[RESULTS/OPINION] WWF RAW is WAR/WCW Monday Nitro (05/26/97) [Slobberknocker Central Monday Night Recap #80] (05/26/97) WWF RAW is WAR: Live/Taped: Live. Time: Two Hours+. Location: Evansville, Indiana. HOUR ONE Hosted By: Vince McMahon and Jim Ross. - "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels come to the ring for an interview with Jim Ross. They quibble over who is the team captain, but agree that they're going to "kick some ass!" Suddenly the Legion of Doom comes out. Hawk asks Michaels if they'll be men enough to give them a Tag Title shot should they happen to beat Owen and the Bulldog for the straps. Shawn says the will. Guarantees it, in fact. The Hart Foundation then comes out to the ramp and stares at the group in the ring, but refrains from delivering the usual lengthy speech. - LEGION OF DOOM vs. BRIAN PILLMAN/JIM "THE ANVIL" NEIDHART Not the best of matches. Pillman is still showing some ring rust, and the Anvil is about as mobile as a brick. Jim Ross mentions the Road Warriors are the "only team in the industry's history to win tag titles in the WWF, the NWA, and the AWA." The match is mostly in the favor of the LOD, but Pillman and Neidhart do get in a little offense. Neidhart is eventually dumped out of the ring and they start to set Pillman up for the Doomsday device, but Owen Hart and the British Bulldog run in, causing the disqualification. Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels run out for the save. As the huge eight man melee is winding down, Michaels accidentally slide kicks Austin. The two of them get into a pullapart brawl at ringside. - Sunny's Search and Soak Mission. She sprays the Honky Tonk Man. - They flash a brief shot of Paul bearer in the back, looking startlingly different with brown hair, no mustache, and a big bandage on the side of his face. They then replay Shawn and Steve getting into it. - Paul Bearer reiterates that the Undertaker has until later tonight to decide whether or not he'll rejoin Bearer, or risk revealing the Undertaker's dark secret. - D-LO BROWN (w/ the Nation of Domination) vs. BOB HOLLY D-Lo gets a surprising upset win over Holly, finishing him off with a powerbomb. Faarooq sits in for color commentary, repeating his claims that the WWF is racist. They cut to the back for comments from the Undertaker, but the audio isn't working. - They cut to the back for comments from Jerry "The King" Lawler. He calls Dusty Rhodes "Oldust", and says Dustin has acted like a "flaming fag!" (Yow!) The crowd actually gives him a positive pop for this, and is somewhat behind him during his match. (The USWA tours in Evansville, and Lawler is a top babyface in the area). Lawler then makes some fairly crude comments about Dakota, though I think he meant Terri. Ross would later say he knew Terri when she was a makeup artist at CNN. - GOLDUST (w/ Marlena) vs. JERRY "THE KING" LAWLER A longer than expected match, which wasn't all that bad. Instead of the expected squash for Goldust, Lawler actually wrestles. They preface the match with footage of Goldust's daughter, Dakota, running amok in the ring last week. Lawler comes out to a loud, mixed reaction. They replay footage from the RAW interview where the King asks Goldust if he's "queer" (which is pre-bleeped). Goldust starts out fast with some blows and a backdrop. He then whips Lawler into the ropes, but Jerry hangs on and lays in a shot, which draws a loud pop from the crowd. Goldust reassumes control of the match and goes to the top for a double axehandle, but Lawler hits him in the midsection. He then applies a piledriver, which gets an even louder reaction than earlier. Ross notes that the piledriver was once almost barred because of Lawler's proficiency at it. Goldust takes control again and lays in a piledriver of his own. The crowd goes into a "Lawler!" chant as Goldust continues to dominate. Ross mentions first seeing Dustin as a teenager in promoter Jim Crockett's office. He also really hypes Lawler, mentioning his past as a radio DJ, his artistic ability, and the fact that he's been in main events in Memphis since Dustin was a child. The match swings back and forth. McMahon mentions the fact that Lawler once sued the WWF over the use of his nickname, and Ross brings up the infamous Andy Kaufman incident. Goldust, meanwhile, has Lawler trapped in the corner and starts gyrating, placing Lawler's hand on his own butt, then possibly kissing him (couldn't tell for sure from the camera angle). He whips him into the opposite corner and follows, but Lawler moves and Goldust hits the post. Goldust rolls to the floor. Lawler goes out to do some