[RESULTS/OPINION] WWF RAW is WAR/WCW Monday Nitro (06/09/97) [Slobberknocker Central Monday Night Recap #82] (06/09/97) Quick WWF King of the Ring 1997 Results (06/08/97): * Free For All Countdown Show: - The Headbangers defeated Bart Gunn and "Double J" Jesse Jammes with their powerbomb legdrop finisher, the Stage Dive. * WWF King of the Ring 1997 Pay-Per-View: - Hunter Hearst Helmsley defeated Ahmed Johnson with the help of Chyna. - Mankind defeated Jerry "the King" Lawler with the Mandible Claw. - "Stone Cold" Steve Austin attacked Brian Pillman during an interview in the back and flushed his head in a toilet. - Goldust defeated Crush, pinning him following a DDT. - Owen Hart, The British Bulldog and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart defeated the Legion of Doom and Sycho Sid. Owen Hart pinned Sid with a Sunset Flip off the top turnbuckle. - Hunter Hearst Helmsley defeated Mankind to become the 1997 King of the Ring. Mankind's mask was torn off during the match and he wrestled the remainder with it off. After the match Chyna roughed up Todd Pettengill and Helmsley beat on Mankind with the King of the Ring crown. - The Hart Foundation came out for an interview, then tried to sit in on color commentary, but there was no room for them and they were kicked out of the ringside area. - "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels battled to a double disqualification. Both men hit their finishing moves, but the referee had been knocked out. Austin, in frustration, applied the Stone Cold Stunner to the referee as he recovered. Michaels then Superkicked a second referee when that referee wouldn't make a pin count in Michaels' favor. A third referee came out and disqualified both men. - The Undertaker defeated Faarooq with a Tombstone Piledriver. Paul Bearer then forced the Undertaker to chokeslam Faarooq three times. Ahmed Johnson came out to stop the Undertaker. They exchanged words and Ahmed nailed the Undertaker with the Pearl River Plunge. WWF RAW is WAR: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours+. Location: Hartford, CT. HOUR ONE Hosted By: Vince McMahon and Jim Ross. - The WWF forgoes the usual lengthy, pointless recap, and starts the show the regular opening. A shot of the crowd shows that the ratio of signs to people is about 1:3. A couple "SCOOPS" signs can be seen, as well as a million variations of the "(blank) 3:16" type. Some guy at ringside has a sign that says "Raven on Nitro Tonight" and "Mr. Perfect on Nitro June 30th". - AHMED JOHNSON/THE LEGION OF DOOM vs. FAAROOQ/SAVIO VEGA/CRUSH Faarooq has to order Savio and Crush to give the Nation of Domination salute. Savio doesn't seem too pleased. Ahmed and the LOD are way over with the crowd. The match wasn't as bad as I expected. Things start off with some good tags between the LOD as they bounce Savio around the ring. Savio tags in Crush and, after a chest butting contest with Animal, he gets knocked to the floor (where Hawk clotheslines him). Ahmed and Faarooq then tag in. Ahmed manhandles Faarooq, tossing him into the corner where the LOD engage in a little clubberin'. Faarooq continues to take a beating until he can roll to the outside, where he holds a heated confab with his partners. As they huddle, Hawk and Animal slam into them from opposite sides, sandwiching Faarooq in the middle. Faarooq is tossed back into the ring, smashed into the corner by Hawk and Animal, and given the Pearl River Plunge in the center of the ring. Ahmed gets the clean, decisive pin. Crush and Savio, meanwhile, have walked out of the arena, leaving their master to his fate. They give us a quick shot of the new King of the Ring, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, and his Queen Chyna, as they go to break. - Helmsley comes to the ring for an interview. McMahon asks Helmsley why he resorted to such illegal tactics to defeat Mankind the previous night. Helmsley responds by delivering some "shoot" comments regarding McMahon's "demoting" him last year, which excluded Helmsley from winning the KOTR then. (Oh, how I wish this was a shoot, since it would mean the end of Helmsley in the WWF. Too bad it's not). Helmsley says the WWF is now his house. Mankind comes on the Titan-tron and says "knock knock!" He asks for a rematch. Helmsley lets Chyna respond, and in her first spoken words in the WWF, she tells Mankind "I think you should come down here, in the ring right now, and kiss my ass!" Mankind says it's her lucky day because he's a good kisser, and comes to the ring. He does the Cactus Jack "Bang, Bang!" as he enters. Helmsley whacks him with his crown as he enters, but Mankind gets up and puts the crown on as Helmsley and Chyna leave. - Sunny