[RESULTS/OPINION] WCW Monday Nitro/WWF RAW is WAR (4/28/97) WCW Monday Nitro: Live. One Hour. Hosted by Tony Schiavone, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan and Larry Zbyszko. - Perhaps hearing of the rumors regarding tonight's RAW, WCW starts off by digging out archival footage of Ric Flair beating Vader (from Starrcade 1993, I believe). Schiavone says Flair has beaten a lot of big men, then puts it into perspective by saying Kevin Nash is the next big man to face Flair. They then cut to Flair and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper walking to the announcer's desk. Piper grabs a mic and challenges Nash and Hall to a match tonight. In regards to the older generatiojn leaving the road to the future full of potholes, he asks if they are "too lazy to fill in a few potholes?" and if all they want to do is "skateboard and collect your check!" In a statement that probably means more than less, Piper says "give it your best shot, or don't bother shooting at all!" Flair then gets on the mic, but the production crew must have thought he didn't have anything to say because they cut away to run the intro. - DEAN MALENKO vs. PRINCE IAUKEA Malenko very quickly squashes Iaukea, finishing him off with the Texas Cloverleaf. I guess the Prince's push is over. Early in the match they run comments from Jeff Jarrett, who challenges Malenko to a Title match at Slamboree. - SYXX vs. JUVENTUD GUERRERA Three weeks in a row? Syxx is a workhorse! Not really a squash, but Syxx does win fairly easily (even though Guerrera gets in all the real good moves). Syxx puts him away with the Buzzkiller. - Lee Marshall phones in from Lakeland, Florida. Nash, Hall and Syxx then come out. The announcers split, leaving the desk empty. Hall calls Flair and Piper "dinosaurs." They will accept tonight's challenge, but in return WCW has to put up 75% of the gate reciepts at Slamboree, May 15th. - CHRIS BENOIT (w/ Woman) vs. LORD STEVEN REGAL This starts off real good, but Kevin Sullivan, Jimmy Hart and Jacquelyn run in before it can really go anywhere. Benoit is ready though, and he and Sullivan two trade blows in the center of the ring. It spills to the floor, where Jacquelyn jumps on Benoit's back. Meng comes out as well and grabs Benoit with a "nerve hold" to the neck. No one can get Meng to break the hold (Regal even tries, and gets swatted aside). Meng finally releases the hold and walks off. Benoit will face Meng in a "Death Match" at Slamboree. Once again Steven Regal was legitimately cut open-by a headbutt from Benoit I believe-and bled profusely. The last minute of the match the camera pulled way back. - They run a "paid for by the New World Order" promo in which the "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Elizabeth bad mouth Diamond Dallas Page. - LEX LUGER/THE GIANT vs. THE AMAZING FRENCH CANADIANS (w/ Col. Parker) Anyone who read my "Slobberknocker Extra" may recall my comments about Luger's laziness in the ring. This match showed a little example of that, as Luger just let himself get beat up for a few minutes, then tagged in the Giant, who chokeslams Rougeau for the pin as Luger puts Oulette in the Torture Rack. - They run an NFL highlights package showcasing the rivalry between the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers. They hype the upcoming Steve "Mongo" McMichael/Reggie White match as "football's greatest rivalry spills into the ring!" Tony points out that this is the first time two Superbowl champs have ever faced in a match. This is really starting to feel like an infomercial for Slamboree. - STEVE "MONGO" MCMICHAEL (w/ Debra) vs. THE BARBARIAN I received an E-Mail from someone telling me how much improved Mongo was. Offensively, perhaps, he has improved some. He still doesn't know how to go off his feet though. Has anyone seen him take a piledriver? Bodyslam? Suplex? Everytime, to my recollection, that a move like that is tried against him, Mongo reverses it (or escapes). He simply seems unwilling or unable to do those type of moves. Match starts with the usual punching and kicking. It quickly spills to the floor. Barbarian scoops Mongo up. Mongo looks genuinely afraid that he'll get slammed outside the ring, and fights it. Barbarian slams him against the post (which I think was the move planned all along). Back in the ring the Barbarian piledrives him. Hey, maybe he is improving?! The match ends