damage, but Marlena slaps him on the face. Goldust the rolls him in and backs him into a corner. Lawler grabs him by the legs, takes him down, and rolls him up for a pin (with the help of a few feet on the ropes). The crowd is ecstatic. Goldust follows Lawler up the ramp, pops him a few times, gives him the old "Flip Flop Fly", and clotheslines him. Lawler tumbles down the ramp back to the ring. Marlena steps on him as she walks away from the ringside area. - Steve Austin is about to deliver comments from the back, but is jumped by Pillman, Owen Hart and the Bulldog. Back from the break, Austin is looking for Michaels-chewing him out for not being there to help him. Michaels as well, it seems, has been jumped, and accuses Austin of not watching his back. - ROCKY MAIVIA vs. FLASH FUNK The Headbangers come to ringside with a pair of inflatable King of the Ring chairs (which the WWF is selling for the ridiculous sum of $59.95 ... plus shipping). Funk and Maivia, meanwhile, have a pretty decent match going, including several good moves from Funk. Funks hits a wicked looking spinning leg lariat (the best description I can think of). He nails Maivia at ringside with a plancha over the ropes (Funk hitting more ramp than Maivia). The Headbangers then decide to have some fun. As one of them keeps Maivia and the ref occupied, the other smashes a boombox radio over Funk's head. Funk is rolled into the ring and Rocky hits a splash off the top turnbuckle, then covers for the pin. As soon as Maivia figures out that something has happened, he and Funk form an alliance, signaling that they'd like to take the Headbangers on someday. (Later in the evening they did in fact wrestle, in a match possibly tapes for Shotgun Saturday Night). - As a tease to the Mankind interview later in the show, they run part of it. In this, he relates the story of how he once played field hockey without his cup, and took a shot to the groin. He says he went back to school the next day, even though his testicle was the size of a grape- fruit. It was the only time girls ever looked at his "genital region" and it was the greatest day in his life! - Bret Hart delivers comments from the lockerroom, going over the stipulations of his match with Shawn Michaels at King of the Ring. Pillman then says he's going to pull Austin's head out of his ass. The Bulldog and Owen then brag about how they're going to beat Austin and Michaels later tonight. HOUR TWO Hosted By: Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler. - Ken Shamrock comes out to sit in for color commentary. - VADER vs. AHMED JOHNSON If Vader wins, he gets Ahmed's King of the Ring tournament slot. He doesn't, as Ahmed puts him away fairly easily with a spinebuster. Not as bad as Ahmed's other recent matches. Lots of stiff shots. - They replay Shawn and Steve brawling again. - Paul Bearer again warns the Undertaker to think hard and consider his threat. - HUNTER HEARST HELMSLEY (w/ Chyna) vs. ROCKABILLY (w/ the Honky Tonk Man) Dammit, who is this guy sleeping with?! He's on every damn week! God, I'm sick of him. Helmsley wins. Of all the matches possible in the WWF, this is the one I wanted to see the least. Chyna bodyslams Honky Tonk out on the floor to prevent him from interfering, while Helmsley puts Gunn away with the Pedigree. - The Undertaker comes on the screen and tells Paul Bearer to do what he has to do, because he will do what he has to do. We get a quick shot of the Hart Foundation in the back celebrating their upcoming win over Michaels and Austin. - Sable comes out to hawk the King of the Ring chair. - Part two of the Mankind interview. I'll be preparing a transcript later, which you can get in a few days on my website. Highlights: Foley hitchhiked from a summer camp to Madison Square Garden where he saw Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka jump off the top of a cage onto Don Muraco. (They show a clip from that match, with what they purport to be a shot of Foley near ringside). He tells of his first meeting with Shawn Michaels, and how he admitted that he wanted to be the guy who got all the girls. They then run clips from the homemade film Foley made as a teenager, including an interview as "Dude Love", wrestling in the backyard, and the shot of him jumping off a roof onto a mattress. Ross tells how the tape was an "underground hit", and how wrestler Dominic DeNucci got hold of it and trained Foley to be a pro. Mankind says he wasn't ready to be Dude Love, nor anything resembling Mankind, so he became Cactus Jack. An identity that was supposed to last three months stuck for eleven years. They then conclude by hyping