models a "RAW is WAR" t-shirt. - They show footage of the British Bulldog beating Mankind, Vader and Owen Hart to win the European Title tournament. They then announce the Bulldog and Goldust for the next match using a rather continental sounding announcer (named Tony Chimel). - THE BRITISH BULLDOG vs. GOLDUST (w/ Marlena) Jim Ross quips that a victory here would make Goldust the "European Dream" as opposed to the "American Dream". The Bulldog enters to his old UK music instead of the Hart Foundation's theme. Ross mentions that the Bulldog's wife, Diana Smith, won the "Mrs. Calgary" contest on Sunday. Not as good a match as I'd hoped. No real major spots or moves during the course of the match. It went back-and-forth evenly. I really thought Goldust was going to win this. At one point the Bulldog hoists him up into a powerslam, but Goldust escapes and applies his new sloppy looking double arm DDT. He covers for a three count, but the Bulldog's foot had been on the rope and the ref quickly corrects himself. They go to break. The Bulldog from here on out is mostly in control, using power moves and restholds. The match then spills to the floor, where the Bulldog beats on Goldust so long that they earn a double countout. The Bulldog slams Goldust into the steel steps. Marlena, looking on, steps between the Bulldog and Goldust and slaps the Bulldog's face. He looks stunned, then throws Goldust into the ring. She slaps him again. He grabs a chair and, in a scene reminiscent of the time the Honky Tonk Man threatened to smash a groggy Randy Savage with his guitar while Elizabeth protected him, the Bulldog cowers over Goldust as Marlena begs him to leave them alone. This brings out Ken Shamrock. He grabs the Bulldog from behind and drops him with a belly-to-back suplex. The Bulldog pushes Shamrock and the two exchange words, but the Bulldog eventually backs down and away from the ring. - Dok Hendrix reports that there's a disturbance in the Nation of Domination's lockerroom. Dok tries to get in and is shoved aside by Faarooq, who says he's heading to the ring to make an announcement. Dok enters the lockerroom and is chased out by Savio Vega and Crush. Faarooq enters the ring and says Savio and Crush, even though Faarooq took them to the top, have been a drag upon him, and are immediately fired. Faarooq also fires the other members of the Nation of Domination, including Clarence Mason. The only one spared is D-Lo Brown. Faarooq then challenges the Undertaker and Ahmed Johnson to a match on next week's RAW with him and D-Lo. - They show footage of Steve Austin injuring Brian Pillman's ankle. - "Wildman" Marc Mero is shown having a serious talk in the back with Sable. Jim Ross then mentions that Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart have been making headlines, and more news is available on the Superstar Line. Finally, we see Paul E. Dangerously and Tommy Dreamer descending through the crowd to seats at ringside. Huh?! - DOUG FURNAS/PHILIP LAFON vs. THE HEADBANGERS Furnas and LaFon call themselves "the Most Exciting Team in WWF History", or something like that. A pretty decent match, but fairly short with a poorly executed ending. One of the Headbangers is covering Furnas. LaFon comes off the top, lands on his feet, the Headbanger moves, and LaFon falls on Furnas. The Head- banger the re-covers for the pin. It happened a little faster than I describe, but the Headbanger still took too long to move, making LaFon's splash look real funny. Jerry Lawler (with Rob Van Dam at his side) delivers raspy voiced comments questioning who allowed Dangerously and Dreamer into the arena. As they go to break, they show a bit of the once verboten footage of Steve Austin breaking into Brian Pillman's house (though the gun isn't shown). - They end the first hour with some highlights from the first half of the show, and a look at Dangerously and Dreamer at ringside. HOUR TWO Hosted By: Vince McMahon and Jim Ross. - "Stone Cold" Steve Austin comes out to tell us how bad he's going to beat up Brian Pillman. They show Austin flushing Pillman's head in a toilet at the King of the Ring. (I'm still wondering how the WWF knew to have a camera hanging in that stall beforehand. Is that the Pervert-Cam?). - McMahon and Ross read positive comments regarding the King of the Ring from some marks on AOL. - ROB VAN DAM (w/ Jerry "The King" Lawler) vs. FLASH FUNK They rerun a promo from last year's SummerSlam, which had recently won an advertising award. They show a quick clip, courtesy ECW, of Lawler and Van Dam invading the ECW Arena last Saturday night. They promise more this Saturday on Shotgun Saturday Night. Lawler and Van Dam have to be held back by referees as