and not Eric Bischoff or Vince McMahon like we're supposed to think. Typical hardcore match, with things swinging into Reno's favor when Sanders leads the other Thrillerz out to interfere. Jindrak & O'Haire toss Kwee Wee over the top rope into the ring (from the floor no less). Reno hits the Roll of the Dice for the pin. The crowd pops, probably because there's nothing remotely likable about the Kwee Wee character. - Mean Gene Okerlund is out to interview new U.S. Champ, General Rection. Hopefully this is where he dumps the lame gimmick and goes back to being Hugh Morrus. Did Rection win this belt as a shot at Buff Bagwell? Rection cuts Okerlund off and calls for the rest of MIA to come out and join him. Maybe he'll turn heel and dump the gimmick? Rection peels the Canadian maple leaf off the belt. He then says his victory was for all the "C-Team" guys like himself, Konnan, Awesome, etc. Okerlund says everyone backstage appreciates him, then tries to get the crowd to clap for him. (Madden: "He's giving him the clap!") Lukewarm crowd reaction. Then everyone in the company who isn't a heel comes out to applaud him, including Mike Tenay, Arn Anderson, Booker T and Goldberg. (Madden: "Let me get this straight ... everyone on that stage is admitting they aren't a major player?") Goldberg notes that his own winning streak started in a match against Rection. Does Morrus have cancer or something? That's the vibe this thing is giving off. Lance Storm then appears on the Turner-Tron and talks some trash. Rection throws out a challenge for a one-on-one rematch at the next PPV, WCW Mayhem. - More love for General Rection, as he gets hugs from Jimmy Hart. Goldberg, etc. This has to be a rub on Buff for the stuff he said about Rection. - David Flair is out to announce the results of the DNA test. Don't DNA tests take weeks to conduct? Flair reads the test results, the lab determining that there's a 99.9% chance Buff Bagwell *isn't* the father of Stacy's baby. Wow ... SHOCKING SWERVE. M.I. Smooth then comes out and says he never said Buff was the father. Since Buff is hot at Smooth, Smooth is hot at Flair. That leads to ... DAVID FLAIR vs. M.I. SMOOTH Smooth wins in about two minutes, then walks out, leaving all the questions unanswered. I guess whoever *else* was on that tape was supposed to be the father, not Bagwell. WHEN WILL THIS ANGLE DIE?! At this point I'm assuming Flair himself is really the father, and that Stacy is just jerking him around. Why? Because it'd be a SHOCKING SWERVE. - Jimmy Hart, in a "paid advertisement," challenges any radio DJ anywhere to come wrestle him. He holds up a picture of himself an Andy Kaufman, who he says he knocked out. - Boogie Knights hits the ring. Disqo talks--says nothing of importance. "Will somebody tell us why the hell we're out here?" Goldberg's music fires up. Remember when the crowd used to pop for that? Goldberg chases the two off and says everyone's next. Yup, that's it--that was the whole segment. A look at the door of the CEO's dressing room--hey, here he comes, the cameraman REFUSING to pan above the man's waist. - Mike Sanders hits the ring. Schiavone reports that the real CEO is on his way into the building. Sanders announces tonight's main event: Booker T vs. Mike Awesome vs. Scott Steiner. RAW starts in four minutes. Sanders badmouths the new CEO, saying all they'll do is get Sanders coffee. Cue "Thus Spake (whatever)"--it's Ric Flair. Yawn. Okay, so we had Sanders feuding with the Cat over control of WCW, now we'll get Sanders versus Flair. Madden badmouth Flair, of course, showing what a brainless jackass he is. Flair tells Sanders he's wrestling later tonight. Sanders leaves in a huff. Flair goes on, saying WCW has a lot of problems, but that this is the start of a new era and that he's going to work on fixing WCW. He also says something about asking Lex Luger to look after David at the PPV, and how Luger will pay for what he did. Flair makes it clear that he's retired and won't be wrestling. (What's the over/under on him going back on that promise?) Jeff Jarrett then comes out to whine. This is all so depressing. Vince Russo has to be writing this stuff. Yet another "new beginning," and right away Russo's favorite Jeff Jarrett gets thrown into the spotlight. Jarrett just kind of wanders away, Flair following, saying what a good wrestler Jarrett is. Maybe a half dozen fans "whoo!", while the rest remain mute. HOUR TWO: - Lex Luger comes out, takes off his shirt, and brags how great he is. Then Bagwell comes out and .. ah, geez ... LEX LUGER vs. BUFF BAGWELL About a minute of brawling leads to Buff accidentally hitting the ref with the Blockbuster, then Luger putting Buff in the Torture Rack for the win. - Stasiak apologizes to coach Kevin Nash. - KRONIK vs. THE PERFECT EVENT (w/ Kevin Nash) Nash sits in on commentary. Loud "we want Scott Hall!" chant by the crowd. Sorry folks, but I don't think WCW's going to rehire someone they'd have to bail out of jail first. The match ... tensions flare, Stasiak walks out, Palumbo gets pinned. You