part three of the interview for next week, showing footage of Cactus in bed-of-nail, barbed-wire and exploding ring matches. Ay carumba! - SHAWN MICHAELS/STEVE AUSTIN vs. OWEN HART/THE BRITISH BULLDOG McMahon says Austin's going to open a can of whoop-ass. Ross says that whoop-ass is hard to wash off. McMahon then confirms that Shawn and Steve will defend the belts against the LOD next week should they win them tonight. Austin and Owen start off in the ring. Stone Cold takes control, keeping Owen down on the mat. He tags in Shawn, who comes in with a double axehandle as Austin holds Owen's arm. The Bulldog manages to tag in. Shawn, looking as good as ever, hits a standing huracanrana. They bounce off the ropes and the Bulldog catches Shawn by the boot. Shawn lays in an enzuguiri kick to the back of the head, dropping the Bulldog. Shawn covers for a two count. Austin tags in and kicks the Bulldog in the privates. They cut to a quick shot of Pillman and Neidhart halfway down the ramp, unsure whether they should interfere or not. Austin tags in Shawn. Shawn then immediately tags Austin back in and lays in several kicks to the Bulldog's mid- section, mindful to leave before the five count. A quick cut to the back where the Legion of Doom is watching the match on the monitor. Austin is caught by Owen as he bounces off the ropes. The Bulldog sends him to the floor and Owen goes to work on him, dropping him on the security railing. A few kicks are added in for good measure. They then cut to the Hart Foundation creeping closer to the ring. Shawn runs around to that side and squares off with them as they go to a break. Owen now has Austin in a headlock. Owen slips it into a sleeper, but Austin drops down, hitting him with the Stone Cold Stunner (more or less). Austin makes the tag, as well as Owen. Michaels catches the Bulldog with a flying forearm. He knocks Owen off the apron, then drop-kicks the Bulldog. The Bulldog comes back by catching Shawn off the ropes, pressing him over his head, then dropping him crotch-first across the top rope. He slumps to the floor. Owen comes over, scoops him up, and slams his back into the post. Owen tosses Shawn back in. Shawn then tries to rally back, going toe-to-toe with the Bulldog. Davey Boy grabs Shawn's feet, drops him to the mat, then flips him up and over into the corner. Shawn smashes against the turnbuckles. The Bulldog then whips him into the opposite corner. Shawn does a flop, and the Bulldog catches him over his shoulder and powerslams him. Austin jumps in to make the save at the two-and-a-half count. Owen comes in and he and Austin start to scrap. The referee works Austin out of the ring, which draws a pair of middle fingers from him. Owen nails a gutwrench suplex. Shawn looks to be nearly out and Austin is dying out on the apron. Owen has him in a headlock, but Shawn busts loose. He drops him with a shoulderblock, but then gets caught in a sweet looking belly-to-belly suplex. Owen covers and Austin again makes a save. Owen then drags Shawn over to the corner and hands him over to the Bulldog. He then runs over and smacks Austin, which draws Austin into the ring, forcing the ref to put him back out. Owen and the Bulldog use the distraction to double team Shawn. The Bulldog tags in and whips Shawn into the ropes. Shawn Sunset Flips the Bulldog to the mat, holding him in place for a pin attempt. The ref, however, is tied up in the corner with Owen. By the time the ref sees the cover, the Bulldog kicks out. The Bulldog then drops him with a clothes- line, followed by a legdrop. He covers for a two count. Shawn then makes a tag, but the ref misses it. As the ref scoots Austin out of the ring, Owen and his brother-in-law double team him. Owen then sets up Shawn for a suplex off the top, but Shawn blocks it and knocks Owen to the mat. He leaps off with a crossbody splash and covers for a two count. Owen then catches Shawn with a spinning heel kick, then whips him into the corner. He charges after, but Shawn moves out of the way. Owen, slumps to the mat. He and Owen crawl to their respective corner and make tags. Austin and the Bulldog come in. Austin cleans house, throwing the Bulldog into the corner and insulting him with blows (and a pair of middle fingers). He drags him to the middle of the ring and starts to apply the Stone Cold Stunner, but Owen breaks up the attempt by kicking Austin in the groin. Shawn runs over and nails Owen as Austin drops to the mat. Shawn then steps back and delivers a Superkick to the jaw of the Bulldog just as Owen is being forced out of the ring by the ref. Austin sees the Bulldog, covers, and the