[RESULTS/OPINION] WCW Monday Nitro/WWF Monday Night RAW (8/12)

Quick WCW Hog Wild recap:

 - WCW Saturday Night Live Pre-PPV Show:
  * Public Enemy beat Rough and Ready.
  * Konan beat Chavo Guerrero Jr.
  * The Nasty Boys beat High Voltage.
  * Alex Wright beat "Earl" Robert Eaton.
  * Faces of Fear/Kevin Sullivan beat Joe Gomez/Jim Powers/Mark Starr.
  * "Squire" Dave Taylor beat J.L.
  * Diamond Dallas Page beat Renegade.
  * Arn Anderson beat Hugh Morrus.
 - Hog Wild PPV:
  * Rey Misterio Jr. beat Ultimate (Ultimo) Dragon.
    Misterio retains Cruiserweight Title.
  * Scott "Flash" Norton beat Ice Train.
    Icetrain forced to submit (was hurt earlier in the evening by The
    Giant.) 
  * Madusa beat Bull Nakano.
    Madusa damaged Nakano's motorcycle after the match per stipulations.
  * Chris Benoit beat Dean Malenko.
    Match went to 20 minute draw. Referee ordered 5 more minutes, which also
    passed. Benoit wins via interference by Woman in second 5 minute
    overtime.
  * Harlem Heat beat The Steiner Brothers.
    Heat retain World Tag Team Titles.
  * Ric Flair beat Eddie Guerrero.
    Flair retains U.S. Title.
  * The Outsiders beat Sting/Lex Luger.
    Luger puts Hall in the Torture Rack. Hall’s leg hits referee Nick
    Patrick, who falls and clips Luger in the back of the leg. Luger falls
    with Hall on top and Patrick makes a quick count. Patrick may be 4th New
    World Order member.
  * "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan beat The Giant.
    Hogan wins WCW World Heavyweight Title. Hogan got the win after
    interference by The Outsiders, then hitting The Giant with the Title
    Belt. Hogan spray paints "NWO" on the Belt. The Booty Man comes to the
    ring wearing an NWO t-shirt and carrying a cake (for Hogan's birthday.)
    Instead of him being the 4th (or 5th) NWO member, Hall, Nash and Hogan
    attack him.

WCW Monday Nitro: Live.

HOUR ONE: Hosted by Tony Schiavone & Larry Zbyszko.

 - Clips of the Outsiders vs. Sting and Lex Luger at Hog Wild.

 - HIGH VOLTAGE/ROUGH & READY vs. FACES OF FEAR/KEVIN SULLIVAN/HUGH MORRUS
   Yes, the Dungeon of Doom (w/ Jimmy Hart) in a massive squash match.
   Either the Barbarian or Meng pin one of the High Voltage, then Rough &
   Ready beat up the two for losing the match. You know... I'd rather see
   no match than ones like this.

 - Sting and Lex Luger come out and challenge the Outsiders to a match. They
   don't show, but we are promised that it will happen sometime tonight.

 - DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE vs. RENEGADE
   Like, didn't we just see this on Saturday? Same result: Page with the
   Diamond Cutter.

 - New World Order interview. Hogan haulin' ass - I mean Hogan, Hall & Nash
   are reclining in the back somewhere. The Outsiders accept the challenge
   (over what Hogan expresses as slight reservations.) They then tease showing
   the 4th N.W.O. member (supposedly in the room off camera) but decide not
   to. Or is it the 5th... ? Funny stuff, with Hogan displaying the defaced
   WCW belt, which he says is "too heavy... it hurts my shoulder walking
   through the airport." "You should melt it down... " says Nash.

 - KONAN vs. JIM POWERS
   Konan wasn't all that impressive as a face, and is even less so as a heel.
   He pins Powers, with his feet on the ropes for added leverage. He then
   tells Mean Gene in an interview that although he maybe admires Hogan, that
   he stands with WCW. He's even more confused now than he was before.

 - RON STUDD vs. CHRIS BENOIT (w/ Woman, Liz & Debbie)
   Nearly 8 feet tall, will all the ability of a rotting cypress tree, Studd
   is Ron Reis, formerly the Yeti and trained by the late Big John Studd -
   thus the name. Benoit kick his ass. He then tells Mean Gene in an interview
   that he respects his Hog Wild opponent, Dean Malenko.

 - Recap of the Harlem Heat/Steiner Brothers feud.


HOUR TWO: Hosted by Eric Bischoff and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan.

 - HARLEM HEAT (w/ Sherri & Col. Parker) vs. THE STEINER BROTHERS
   Another return match from Saturday night. Not terrible itself, but the
   finish was. Scott Steiner picks up one of the Heat for a suplex into the
   ring, but Sherri grabs his boot and he falls with the Heat member covering
   him. Into the ring stumbles Col. Parker, careening about like a drunkard,
   causing the Heat (who seconds before had been assured a tainted win by
   Sherri) to be disqualified. Steiners win. Now, I've seen the Heat jack a
   guy for lookin' at them funny: Yet again they do NOTHING to the Colonel!
   Let this story die - please!

