[Slobberknocker Central Monday Night Recap #88] (07/21 - 07/22/97) WWF RAW is WAR: (07/21/97) Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours+. Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. HOUR ONE Hosted By: Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler. - A dramatic video package sets the stage for tonight's show, fueling U.S./ Canadian tensions as they hype the main event: a six-man "Flag Match". We'll also get a "Triple Threat" tag team match and a special live announcement from Shawn Michaels. - VADER (w/ Paul Bearer) vs. KEN SHAMROCK They show clips from their previous match at the "Cold Day in Hell" PPV. Shamrock delivers pre-taped comments, making mention of his match against the Bulldog at SummerSlam. (Shamrock holds up a can of "Pedigree" dog food, which the Bulldog will have to eat if he loses). After an initial lock-up, Shamrock takes him down with a leg submission hold. Vader slips loose and responds with a clothesline. A thumb poke to the eye is applied somewhere in there also. After some manhandling by Vader, Shamrock is worked over by Paul Bearer, nailing him with his shoe. Vader keeps the ref distracted so that he misses Bearer's interference. Shamrock is chucked to the floor, then thrown into the ring steps. Back in the ring, Vader hoists him up for a powerbomb, but Shamrock slips out and it and goes to work on Vader, taking him down to the mat with a belly-to-belly suplex. He then grabs onto a leg for a submission hold. Paul Bearer reaches into the ring, grabbing Shamrock. Ken releases the hold and rolls to the floor. After backing Bearer against the post, he slugs him with his right fist. Bearer drops like a sack of doorknobs. Vader drops an elbow on him as he reenters the ring. A slam follows, then Vader goes up for a second rope splash, which connects. Shamrock kicks out at two. Vader then goes up again for a Vaderbomb, but takes too long, and meets Shamrock's raised knees. Shamrock comes back with a series of punches and kicks. Vader is whipped into the corner. He follows in and leaps, and is caught by Vader. For a moment both a powerbomb by Vader or a huracanrana by Shamrock seem likely, but Shamrock is dumped over the the top rope to the floor instead. Before Shamrock can reenter the ring, the British Bulldog grabs him from behind and scoops him up for a powerslam on the steel ramp. the ref, who had been busy swapping stock quotes with Vader, makes the 10 count. Vader wins by countout, handing Shamrock his first WWF defeat. They precede the commercial break with a few comments from the biased Canadian fans. (What else can you call them?) - They run a brief clip of Brakkus, a heavily muscled German wrestler who will soon be making his way to the WWF. Not much I can say about him other than he's huge. - Vince McMahon brings out the Hart Foundation. He delivers what may be his most fervent anti-American speech yet. Hart says America is shaped like a toilet bowl, and all us Americans are full of crap. Heh heh, (son of a b- ... ). Hart says no Americans have been brave enough to step forward to accept their challenge to a flag match. Hart says the Undertaker should get out. The Bulldog challenges Ken Shamrock to come out. Owen Hart completes the cycle by challenging that "pervert" Steve Austin to come out and "kiss [his] toes!" *Kee-rash!* Austin comes out and says he'll accept their challenge for their "stupid little flag match", and will shove all their toes up their asses. The crowd reaction during all this was every bit as explosive as the other two recent televised Canadian cards. I should mention that ever since the start of the show there have been two tall poles in two opposite corners. At the top of one pole is the Canadian flag, while the Stars and Stripes flies from the other. - McMahon announces that the DOA (Disciples of Apocalypse) and Los Boricuas have been temporarily suspended by Gorilla Monsoon. This is to allow the two groups to cool off before their planned eight-man match at Summer- Slam. They show clips of Los Boricuas trashing one of the DOA's motor- cycles last week. - BRIAN CHRISTOPHER vs. BRYAN WALSH They show a clip of Christopher and Lawler beating up Scott Putski on the most recent Shotgun Saturday Night. Walsh is a scrub who, although originally from Canada, gets almost no crowd support at the start. Christopher looks good while putting him away, though Walsh does come back for one offensive sequence where he sends Christopher into the corner, then climbs the ropes and lays in the obligatory crowd counted ten punches. Christopher finally finishes him off with a powerslam, a reverse DDT off the turnbuckles, and a legdrop off the second rope. All through the match Lawler and Ross play the "Is he your son or not?" game. - They run comments from the Commandante of the Truth Commission. He and his band of Guerrilla Warriors will be in action on RAW next week. Frankly, I don't see what McMahon sees in these guys. - They show a flashback of