referee makes a three count. New World Tag Team Champions! Pillman and Neidhart run in and they, along with Owen and the Bulldog, all work over Michaels out on the floor. Austin, meanwhile, has spotted Bret Hart all alone at the top of the ramp. Austin charges Bret and attacks him, going to work on Bret's injured knee. The rest of the Foundation show up to chase off Austin, but the damage has been done. - They cut to the back, where Austin takes credit for the win. Shawn comes into the picture and asks who's Superkick it was that took out the Bulldog? Shawn says they better get their act together, since they have to put the belts on the line against the LOD next week. - Paul Bearer comes out for his interview. He begins to describe the scene at the funeral of the Undertaker's parents. He says that instead of two graves, there were three. The lights dim and the Undertaker comes out. He says he hates Paul Bearer, and despises him for what he must do. He then grabs Paul Bearer by the throat, stares at him, releases him, and bows to one knee before him in a sign of servitude. The show ends with a shot of the Undertaker on one knee, hand out, as the screams of the Creatures of the Night fill the air. - Next week's main event: Michaels & Austin vs. the Road Warriors. Comments: A really entertaining show, though far from a classic. The main event was a great match. I also enjoyed the Goldust/Lawler match, as well as the Mankind interview. The only low point was probably the Ahmed/Vader match. Even though I hated the HHH/Rockabilly match, it wasn't too terrible wrestlingwise. The WWF pulled a bit of a Muta with the Paul Bearer secret, but the Undertaker's returning to Bearer (not a heel turn though) will have a lot more impact than, well ... you'll see below. Even the Pillman/Anvil/ LOD and Maivia/Funk matches had their appeal (though not much). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WCW Monday Nitro: Live/Taped: Live. Time: Two Hours+. Location: Nashville, Tennessee. HOUR ONE Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay & Larry Zbyszko. - Eric Bischoff and "Hollywood" Hogan come out right off, taking forever to get to and into the ring. Schiavone mentions that this is the one year anniversary of Scott Hall's arrival in WCW. Hogan then spends a few minutes telling us how much of a wimp and coward Sting is. Tenay and Schiavone heavily hype a possible Sting appearance later in the show. - HECTOR GARZA/SUPER CALO/JUVENTUD GUERRERA vs. CICLOPE/DAMIEN/LA PARKA Garza, who recently appeared in the WWF, has made the jump to WCW (though he's still on AAA's roster, as far as I know). Guerrera and La Parka starts off. Right away they either blow a move in which Guerrera twirls around La Parka and is supposed to armdrag him to the mat, or they fail to adequately convey what was supposed to happen. Guerrera just spins to the mat as La Parka stands there. La Parka then catches a plancha attempt and lays him on the top rope. He then inexplicably walks away (struts, actually). This allows Guerrera to hit a headscissors, which sends La Parka to the floor. (I may have missed a move in there somewhere). Super Calo and Ciclope then come in. Schiavone informs us all that they've been mispronouncing his name: it's Super Ca-LO ... not Super CAL-o. Mike Tenay, "the most knowledgeable wrestling commentator in the universe", didn't know this for some reason. Calo and Ciclope go into a series of moves which look slow-mo compared to most of the other stuff. Calo sends Ciclope to the floor with a headscissors forward roll, then follows with a tope. Ciclope messes up the catch and Calo flies into the second row. Guerrera hurries over to help pull him out of the mangled audience. Damien and Garza enters the ring. Garza does a backflip off the top and Damien clotheslines him. Garza then does a forward somersault off the top which serves no purpose. Damien rushes toward him and launches himself into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Garza then drop-kicks him to the floor and follows with a kick slide. Garza then hits a moonsault from the second turnbuckle on the apron to the floor, which looked nice. In the ring, the rudos are triple teaming Super Calo. Guerrera runs in and gets triple teamed as well. After a few seconds of beating, Guerrera nonchalantly rolls out of the ring, forgetting to sell the heinous beating he'd just received. Garza then comes in and gets tossed out through the ropes. Garza sets up for a spot on the floor, but the other five wrestlers are busy fighting in the ring. Then some general chaos as guys throw drop-kicks, miss then, hit