when Debra distracts the ref and Mongo knocks out the Barbarian with Haliburton #2 (which looks just as smooshed as the Haliburton Reggie White stole last week). - Piper and Flair come out. Flair gets on the mic and says it's time to fight and calls Hall, Nash and Syxx out. He says he knows he can beat Syxx because he's been World Champ more times than Syxx has had ... something. (I missed this on the live broadcast. I had taped the show on a VCR different than my usual and wasn't satisfied with the picture quality, so I taped the replay over it, only to discover that Flair had said something naughty that was bleeped on the replay. "Pieces of ass?"). The NWO music starts up, but nobody comes out. Suddenly a ton of papers drop from the ceiling. "Tradition Bites-NWO 4 Life" is what they say, and Flair asks if that's all they've got. The music starts again and Hall, Nash and Syxx come out. Flair and Syxx rush each other. Flair is pounding on Syxx and Nash pulls him off. Flair does the reverse mule kick to the groin, which misses everything, but Nash still sells it. Flair then low blows Hall. He goes back and slaps on the Figure Four on Syxx, but Hall and Nash lay in a few stomps. They grab Flair and the three beat on him at will. Some of Syxx's shots look a little too stiff. Flair calls for Piper. Piper, meanwhile, is still in the ring, looking half insane as he clutches the NWO propaganda sheets in his fists. He eventually snaps out of it and comes to Flair's aid, but the show ends before we see much of anything. - Next week's main event: None announced. Comments: Well ... I can't exactly say it was bad, because it wasn't. It wasn't really good, either. It just was. Nothing much happened. The whole show was a lengthy advertisement for the next PPV (even more so than usual, it seemed). If there was any message, it was "buy Slamboree, because we ain't gonna show you anything here!" The Mongo/Barbarian match was, for all intents and purposes, the main event. Nitro again teased a match that they had no intention of showing in Flair/ Piper vs. the NWO. I can still remember how they used to try and squeeze too much into the old one hour Nitro broadcasts. Then they squeezed too little into the two hour shows. They solved their problem this time around by using all squash matches, thus getting more matches that each showed less. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF RAW is WAR: Live. HOUR ONE: Hosted by Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler. - They start off with a lengthy highlights package of the Austin/Hart saga from last week, all but conceding the time to Nitro's last three minutes. At approximately the 3:30 mark (after Nitro has ended) they run the intro. - Brian Pillman comes to the ring. Pillman says he has a gentler side, and is very religious. He says he's questioned his actions from last week. He's since "found enlightenment" and asks the fans to join him in prayer (which gets a good, negative reaction from the crowd). He prays for a speedy Hart recovery. He prays for the souls of those who enjoyed the violence last week. The crowd begins to chant for Austin. Pillman kneels as he prays for the destruction of Austin tonight, and begs the crowd to open their hearts to Bret Hart. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin appears on the jumbo screen and tells Pillman he'd better pray that he (Austin) "don't come out there and beat the hell outta you. Speaking of saviours, not even Bret Hart is gona be able to save your ass!" Pillman responds by saying he's learned to turn the other cheek, then points his butt towards the big screen. McMahon is dismayed, saying this wasn't what he expected. Austin's music cues and he comes out. He charges the ring and is nearly jumped by not only Pillman, but Owen and the Bulldog, who come out of nowhere. Austin leaves through the crowd. All three members of the Hart Foundation then kneel in the ring and continue the prayer session. Pillman prays that Owen will be able to beat Rocky Maivia tonight, and that the Bulldog will be able to beat the Undertaker. The Bulldog says he's praying for Bret, and Owen (in that perfectly whiny voice of his) begs the fans to pray for Bret's recovery, and for Steve Austin to see the error of his ways and come over to the "right side." Austin can be seen prowling around the back. He finds an axe and knocks the head off. The crowd sees