Todd Pettengill and Stephanie Wiand giving away the house at the very first In Your House PPV. They then cut to a shot of Sable and "Wildman" Marc Mero next to the casket full of money, hyping the final "Million Dollar Chance" clue which will be revealed tonight. - Up next is an incredibly long recap of the whole Mick Foley/Cactus Jack/ Mankind/Dude Love Saga. Except for a few clips of a young Foley (and partner) getting worked over by the British Bulldog, all this is stuff we've seen before. I know RAW was unopposed tonight, but did they have to blow this much time on a highlights package? It ran something like SEVEN minutes (but it seemed like twenty). Austin then gives a few comments, saying Dude Love has guts, but Austin still doesn't need a tag team partner, as far as he's concerned. - They show the LOD getting Pearl Harbored last week by the Godwinns. Animal then says Henry Godwinn's broken neck was an accident. Hawk says the next one won't be. - THE GODWINNS vs. THE NEW BLACKJACKS vs. THE HEADBANGERS They show Hawk and Animal breaking Henry Godwinn's neck. Then they run pre-taped comments from the Blackjacks and Headbangers. The special rules of this match are: * Three men in the ring at one time. * Wrestlers may only tag in their own partner. * First man to score a pin or submission wins the entire match. * The winning team gets a tag title shot next week on RAW. That all being said, the Godwinns win. Given the stipulations, it was a fairly well executed match, but one that was too busy to really enjoy for any solid, thought out wrestling. Phineas hits Windham with the slop pail and Henry covers for the pin. During this the Headbangers try to use their own finisher on Bradshaw, but Bradshaw reverses a powerbomb attempt into a backdrop, setting one Headbanger up to receive a legdrop from his partner (the legdrop meant for Bradshaw). Got that? No ... good. Let's move on. - McMahon, Ross and Lawler make mention of the real world tensions between the U.S. and Canada, showing a headline from a newspaper detailing a story in which Canada has seized a U.S. ferry boat, or something like that. I haven't been following the news lately, but I do know there is some tremendous heat existing between us and them, particularly over fishing rights and depleted fishing stocks. My only real problem with Canada is their damn quarters. Too many vending machines around here won't take them. HOUR TWO Hosted By: Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler. - Jim Ross brings out Shawn Michaels. The crowd boo's him hellaciously. Every prancing step Shawn takes brings out an ever larger chorus of jeers. Shawn, who is busy flashing every Clique and NWO sign there is, seems to draw energy from the crowd. Ross asks Shawn what his "block- buster" announcement is. When Shawn says the Canadian crowd is unappreciative of Americans, Shawn brings up the ferry incident; messing it up by saying that it was the Americans who freed the Canadian's ferry. "We'll free your ferry's ... your heterosexuals .. everyone!" Shawn says he once got some Canadian army men as a kid, but they all had their hands up, surrendering. He finishes this off by saying the U.S. doesn't fall into the ocean because "Canada sucks!" The crowd calls him a "faggot". Shawn quickly goes on to say he will join Stone Cold tonight as a member of the American team. But that's not all. Shawn says he has also been signed on as a special referee in a match at SummerSlam. "Which one?" asks Ross. Shawn says he only works main events, so it'll be the Hart/ Undertaker match. When asked if Shawn can be impartial, Shawn says there is the stipulation that if Shawn acts in any way impartial, it is Shawn who will be barred from ever wrestling again in the U.S. Shawn taunts the crowd by saying that maybe if he costs Bret the title, he will move to Canada-next door to the Hart family. Shawn, hoarse from delivering his longest interview since February, says "Bret ... if you can't trust me ... who can ya trust!" Shawn then dances around barechested, waving a pair of miniature Canadian flags. The camera cuts away when Shawn starts to stuff them in his shorts. The crowd reaction during this was incredible, and a loud "We want Bret!" chant broke out. In one interview Shawn managed to become every bit as hated as Steve Austin by the Canadian crowd. - The fourth million dollar clue is "of luxury". Hope you have been paying attention, because you only have until next Monday to enter. - THE PATRIOT vs. HUNTER HEARST HELMSLEY (w/ Chyna) The Patriot says he respects the flag of all countries, and that he thinks the Canadian fans may be doing themselves a disservice by blindly following the Hart Foundation. Helmsley jumps the Patriot as he comes to the ring, which puts him in the odd position of being cheered by the crowd. The match becomes unimportant pretty quick, though, as Bret Hart makes his way to the announcer's table. Bret is livid, accusing McMahon of "swerving" him by making Shawn the