clotheslines, and so on. Garza is put in a headlock by someone on the floor, but again no one in the ring is watching, so another spot is missed. La Parka and Juventud mix it up for a bit, culminating in La Parka hoisting Guerrera up into the air. Damien, out on the apron, grabs Guerrera's feet. Guerrera then twirls and headscissors Damien to the floor off the apron. La Parka comes out to the apron and kicks at Guerrera, (who's on the floor), but Guerrera ducks, then slaps La Parka in the foot. La Parka, now mortally wounded, is easy prey for a whip to the floor. Guerrera then climbs to the top turnbuckle and hits an insane forward tumbleweed roll, which connects off center, hitting La Parka's shoulder. Damien comes out of nowhere and Calo kicks him while hanging onto the ropes. Damien hits the rail instead of dropping straight down, so he gets back up and lets Calo kick him again. This time Damien drops straight down, and Calo sentons over the top rope. He practically misses, just barely grazing Damien's shoulder. All four men hurry to their feet to catch Ciclope, but he too misses and hits the floor. All five men then huddle together to catch Garza, who comes off the top with his corkscrew plancha. Garza and Ciclope then enter the ring. Ciclope launches himself off the top butt-first so Garza can powerbomb him. Garza then does one of those hokey looking backflip splashes that everyone gives Rob Van Dam crap for doing. Garza gets the pin. Good match, but filled with tons of blown spots and miscues. There was little (if any) flow to the match, just a long string of high spots, setting up the poorly executed final batch of splashes outside the ring. Schiavone's and Tenay's commentary was irritating, overselling the match as one of the greatest Mexican matches ever. Zbyszko, when pressed for a comment, compared Garza to Captain Planet. This was, in my opinion, only the second best match of the night, and obviously the high point of this Nitro. - PSYCHOSIS vs. ALEX WRIGHT A solid match which failed to draw much heat from the crowd. The first few minutes were back and forth, unremarkable action. Wright then starts to circle outside the ring, dancing for the crowd. Psychosis comes off the top turnbuckle with a bizarre looking corkscrew moonsault which almost entirely misses. Psychosis the throws him back in and finishes him off with a guillotine legdrop from the top (which looked *sweeeeet!*) Psychosis gets what that numbskull Schiavone calls an "upset" win. Hey, let's face it ... I could beat Alex Wright! - Sonny Onoo comes out and tells Mean Gene Okerlund that he has Masahiro Chono's "nightmare" here tonight. Onoo calls over Psychosis and says he has a deal for him. "Interested?" "Yes, of course!" Stunning dialogue. Things then go from bad to worse as Madusa comes out swinging her ... top. She badly gets across the point that she wants a title shot against Akira Hokuto, and would do anything. Realizing her mistake, she tries to take it back, but Onoo seizes upon the opportunity to get Madusa to agree to retire if she doesn't beat Hokuto in their next match. Madusa agrees. God, how I wish Hokuto would win! - They show some footage of Earnest Miller fighting in some generic martial arts event. He knocks some guy down. - WRATH (w/ James Vandenberg & Mortis) vs. MARK STARR Roughly three minute squash, as Wrath takes his time burying him. - VILLANO IV vs. KONAN I switch over to RAW for about the next five minutes. Watching the replay, I see that Konan does indeed win in unspectacular fashion. Hugh Morrus delivers comments prior to the match, then comes out during it. Doug Dellinger and his security staff hold him back. Konan wins with a cradle suplex, followed by a single leg submission hold. Both names have stereotypical Mexican names such as "Montezuma's Revenge" and "Tequila Sunrise". Konan criticizes Kevin Sullivan for not being able to take care of Chris Benoit. Konan says he would have made Benoit his "be-yaz-itch!" - Sonny Onoo comes to the ring and introduces the Great Muta. The crowd barely reacts, popping more for his fireworks than him. - THE GREAT MUTA (w/ Sonny Onno) vs. MASAHIRO CHONO Tenay sets the stage by explaining that Chono and the NWO have been trying to recruit Muta over in Japan. Muta removes his robe, showing the beginnings of an expanding waistline. He's starting to lose hair, too. Muta blows the green mist into the air. Chono spends a lot of time stalling. The two spend a few minutes circling, sizing each other up. Muta then slaps on a loose headlock which Chono does nothing to fight. Onoo gets a few people in the crowd to start a "Muta!" chant, which