they confront Paul E. and Dreamer at ringside. McMahon says that Paul E. has been using legal pressure to keep Van Dam off RAW, but that those issues have now been settled. Funk and Van Dam start off fast with lots of acrobatics, jockeying for position. Van Dam is sent to the floor and Funk kicks him into the rail, (spilling a fan's beer on him), and nails a plancha over the top rope. They get back in the ring and Van Dam lays Funk on the apron, vaults over, and hits a legdrop as he falls to the floor. Van Dam then hits a cannonball plancha. Lawler, meanwhile, has taken a seat for color commentary, and seems to have a bad case of laryngitis. Back in the ring, Van Dam hits a forward roll into a standing splash. Funk comes back with a whip into the ropes and a spinning leg lariat. Funk then does a fisherman suplex. He then hits a pretty slow-mo moonsault. Van Dam kicks out of the pin attempt. Funk then misses a spinning heel kick, but Van Dam hits one of his own. Van Dam does a back flip into a splash, which looked kind of silly. He then turns a huracanrana attempt by Funk into a powerbomb, hooking the legs and flipping over him for the two count. They then shuffle around a bit, with Funk getting in an enzuguiri kick to the back of Van Dam's head. Funk whips Van Dam into the corner, but Rob catches him with a boot to the head as Funk follows in. Van Dam then lays him in the corner and nails a split-legged moonsault for the pin. Lawler stands up and yells over to Paul E., crowing over Van Dam's win. Paul E. jumps the rail and leaps on Lawler. The two trade blows. Tommy Dreamer follows, and all four men (including Van Dam) brawl at ringside. Referees swarm in to separate everyone. Paul E. yells something that gets blanked out by the USA Network's censors. Van Dam and Lawler make their way around the ring, but Tommy Dreamer breaks free from the refs and jumps Van Dam. All four men pile up again. McMahon does a perfect job during all this by laying the blame on the situation on Paul E. for jumping over the railing. McMahon and Ross will later say the fans can do or say anything they want, so long as they don't cross the railing. Ross adds that they appreciate the fans not throwing things, either. - OWEN HART (w/ Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart) vs. SYCHO SID Ken Shamrock comes out for color commentary. Owen comes out to his old music. This was a non-title match. Owen gets in an early choke, but Sid soon dominates. Owen counters by having The Anvil interfere. They go to work slamming Sid's leg into the post. Owen actually gets in a lot of offense. Sid gets knocked to the floor a minute or so later. The Anvil hoists him up and drops him across the rail. This was enough for Shamrock, who has been complaining about the unfairness of the situation the entire match. He goes over and belly-to- belly suplexes The Anvil on the floor. Owen looks about for The Anvil, and in the process falls victim to a chokeslam from Sid. Sid rolls him up for the pin. Shamrock then enters the ring to make sure the Harts don't try to double team Sid. Sid gives him a quick handshake. - They show footage from last Saturday's Shotgun, where Austin attacks Pillman, who is commentating with Jim Ross. Man, is this match gonna be good! - Sable comes out to model the RAW is WAR t-shirt. - Part four of the Mankind interview. Some more ECW footage is shown. Mankind says that each time he applies the Mandible Claw, he imagines it's Vince McMahon that he's applying it to. He blames McMahon for not hiring him when he was Cactus Jack. He adds that he wishes all the WWF Superstars would have horrible, career ending injuries, and that he'd like to be the one to inflict them. The interview then takes an odd turn when Ross asks if Mankind has sought any professional help. Mankind says Ross needs to live up to his responsibilities and admit that he's helped perpetuate the myth that Mankind likes pain. He gets louder and louder as he chastises Ross for lying to the people, for insinuating that Mankind could possibly enjoy all the pain he's felt. In a fit of rage he grabs Ross and applies the Mandible Claw. Mankind squeals as Ross chokes and gargles. A stage technician can be seen running off in the background, and the camera wavers. Ross slips into a choking fit as Mankind slowly slips back into reality and releases the hold. He begins calling for help for Ross. Then the screen goes black. Back in the arena, Ross says that while a wrestler should never put his hands on an announcer, he shoulders some of the blame himself for misunderstanding Mankind, and causing the incident to take place. This was both funny, yet realistic and a bit scary. I hope to have a transcript of this and last week's portion on my website soon. - ROCKABILLY (w/ The Honky Tonk Man) vs. BART GUNN *Bleah!