this on the screen and roars like crazy. Owen turns around, but misses it as the screen goes blank. He continues by asking for help for Stone Cold. McMahon comments that this is starting to border on the absurd. Austin's music plays again and he comes out with the axehandle. The Hart Foundation flees. Austin grabs the mic. "I don't know where the hell you're going, but you better give your soul to the Lord, or somebody, because your ASS is mine!" This whole thing was pretty funny, with the crowd really into it as it went along. - Pillman is somewhere in the back, praying for Bret's safe arrival at the arena later on. It seems he has a few things to get off his chest. - FLASH FUNK vs. ROCKABILLY (w/ the Honky Tonk Man) A decent match. Funk hits several of his high spots, including a crossbody splash off the top. McMahon starts to explain why Honky chose Billy Gun as his protege, when via split-screen they cut to the back. An ambulance carrying Bret Hartb has just pulled up. McMahon goes on to say that Honky chose Billy because Billy hit him, thus showing "spunk." Isn't that what Jessee Jammes did as well? Funk hits a splash from the second rope to the floor. Rockabilly then takes over, suplexing Funk in from the apron. He then does the Honky Tonk shake, which gets a laugh from my brother (but I just shake my head). Billy hits a standing legdrop, then goes up top for a move. Funk stumbles over and hits the ropes. Billy drops, crotching himself. Funk then tries a move off the ropes (probably a suplex) but Billy blocks it and nails a spinning DDT off the second rope: a move you usually see from guys half his size. McMahon is impressed, and so am I. Billy does the shake again and this time I laugh as well. Billy then summons Honky up onto the apron. He starts to whip Funk into Honky, but Funk reverses it and Billy slams into Honky Tonk. As Billy stumbles back toward the center of the ring Funk hits a huracanrana, tucked into a pin. Funk gets the surprise win. Billy then smashes Funk over the head with the guitar as Funk is threatening Honky. (The guitar looked to be filled with a handful of flour, as a huge dust cloud flew up when the hit was made. Billy was holding the guitar and as he turned it over a bunch of powder spilled out of the hole onto the mat). I'm still waiting for the second shoe to drop on this Honky Tonk angle. - Bret Hart, in a wheelchair, is being pushed through the back of the arena. He is surrounded by his Hart foundation and WWF officials. - McMahon announces to the crowd that Hart underwent knee surgery last Wednesday. They show gruesome footage of the arthroscopic surgery. He then intoduces Hart. Hart comes out as far as the top ramp. Hart says it's great to see Pillman on his hands and knees praying. He says every so often a hyena (Austin) is able to kill a lion (Hart), but that Austin didn't kill this lion. Hart says hyenas don't hunt alone, and that the American fans are the rest of Austin's pack. He says everyone around the world hates Americans, and that he himself was a true hero. Americans are addicted to violence and blood, and he calls us a "sick, depraved society!" He goes into his "Best There Is ... " routine. He asks if we're sick of hearing that? He says if we're sick of hearing him talk about the being the best, then that's how sick the rest of the world is of us (Americans). He says the ambulance that brought him had best stay close, because the Hart foundation will be dishing out the punishment this time. "You make me sick!" Hart is wheeled out as McMahon runs down the card for the rest of the show. They run footage of Road Warrior Hawk clotheslining Henry Godwinn off Road Warrior Animal's shoulders, and announce that Godwinn has suffered a broken neck. They then cut to the back where Austin is still roaming the halls. He asks a startled civilian in the back where the first aid room is. Austin threatens to whack him with the axehandle. - LEGION OF DOOM vs. DOUG FURNAS/PHIL LAFON LaFon and Furnas deliver previously taped comments, questioning why the fans haven't gotten behind them. They say the reason is because they are professional wrestlers, not "clowns," and that teams like the Road Warriors always have the home team advantage. A surprisingly okay match, though nothing special. The LOD dominate early with crisply executed power moves. F & L match their style with power moves of their own, nailing Hawk with