know they'll be back together on Thunder, so Nash can do a little skit which he humiliates Stasiak yet again. JUST SPLIT THE DAMN TEAM UP ALREADY!!! - Nash and the Thrillerz go looking for Stasiak. - Pamela interviews Booker T. - THE CAT vs. MIKE SANDERS The Cat wins quickly with the Feliner kick. So why didn't Flair make this for the commissionership? Already the questions begin. Shane Douglas appears on the big screen. He has Miss Jones backstage, and gives her a sidebreaker after she slaps him. The Cat runs off to her rescue. - The Cat checks on Miss Jones, then vows revenge on Douglas. - Pamela interviews Mike Awesome. - Steiner comes out and says he's going to kick Booker's ass and blah, blah, blah ... - SCOTT STEINER (w/ Midajah) vs. BOOKER T vs. MIKE AWESOME Steiner and Booker go at it for a few minutes, Steiner dominating, before Awesome even comes out (receiving no discernible crowd reaction). The match goes on, and it has its moments, but for the most part never really gets on track. Rather than all three men smoothly interacting we get a lot of one man knocked down with a clothesline or such, then him laying there and watching as the other two fight for a minute. The end comes when Booker clotheslines Steiner out of the ring, then out of nowhere hits Awesome with the Book End and covers for the pin. Okay match. That's pretty much it, though there's four minutes of show time left, so they kill time by having Steiner get tackled by security, Steiner beating them up, and Booker grabbing a mic and calling Steiner back into the ring. Steiner comes back out and--oops, show's over. - This Wednesday: Nothing announced. - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: I thought this was a pretty bad show. I realize that with the company's future up in the air that can't do any really big storylines. Does that mean they have to run storylines completely devoid of drama and intensity? The whole last month nothing happened in WCW, as they built to Halloween Havoc. Nothing happened at that PPV, and now they're already laying the groundwork for another boring build to another meaningless PPV. WCW has taken steps to improve the quality of their in-ring matches. Their production has improved slightly. And with Vince Russo out of the picture some of the more blatant silliness has gone away. Those are the positives. The negatives include some very poor use of talent, and booking and writing which refuses to admit how stupid some of the stuff in WCW is. Let's start with Ric Flair as the new CEO of WCW. What is the point of this? Granted his promos will be better than the Cat's were, and any match he might end up in could be good, but what's the point of trying to dig more gold out of a hole that's already been mined dry? The whole power struggle storyline has been done to death, not just in WCW but the WWF as well. For months we've had to put up with questions left unanswered, like who had more power, the Cat or Russo, and why did each involve themselves in certain areas and not others? If Flair is the least bit concerned with Sanders, and he has the power, then why not fire him, or at least remove him from the commissioner role? How will Sanders ever get away with any decision the least bit detrimental to a babyface if Flair can overrule him? Hell, I'm probably giving WCW too much credit in even assuming we'll see Flair on TV again. It's not like WCW has a recent track record of following up on things they've started. Remember how several weeks back WCW fans were gushing over Bret Hart's return, and how that was going to make everything better? Just look at how that one ended up. Remember how Terry Funk came back, said he'd signed a one year contract extension, then we never saw him again? Just the whole idea of Mike Sanders being commissioner is wrong. This is a guy who had something like five minute's experience before WCW brought him in. The guy can talk, has a polished delivery, but his voice is awful, and he's simply in over his head in this role. That's the problem with WCW's current booking team (made up of people like Terry Taylor, Jeremy Borash and Disqo Inferno). They get a little positive feedback on something and they run wild with it. Sanders got complimented on those first promos he did, so wham!--WCW puts him in a role that requires a whole lot of speaking. That's also why we saw things like Stevie Ray being made a full-time announcer and Disqo Inferno bringing his stupid duck to the ring. Why is there still an MIA? Why is there still the Filthy Animals? Boogie Knights? Team Canada? That 70's Guy? Natural Born Thrillerz? These are all tremendously lame gimmicks. You'd think that at least one of them would have been killed off by now. And the guys they choose to push. Reno gets the Hardcore Title, all the while WCW has Big Vito right there, getting over with the crowd, but WCW chooses Reno instead. Where was Vito this week? What happened to Norman Smiley? Or Ralphus? Tony Norris? Cassius? The Great Muta? The Insane Clown Posse? The Demon? 