* Rockabilly wins fairly easily with the Shake, Rattle & Roll. - The Hart Foundation, minus Bret hart, is shown plotting in the back. As the cameraman tries to get close, they knock him to the floor. - BRIAN PILLMAN vs. "STONE COLD" STEVE AUSTIN Pillman comes to the ring first. Austin is next, but he's jumped by the rest of the Hart Foundation before he can reach the ring. Pillman whips Austin with the World Tag Team Title belt. The ringside area fills with referees and officials, and even Mankind joins the melee! The WWF officials then declare Austin unfit to wrestle, and Mankind and Pillman begin to a match. Why those dirty ... - BRIAN PILLMAN vs. MANKIND Not much of a match. Mankind takes solid punishment from Pillman, who at one point, tears out some of Mankind's hair and shoves it into his mouth. The crowd is only barely into the match, as they no doubt feel ripped off by being denied the advertised match. Mankind just makes a comeback and applies the Mandible Claw when the Hart Foundation runs in. They stomp on Mankind, but the crowd starts to cheer again. Austin is hobbling to the ring. About halfway there, Ken Shamrock blows past him and clears the ring, again scrapping with the Bulldog. They do the usual where the faces stand in the ring and the heels back away up the ramp. Well, I guess that's about it ... Suddenly Austin gets this funny look on his face. He seems upset that Shamrock and Mankind have dared to fight his battles for him. Shamrock indicates that he was only there to help, but Austin will have none of it. Austin pops Shamrock, then drops him with the Stone Cold Stunner. He gives him a "Bang, Bang!", then flips Mankind a double bird and limps out as the crowd erupts. McMahon and Ross start yelling "What the HELL is going on?!" as the show fades out. - Next week's main event: Ahmed & Undertaker vs. Faarooq & D-Lo Brown. Comments: I'm a little disappointed with the WWF in advertising the Austin/ Pillman match, only to pull a bait-and-switch with the Hart Foundation attack. Other than that though, it was a good show. Most of the matches were solid, though each somewhat lacking. The ECW appearance came off great, and does promise some tremendous things to come. (Lawler and Van Dam apparently wrestled a tag team match later in the night for the Shotgun Saturday Night taping, and were again attacked by Dreamer and Paul E. Dangerously). Mankind has really gotten over as a face, though I fear the WWF may be pushing things a bit fast. The same with Ken Shamrock, who's boy scout act may have been a bit too much. Though not specifically announced, I'm assuming Faarooq and D-Lo will face Ahmed Johnson and the Undertaker next week, with Ahmed turning on the Undertaker and joining the new and improved Nation of Domination. (Ahmed and the Undertaker reportedly "reconciled" and agreed to fight Faarooq, on the Shotgun taping). Where were Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart? See below. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WCW Monday Nitro: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours+. Location: Boston, MA. HOUR ONE Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Larry Zbyszko. - They start us off with a promo from MTV featuring "Hollywood" Hogan and Dennis Rodman, hyping their upcoming tag team match at Bash at the Beach in July. - A black limo pulls up. Elizabeth gets out, but before Randy Savage can, Diamond Dallas Page runs in from off screen and kicks the window once, twice, and shatters it on the third. He reaches in and opens the door, but Liz runs over and slams it shut on him. Page hits the ground as the limo speeds off. - ULTIMO DRAGON/SUPER CALO/JUVENTUD GUERRERA vs. PSYCHOSIS/LA PARKA/SILVER KING This one was crisper and less sloppy than the Mexican six-man match from two weeks ago, but I still have a hard time getting all that worked up about these type of matches. WCW insists on throwing these guys at us without giving us any sense of who they are or why they are there. Silver King? They don't even bother to tell us whom the good guys and bad guys are. We end up just "ooh-ing" and "ahh-ing" at the high spots, of which there were plenty. Too many. They again do the ridiculous spot where every guy does a tope or plancha into the same spot at ringside. Ultimo Dragon wins by taking Psychosis off the top with a spinning huracanrana, then applying a reverse headlock. Ultimo and Psychosis are scheduled for the next PPV, so either Dragon will win easily, or Psychosis will get the win as payback for this match. (Since that pretty much covers the only two options possible, I'll