a belly-to-belly over-the-head suplex, a legrop, then a double shoulderblock. After a minute or so of LaFon and Hawk going at it, both tag in their partners. Animal nails each with a dropkick, then plants Furnas with a powerslam. LaFon comes in to prevent the pin. They then double team on Animal in the corner. Hawk comes in and charges from the opposite corner, hitting a double clothes- line as Animal does the same from behind: a double-double clothesline! Animal then hoists LaFon on his shoulders, awaiting a clothesline off the top by Hawk (the "Doomsday Device"). Furnas dropkicks Animal from behind, knocking LaFon off the shoulders. Hawk comes off the top and clotheslines Furnas instead. Animal drops on Furnas, covering him for the pin. Two matches, two clean pins, neither really squashes. Jim Ross enters the ring to interview F & L. Furnas accuses the LOD of getting the home team advantage (the crowd was solidly behind them, chanting "L.O.D.") and using the illegal man to get the pin. LaFon demands a rematch. - Sunny comes out to model the "Stone Cold" Steve Austin 3:16 t-shirt. They show footage of the Headbangers crashing Sunny's "Undercover" segment from Shotgun Saturday Night. - McMahon announces that the Sultan had been sent to the hospital last week by Ahmed Johnson because of his 2X4 attack. They cut to the back where Ahmed is expected to apologize. Ahmed instead goes off on a rant, tearing apart the lockerroom and yelling about how he owes no one, especially Faarooq and the Nation of Domination, an apology. Ahmed's head looks about to explode. They then show Bret, Owen and the Bulldog in a huddle plotting strategy for Owen's upcoming match against Rocky Maivia. They cut back to Brian Pillman, who is holding Owen's Slammy trophies and is praying for an Owen victory. I inform my brother that Owen is a lock to win the belt, probably with interference from the Bulldog. - OWEN HART (w/ Bret & the Bulldog) vs. ROCKY MAIVIA Bret and the Bulldog watch the match from the top of the ramp. Before Rocky gets to the ring, Owen dedicates the match to Bret. The match starts with the two trading blows. Owen whips Rocky into the corner. Rocky comes out and hits a clothesline, then a dropkick, followed by an armdrag. Rocky slaps on a standing hammerlock which Owen breaks from with the help of an elbow. Owen bounces off the ropes, but Rocky catches him in a powerslam. Rocky covers only for a two count, and the Bulldog can bee seen returning to his position beside Bret, having come closer to the ring for a possible save. Ross and McMahon discuss (hype, actually) a WWF Magazine article accusing Maivia of suffering the "sophmore jinx" in the future. Owen backs Maivia into the corner, then whips him out. Rocky reverses it and backdrops him on the rebound. A bit later Owen sends Rocky to the floor and follows with a kick slide, driving Rocky into the security rail. Owen tosses him back in and hits a dropkick off the top turnbuckle. Owen covers for two, then slaps on a headlock. Rocky escapes from this and bounces off the ropes. Owen catches him with a drop toe hold, bringing him back down to the mat. Owen then wraps up Rocky's left leg with a leg grapvine and drops on it, softening it up for the Sharp- shooter. Owen continues to work on the legs for the next minute or so. Rocky breaks it up with a small package and a two count. They get to their feet and trade blows, but Owen drops him with a shot to the knee. He goes back to work on the leg. Bret and the Bulldog are shown rooting him on. Rocky tries to make a come back, but his knee won't hold up. Owen hits a snap suplex. Owen tosses Maivia into the corner. He throws a clothesline, but Rocky ducks and nails a spinning DDT. A series of fists follow, then a chokeslam of sorts. Rocky covers for two. Owen is whipped into the corner and Rocky charges after, but Owen catches him with a spinning heel kick. Owen climbs to the top, but Rocky catches up to him and pulls him off into a back suplex. Another two count for Rocky. Rocky tries a suplex, but Owen goes through it, landing on his feet. He then hooks Maivia's armpits with his feet and rolls him up for a three count. Owen, in a shocker, cleanly wins the Intercontinental Title. Three matches, three clean finishes. Owen brings the belt up to Owen. Bret holds up the belt, to the disdain of the anti-Hart crowd. On his lap, bret holds Owen's IC belt, the Bulldog's