special referee. He gets right in McMahon's face, nearly spitting on him he's so angry. Owen and the Bulldog are there to keep Bret back, but they too are angry. McMahon tries to calm him down, but Bret walks away ... only to come right back and slap McMahon's headset off! McMahon clenches his jaw and gives him a look of disgust, as Owen and the Bulldog hold Bret back. Bret points a finger and McMahon slaps it away. McMahon tells him to get out of there and Bret leaves ... only to come right back and grab McMahon. Vince, only having one option open to defend himself, pulls Bret's shirt over his head. Owen and the Bulldog try to pull the two apart as Ross yells "STOP IT! DAMN IT! DAMN YOU BRET, STOP IT!!!" The cameraman taping this winds up shoved back, falling to the floor. Referees and other officials enter the scene. The Patriot comes over and pulls Bret off McMahon, which draws a pummeling from Owen and the Bulldog (along with Hart, once he realizes who has attacked him). Ross, once the Patriot gets attacked, yells for the bell to be rung to end the match. At least a dozen various WWF officials gather force Hart from ringside (though Bret tries one more lunge at McMahon). The Patriot earns a few more stomps, and even Helmsley lays in a few before he's pushed off by a referee. Pat Patterson yells something at Bret and for a moment it looks as if Bret might go after the Hall of Fame'er. For the record, the Patriot presumably won the match via DQ when attacked by the Harts. Once they return from the break, McMahon refuses to speak. Ross, unsure what is next on the schedule, throws it to Paul Bearer in the back. - Paul Bearer says the Undertaker and Cain, when they were children, made a small wooden statue together. As a bond of brotherhood, they cut it in half and vowed never to let go their respective halves. Bearer produces Cain's half of the statue, which has been blackened by fire. Bearer says this is proof Cain is alive. Ross rightly points out that it proves nothing. Bearer says not to goad him into producing Cain himself, because he will if forced to. - GOLDUST (w/ Marlena) vs. FAAROOQ (w/ Kama) In pre-taped comments, Goldust asks Marlena if she has a dress that will fit Brian Pillman (regarding their match at SummerSlam). Marlena says she's heard that Pillman can't even fill his own tights. McMahon finally speaks, calmly and quietly pointing out that Bret must not have heard all of Shawn's interview, because if Shawn is impartial, it is he who will have to abide by the "banned from wrestling in America" stipulation. McMahon then utters a despairing "Oh no" and leaves the desk. Lawler asks where he's going, but gets no reply. Moments later Ross announces that word has come from the back that Shawn Michaels has been attacked again by Bret Hart, and may possibly be injured. The match itself is a mess. Kama interferes, which the ref clearly sees. After allowing Goldust to get beaten up by Kama, the ref finally calls for the DQ, but only after Faarooq has performed the "Dominator" and covered for the pin. - More pro-Hart comments from the anti-American Canadian fans. - They show the scene in the back, where Shawn is down on the floor. Shawn rips loose with a string of obscenities, which are bleeped by the USA Network. Vince is there, telling Shawn that he's trying the best he can to control things. Shawn asks how much more of this will he have to take, and tells one official "Christ, yes I'm hurt, you idiot!" McMahon does not appear for the remainder of the show. - BRET "HITMAN" HART/THE BRITISH BULLDOG/OWEN HART vs. STEVE AUSTIN/???/??? The Harts come to the ring-the Bulldog carrying a sign which had appeared earlier in the crowd: all five Hart Foundation members urinating on an American flag. Hart says the show can't continue until they play the Canadian anthem, which they do. The Harts in the ring, along with a good chunk of the crowd, sings along. In order to win, one team must climb the corner and retrieve their own flag. No pinfalls count. *Ke-rash!* Stone Cold comes out, followed closely behind by Dude Love. The two storm the ring, but they are no match for all three Harts. With Michaels apparently hurt, they will have to go it alone. Dude is quickly dumped to the floor, leaving Austin all alone in the ring. Austin, knowing that it will drive the crowd to a total marked-out frenzy, allows Bret to lay in a ton of punishment, with Austin eventually being knocked to the floor beside Dude Love. As they cut to a break (with only a few minutes apparently left in the show) the Undertaker's theme starts. Back from the break we learn that the Undertaker has indeed joined Austin and Dude Love. Ross also says that they have permission from USA to stay with the match no matter how long it takes. Owen battles Dude Love, keeping him from going after the flag. The Undertaker is tagged in and the reaction is mixed. The fans seem to like him, but don't care much for him aligning himself with Austin. The Undertaker battles