 - Clips of Madusa "trashing" Nakano's Honda. Recap of the Misterio/Dragon
   match.

 - REY MISTERIO JR. vs. ULTIMATE DRAGON (w/ Sonny Onoo)
   Apparently all Japanese are evil and managed by Sonny Onoo now. Yet another
   match from Saturday. This one was worth it though. Dragon did a Handspring
   Elbow into the corner and a great Running Tiger Bomb. Misterio does the
   Cannonball Plancha (that Marc Mero uses) and a Springboard Corkscrew Head
   Scissors (I capitalize them out of respect and awe.) Dragon answered with
   a tope through the ropes to the floor. Misterio wins following the good
   old "throw-them-up-in-the-air-but-they-come-down-behind-you-and-roll-you-
   up" maneuver. Heenan was great on the mic, calling Dragon on the replay
   of the pin "cold pizza.'
 
 - Flair/Guerrero feud and match recap.

 - RIC FLAIR (w/ Woman, Liz & Debbie) vs. RANDY SAVAGE
   I though both guys were pretty sluggish in this one, giving away the fact
   that they were pretty much killing time until... something. Savage gets
   Flair outside the ring and rolls back the floor pads (with some nefarious
   bodily harm to Flair in mind.) Out comes Hulk Hogan with a chair, and
   whacks Savage twice with it. He then rolls him into the ring, where Flair
   covers for the pin - his feet on the ropes, Woman holding on for extra
   support. Bischoff and Heenan go nuts speculating as to why Hogan never
   touched Flair.

 - Recap of Hogan winning the title and his attack on the Booty Man. Mean
   Gene interviews Hogan, who calls Flair "the stupid little man" and asks
   him "if that's what I did to my best friend, what do you think I'm going
   to do to you?"

 - STING/LEX LUGER vs. THE OUTSIDERS
   Outsiders arrive first, entering through the crowd. Maybe it was just the
   Denver crowd, but the fan support they seemed to have upon their arrival
   seems to have waned somewhat. Out comes Luger next and he cleans house.
   Sting is a bit late (causing speculation about him being... you know) but
   arrives shortly after Luger. Not much of a match - mostly disorganized
   brawling with perhaps Luger and Sting having the upper hand. (Actually,
   Hall and Nash both haven't been allowed to look all that good, taking a
   lot of punishment and only occasionally dishing it back.) Sting whips
   Hall into the ropes, and follows up with a Stinger Splash that misses.
   Suddenly from out of nowhere come the Four Horsemen. The Outsiders flee
   through the crowd as referee (hey... Nick Patrick again) slinks away.
   The replay from another angle clearly show Patrick pulling Hall out of
   the way of the splash, laying to rest any questions as to whether he's
   been paid off or not. Whether he's "officially" the 4th or 5th NWO member
   is another question.

   The show ends with the Horsemen delivering an interview promising Hogan
   that his title reign will be cut short this Thursday at the Clash of the
   Champions.

Next week's main event: Not announced.

Comments: An okay enough show, but one that really wasn't all that much of
a payoff for everything that didn't happen at Hog Wild. Still no new
member of the NWO (besides Nick Patrick) revealed, as well as the somewhat
disappointing redo of four matches from Saturday, three from the PPV itself.
Return matches/rematches are fine, but 4 of them (5 if you count the
upcoming Madusa/Nakano rematch at the Clash.) Anyway, this whole show came
off as kind of a replay of the PPV, with only the Hogan/Flair match being
really hyped for the Clash. One would assume (I do anyway) that there should
be a huge bombshell still to go off for the Clash. The PPV definitely gave
one that "waiting for the other shoe to drop" feeling, but Nitro didn't
pay off. 


WWF Monday Night RAW: Taped 7/22.

 - Update of Ahmed Johnson's being sidelined by surgery to stop a bleeding
   kidney. Yowtch! I like Ahmed, and I hope he'll be okay.

 - FAROOQ ASAD (w/ Sunny) vs. SKIP
   Well... Simmons pretty much wrestles like he used to. He quickly polishes
   off Skip, then I imagine he goes home and polishes off a side of ribs.
   Someone ought to hold up a mirror and say "this is your body..." then hold
   up a picture of Yokozuna and say "this is you body on six meals a day...
   any questions?" I kid... he hasn't gained all that much weight, just some
   (and it all went to his ass.)

 - Recap of the Jerry Lawler/Aldo Montoya match from last week. Jake Roberts
   is reached for comments on the phone. He tells Lawler his day is coming.

