[RESULTS/OPINION] WCW Monday Nitro/WWF RAW is WAR (09/22/97) [Slobberknocker Central Monday Night Recap #97] (09/22/97) WCW Monday Nitro: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours+. Location: Salt Lake City, Utah. HOUR ONE Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Larry Zbyszko. - Kimberly works up the crowd over the house mic as the Nitro Girls make their way from separate directions through the audience to the arena floor. They converge in the aisle and do a number. - As Tony and Mike start to hype tonight's show Eric Bischoff comes to the desk. He warns Larry Zbyszko to stay out of the NWO's business, referring to Larry's interference at the PPV last week. In a move to humiliate Bischoff, Larry has the production truck play a clip of Eric getting powerbombed through the stage by Kevin Nash last year at the Great American Bash. Larry says his intent is to show what a spineless wimp Bischoff is. I suspect the real reason was to show-just in case Vince McMahon were to get attacked tonight-that Bischoff did it first. (Though the reason Bischoff did it first last year is because there were rumors at that time too that McMahon was going to be attacked). - REY MYSTERIO, JR. vs. SILVER KING An okay match, but it reminded me of one of the things about Mysterio that annoys me: the guy just can't sell properly! A light tap does the same damage to him as a powerbomb, and both only get sold for a three count or so then Rey whips into another offensive move. This has bothered me since I first saw him in some matches from Mexico and this match tonight reminded me of that. Anyway, Rey wins with a nasty execution of his springboard huracanrana. Silver King snapped over and landed on his head, which made the move look awesome. Rey gets the three count. Eddie Guerrero then appears and jumps up on the apron. With his hair tied back partially in a ponytail he now looks like Leif Cassidy from ten paces away. He drop back to the floor, arguing with the ref. Mysterio suddenly somersaults over the ref and knocks Guerrero to the floor. Rey takes a good look at Guerrero's Cruiserweight Title belt, then lays it across Eddie's waist. I'm still not wild about them demoting Eddie back into the Cruiserweight division, but a feud with Mysterio is much better than a lot of the stuff they've had him do lately. Somewhere around now Tony Schiavone mentions that the show may have to run over beyond two hours, as there's just so much on the schedule. Of course they won't admit why they really want to run over. After all, most every other Nitro manages to fit in two hours. Why schedule so much that you know you will probably have to run over? Since they know they will run over at the start they obviously intended to do so all along. Why not be honest then and just say "Nitro will be two-and-a-half hours tonight!" or whatever. I'm sure folks taping the show would have appreciated it. For those of you out there who may not be sure just exactly when Nitro will be running over, just remember this: if RAW is live, Nitro will most likely run over by at least 20 minutes, with at least one show a month probably going three hours. Until January, that is. They also really hype an upcoming announcement by Interim Commissioner "Rowdy" Roddy Piper later in the show. They promise us earth-shattering, monumental news. - HUGH MORRUS vs. "STONE COLD" BILL GOLDBERG Oh now come on! Goldberg, a newcomer and total mystery to the announcing crew, opens up a can of whoop-ass on Hugh Morrus, beating him in a major upset in his Nitro debut. Goldberg kicks out of Morrus' "No Laughing Matter" moonsault. Goldberg, in his little black boots and little black tights, pins Morrus following a high vertical suplex. Why? 'Cause Bill Goldberg said so! Give me a break. Going into the commercial they run an NWO paid for promo which plays a bit of the infamous Arn Anderson parody. - Nitro Girls in the ring. - They show the clip of Larry Zbyszko interfering in the Fall Brawl match between Luger, Page, Hall and Savage. Larry distracted Scott Hall, allowing Lex Luger to roll him up from behind. Larry then went into the ring and did a fast three count. - ALEX WRIGHT vs. DISCO INFERNO Early in the match they show Raven sitting in the front row. I'm sure a lot of people totally into Wright's gimmick will say this was a great match. I wasn't quite as moved. Little happened before they cut to a commercial. Once back, it was all fairly slow action, with Wright in control. Wright still can't do a credible looking move off the top turnbuckle as he comes off and stomps on Disco's chest, which looked dumb and weak. Disco comes back and it degenerates into a Jim Duggan-esque stomp and slugfest. Disco gets the crowd behind him as he mounts his comeback, but gets stopped when he tries a move off the top. In a really terrible looking finish the two men go into the ropes. Wright goes around Disco with a cartwheel that looked to throw Disco almost completely off his timing. The two then come at each other and both launch into cross bodyblocks. They collide in midair and the two crumple to the mat, with Disco landing on top of the pile. Disco gets the upset win and becomes the new WCW World Television Champion. (One long, dark nightmare is over, while yet another begins). Mean Gene Okerlund comes out with Jacquelyn, who confronts Disco, saying we all know why he left WCW earlier this year. Disco says this isn't the time or the place to rehash that. WCW continues to book with a nod toward the smart fans. Another NWO paid clip with more of the Anderson parody. - Scott Hall and Syxx go to the ring to deliver comments. Insert your own NWO catchphrases here. Hall taunts Larry Zbyszko. He then calls for Terry Taylor (another nod to the "smarts") to send Lex Luger out. With Luger not appearing he calls out Zbyszko. Larry walks to the ring and the two trade insults. - SCOTT HALL (w/ Syxx) vs. HECTOR GARZA Hall spends so much time pestering the ref that he falls victim to a roll-up at the hands of Garza. Referee Mark Curtis drops and makes the three count. Hall retaliates by beating the piss out of both Garza and Curtis. Not all that much of a first hour. The Disco title win was simultaneously the high and low point. From this point on I didn't watch any more of Nitro as it played out live. In fact, I switched over to RAW well before the Hall/Garza match got underway. I didn't see the rest of