Owen, and only the barest encounter between he and Bret is teased (making us wait for their eventual showdown). Austin tags in and he goes to work on Owen. Austin lays in some heavy offense, sparking an "Owen! Owen!" chant. Austin is brilliant in his ring work and his ability to taunt the crowd. Dude Love tags in. Owen makes a try for the flag, but fails. Dude Love actually gets down on the mat and wrestles, which prompts Owen to start wildly swinging fists. Dude tags Austin back in. A scrawl at the bottom of the screen tells us that "La Femme Nikita" will follow RAW. Austin sets Owen up in the corner for a suplex off the top. Owen reverses it, much to the approval of the crowd. The Undertaker is tagged in just as they go to the last commercial break. Dude Love is in the ring, still working on Owen Hart. Owen catches Dude with a spinning heel kick. Ross calls this match a "good old slobber- knocker", which warms my Hart, err ... heart. Austin is tagged in and Owen tries to hit him with an enzuguiri, but Stone Cold ducks. This is followed by a great sequence where Owen makes a lunge for the corner, Austin catches him, and slams him down. Owen had made the tag, however, and Austin, after briefly celebrating, gets caught by a clothesline from Bret Hart. Austin then starts to set him up for the Figure Four around the ringpost, but Dude Love charges him, plowing him over at full speed. Bret is shown briefly down by the corner of the ring on the floor as Austin tags in the Undertaker. The 'Taker nails both the Bulldog and Owen. The Bulldog receives a chokeslam, then goes up for a Tombstone, but Bret has re-entered the ring, and lays in a shot to the Undertaker's back. Ross yells that this is our SummerSlam main event as the Undertaker and Hart trade blows. Bret and the Undertaker catch each other with a double clothesline. The Undertaker sits up to a huge mixed reaction. He's the first up the corner, and has the flag nearly in his grasp, when out from under the ring comes Brian Pillman. Pillman nails the Undertaker, knocking him down from the corner. Bret, meanwhile, has made it up the opposite corner, and he snags the Canadian flag to earn the victory. Following Pillman's lead, the Hart Foundation exits the ring area through the crowd. Austin favors the Canadian people with a disgusted sneer as the show finally draws to a close. - Next week: The Truth Commission. Austin & Dude Love vs. the Godwinns. Comments: THE GREATEST RAW EVER! No, not quite, but it was pretty good. The Hart/McMahon was confrontation was the most memorable since Bret Hart's profanity riddled blow-up earlier this year: maybe the most memorable since Shawn Michaels passed out two years ago. If you all go back to just after Shawn and Bret got into their little scrap several weeks ago (off-camera) it was rumored that if Shawn couldn't be promised adequate "protection" from the Hart's, that he would quit. This would seem to be playing off that, with Michaels' reaction fitting the rumored situation exactly. I've no doubt that we'll get more teases that Shawn will be thinking of quitting, only to have him come back to settle the score with Hart, in what should be a monumental match-up. The show really clicked along, moving from segment to segment with a natural flow. I only have a couple of minor complaints. I still think the Dude Love recap was just plain too long. Add in the interviews before and after it, along with the commercial break, and nearly twenty minutes went by without any action in the ring. Speaking of which, did anyone else think the commercials were really long this week? They seemed to last forever, as if the WWF and USA were taking advantage of the unopposed situation to squeeze in a few more ads. The scrawls at the bottom of the screen were a bit annoying. They were an attempt at humor, telling fans to stay up to watch "La Femme Nikita", then advising them that they could call in sick if they missed too much sleep, and that the worst that could happen was that they might be fired. Half the match went by in the time it took to read the three separate scrawls. Also, Jim Ross said they'd stick around as long as it took to finish the match, while the scrawl at the bottom told exactly how much time was left until "Nikita" started. Turns out the message was right on. The actual wrestling this week wasn't great, but it wasn't all that bad either. I actually thought the first and last matches were fairly solid, with Austin and his bad knee, (back, neck, etc.), putting on an excellent show. They showed almost as many matches in the entire show as Nitro would show just in the second hour the following night, yet we still saw far more actual wrestling action. All we need now is a strong set up next week for Hart and the Undertaker, while clarifying Shawn Michaels' position in all this, and we'll have an excellent set-up for SummerSlam. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WCW Monday Nitro: (07/22/97) Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours+. Location: Jacksonville, Florida. HOUR ONE Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Larry Zbyszko. - Tonight is unofficially dubbed "Tuesday Nitro", though WCW doesn't utilize any special graphics to celebrate the occasion. Right off the bat they stick the Nitro Girls in our face again. For some reason the phrase "zigga zugg ahhh!" pops to mind. - "Hollywood" Hogan and Eric Bischoff come out to do another reclined interview in the ring. Hogan gives sort of a "State of the NWO" address, mentioning the acquisition of Konan (or "K-Dawg") into the ranks. He then takes credit for making wrestling what it is today. He wraps up by officially accepting Lex Luger's challenge to a title match at the Road Wild PPV in August. - K-DAWG vs. TSUBASA Blisteringly quick squash, as Konan wins with the Tequila Sunrise. I have no idea who Tsubasa is and, given his performance here, I don't really care. - STEVEN REGAL vs. ULTIMO DRAGON Another fairly quick match. After about two or three minutes of back-and- forth action, Ultimo Dragon puts Regal away with a reverse headlock submission move. Regal taps out, having now lost the TV Title for the second time on Nitro this year. Speaking of title defenses, I will discuss more about them later in the recap. During the match, Mike Tenay mentions that Regal will compete in the G1 tournament over in New Japan. He then says Regal is one of the few Americans in the tournament. Larry Zbyszko gets the honor of reminding Tenay that Regal isn't an American. - Ric Flair comes out for an interview, ostensibly to announce the newest member of the Four Horsemen team. Flair says he himself, Arn Anderson, Chris Benoit and Mongo McMichael, who compromise the current team, have picked a new member. Flair motions to the entryway as the Horseman theme starts up. Out comes ... Syxx. The crowd jeers, but it quickly becomes apparent that this isn't who Flair meant. Syxx then launches into Flair, telling him how broken down and washed up the Horsemen are as a unit. Flair says that mixing it up with Syxx has resulted in his being censored, and nearly fired, and that perhaps it's best if he (Flair) just walked away. He then pops Syxx. Syxx grabs the mic as Chris Benoit comes out to stand beside Flair. Syxx says if Hall and Nash were in the arena that Flair wouldn't try stuff like that. Flair tells Benoit that he's being challenged. From all this, it's inferred that Flair and Benoit would like to challenge Hall and Nash to a match later in the evening. - The Nitro Girls again. I wouldn't mind them so much if they were actually any good. But they do look nice, which is, I suppose, the main reason they are out there. - THE GREAT MUTA vs. THE GIANT In some respects this is a PPV caliber match-up. Too bad they barely hyped it. It didn't really matter though, given the actual match. After the lengthy ring entrances are over the two start to circle one another. Muta throws a kick meant to intimidate, not connect. They circle some more. Muta tries a few drop-kicks, but the Giant doesn't flinch. Muta then charges in, but is caught by the throat. The Giant signals for the chokeslam, but Muta blows green mist in his eyes. The ref calls for the bell, DQ'ing Muta. In rushes Savage and Vincent. They, along with Muta, stomp on the Giant. Lex Luger then runs in, clearing the ring. The Giant, blinded by the mist, grabs Luger by the throat and prepares for a chokeslam. At the last moment he realizes it's Luger and releases him. - DEAN MALENKO vs. STEVE "MONGO" MCMICHAEL Yet another relatively short match. McMichael actually does a fair job of stringing moves together to advance the match. About three minutes in, though, Jeff Jarrett comes to the ring (along with Debra McMichael). Mongo takes off after Jarrett, chasing him around the ring, through it, then catching him by the hair. Jarrett drops off the apron, which knocks McMichael throat-first across the top rope. Mongo staggers back, gets caught by a drop-kick from Malenko, and is small packaged for the loss. After the match, Mean Gene Okerlund interviews Dean Malenko. Jarrett and Debra interrupt, offering Malenko the opportunity to join with him, for his own protection against the Horsemen, or Eddy Guerrero, or whoever. Malenko says he doesn't need anyone, but that he isn't stupid either. He'll give Jarrett an answer later. For the longest time there was the rumor that Chris Benoit was going to leave Flair and start his own Horsemen-type team. Maybe this is that idea finally coming to fruition, but involving Jarrett instead of Benoit. - EDDY GUERRERO vs. HECTOR GUERRERO This one actually goes about four minutes. Hector gets in a few good moves, but Eddy has little trouble beating him. (In fact, had Eddy not been playing the "cowardly heel" part through some of this match, he would have looked overwhelmingly dominant). Eddy wins with a powerbomb followed by the Frog Splash. Dean Malenko then runs in. Malenko powerbombs Guerrero, then