[RESULTS/OPINION] WCW Monday Nitro/WWF Monday Night RAW (10/7) WCW Monday Nitro: Live. HOUR ONE: Hosted by Tony Schiavone & Larry Zbyszko. - Show starts with speculation on Miss Elizabeth joining the NWO. Apparently WCW thinks we're stupid enough not to have figured out that she turned them down. - THE PUBLIC ENEMY vs. HARLEM HEAT (w/ Sister Sherri & Col. Parker) In case you missed it, the Heat won the titles back from the P.E. in a match that aired over the weekend on WCW Saturday Night. This is a non-title "Grudge Match," which means it's a regular match, but Tony Schiavone will talk a little louder. The match itself featured the usual nonsense: Rocco chasing after Sherri, hoping to cop a feel, Johnny showing his dazzling array of punches, and Stevie Ray missing most of his moves. In the back, we see Liz looking for Savage. Then the NWO arrives in the arena. Somehow they've managed to get a house mic (damn Ted and his millions!) and they harrass the wrestlers from the 20th row or so. Hall, Nash, DiBiase and Six do their worst NWO mayhem segment yet. Typical comments: Scott Hall: "Hey Harlem Heat... you hillbillys... we're gonna get you!" Back in the ring Sherri distracts referee Nick Patrick by groping him. Rocco gets knocked off the top rope and falls through a table (which the camera misses.) The Heat eventually work over Johnny's bad knee with a chair and get the pin. - Cut to the back where we see the usual black limo pull up; only this time it's Jeff Jarrett who gets out. Tony and Larry mourn over the fact that he's come to join the NWO. - Clips of a Nick Patrick interview where he announces that he's fined Randy Savage $1,000,000. - DIAMONMD DALLAS PAGE vs. JIM POWERS (w/ Teddy Long) Squash. Page with the Diamond Cutter. Powers doesn't even try to look as good as Tony makes him out to be. Page delivers comments about Eddy Guerrero, in another angle that everyone has lost interest in (or forgotten about.) - Randy Savage comes out with NASCAR driver Jason Killer. Apparently the Slim Jim Halloween Havoc car finished in 10th place in Charlotte over the weekend, while the NWO car hit the wall and didn't finish. They show clips, but failed to mention how the WCW Sting car did (if it even raced- and like I even care!) I start to get this sickening feeling that at Halloween Havoc we're going to see some kind of race between these two cars. Hey... at least they got rid of that Hulkamania monster truck from last year! (*insert dramatic, foreshadowing music here*) - HIGH VOLTAGE vs. THE FACES OF FEAR (w/ Jimmy Hart) An even bigger squash. F.o.F. win. Mongo McMichael and Chris Benoit come halfway to the ring to scout. You see, these two teams will be meeting at Halloween Havoc. The Four Horsemen are more popular now, so expect the F.o.F. to win somehow involving Kevin Sullivan. - GLACIER vs. MIKE WENNER (*click*) Man, this "Homeboys in Outerspace" is one damn funny show. "Pearl" starring Rhea Perlman isn't too bad either. Damn, commercial on both shows. (*click*) Glacier wins. He dances. It snows. This was the end of the first hour and as you may have guessed, it blew. HOUR TWO: Hosted by Eric Bischoff, Mike Tenay and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. - JEFF JARRETT vs. HUGH MORRUS Jarrett sticks to his WWF schtick, wearing in fact what looks pretty much like his WWF style ring attire. He struts, he mugs, he darn near says "ain't I great?" He also wins. Morrus misses a splash off the top rope, and Jarrett winds him up in a figure four. Post match he does an interview. All through his match Bischoff and Heenan assume he's NWO. Tony asks him if he's NWO. Jarrett said he'd heard what Hulk Hogan had said about making wrestling what it is today. He mentions Vern Gagne, relating that to what Hogan had said about making the careers of various promoters. Jarret mentions his father Jerry as a promoter and says Hogan never put any food on their plate. He also accuses Hogan of having selective memory for not remembering that he started in Tennessee. In the end, he says Sting said it best, and tells Hogan to "stick it!" Overall, an amusing interview. - ARN ANDERSON (w/ Woman) vs. RENEGADE Arn squashes him via the DDT. Mike Tenay tries to hype this match by pointing out that Renegade beat Arn for the WCW Television Title last year. It doesn't work. Post match Arn hangs the Renegade upside down in the corner and stomps on him until Lex Luger can make the save. - SQUIRE DAVID TAYLOR (w/ Jeeves) vs. LEX LUGER Ay carumba, is WCW so stupid that they forgot that they already showed us