European Title, the World Tag Team Titles, and Owen's two Slammys. They cut to the back where Steve Austin is making his way down a wide hallway in a wheelchair. HOUR TWO: Hosted by Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler. - Vince McMahon waits in the ring for Steve Austin. Austin pushes his way through the crowd, carrying a wheelchair. He tosses it and the axehandle into the ring. McMahon has second thoughts and takes off, leaving Austin the mic. (Ross calls it "one of McMahon's best interviews in months!"). "Who wants to see a wheelchair match?" asks Austin. He challenges Bret to roll on down to the ring. He promises that he won't cheat, then corrects himself and says he can't make that promise. "I'd stomp a mudhole in your ass, then walk it dry!" Austin says the Hart Foundation is deadly afraid that he will beat the Undertaker for the title. Bret comes on the Titantron (tm) and says that the ambulance he rode in on is standing by to take Austin away. - They recap the Vader situation. They then show footage of Ken Shamrock in the UFC. The sound goes out as it ends and we are treated to several seconds of "Double J" Jesse Jammes coming to the ring in total silence. Then a secondary audio source kicks in, which sounds like it's coming from a telephone. The original sound feed comes back up and we hear about three seconds of what was just said repeated, which is probably a sure sign that the USA Network is running a three second delay on the show tonight. Lawler points out that Jammes served with the marines in "Desert Storm" over in Kuwait, and Kuwait repaid that favor by detaining Vader. McMahon says they should hyave just kept him. - VADER vs. "DOUBLE J" JESSE JAMMES Ross accuses Vader of being stupid, and embarrasing his family and the WWF. McMahon mentions the next Ultimate Fighting Championship PPV on May 30th. Vader squashes Jammes. He lands a splash off the second rope, then picks him up before he can get the three count. Rosss calls him stupid. He then finishes him off with a Vaderbomb. Four matches, four clean finishes, only one an outright squash. Jim Ross says he's not afraid of Vader and enters the ring for an interview. He asks if Vader has any remorse or shame for what he did. He says he embarrased a lot of people. Vader says he went to Kuwait to do a job-beat up people-which he does very well. He says he apologizes for nothing and to no one. Ross says he (Vader) has been asked if wrestling was fake a million times, and does Vader think he overreacted when asked that question in Kuwait. Vader calls Ross "bigmouth" and threatens to finish that Kuwait interview right here. He takes off Ross' cowboy hat and starts backing him into the corner. Ross mouths "come on" then says "I'm just doing my job .. asking questions!" "You're out here acting like an idiot!" replies Vader. Ross again says that he's just doing his job. Vader says he is too and grabs Ross by the throat. The crowd goes nuts as the camera pulls back and we see Ken Shamrock enter the ring. Shamrock turns Vader around, grabs him around the waist and hoists him up and over in a belly-to-belly suplex. Vader slips out of the ring and up the ramp, where he beckons to Shamrock to follow. Ken gets on the mic and says "Vader ... when we meet in the ring, it won't be 'Vader Time,' it'll be 'Hard Time!'". They then switch to Goldust's dressing room, where he is applying his makeup. Marlena comes up and asks "Dustin honey, are you ready to go?" Goldust says she's not to come out to the ring tonight. She says she will. Goldust says where he's going tonight is no place for a woman. - HUNTER HEARST HELMSLEY (w/ Chyna) vs. GOLDUST Hunter enters the ring first. Goldust then runs out without Marlena. the match gets underway very fast, the two first trading blows, then Goldust nailing a pair of clotheslines. Goldust backs him into the corner and pounds away at him. Goldust whips him into the opposite corner and Helmlsey does a flop to the mat. Goldust picks him up and starts pounding away, finishing with a kiss to the lips. He then whips him back to the other corner and hits him with a Rump Bump as Helmsley staggers to the center of the ring. Ross hypes the WWF hotline, mentioning stories about Sunny and Sid. This is about the only time on the entire show that they mention Sid, and he once again doesn't show, even though they said he would over the weekend. McMahon says