slaps the Texas Cloverleaf on him. Hector takes a shot at Malenko, forcing him to release the hold on Eddy. Malenko then catches Hector with a belly-to- back suplex, and stomps on him while Eddy makes his getaway. It's fairly clear now that this whole Guerrero family feud has been a diversion while Malenko took some time off. Don't you hate that? HOUR TWO Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. - Nitro Girls. - J.J. Dillon comes out to announce the signing of a new star to WCW. Stevie Richards pops up out of nowhere and says that there are two major signings, as he himself has signed with WCW, as well as Raven. Dillon acknowledges this, but wants to know where Raven is. Richards leads Dillon over to Raven's seat so that they can sign the contract. Raven goes into a lengthy, rambling, poetic discourse on the uselessness of life ... or something. Richards says he negotiated the contract, getting Raven almost as much money as Stevie apparently signed with WCW for. He even got Raven the use of a nice car with a tape deck in it. Raven spouts some more prose and rips up the contract, then nails Richards. Dillon leaves, saying none of this is what he expected. Mean Gene says Richards messed up again. "I mean well!" replies Richards. Schiavone had been hyping this the whole show. Much like the above Muta/ Giant match, as well as some things yet to come, WCW fails to pay off on their promises. Again, absolutely NO crowd reaction to Raven or Richards. The angle, unless you haven't caught on yet, is that WCW signed Richards, assuming that they would get Raven too. Richards then "negotiated" the contract for Raven, but Raven supposedly has no interest in signing with WCW. The odds of him joining the NWO look pretty good. - LEX LUGER vs. SCOTT NORTON (w/ Buff Bagwell & Vincent) Luger squashes Norton, even though Bagwell and Vincent try to interfere. Not quite a squash, actually, as Norton does have the upper hand briefly. Luger turns things around with a flying forearm and Vincent runs in, causing the DQ. Vincent falls victim to the Torture Rack. Luger then gets on the mic to blab about Hogan, but Hogan comes partway to the ring and outyells Luger. Hogan calls Luger a "Hollywood-wannabee". - Konan is shown greeting Hall and Nash as they arrive at the arena. - Lee Marshall phones in his weasel joke. Schiavone talks about a "contest" that WCW will be doing. Send in a tape of your own Monday Nitro party and WCW will send the Nitro Girls to the best one. - MORTIS/WRATH (w/ James Vandenberg) vs. PSYCHOSIS/LA PARKA (w/ Sonny Onoo) The Mexicans go aerial, while the action figures use their strength and speed. Mortis and Wrath put Psychosis away with a powerbomb into a Diamond Cutter. La Parka then produces one of those tinkertoy wooden chairs and smashes it over Mortis' head. he struts a bit, but falls prey to a big boot from Wrath. The finishing move was the only thing interesting about this match. - BUFF BAGWELL (w/ Scott Norton & Vincent) vs. BOOKER T. This actually wasn't all that bad a match, it just didn't mean anything. Bagwell wins with the help of Norton, putting him away with the Blockbuster. Referee Nick Patrick, who at one point during the match had Bagwell cowering in the corner in fear, takes a shot from Booker T., which allows Norton to get in a clothesline on Booker. Patrick sells the shot, even after the match is over. Booker gets stomped on by all three NWO members, prompting Schiavone to question the absence of his partner, Stevie Ray. - Mean Gene interviews Rey Mysterio, Jr. Rey, on crutches, says he is foregoing surgery on his knee to rehab it naturally. Konan then comes out to taunt him, knocking away his crutch. Before he can do anything else, though, Psychosis, La Parka and the two Villanos come out to support Mysterio. Rey says this is his family. Konan calls them a bunch of "refugees". And you thought "Los Boricuas" was bad? - CURT HENNIG vs. M. WALLSTREET Hennig looks okay, but the match was way to short to see much of him. Hennig puts him away fairly quickly with the Fisherman Suplex, (AKA the "Perfectplex", now dubbed the "Hennigplex"). Diamond Dallas Page then runs in through the crowd and jumps him, eventually putting him out with the Diamond Cutter. A ring full of officials chase Page off, but the damage has already been done. Hennig, much like Raven and Richards, gets little in the way of reaction from the crowd-good or bad. - Nitro Girls. - KEVIN NASH/SCOTT HALL (w/ Syxx) vs. RIC FLAIR/CHRIS BENOIT A remarkably decent match, with a disappointing, anti-climactic ending. I should mention here that Schiavone and Tenay keep telling us that hopefully we will learn who the new Horseman is. A few matches back (I forget exactly when) they cut to the back and show Flair talking to Hennig for a few seconds, making us all assume Hennig is the new Horseman. Schiavone, at that time, said that Hennig was probably the new member, but didn't come out for some reason. Benoit starts things off, but tags