Taylor dumping Jeeves as a valet? He beat on him, Jeeves deliberately cost him a match, and they parted ways... didn't they? Another example of WCW beating what is really an unessential, minor angle into the ground. Luger wins easily via the Rack. As Luger leaves the ringside area, Arn Anderson attacks him with a chair. - CHRIS BENOIT vs. RICK STEINER (w/ Scott Steiner) Bischoff tells us Scotty is having problems with something in his back. Try the hip, Eric. A surprisingly okay match. Steiner wrestles without his signature headgear. Finally another black limo pulls up bearing Hulk Hogan and the Giant. Hogan tells the Giant to cover a certain direction, as Hogan has "business" to attend to. End of the match comes when Steve McMichael tries to menace Scott Steiner with the silver attache case. Debra McMichael is distracting referee Nick Patrick. Rick Steiner comes over, grabs the case away from Mongo, nails him (with a hilariously loud and solid thud - Mongo slips to the floor) and whacks Benoit with the case. He then skids it out of the ring across the mat in the clear view of Patrick, who drops and counts the pin. Bobby Heenan has to spend the next minute explaining to us what it's like to wear one of those neckbraces (which Patrick wears due to being attacked by Randy Savage) and just how little a person wearing one can actually see. Somewhere in the back Hogan and DiBiase are shown with the Nasty Boys. Ted has some paperwork for the Boys to fill out. - RANDY "MACHO MAN" SAVAGE vs. RIC FLAIR No match. Savage waits in the ring. Cut to the back where we see nearly the entire NWO (save for Hogan and the fake Sting) working over Flair. Hall is brandishing a metal pipe. Vincent holds the U.S. Title, then gives it to the Giant, who then chases Miss Elizabeth (who was standing by helpless) towards the ring area. (Woman can be seen watching far off in distance also, as well as about a dozen WCW laborers and arena staff. Why didn't any of them help Flair?) Liz comes out to where she and the Giant can be seen by the crowd. Savage runs to her rescue, but is blind- sided by Hogan. The Giant carries Savage to the ring (falling off the ring steps as he tried to climb then. He covers by turning and slamming Savage into the steps - which I'm sure Savage wasn't too happy about.) Hogan then works over Savage. He tells him to snap into a Slim Jim... again (it was funny the first time only.) He calls him a "piece of crap!" He then sprays a paint outline around Savage's carcass (The Brain commenting "crime scene!") "NWO Rules" is sprayed on the mat, and Savage's back is initialed "HH." Hogan also lays in what seemed like about a half dozen leg drops to the back of Savage's head. He then rambles on the mic a bit, saying he owns Liz, that their relationship, much like the Taskmaster's plan to eliminate Hulkamania, is "etched in stone." He uses "the power vested in [him] as Hollywood Hogan to declare [Savage's and Liz's relationship] null and void." He then says they're going to destroy the announcer's booth. Heenan and Tenay take off, but Bischoff stands his ground... until the roar of a loud engine can be heard. Out comes the Hulkamania monster truck - repainted in NWO black - with Six hanging out the passenger window. The truck approaches the announcer's desk and revs it's engine as the show winks off the air. - Next week's main event: Not announced. Comments: This was pretty bad. The Benoit/Steiner match was okay, as well as Jeff Jarrett's interview, but there was just too much "nothing" dragging the show down. The monster truck at the end was almost an insult. Wanna bet Savage ends up with a Slim Jim truck of his own? WWF Monday Night RAW: Taped 9/23. - Clip of the Roadie singing. - "WILDMAN" MARC MERO (w/ Sable) vs. BIG DADDY COOL DIESEL(tm) Mero carries him to an okay match. Mero does a bumch of his high spots, including a plancha to the floor. Razor Ramon(tm) decides to check out the action and comes to ringside. Mero nails him with a somersault to the floor. Ramon enters the ring and he and Diesel double team on Mero, causing the DQ. Jim Ross remarks that it's unfortunate whenever a two- on-one situation occurs. - The Undertaker, still out digging that grave. - Clips of Mr. Perfect's glory days. - THE NEW ROCKERS vs. THE SMOKING GUNNS A solid enough match, but let me relate this to y'all. You see, I've never been all that great a fan of tag team matches. The problem as I see it is that you have to establish all four men (or more) as individuals, while still establishing a team(s) persona. It's