predict a Psychosis win). Mike Tenay mentions during the match that soon he will be traveling to Mexico to do a series of stories explaining the Mexican wrestling culture, the significance of the masks, and so on. Now THAT could be interesting. - Mean Gene Okerlund interviews Lex Luger. Luger says that J.J. Dillon has reviewed "Hollywood" Hogan's recent World Title tenure, and has decided that Hogan hasn't defended the belt since February. As punishment, Hogan must wrestle Luger later in the show. Luger also announces that he and the Giant will be the ones to face Hogan and Rodman at Bash at the Beach. - Mike Tenay awaits in the parking area as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper's and Ric Flair's limo pulls up. Tenay announces that Piper and Flair, as a preview to the PPV this Sunday, will face the Outsiders in tonight's main event. - ALEX WRIGHT vs. CHRIS JERICHO In a match that stretched way, way, WAY too long, Alex Wright wins via pinfall with his feet on the ropes. Now, some may say this was a really good match. I'd probably agree. I also don't care! I don't give a rat's ass about Alex Wright. This is currently the worst angle WCW has going now. Jericho just shows how misused and washed up he is by losing this one. Apparently many of the fans in attendance agreed with me, as there was next to no crowd reaction for most of the match. The only noise, in fact, came when a large section of fans, utterly bored by the match, started playing with a beach ball someone had smuggled in. When a security guard confiscated it, the crowd booed. - MALIA HOSAKA vs. AKIRA HOKUTO (w/ Sonny Onoo) Hokuto practically squashes Hosaka, controlling the whole match except for a very brief flurry. Hokuto wins with a brainbuster suplex, then the pin. Hokuto executes another suplex, which brings out Madusa to make the save. (My God ... if Madusa loses the Career Match this weekend, she must already have a new job lined up to hide watermelons under her shirt, cuz I'd swear she was smuggling a pair of them this time out!). Schiavone announces that the upcoming Hogan/Luger match will be non- title. - Mean Gene tries to interview the Steiner Brothers, but Harlem Heat and Sister Sherri come out and interrupt. The Heat challenge the Steiners. Rick Steiner says why wait, and a brawl breaks out. This is what happens when the World Tag Team Titles are held by guys who don't defend them: pointless feuds to decide the number one contenders. Schiavone says that whichever team wins the match this weekend at the Great American Bash will receive a title shot ... at Hog Wild ... in AUGUST! - KONAN vs. STEVE "MONGO" MCMICHAEL (w/ Debra) No match. Mongo is jumped on the way to the ring by Kevin Greene. The two fight until separated by WCW officials. They then switch to the ring to show Konan laid out cold, with a broken broomhandle next to him. Hugh Morrus is assumed to be the culprit. Referee Nick Patrick declares a no- contest. By the way, all week ESPN has been reporting that the Carolina Panthers are very upset with Kevin Greene for not showing up at any of the preliminary practices for the upcoming season. They said if he didn't show on Wednesday, they would start fining him. When he didn't show on Wednesday, ESPN reported that the Panthers will now be fining Greene $1500 for every practice he misses. Real, or a cleverly crafted work on WCW's and the Panthers' part? You decide. - "HOLLYWOOD" HOGAN (w/ Eric Bischoff) vs. LEX LUGER Hogan and Bischoff get on the mic to work the crowd. Hogan belittles by saying his physique can't match Hogan's, and that he could never beat him in this lifetime. Hogan then says there will be no match tonight, and he will instead pose for the crowd. As the crowd reaches a frenzy level, Luger comes out. He faces off with Hogan, who calls him a wannabe. Bischoff then starts running off at the mouth. Luger shoves him down and referee Randy Anderson, who had slid into the ring, signals for the bell. Immediately Kevin Nash, Syxx and Scott Hall come out. Hogan meets them outside the ring, but decides to go on with the match. Shortly thereafter they take a break. HOUR TWO Hosted By: Tony Schiavone and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. Hogan seems in control of the match, but Luger mounts a comeback. Nash, Hall and Syxx enter the ring, but the ref doesn't call for the bell since each is knocked back out by Luger and none of them connect with any shots. Luger then hoists Hogan up onto his shoulders in the Torture Rack. Hogan almost immediately submits. Hall, Nash and Syxx charge again and this time they lay Luger out. Hogan drops about a dozen legdrops, then lays in the center of the ring along with Bischoff for