Flair in early. Flair then takes a ton of punishment for several minutes. Syxx taunts Flair whenever he is down on the mat. He tries to turn things around with a sleeperhold, but Hall escapes the hold and applies one of his own. Flair escapes Hall's sleeper with a back suplex, then makes the hot tag to Benoit. Benoit, in a great sequence, takes on both Outsiders. Benoit ducks a big boot by Nash and kicks him in the gut. He slams Nash into Hall, then kicks Nash in the head. He catches Hall with a clothesline. He then climbs to the top to deliver a flying headbutt to Hall. Syxx tries to stop him, but Flair pulls him off the apron. Benoit delivers the headbutt. Nash then hoists him up for a powerbomb, but Benoit punches his way out of it. The double team finally becomes too much, though, as Benoit, while Flair is occupied with Syxx down on the floor, falls victim to a big boot by Nash. Nash covers for the pin, while Syxx wraps Flair up in the Buzzkiller. Steve McMichael comes out to pull Syxx off Flair (grabbing hold of Syxx's hair to do so). Then, just as things are starting to look good, the Steiner Brothers come out to the top of the ramp and the show ends. - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: This show had a really "big" feel to it, and it was overflowing with angles and interviews, but once they moved to the ring, it fell flat. The crowd was good, but not as rabid as one would expect with Hogan and Luger in the same building. There was only something like 11 minutes of ring action in the first hour, with all of it squash material, or copping out of hyped main event caliber matches. I'm so sick of the three NWO themes. I swear it would start up about every ten minutes. Thank Gawd there's only five guys in the Hart Foundation, and they each have different music. Why was Giant/Muta in the first hour, yet two nothing NWO matches were saved for the second? The TV Title change was forgotten by the time the following commercial had ended. Either Heenan or Tenay mentioned it just prior to the main event, but that was about it. I personally think they've botched both Raven's and Hennig's arrivals in WCW. Afraid to commit either wrestler to any clear faction, WCW tries to leave the intentions of both up in the air. As a result, Raven is completely ignored by the fans, while Hennig gets an apathetic response at best. Fans don't know whether to cheer or boo him, so they do little (if any) of either. Stevie Richards, the one least known by the average WCW fans, is getting the most mic time. Had they just brought Hennig in as part of the Horsemen, or Raven as NWO, the fans would have immediately had a basis by which to judge the two. They way they've set it up, DDP gets a big cheer when he whacks Hennig, but nothing Hennig does in return draws much of a response (yet). With Raven, the day Richards finally nails him will draw a big reaction, but all for Richards-not Raven. Instead of them being immediate impact players, the fans will just eventually get used to them. Much like their PPV's, WCW refuses to bring out Sting when they have the spotlight all to themselves. Apparently since he draws big ratings, the only time you can count on seeing him is when the WWF is putting on a pretty good show. If that isn't an admission of fear, I don't know what is. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bottom Line: Yesterday I did a brief study on just how often the various title belts have been defended on Nitro and RAW this year. I felt that while WCW defended it's titles more often, the WWF offered more quality title matches. I went over my past recaps leading up to this week, and jotted down the results. I didn't really do it to criticize one show or the other, I was merely curious to see how the two stacked up. Some interesting things came to light: Number of times Titles have been defended on Nitro in 1997 (as of 7/22): TITLE: NUMBER OF MATCHES: TITLE CHANGES: SQUASHES: UNSURE: -------------------------------------------------------------- World 1 - - - U.S. 9 1 2 4 Tag Team 4 - 2 1 Television 11 3 3 3 Cruiserweight 10 - 3 2 Women's 2 - Both? Both? Lady's Cruiser 1(?) 1(?) - - Whether or not a match is a "Squash" is sometimes left open for interpretation. The above is my judgment. The squashes are counted in the total number of matches first listed. "Unsure" means I counted them as a title match, but the match may really have been non-title. This is due to my past Recaps not specifically stating whether or not the title was on the line for those matches. Hulk Hogan's sole World Title defense was against the Giant, in the match that they stretched out during the first episode of "The New Adventures of Robin Hood". Steven Regal lost the Television Title twice on Nitro. The other TV Title change was the night Ultimo Dragon won it from Prince Iaukea, which makes Dragon a two time TV Title winner on Nitro this year. The Tag Team Titles have been defended by Hall and Nash on only four occasions ... maybe. The