3 Count? The Jung Dragons? Dustin Rhodes? Terry Funk? Sid Vicious? Randy Savage? Meng? Bam Bam Bigelow? The Harris Twins? Juventud Guerrera? La Parka? Psychosis? Villano IV? Villano V? Silver King? Sting? Vampiro? Elix Skipper? "Hacksaw" Duggan? Kanyon? Diamond Dallas Page? Bret Hart? Scott Hall? Hulk Hogan? People drop off the radar and WCW never mentions them again. I just get the feeling that no one is the captain on this ship. Even when Russo was there, there was still the feeling that too many people were doing their own thing. Disqo Inferno's got his own ideas on what is funny, Jeremy Borash has his little inside jokes, Terry Taylor is pushing guys he likes, Kevin Nash has his hand in things, getting himself booked in angles that are supposed to make him look cool ... and so on. No one has any idea what direction the company should be going in, and with the company losing millions of dollars and on the verge of being sold or shut down, nobody even cares anymore. Russo's gone, so those left behind are just throwing things out which made them laugh in the booking meeting. Not helping things is this new Thunder taping schedule. For the second straight week Nitro had a flat finish because they have to save some of the crowd's energy, what with more things yet to be taped for Thunder. Some of those guys missing this week were probably held off because they did/would be doing Thunder matches (and you know some of those guys aren't going to wrestle twice). WCW may save some money by not running a separate taping for Thunder, but already things are suffering because both shows come off as watered down, being taped the same night in front of the same crowd. You'd think WCW would have seen what a disaster that was in the WWF (when they used to tape four one-hour RAW's in a row the same night). Of course this is the same company that used to tape THREE MONTHS worth of shows at a shot back in the mid-90's. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF RAW is WAR: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours+. Location: Boston, Massachusetts. Hosted By: Jim Ross & Jerry "The King" Lawler. WWF RAW: - A SmackDown! highlights package sets up tonight's big Steel Cage match, also asking the question: who attacked Stone Cold Steve Austin last Thursday? - Chyna makes her way out. She has a clip played from Sunday Night Heat of Eddie Guerrero getting cozy with the Kat, who is wearing her mini-Chyna outfit again. Chyna says she's definitely over Eddie, and that she'll just have to kick his ass tonight. EDDIE GUERRERO (w/ the Chynette) vs. CHYNA "Chynette" ... funny. The finish here sees the Kat interfere, Chyna press slam her onto Eddie, then Steven Richards comes in and kicks Chyna. Eddie gets the pin. Billy Gunn makes the save, the crowd slow in popping for him because they don't recognize him. Gunn's hair is cut very short, making him look a little like Shawn Stasiak. WWF Champion Kurt Angle arrives, along with Edge, Christian and Stephanie McMahon Helmsley. Today is Edge's birthday. Stephanie isn't in the mood to celebrate--she has a cold it seems. - Footage is shown of the XFL draft. - Al Snow offers the King a tray full of candy to be his partner in a match against Raven & Tazz. - The Right To Censor gang makes its way to the ring. Ivory says the usual. RIGHT TO CENSOR (w/ Steven Richards) vs. THE HARDY BOYZ/LITA Ivory wrestles in her librarian outfit, which is kind of sexy actually. Funny to have to watch her lift up her skirt to do any moves. Late in the match Jeff Hardy nearly kills himself doing the Poetry in Motion. The Goodfather rolls to the floor. Bull Buchanan and Ivory are then planted with a triple DDT. Buchanan rolls to the floor with the Goodfather. Matt Hardy comes off the top onto the two, but they catch him. Lita follows, knocking everyone to the floor. Jeff Hardy then drops the Swanton Bomb on Ivory, but here comes Steven Richards with another superkick. Ivory is put on top of him and the ref counts to three. The crowd was really into this one. Edge thinks the Hardyz losing is a great birthday present. Christian gives him his presents: a t-shirt and Rock "bend'em" figure. Stephanie tells Kurt Angle to ignore her and enjoy the party. Triple H then comes in to check on her. She gets nauseous and rushes for the bathroom. Edge beats Christian in a quick game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. - Rikishi tells Tony Garea to go find the Rock for him. - Goodwill ambassador William Regal is out with a list of 127 things the people of Boston can do to improve their lives. Number one is to use a napkin when eating baked beans or clam chowder. Number two is to not take it out on everyone else just because the Red Sox haven't won a game since the Woodrow Wilson administration. Regal may be getting more heat here than ever before. Number three is-- *BONG!