 - SAVIO VEGA vs. CRUSH (w/ Clarence Mason)
   Crush now looks like... well, the Undertaker. He's got long braided hair,
   a nasty spiky tatoo on his forehead, and a pierced nose and ear with a
   chain connecting the two. He still can't wrestle, but wins in a match that
   lasted a week or two. His finisher is a full nelson (yawn.)

 - Recap of the Undertaker/Mankind feud and promo for their match at
   SummerSlam.

 - Footage of Sunny undressing behind a whit, backlit screen - hyping the
   "Bikini Beach Blast-Off" at the Free For All this Sunday. There'll be
   Sunny, Marlena & Sable in the bikini battle of the century.

 - Kevin Kelly interviews Ahmed Johnson regarding the possibility of
   retirement. Ahmed is humble and genuine, saying he hasn't been able to
   think about that yet.

 - THE GODWINS (w/ Hillbilly Jim) vs. T.L. HOPPER/WHO
   Neidhart, dammit, I hope you've taken this gig to pay for a crack habit
   or something! Bob Backlund comes to ringside for color commentary and
   spends several minutes mangling the english language. He says our
   education system can't teach our kids "thou shalt not steal... thou shall
   not kill... " yet it teaches them "how to have safe sex... using a
   condominium." Lawler says he once lived in a condominium. My thought was
   that condominiums are a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live
   there; The walls are thin as latex. Anyway, the Godwins win.

   Gorilla Monsoon also makes an appearance ("from the WWF control center")
   and announces that Ahmed Johnson has indeed been stripped of the
   Intercontinental Title and a tournament will start next week on RAW to
   crown a new champ.

 - Footage of Mr. Perfect talking to Bret Hart. Will Hart come back, or will
   he retire? He'll let us know in a few months. In any case, to any and all
   who have been suggesting he'll be the 4th or 5th NWO member, listen up - 
   get real close to your monitor:

   HE'S STILL IN THE WWF AND HE WOULDN't BE ON RAW IF HE WASN'T PLANNING ON
   COMING BACK!

   There... I felt that needed to be said. Sure, he might show up in WCW...
   Sometime next year at the earliest. Even that's doubtful as he's said
   that no matter how much money they offered, he wasn't really interested.
   He'd probably start his own promotion before playing second fiddle to
   Hogan again, not to mention being dumped into a roster where he'd be
   behind Hogan, Flair, Savage, Sting, Luger, and maybe even Nash and Hall.

 - SHAWN MICHAELS vs. OWEN HART (w/ Jim Cornette)
   Clips from Madison Square Garden are shown (including a second or so of
   Mark Henry/Hunter Hearst Helmsly confrontation.) We see Vader is backstage
   with Owen prior to the start of the match.

   Fair, but disappointing match from the two, with nothing in the way of
   big moments. Shawn as expected sets Owen up for the Superkick. Out comes
   Vader to the ring apron, but Michaels knocks him off, them blows a
   Superkick attempt (because he was too close to Owen.) His second is only
   slightly better, barely connecting (he's GOTTA get rid of it.) Vader
   has a chair. Cornette throws Owen his tennis racquet, but Shawn gets it
   and nails Owen. Vader blindsides Shawn, then drags him over to the corner
   for a Vaderbomb. He land that, then climbs to the top turnbuckle as the
   screen fades to black in one of the WWF's biggest UWF endings yet.

 - Next week's main event: 1st match in the Intercontinental Title tourney.

Comments: Ehh, not too much here to brag about. The show almost seemed to
downplay SummerSlam. Only the main event and the Undertaker/Mankind matches
have gotten any serious hype. The loss of Ahmed and the introduction of
Crush have really shifted the focus of the WWF away from SummerSlam to the
following night's RAW and beyond. Oh yeah... where was Brian Pillman? 


Bottom line: WCW seems to have paid off with Hog Wild, delivering what
was apparently several solid matches (haven't seen it yet myself) though
they didn't give with any substantial surprises. (C'mon... a paid off
ref... the Booty Man... please.) Nitro maintained just enough of the
momentum to be passable, doing just enough of a job to build up the Clash
of the Champions (though it could have done more.)

RAW failed to really pump up anticipation for Summerslam, something the
show had been doing well for the past several weeks. Shawn/Vader could be a
great match, as well as Undertaker/Mankind. But the truth is that beyond
that, I'm not even sure what the rest of the card is. With Ahmed out, that
means the (admittedly poor in prospect) match between him and Owen Hart is
out. There's some kind of a tag match (a four way between the WWF's only 4
teams.) What about the rest? Sid vs, Bulldog? What about Austin, Goldust,
Mero and Brian Pillman? SummerSlam has quickly become one of those cards
where the matches just happen and you say "oh yeah... that's right... I
remember now... they're supposed to fight too!" (Kind of like those old
Clash of the Champions' from the early 90's with a dozen or more matches.
"Hey... the Z-Man vs. Brad Armstrong! I forgot they were on the card!")


This week's winner: Nitro.


JRP