so rare that that happens. They do that well enough here (Leif Cassidy is a hoot to watch,) but has to be a pretty spectacular tag match to get a rise out of me. This didn't. The Gunns win with the Sidewinder. - Short interview with Jesse James (Armstrong,) Jeff Jarrett's former Roadie and the real voice behind "With My Baby Tonight." Jessee says he'd like for Jarrett to come back... to drive his car... carry his bags... - Clips from Live Wire. In case you missed it, it was pretty hot (well... as hot as the WWF gets these days.) The fictitious Vic Venom shows up and harrasses everyone. McMahon answers some questions. Venom calls Dok Hendrix "Michael P.S. Hayes." Paul E. Dangerously and Jim Ross both call in. The show is quickly improving, with callers being allowed greater latitude in their questions. (No more quick hang ups like the first show.) This has quickly become a must see show for the WWF fan. - Jim Ross interviews Jim Cornette and Vader. The only thing of note that is said involved Cornette thanking Ross for his help in bringing in Vader. It has been revealed (on Superstars on Sunday) that Ross is the "Vice President in charge of Wrestling Affairs," or some such title. It was granted to him by J.J. Dillon just prior to Dillon's leaving to go work for WCW. Ross also has a long term, non-negotiable contract now. Ross says at one point in the show that this isn't some sort of "Outsider" deal, but more of an "Insider" deal. More in the weeks to come. - THE SULTAN (w/ Iron Sheik & Bob Backlund) vs. ALDO MONTOYA Sultan quickly downs Aldo with the Camel Clutch. Backlund, sitting in for color commentary, gives the impression that he's pretty much gone off the deep end. - Mankind. He's found the grave, and is afraid that it's for him. Paul Bearer says it's for the Undertaker, but when Mankind rolls into the hole, it's too small for Undertaker - but just right for him. - SYCHO SID vs. GOLDUST (w/ Marlena) Sid is so over with the crowd it's disgusting. Shawn Michaels is reached via phone, but says little of interest. Jim Cornette comes out to sit in at the desk and watch Sid. Match wraps up relatively quickly as Sid nails Goldust with a powerbomb. Vader comes out and the two tussle. Vader gets Sid down and hits a splash off teh turnbuckles, but Sid no-sells it, getting right up. Ring fills with officials, yadda-yadda-yadda. - Next week's main event: Shawn Michaels vs. Steve Austin. Comments: Not bad for a taped RAW, but pretty much on the flat side. Mero was the best thing in the whole show. They tease his being injured by Diesel and Ramon, but announce later in the show that he'll be okay. Bottom line: The march to the PPV's continue and neither one looks like a winner. Havoc looks to be a big mess, while "Buried Alive" shows how weak the IYH's can be, especially since Shawn isn't scheduled to wrestle. Does anyone else think WCW has gotten themself into sort of a trap with the NWO angle? Apparently they took a lot of flack from the arena crowd because the NWO didn't appear. Yet the TV ratings apparently dropped when they did. Even when they do show up, a signifigant portion of the crowd seems genuinely upset at their antics. Also many of their major stars are being seriously bumped aside to accomodate the continuing story. Sting is missing... Flair is injured... Luger is almost a nobody locked into a time killing feud with Arn Anderson... and Savage has become the NWO's whipping boy. The cruiserweights have disappeared as well, along with a good number of the tag teams. Also guys like Page and Jim Powers seem to be on Nitro consistently, while some seem to have vanished (remember Eddy Guerrero?) In addition it seems the only lumps WCW are taking are from within - mostly from the Dungeon of Doom or the Horsemen. I've no real problems with the WWF, except that the Jim Ross story is already getting a bit ragged. Blame my short attention span maybe, but Ross is starting to come off less as an "insider" and more like a jerk. Hopefully his master plan will be revealed at "Buried Alive," instead of this "it's all about atheletes" slant. If the Recap seems less than inspired this week, I'd have to say it's because neither show was all that inspiring. I was entertained maybe 10 to 20 minutes (at best) out of the more than 3 hours total of wrestling. I saw two okay matches, one match I concede was okay but didn't personally enjoy, and one good interview. I was more excited during Live Wire this weekend than all of Monday night. This week's winner: Nitro, but I'm probably being generous. JRP