* The crowd goes wild as the Undertaker rides out to ringside. The Undertaker goes in, kicks Regal in the gut, and lays him out with a double-pump powerbomb. He then grabs the mic and says "You know ... I think you talk funny." Not exactly a profound statement, but the crowd sure dug this. Rikishi bursts into the Rock's dressing room and asks him if he has his back tonight in his cage match against Steve Austin. The Rock says yeah, he's got Rikishi's back, and walks out. - Earlier in the day Trish Stratus redecorated the APA's office with flowers and a tablecloth. Albert added an ashtray, which Trish filled with candy. When Albert makes a grab for the candy Test cuts him off and gives him a six-pack of Diet Pepsi instead. Crash Holly then comes in and challenges Test to a match. Test says Crash isn't fooling anyone--that he's Max Mini without the mask. - TEST (w/ Trish Stratus) vs. CRASH HOLLY Funny bit to start as Crash throws a garbage can in the ring, but Test catches it and throws it back out, knocking Crash down. The two then brawl over to stage, where Test jumps off, swinging a garbage can lid. Steve Blackman is shown watching in the back. Test wins the match after putting a garbage can over Crash's head, which he then hits with a kendo stick, then he drops on elbow off the top, crashing the can with Crash still in it. During the match JR casually dropped the bombshell that Adam Sandler will be on SmackDown! this Thursday. Christian produces a kazoo and he and Edge perform their entrance music. Triple H tells them to stop, so they do *his* theme instead. Triple H kicks them out. - Replays of the wrench attack on Steve Austin on SmackDown! reveal no clues as to who the mystery assailant might have been. Austin invites whoever it was to come down to ringside and watch Rikishi get his ass kicked. Triple H decides Stephanie is too sick to stick around any longer. She says she'll leave, but only after the cage match. WWF WAR ZONE: - RIKISHI vs. STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN In case we didn't know we're supposed to boo Rikishi, his new theme music starts with him saying "bad man." Subtle! Rikishi still only gets a little heat coming out. The match is in a steel cage, but there's none of that "first man to escape wins" nonsense. The match is no DQ, and can be won the usual ways, with the cage just there to be used as a weapon. Austin drags Rikishi around the outside of the cage before the match even officially stars. Once in the bell rings. Austin gets a pop for hitting the Lou Thesz Press. Rikishi then takes over, getting Austin set up in the corner for the stinkface. Austin avoids it by delivering a shot to the groin. He then turns Rikishi inside-out with a clothesline. The two go out of the cage, Austin bashing the cage door into Rikishi's head. The big man is busted open. Another shot with the door, then back in the two go. It's back-and-forth from there, mostly punches and kicks. Austin then takes control with a series of smashes into the cage walls, from one side to the other over and over. When Rikishi is nearly out on his feet Austin flips him off, kicks him in the gut, and drops him with a Stone Cold Stunner. 1 ... 2 ... 3! Austin leaves the cage and celebrates on the stage with a couple cans of beer. I kept expecting someone to blindside him there. Hey, when was the last time anyone delivered a cage match with a clean finish and no run-ins? - Triple H and Angle bundle Stephanie off back to her hotel room. Angle starts to say it's nice they're now getting along, but Triple H tells him he better have brought his gear with him tonight. - Al Snow is back out, this time with a pitcher of lemonade and a bundle of about a dozen copies of Chyna's Playboy for the King. - STEVEN RICHARDS (w/ Val Venis) vs. MR. ASS (w/ Chyna) Richards demands the stipulation that if he wins Billy Gunn can no longer be referred to as "Mr. Ass." Gunn agrees, but only under the condition that if *he* wins then Richards has to kiss his ass. Late in the match Chyna and Val Venis get into at ringside, the ref getting knocked out trying to pull a chair away from Venis. In the ring Gunn hits the FameAsser, but Eddie Guerrero comes in and waffles him with his IC title belt. Richard's arm is draped across Gunn, and he gets the pinfall. The rest of the RTC come out to celebrate with Richards. Thank god I don't have to call Gunn "Mr. Ass" anymore. Commissioner Mick Foley tells Chris Jericho that he sent Kane home earlier in the day, so he won't be a factor in Jericho's match against the Rock later tonight. Jericho leaves, giving Triple H an uneasy look as the two pass. Triple H pitches the idea of a non-title match between himself and Angle "right here in [Triple H & Foley simultaneously] BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS!" (The two then soak up the cheap pop.) Triple H says Stephanie may be Angle's manager, but tonight Angle will be *his* bitch! Foley: "Oh man, I love it when you talk dirty!" Foley books the match. - Rikishi's getting stitched up in the back. - Several New England Patriots are sitting at ringside. - X-Pac is at WWF New York. He bumps into Tori, who is back from her shoulder injury (at the hands of the Dudley Boyz) and sporting a new hairstyle. She says the last time she