quickly dies. Onoo finally gets tired of Muta's lack of offense and enters the ring. Muta hold his arms in place as Chono calmly steps out of it. Muta then blows red mist into Onoo's eyes and stomps on him. Chono then hands him an NWO t-shirt. How lame. Get a good look folks, because Muta will most likely be back in Japan by the time you read this. Don't make the mistake of saying "Muta's in WCW!" because he's not. This was done solely to further the NWO angle in New Japan. HOUR TWO Hosted By: Tony Schiavone and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. - They recap the mediocre highlights of the first hour. - They run a black and white NWO promo in which Randy "Macho Man" Savage badmouths Diamond Dallas Page. Page and Kimberly then come out for an interview. Page has a broken pair of crutches. Kimberly has a wad of her hair which Savage pulled out. - BARBARIAN (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. JIM POWERS (w/ Teddy Long) Barbarian squashes him in three minutes or so with a kick to the chin. Chris Benoit and Woman then come out. Benoit asks where Sullivan is. Hart says he has to go through the Barbarian to get to Sullivan. Benoit gets into the ring, but Hart and the Barbarian leave. - THE GIANT (w/ Lex Luger) vs. JOHNNY SWINGER/RICK FULLER/JERRY FLYNN Where's Hardbody Harrison? The Giant wins, of course. All three walk up to him to receive their chokeslams, and the Giant pins all three at once. Mean Gene interviews the Giant and Luger regarding their upcoming match with Hogan and Dennis Rodman. - Syxx comes out to the top of the ramp and reminds us all that he, Hall and Nash didn't lose at Slamboree. He then orders a tape played of Ric Flair getting beaten up last week. He brings out the Outsiders, referring to them and himself as the "Wolfpack", which looks to be rapidly becoming an official nickname. Hall and Nash garble the usual nonsense aimed at Flair and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. Nash says they'll put up the Tag Team Titles at the next PPV in a match against Piper and Flair. - They run a clip of Kevin Greene knocking out Steve McMichael last week. Schiavone confirms the worst: that Green and McMichael will fight at the Great American Bash. - JEFF JARRETT/STEVE MCMICHAEL (w/ Debra) vs. HARLEM HEAT (w/ Sherri) Generic, blah match. Kevin Greene comes out to the announcer's desk. Back and forth punch and kickathon. About seven or eight minutes in, Mongo spots Greene at the desk and leaves. Greene comes out to meet him and the two get into a fairly convincing looking brawl. Dellinger and staff try to pull them apart. Meanwhile, Jarrett has applied the Figure Four to Booker T. Sherri distracts the ref as Stevie Ray drops a leg on Jarrett. The Stevie then hoists him up and Booker nails a high swing kick. Booker covers for the pin. After the match Jarrett asks Debra what Mongo is doing. - Bischoff and Hogan come to the ring. Hogan says he's putting up the belt, and calls out Sting. He says his NWO brothers have cornered Sting in the back. Bischoff says Sting isn't here. "Sting" then pops up through the mat. Very quickly it's evident that this is another fake wearing a bad wig. Hogan and Bischoff order him onto his knees. Hogan spits on the mat, and Bischoff tells him to "worship it!" "Sting" starts to bow and kneel before the spit of Hogan. Sting again drops from the ceiling by way of a cable. The crowd explodes as Sting grabs Bischoff and reverse DDT's him for the second or third week in a row. Hogan starts to look around and spots Sting. The other Sting, for some reason, continues to contemplate the spit on the mat. Hogan backs up, tripping over the fake. Sting and his doppleganger then face off, swinging their bats at each other. Sting drops his counterpart with a shot to the ribs. Hogan meanwhile has gone down the aisle until he's met by the rest of the NWO. They return to the ring and encircle it. Sting holds them off with the bat, reattaches his cable, yanks on it several times to signal he's ready (someone is apparently asleep at the switch) and is hoisted to the ceiling as the show ends. My question: how is he able to get away? Why can't the NWO just catch him and beat the hell out of him when he comes back down? - Next week's main event: None announced. Comments: A truly pathetic effort this week. They took the mediocrity of the last four weeks, retained it, and expanded it to two hours. The Muta "surprise" appearance was a bust. What exactly did we get to see? Well, he blew his green mist ... held in his gut ... we saw his bald spot ... and he DIDN'T wrestle a match. BIG DEAL. The sad thing is that