an interview. The referee has to drag Luger out of the ring by a leg to save him. - Mean Gene interviews J.J. Dillon. Dillon says WCW will be fining Randy "Macho Man" Savage $50,000 for his actions last week. He also says that the match between Savage and Diamond Dallas Page this Sunday at the Great American Bash will be a "Lights Out Match", which is unsanctioned, no DQ, no countout, no time limit, and falls count anywhere. Savage appears in the crowd and starts to yell at Dillon, threatening to come up with $100,000 and attack Dillon again. Page then comes to the ring and challenges Savage to come down. Savage does, and the two brawl for a few seconds until Nitro goes to a break. - JEFF JARRETT vs. DEAN MALENKO Good match, but not as good as previous efforts between the two. Debra McMichael comes out a few minutes in to root on Jarrett. They then take a break, which is probably why I'm less than enthusiastic about this one. Jarrett is in control, but Malenko takes over with some rest hold. They go back-and-forth. Jarrett applies a Figure Four, but Malenko rolls over and reverses it. More back-and-forth and Jarrett really seems on the verge of winning. Jarrett hits a suplex off the top turnbuckle. Suddenly Eddy Guerrero hops over the rail at ringside and climbs the ropes. He looks, then nails Malenko with the Frog Splash. Eddy's left arm is in a sling, and he removes it and drops it on Malenko's chest. The ref somehow fails to hear the loud thud, and is only slightly puzzled by the appearance of a rehabilitative sling lying on the mat. Jarrett slaps on the Figure Four and Malenko quickly submits. Jarrett wins the United States Heavyweight Title in notable, but unsatisfying fashion. - Mean Gene interviews Jimmy Hart, along with Meng and the Barbarian. Hart says he has Chris Benoit's third step to meeting Kevin Sullivan. It's ... Kevin Sullivan? Sullivan and Jacquelyn come out. Sullivan plays up to the Boston crowd, which is essentially his hometown. Sullivan calls Benoit out. Sullivan tells Meng and Barbarian to leave Benoit alone. Here comes Benoit. He and Sullivan go at it, trading mean looking punches to the face. Jacquelyn jumps Benoit, but she is pulled off. Meng grabs Benoit by the throat, but Sullivan breaks it. Finally Benoit drops to the ground and is stomped on by Sullivan, Meng, the Barbarian, Jacquelyn, and even Jimmy Hart. - THE OUTSIDERS (w/ Syxx) vs. RIC FLAIR/"ROWDY" RODDY PIPER At first the ref can't get the four men out of the ring to really start the match. Nitro then takes a break. WCW, breaking with form somewhat, takes a closeup shot of a "WWF Sucks" sign. The match, meanwhile, has commenced and pretty much consists of one hot tag sequence. Piper is kept in the ring and Flair can't tag in. They do all the old favorites where Flair gets drawn in, only to be forced out by the ref as Piper receives a double beating. Before any tag is made, though, Flair starts to chase Syxx around the ring. Flair corners Syxx, but is hit from behind by Hall. The ref calls for the bell, DQ'ing the Outsiders. The bell rings continually. The fight continues. Out comes Jarrett, McMichael and Benoit. The fight continues. Out comes Buff Bagwell and Scott "Flash" Norton. The fight continues. Out comes Kevin Greene. The fight continues. Out comes Harlem Heat and the Steiner Brothers. The fight continues. Out comes Glacier, Wrath and Mortis. The fight continues. Out comes the Mexican wrestlers. The fight continues. Out comes Kevin Sullivan, Barbarian and Meng. The fight continues. Out comes Randy Savage and Dallas Page. Hogan nails Page from behind with the World Title belt. Page flops to the floor at ringside. The fight continues. Sting drops from the ceiling, whacks Nash, Norton and Bagwell with a baseball bat, hooks the unconscious Page to his cable, and rides on Page's back as the two are raised to the top of the arena. The fight continues as the show ends. - Next week's main event: None announced. Comments: Incredible ending! Probably the wildest Nitro ending ever. Throw in the Hogan/Luger match and you've got quite a memorable show. But was it very good? Not really, for most of it anyway. The trios match at the start was better than the one two weeks ago, but I still didn't care for it all that much. Jarrett/Malenko was solid, but not as good as previous efforts (though it's nice to see Eddy Guerrero back). Why is a non-title match punishment for Hogan's not defending the belt in two months? As far as I can see, Luger should be the new World Champion. Sure was a good thing that Page was already rigged up for that sling device, and that Page was knocked to the floor at the exact spot where Sting would be landing. No Raven. I'm already laughing at the "excuses" the rumor websites are coming up with to explain it, especially after they so vehemently claimed he would be there. Don't believe everything you read or hear, people. File Mr. Perfect, Papa Shango, Demolition and the Ultimate Warrior in this same category. (My brother and his friend talked me into ordering the King of the Ring under the sole assumption that ECW would be there. I told them no, they wouldn't, but they waved money in my face, so I ordered it. Do they feel dumb, while I got to see it for a third of it's cost. Hah! It pays to be a skeptic). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bottom Line: Nitro won the ratings again, but the scores were fairly strange this week. RAW dipped another tenth of a point overall, dropping to a 3.2, their lowest score since this past March. Nitro crept up another tenth of a point, to a less than spectacular 3.4. This is especially confusing given the apparent strength of the Nitro line-up. Here are the quarterly scores, courtesy Detroit news columnist M.L. Curly (by way of WrestleNet): Hour One: Hour Two: Nitro: 2.4 / 2.8 / 3.7 / 3.9 / 3.7 / 3.7 / 3.8 / 4.3 = 3.4 Average. RAW: 2.2 / 2.3 / 2.3 / 1.9 / 2.2 / 2.6 / 2.4 / 2.0 = 2.2 Average. Both shows started out about the same, but Nitro made a steady climb upon the news that "Hollywood" Hogan would be facing Lex Luger. During that match, Nitro hit what may be a record for their first hour with a 3.9. This seriously impacted RAW, dropping it to a 1.9. Nitro then held on to an impressive average throughout the rest of their show, while RAW fluctuated, getting killed again at the end during the Outsiders match and the massive show-ending brawl. The ECW appearance looked to slightly boost RAW's rating while they were on, but viewers left once they did. What's really amazing is that during the sixth and last quarter hours, RAW and Nitro combined for an amazing 6.3, meaning over six million people were tuned into pro wrestling at that time on Monday night. Combined, the shows picked up nearly two million additional viewers over the course of the evening. What's really strange is that the difference between the two shows really fluctuated from quarter to quarter, with as many as 400,000 viewers joining RAW for the ECW match, yet Nitro didn't lose any. From the time of the Hogan match to the ECW match, Nitro lost about 200,000 viewers, while their overall lead dropped by three quarters of a million viewers?! Nitro, were it not for their poor start, would have pulled in a tremendous rating. Hogan drew in the big numbers this week, yet RAW managed to find viewers outside Nitro's draw. What really can't be denied is, despite feelings to the contrary, Hogan can still pull in a lot of viewers ... and Nitro did very well to keep them there. What must be of slight disappointment to WCW, though, is that even with their massive show, they only picked up 0.1 points over last week in the overall composite. Low ratings for the first quarter hour hurt both shows. This may be because Nitro, for example, usually starts off with a teaser prior to the start of the 8:00 (Eastern) hour. Either this in some way is hurting them, or it isn't getting counted in the ratings for the first quarter hour. What they do achieve by it, though, is that they manage to draw away viewers from RAW, doing collateral damage to them (in a way). I personally think both shows would start out stronger if they just began on the hour, instead of a few minutes before. (But of course Nitro isn't going to give up their advantage, even if it's hurting them as much as RAW). The WWF has to be disappointed too, since the ECW appearance popped a momentary ratings boost, but it isn't seen in the overall score. In fact, without the ECW, RAW would have had an even lower rating. This is mostly due to some miscalculations on the WWF's part. Putting the Headbangers vs. Furnas & LaFon against the Hogan/Luger match was just plain stupid. Also, running the Rockabilly match so late in the show was an invitation to disaster. Finally, as I said above, it was a little sleazy to hype a match that wasn't going to take place (Austin/Pillman). Having Mankind as a replacement was okay, but they neither delivered a great match, nor did they in any way assure us that another Hart run-in wasn't imminent. The last minute with Austin and Shamrock was great, but I'm sure many people missed it, having flipped over to Nitro. (I myself didn't even see it live. As soon as the Hart Foundation ran in, I switched to Nitro. By the time I went back, "La Femme Nikita" had already started. Checking my tape to see how well it had come out was when I first saw it). Having a Hart run-in at the end of every RAW is