saw him was at King of the Ring (intimating that the jerk never once checked up on her at the hospital), and she slaps him. - Commissioner Foley comes out to get his cheap pop. He talks about the two matches he signed tonight. He then admits that the job of commissioner was harder than he thought, and that the job is too much for him. The fans think he's resigning, but Foley says he's just getting a little help. He brings out his new lieutenant commissioner: Debra! Oh ... joy. Angle is depressed that he's being forced to wrestle tonight. Edge & Christian try to cheer him up by playing his theme on the kazoo. This stuff is hella funny. - TRIPLE H vs. KURT ANGLE Angle has his boots and kneepads, but that's it for gear, so he has to wrestle the match in the warmup suit he came in. Triple H looks like he's beating up an astronaut. Triple H thoroughly dominates the match, Angle only getting in a little offense. After a tour through the crowd Triple H Pedigrees Angle through the announce table, sending Lawler's candy and Playboys scattering everywhere. Back in the ring the ref tries to cool Triple H off, but Triple H responds by going after the ref, drawing a DQ. Triple H grabs a mic and says if they want a DQ, he'll give them one. He goes after Angle with a chair. The ref tries to stop him, so Triple H flattens him with a Pedigree, then nails Angle with the chair. Edge & Christian come in for the save and Triple H takes out the birthday boy with the chair, and plants Christian with a Pedigree. I'd like to have seen Angle look more credible in this match. The crowd had no problem with seeing him get his ass kicked, though. XFL cheerleader promo. - Michael Cole is in the back with the Rock and Chris Jericho. The two engage in a catchphrase duel, each pulling the mic away from the other (Cole holding the mic), interrupting each in mid-sentence. Jericho seems to have the upper hand after he borrows the Rock's "if you smell-la-la" line. The Rock replies that he'll try anything once, takes a sniff, and says it smells like a bucket full of Canadian moose piss. He says Jericho can bring his mom, dad, uncle Bob with the glass eye and others, but that the Rock would lay the smackdown on all their candy asses, and that Jericho would never ... EVER ... be the same again! Awesome interview. - CHRIS JERICHO vs. THE ROCK Jericho attacks the Rock before the bell, knocking him off the apron. The two brawl around the ring. Rikishi is shown several times in the back watching. Jericho actually dominates much of the match. Referee Earl Hebner is accidentally knocked out when Jericho ducks a punch thrown by the Rock. Jericho grabs a chair and takes a swing, but the Rock ducks. Spinebuster onto the chair. Cover, but no ref. Y2J comes back with the Walls of Jericho. A second ref comes out. The Rock holds on and is able to reach the ropes. He then takes Jericho down with a legwhip and slaps on the Sharpshooter. Jericho reaches the ropes. A back suplex puts both men down. Here comes Rikishi! The ref cuts him off, so Rikishi nails him. Meanwhile Jericho hits the Lionsault and covers. Hebner slowly crawls over. 1 ... 2--kickout! Jericho bounces off the ropes, but the Rock catches him and delivers a Rock Bottom. Hebner counts the pin. Good match. Now Rikishi comes in, blasting the Rock into the corner. A splash, kick to the head and superkick all follow. Rikishi then grabs a mic and says he has a confession to make. Rikishi lied when he said the Rock knew nothing about him running Austin over. The Rock knew all along that Rikishi did it, and in fact gave him the car keys and begged him to do it! The crowd is stunned. JR says he can't--won't--believe it. Rikishi leaves the Rock laying, saying he has a lot of explaining to do ... - This Thursday: The Rock vs. Kurt Angle for the WWF Championship. - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: A really, really good episode of RAW this week. I know Triple H will get some more heat for not giving Angle anything in their match, and people will complain about the Rock beating Jericho again, but those things aside, this was a near-flawless show. You can tell the WWF is determined to get the TV ratings back up, as they gave away three PPV-caliber matches (delivering the goods on at least two of them). This show also probably had the best collective batch of backstage segments ever. The bits with Edge & Christian were priceless, as was the exchange between Triple H and Foley. The topper was the showdown between the Rock and Jericho. Where were Tazz & Raven? Or Chris Benoit & the Radicalz? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bottom Line: Happy Halloween everybody. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Slobberknocker Central" and "Monday Night Recap" are copyright 2000 by John Petrie, and all opinions expressed therein are his own, and not those of "USLink". Check the "Slobberknocker Central" main page for info on how to receive the "Recap" free via E-Mail every week. Volume One, Number 259 of the "Monday Night Recap", October 30th, 2000.