there's an incredible story behind Goldust. Ross says that those that have know Goldust for some time will find it to be an eye opening story, if we ever get to hear all of it. Helmsley slowly takes control of the match, dumping Goldust to the floor outside the ring. Helmsley ties up the ref as Chyna comes over and lays in a few kicks. This brings Marlena out to ringside and the ref makes sure the two women keep apart. McMahon says that although Goldust may bring "Ellen" to mind, on next week's RAW Goldust will be "coming out of the closet," and adds that Goldust isn't-and never was-quite what we thought. The match only continues for about another minute. Goldust takes control of the match, eventually nailing Helmsley with a Bulldog. He then sees Chyna advancing on Marlena and steps between the two. He and Chyna circle, then Marlena hits Chyna in the eyes with a handful of powder. Helmsley comes out to help her and she, thinking he's Goldust, grabs him by the throat and chokes him, lifting him off the floor. Goldust slides back in the ring and the bell rings. Goldust wins via countout. - The Undertaker appears on the Titantron (tm) and warns "Stone Cold" Steve Austin not to come to their match distracted. Sable then comes out modelling the Undertaker Twin Crosses t-shirt. Brian Pillman is still off somewhere praying, begging that the Bulldog can cripple "that sick freak!" Austin is so into it that a big gob of snot drips out of his nose, and the USA Network hurriedly cuts away to a break. - Steve Austin is still pacing the halls. The Bulldog gets on the mic in the ring and dedicates his match to his inspiration, Bret Hart. He says he's going to win the World Title tonight, but McMahon says this is a non-title match. - THE UNDERTAKER vs. THE BRITISH BULLDOG (w/ Owen & Bret) Owen and Bret watch from the top of the ramp. Not much of a match here. The Undertaker quickly gets the upper hand and chokeslams the Bulldog. Owen runs in, causing a disqualification. Owen and the Bulldog then stomp on the Undertaker until Steve Austin runs in. All four men spill to the floor and Austin and the Undertaker drive the two Harts into the crowd. Austin then grabs the World Title belt and climbs up onto the turnbuckles with it, holding it up as the crowd cheers. The Undertaker, meanwhile, has entered the ring behind him. Austin steps down, sees the Undertaker and throws the belt down at his feet. The two men stare down until Austin drops the Undertaker with the Stone Cold Stunner. He then stands over him and flips him off, which is a mistake, because the Undertaker is then able to grab him by the throat. The Undertaker gets up and chokeslams Austin. Stone Colds flops around for a bit, then rolls out of the ring. He briefly considers reentering the ring, then spots Bret stranded all alone at the top of the ramp, (the Bulldog and Owen having fled through the crowd). He says he could kick the Undertaker's ass, or Hart's, and choses Hart's. Bret stands up from the wheelchair (with crutches) and looks about for escape options as Austin advances. Austin slowly stalks Hart, relishing this moment. That's when Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, Bret's ex-brother-in-law, jumps Austin from behind! Numerous WWF officials appear to pull Neidhart off. As Austin then staggers from Neidhart's attack, Hart unloads with one of his crutches. Austin falls from the top of the ramp to the floor below. Hart then accepts a hand from Neidhart, turns, gives the crowd an evil smile, then hobbles off. The camera pans back and down to show Austin being loaded aboard a stretcher, presumable to be carted off to the ambulance in the back. The last thing we see is Brian Pillman with his head bowed, which suddenly snaps up and favors us with an evil, nightmare inducing grin. - Next week's main event: Goldust's "coming out." Comments: Another great installment of RAW. Possibly better than last week's, given the quality of actual wrestling this time around. The only disappoint- ment was the Goldust/Helmsley match, which did little to further that particular feud. In case you weren't keeping track, that makes five members of the Hart foundation, with three titles and two Slammys. Move over NWO! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bottom Line: This weeks ratings? Nitro won again, with a 3.4 to a 2.7 for RAW. This is pretty big because the NBA playoff games which followed Nitro only scored an average of 3.2. Now, lots of WCW fans had been bracing for a loss, coming up with plenty of excuses why it wouldn't be a fair victory if RAW won. Here's the two biggest I've seen: 1. Nitro was on earlier, thus they weren't "head-to-head." 2. Nitro was on before prime time. In the first excuse, that's not 100% correct. Technically speaking, RAW went up against the last three minutes of Nitro. A minor point, but the truth none the less. Also, few WCW fans complained when Nitro started beating RAW regularly with the additional hour of lead-in when they went to two hours. (Of course they wouldn't complain-they're winning!). Harldy any WCW fans would acknowledge that this was an advantage. Even when RAW moved an hour earlier to offset the hour lead, hardly any WCW fans thought that WCW's starting at three minutes or so before the hour was any kind of advantage. Now that RAW had what was percieved as an advantage, they started to scream bloody murder. ("It won't be a fair win!"). In the second excuse, that's not entirely accurate either. Well, it is ... but it's fairly irrelevant. The broadcast of Nitro is ALWAYS on before prime time on the west coast (Pacific Time Zone). Out there, Nitro starts at 4:55 PM Pacific Time. It ends at 7:00 PM, which is when prime time is just starting. RAW isn't even on then-it's tape delayed, so that the airing of RAW goes on at the same time the Nitro replay is usually running. Being in prime time simply hasn't been a factor for a signifigant part of the viewing audience. Last year at this time RAW won all four weeks of the time change handily. Since RAW always won anyway, very few (if any) questioned if the time change wins were fair (even though the change did kill Nitro's ratings). Therefore, this year should be no different, no matter who won. This is very good news for Nitro. It means that it's audience was able to find them an hour earlier. They managed to draw in what is essentially their average number of viewers. What was in Nitro's advantage, though, was the fact that they only had to fill an hour, thus exposing themselves to less chances of dropping their ratings over a two hour show. RAW had no advantages going in. They still not only had to face the NBA playoffs and part two of "The Shining" on ABC, but they also had to do so over a two hour period as usual. Had RAW only been an hour, they might well have won this week. Even Nitro doesn't usually do all that well for the entire two hours: it usually relies on a huge ending to bring up their overall average. The numbers were still good news for RAW, as they again managed to draw some of their highest ratings in a year. RAW's weekly average is continuing to creep upwars, while Nitro is doing their worst to stay average. It's fairly clear that RAW is building their audience, while Nitro is merely maintaining theirs (but doing a solid job of it). Nitro's average has gone down from what it was at the beginning of this year. RAW's has gone up, but by a slightly higher amount than what Nitro has lost. As I pointed out last week, RAW had the potential to win, but it was far from a sure thing. I see no reason for that to be different over the next three weeks. It's still Nitro's war to lose. (Ratings courtesy the MiCasa website). On a related note, both WCW and the WWF have been doing huge business at the house shows over the last few weeks. Both have been enjoying sellouts, with all time records in ticket and merchandise sales. While I may often be critical of WCW's in ring product, this is good news as far as I'm concerned. I wish for nothing more than the continued success of both feds. Both PPV's are starting to look pretty good, but I think IYH has a serious problem in that it has very little time to build hype for it. It is, in some ways, a stronger card than either WrestleMania or "Revenge of the Taker." Slamboree looks interesting, but the absence of Hogan, Sting and Page from the card may hurt it. Luger and the Giant aren't really a big selling point of it either. The whole success of this card lies on it's main event. My early prediction is for a decent buyrate, but a PPV that delivers little in the way of surprises or quality wrestling. (That pretty much describes WCW to a "T" these days). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- This Week's Winner: RAW. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------