first two were squashes vs. the Extreme. The third, if it was actually a title match, was against Ric Flair and Roddy Piper in Boston. The fourth was this week's match against Benoit and Flair. Akira Hokuto, WCW's Women's Champion, only wrestled two matches on Nitro. Some may count both of those matches as squashes, and I'm not sure whether or not the title was on the line in either one. There has been only one Lady's Cruiserweight match, and the winner of that may or may not have been crowned the champ, though this was never stated on TV. If this match doesn't count, then this particular title has never been defended on Nitro. The most active titleholder for WCW on Nitro may have been Syxx, who at one point defended the Cruiserweight Title for straight weeks. Some of these may have been squashes, and not all four of those matches may have been title defenses, though I counted them as such. Number of times Titles have been defended on RAW in 1997 (as of 7/21): TITLE: NUMBER OF MATCHES: TITLE CHANGES: SQUASHES: UNSURE: -------------------------------------------------------------- World 5 1 - 1 Tag Team 8 2 - - IC 10 2 3 4 European 3 1 - 1 The one World Title change was when Sycho Sid beat Bret Hart the night after the "Final Four" PPV. The Undertaker wrestled one match where I am unsure if the title was on the line or not. The two Tag Team Title changes include the night Austin and Michaels won them, as well as last week's Austin/Dude Love victory. One of the IC Title changes includes the "Thursday RAW Thursday" Rocky Maivia title win. The other was the night Owen Hart won it. The European Title change listed indicates the night the Bulldog won it in the tournament final. He has defended the title at least once since then, and was in a second match in which I wasn't positively sure was a title match (but I did count anyway). These numbers are all somewhat approximate, as I only looked at my past "Monday Night Recaps", and not video of the actual shows themselves. I may have missed a couple of title defenses, and as I've noted, may have counted some that shouldn't have been. Most of those were squash matches, and there is probably a 50/50 chance that the title was on the line. As you can see, WCW had 36 total title matches, while the WWF had only 26. However, WCW has nearly twice as many titles. The WWF has had more World Title defenses, far more Tag Team Title defenses, and nearly as many IC Title defenses as WCW has had U.S. Title defenses. The bulk of WCW's title matches have involved the Cruiserweight and Television Titles, Surprising, since the TV belt seems to be so rarely defended on TV, which really isn't the case. Those matches are spaced out quite a bit, while nearly half the Cruiserweight Title matches came during one stretch of successive weeks. The U.S. Title is close behind, and it's matches too seem to have been spaced out. So what does this all mean? I was really bored Monday afternoon-THAT'S what it means. On to an entirely unrelated matter: So I'm checking out the wrestling news and rumor sites, getting the latest bits and pieces of gossip, when I'm reminded by an article that Dory Funk Jr. has his own website. Since it had been months since I'd looked at it, I decided to check it out again, figuring on adding it to my own list of links. As I'm checking out the site, imagine my surprise when I discover that his own links page is a direct copy of my links page! (Though a version that existed several months ago). It even mentions my site by name, since one of the links on the list was there because that site had given my site an award. Curiously enough, though, there is no direct link to my site. Was I angry? Actually ... no. I thought it was pretty funny, to tell the truth. (And actually it's possible that I may have given permission to copy my list of links at some time in the past and just plain forgot). Anyway, I haven't the heart to E-Mail him (or whoever it is that maintains the site) to let them know that the list is woefully out of date, as maybe half the links listed no longer exist, or have moved to new addresses. I always get a kick when I see one of the pictures from my Gallery on another website, but that's no big deal since I have a policy of allowing anyone who asks to use the pictures. I even see my "Monday Night Recap" listed on a couple of sites, which is even cooler. This is the first time that I've seen anyone use my own "List of Links" as a source for wrestling sites. It's kind of flattering. They should actually check out my current list, though, which has about three times as many links as that older list, and every link listed is active (to my knowledge). Should you be interested, the address of my site is listed at the end of the recap. You can take a look at Dory's site at "www.dory-funk.com". Now if only someone would hold up a "Slobberknocker Central" sign on TV. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 88 of the "Monday Night Recap", July 21st/22nd, 1997.