THAT's IT! We won't see much more of him. Other than a squash match against a jobber that he's already taped for WCW Saturday Night, I doubt we'll see any more of him. The fact is this whole angle was done for the benefit of New Japan. Over there the NWO angle is big (perhaps bigger) than it is over here. As wrestlers have been aligning themselves with one side or the other, Muta has played the same role that Sting has over here by straddling the fence. Now that he has chosen the side of the NWO, everything from this moment on will be played out over in Japan. Will we see any of it? Well, have we seen any of it up until now? The answer to both is no. WCW obviously won't keep flying him over here to stand in the backround behind Hogan, Hall and Nash. That's why we rarely see Chono. Did the ending look familiar? It should have, since it was essentially a replay of the last two weeks, as well as the last few appearances by Hogan and Sting in general. I realize that they're trying to build to some kind of "grand" encounter between the two, but do they have to be this timid about it? Sting points a bat ... Hogan acts afraid ... what's up with that?! What's worse is WCW continues to muddle the issue by continually giving us Luger and the Giant as the guys who are going to topple Hogan from his throne. Who's the top challenger? Will anyone EVER beat Hogan for the title? WCW doesn't seem willing to commit to any plan, and continue to put off any resolution to the issue by merely repeating themselves. Either Sting is going to beat him or he isn't. Why not make the future encounter more interesting by really building up to? So far all they've done is let Hogan show a little fear. Shouldn't it be Hogan that Sting is knocking out with the Scorpion Death Drop? Shouldn't WCW be doing their best to make the fans think Sting has a chance? Are they really going to try and drag this thing out until December and Starrcade? WCW is already losing fans, and the ratings are stagnant. Showing the same thing over and over will only make that worse. Will a slightly inflated buyrate for Starrcade make up for lost TV viewers? WCW in general, and Nitro in particular, has only one angle of note going right now: the New World Order. Hall, Nash and Syxx vs. Piper and Flair; Savage vs. Page; Hogan vs. Sting (and to a lesser extent Luger, with the Giant in the backround). As far as WCW is concerned, nothing else matters. That's three matches on any given card, TV show and PPV. As egos clash, legends grasp at the last straws of their power, and merchandise continues to sell, WCW just doesn't seem capable of settling any issue, much let put anyone cleanly over anyone else. What that all boils down to is a TV product with a repetitive and boring top bill, and a continually underdeveloped undercard. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bottom Line: Nitro, as most expected (and feared), slipped back into their previous ratings slot by beating RAW with a less than stellar 3.25 rating. RAW drew in their pre-playoff average of a 2.7. Both shows pretty much are back to where they were a month ago. Nitro, with what by their standards was a "loaded" show, only managed to pull part of that audience that RAW had gained over the last month. Their ratings only went up 0.15 points over what they earned last week, which is less than the amount RAW dropped as compared to the last week or two. RAW, which also featured a loaded show, drew on the high end of their pre-playoff average, but couldn't hold on to any (or many) of their newer viewers from the last four weeks. What is really curious is the apparent loss of somewhere around a 0.75 ratings point worth of viewers by both shows. RAW dropped 0.9 points from last week. Nitro increased by 0.15 points. Where did the other 0.75 go? Out seeing "The Lost World"? Nitro only attracted a sixth of the total viewers that "abandoned" RAW this week. This restarts Nitro's streak at one victory. Sorry, but I don't buy the argument that this is "week 43" in their winning streak. If the last four weeks weren't valid victories for RAW, then every show from last summer to this February weren't valid wins for Nitro, since both shows weren't on at the same time, weren't the same length, and only went head-to-head for part of their running times. Nitro was two hours, while RAW was one, and started either an hour earlier, or ran an hour later. This pretty much exactly describes the shows of the last four weeks, with the names reversed. What's the difference if they went head-to-head for three minutes (which they did over the last month) or an hour? One show still ran