just too repetitive, and the ratings are starting to suffer because of it (just as they did with Nitro until the changes of the last few weeks). It also didn't help that Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart weren't on the show. By now you probably know why, but in case you don't, here's the rumor: supposedly Shawn and Bret got into a fight prior to the show, which prompted Shawn to leave the building, along with his supposedly "giving his notice" to the WWF. Since then the rumors have swirled, fueled along by the story being reported by Wade Keller of "The Torch", Bob Ryder at Prodigy, and even the WWF itself on their AOL area and Jim Ross' WWF hotline. The WWF says Shawn refuses to honor any of his commitments with the WWF, and is looking into contacting WCW lawyers in an effort to break his WWF contract. In other words, the WWF is going out of their way to let us fans know that one of their wrestlers is screwing them, and that we can enjoy seeing him in WCW very soon. Yeah. About all they haven't said is to stop watching RAW is WAR, because it'll no longer be any good after Shawn's departure. For WCW's part, Eric Bischoff is claiming it's all a work (though he said the same thing about the Vader incident in Kuwait). I'd urge all the people shouting "Shawn's headed to WCW!" to stop and think about it for a moment. This thing has "work" written all over it. Even if true, there are some other things to consider before they pop the cork on the champagne bottle. First, there's no guarantee that Shawn could get out of his contract with the WWF. A court case could last months, maybe years, all the while Shawn is sitting out of the sport doing nothing. Second, suppose he did get out of his contract and come to WCW: what would they do with him? For all intents and purposes, it would be the end of his productive career. So many people assume he would be with the NWO. Why? It would make tons more sense for him to be brought in as a face to battle the NWO. That would set up matches between him and Nash, Hall, Syxx, even Randy Savage. Those feuds alone could fill up a year's worth of shows. Making Shawn NWO would be a disaster. Who would he fight? Sting is the only promising candidate. Perhaps DDP. Benoit? Jericho? Jarrett? All maybes, and only the prospect that it could be months before Shawn arrived helps to even make those matches possible (since they are each either tied up in current feuds, or in Jericho's case, are non-main event material). What's more, Shawn would be coming into a company where, with the exception of his Clique pals, nobody wants him there. Do you think Hogan, Savage, Piper, Sting, Flair, Page, Luger, and the Giant are going to be happy with the addition of a guy who's sole aim would be to upstage them all? Even Nash, Hall and Syxx would most likely have to play second fiddle to him, and that's one of the reasons they left the WWF. Shawn, who knows he's second only to Bret Hart (and maybe Austin and the Undertaker) in the WWF, would suddenly find himself in an ego whirlpool comprised of the above mentioned people. You think the WWF is having backstage problems now? Most of those would go to WCW with Shawn, quite frankly. (And don't give me that "the other guys will welcome him for the good of the company!" Baloney! They all already get guaranteed contracts, no matter how good or bad WCW does. All anyone in WCW looks out for is themselves). Does he even own the "Shawn Michaels" name? I know he brought it into the WWF from the AWA, but it's always possible he signed it away like many other wrestlers have done. Almost certainly he would no longer be the "Heartbreak Kid", and "HBK" and "the Kliq" would be unavailable to him as well. The mystique will sure drop a bit if we have to start calling him Michael Hickenbottom. No friends, Shawn would go from being a top level performer to someone who does weekly run-ins and wrestles an occasional two star match with DQ finishes. All he would do is endless interviews (and you WCW fans already complain anytime Shawn talks, always claiming he's drunk ... or gay). I know that I myself would like to see him wrestle Chris Benoit, but I'd hate to see him throw away what has been a mostly satisfying entire WWF career for just one possible great match in WCW. Taken separately, both shows were good this week. Nitro didn't really have any great matches (Malenko/Jarrett being the best, IMO). The surprises are what carried it. RAW was really good all around up until the anti-climactic ending. I'm giving the nod to RAW, though it was close (and was the closest it's been in some time). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 82 of the "Monday Night Recap", June 9th, 1997.