longer than the other. The show with the advantage back then (Nitro) was still able to show whatever they wanted unopposed, which they did. When RAW was on during Nitro's second hour, Nitro pulled out their big guns in the first hour; when RAW moved an hour earlier, Nitro moved their "climax" to the end of the second hour. The battle was just as unbalanced and unfair in Nitro's favor then as the last four weeks were in RAW's favor. Face it, people. If you only count the shows which were the SAME length of time and ran at the exact same, this is only the 41st week in which that has occurred. The breakdown of wins and losses looks like this: * From 9/11/95 to 4/22/96, both shows were on at the same time and the same length 29 times. RAW won 13 times. Nitro won 14 times. 2 ties. RAW's average: 2.64. Nitro's average: 2.67. Two weeks RAW was unopposed, it averaged: 4.15. Three weeks Nitro was unopposed, it averaged: 3.03. The two weeks they tied, they scored 2.5, then 2.5 the following week. * From 4/29/96 to 5/20/96 (the NBA playoffs) when Nitro moved an hour earlier, RAW won all of those weeks. Averages: RAW: 3.65. Nitro: 2.15. * From 5/27/97 to 1/27/97, Nitro ran two hours to RAW's one. When RAW moved an hour earlier to offset the hour of lead-in time, Nitro began starting three to five minutes before the hour. Of those 34 weeks, Nitro won them all but one week. RAW's average: 2.33. Nitro's average: 3.28. Two weeks Nitro was unopposed, it averaged: 4.3. (My source for the weekly ratings-Herb Kunze's website-is missing the numbers for two weeks in this period. It is assumed that Nitro won those two weeks. The two averages above are based on the 32 weeks in which the Numbers are available). * From 2/3/97 to 4/21/97, when both shows were on at the same time and the same length 11 times, Nitro has won each of those times. This week makes 12. RAW's average: 2.37. (2.4 if you count this week). Nitro's average: 3.31. (3.31 if you count this week). * From 4/28/97 to 5/19/97 (the NBA playoffs) when Nitro moved an hour earlier, RAW won all of those weeks. Averages: RAW: 3.42. Nitro: 2.8. * Overall average from 9/4/95 to now: RAW: 2.61. Nitro: 3.01. * Average of true "head-to-head" encounters: RAW: 2.57. Nitro: 3.13. * Average this year: RAW: 2.67. Nitro: 3.27. * This week's rating: RAW: 2.7. Nitro: 3.4. What does this all mean? Hell, even I've forgotten! Actually, it just goes to show that whether you take the averages for this year, "head-to-head" meetings, or the overall numbers, you come up with similar figures: Nitro, on the average, beats RAW by about half a ratings point. The amount by which they win isn't all that impressive, it's the streak that counts. As I've made the case for above, that should restart at one. At worst, it would be twelve, going back to 2/3/97. Is this an insurmountable obstacle for RAW? Is it simply impossible for them to win again? I don't think so. Nitro has yet to get back up into that +/- 3.7 range they were in so often late last year and earlier this year. RAW, on the other hand, had been hovering around +/- 2.4 for quite some time, and seems to have left that level behind. RAW is improving, but they have to work hard to maintain it. Nitro hasn't tried all that hard, and they've seen a perceptible slip because of it. (Hopefully all my math is correct. It's pretty close, anyway). Unfortunately, we've only got about two more months to see how this all plays out. With "Walker Texas Ranger" starting August 4th, RAW will be moving to an hour later. The USA Network's website confirms that "La Femme Nikita" is going to Sunday's, so RAW staying two hours long is as likely a possibility as not. As has been so often the case over the last twenty months, this too will most likely change the entire complexion of the Monday Night Wars. (This is still assuming USA doesn't cancel RAW, or the WWF decides to leave the USA Network. This all has to do with the current relation between USA and the WWF, much more so than how well RAW is doing. RAW, for all intents and purposes, is still a very strong show. Were it to be canceled, it would be because USA decided to sever it's relationship with the WWF-not because RAW wasn't doing well. At this time, though, the cancellation of RAW seems very unlikely). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- This Week's Winner: RAW. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Slobberknocker Central" and "Monday Night Recap" are copyright 1997 by John Petrie, and all opinions expressed therein are his own, and not those of Internet Access, Inc. Volume One, Number 80 of the "Monday Night Recap", May 26th, 1997.