the show until the replay. As always I watched each show again in full on tape in preparation for this Recap. HOUR TWO Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. - LA PARKA/PSYCHOSIS/LOS VILLANOS (w/ Sonny Onoo) vs. ULTIMO DRAGON/JUVENTUD GUERRERA/CICLOPE/LIZMARK JR. If you were watching this instead of RAW you made a big mistake. Tons of mayhem, chaos and nonsense. Half the match is used to set up the expected spot where everyone jumps on everyone else on the floor (though thankfully Hector Garza wasn't in the match, meaning we didn't have to wait a minute for him to set up his corkscrew plancha). Juventud eventually pins La Parka. How? Does it matter? Los rudos rarely ever win these matches in WCW. Just pick a team and hope they win, because that's all the match means. A hundred five star moves strung together for a match which lasted less than five minutes. I'm sure someone somewhere will rate this match at least four stars. I'm so happy they were pleased. The best part of the match came when all the guys were jumping on each other outside the ring. Bobby Heenan asked Tony Schiavone if he'd like him to hold his headset so that Tony could run in and jump on someone. - Interim Commissioner "Rowdy" Roddy Piper comes out for his huge announcement. Wait a minute ... Commissioner? I thought J.J. Dillon was the "Chairman of the Executive Committee", or something like that? He wasn't the Commissioner, so why is Piper now the "Interim Commissioner"? This stuff would make a lot more sense if WCW didn't spend so much time watching and stealing ideas from the WWF. Piper takes forever to announce: 1. Scott Hall will face Lex Luger at Halloween Havoc, which Hall himself had mentioned minutes earlier. Larry Zbyszko will be the special referee, guaranteeing either an easy win for Luger or a Zbyszko beating at the hands of the NWO-possibly both. 2. Even though WCW is considering "banning" them (yeah ... right), the match between Piper and Hogan at Halloween Havoc will be in a steel cage. Both of these announcement were not only probably already assumed by the majority of the regular fans, but were also old news to the on-line fans. Proving that the WWF isn't the only ones who can do a really bad promotional tie-in commercial, Randy Savage does a Slim Jim Halloween Havoc spot. The concept is a cross between "The Home Shopping Network" and "Elvira: Mistress of the Dark". - THE STEINER BROTHERS (w/ Ted DiBiase) vs. FACES OF FEAR I can't say this one was bad, but it sure wasn't good either. After only a few minutes of action featuring guys about as mobile as those old WWF action figures, the FOF get the upset win. The Steiners set up the Barbarian for the Bulldog off the top rope, but Meng pushes Rick off the top turnbuckle. Rick takes out both the Barbarian and his brother Scott. Meng then tries a kick but Rick ducks under it. Rick awkwardly grabs Meng, setting up a belly-to-belly suplex. Meng blocks it by applying the Tongan Death Grip, driving Rick to the mat and getting the pin. Gee ... another upset. What's the deal with WCW's tag team division, anyway? First off, we have two champs who only defend the belts about once every three months. We then get the Steiners, Harlem Heat and Faces of Fear as rotating number one contenders. The only other regular team they have is Mortis and Wrath, who spend half their time wrestling Glacier and Ernest Miller. When they do face the top ranked teams they lose. The final two tag teams in WCW are the Public Enemy and High Voltage, who seemed to be locked into a part-time feud with each other and take turns serving as jobbers to the other teams. Most recently they had established the Steiners as once again the top contenders, yet they turn around and have them lose to Harlem Heat at the big Seattle house show, and now to the Faces of Fear on live TV. The Steiners were supposed to face the Outsiders at the next PPV, but now word is that Kevin Nash is injured and will miss the show. Additionally, Scott Hall has already been scheduled for a match with Lex Luger. Remember the good old days when teams engaged in good feuds and after a while the bad teams went away? WCW, apparently unable to find any more available tag teams on the planet, are forced to constantly cycle between the Steiners, Heat and FOF as the team destined to be humiliated by the Outsiders. WCW has proven that each of these teams is as good (or bad) as the others. Perhaps all this would be at least watchable if the Tag Team Titles were involved but, alas, they are firmly planted around the waists of Hall and Nash, being lowered to the status of costume jewelry. Were this the old days I can easily imagine articles appearing in Pro Wrestling Illustrated asking the question "should WCW's Tag Team belts be truly considered WORLD Tag Team Titles?" (I seem to remember them asking the same question about the WWF's World Title several years back). That's not to say the tag team situation is any better in the WWF. If WCW's tag team division is on oxygen right now, the WWF's is in an iron lung. - "Hollywood" Hogan comes out for his weekly gab-fest. This time he is wearing the robe of Ric Flair which Curt Hennig gave to him last week. Hogan has cut off the arms, displaying his twenty-four inch pythons. Hogan challenges Sting to come out. Sting, of course, isn't in the building this week. He and Bischoff also take a few shots at Piper. - RANDY "MACHO MAN" SAVAGE (w/ Elizabeth) vs. STEVIE RICHARDS Savage cozies up to a ring girl on his way in. Savage then says Liz will accompany Curt Hennig to the ring in his match later in the show. Early in this match they mention that it has been officially signed: Savage will face Diamond Dallas Page at Halloween Havoc. Again I ask myself "didn't we already know this?" Quick match. Elizabeth, in a real eye-opener of a move, actually chokes Richards as he lays on the apron (as Savage distracts the ref). She also directs Savage back into the ring as he gets into a staredown with Raven at ringside. (Savage had tossed Richards to the floor, then slammed him into the rail in front of Raven-bringing Raven to his feet). Savage tosses Richards back in the ring and nails him with an elbow off the top, planting one boot on his chest for the three count. Raven hops the rail and enters the ring. After a long staredown with Savage, he goes over to the corner and DDT's Richards. Err-umm ... oooookaaaay. this could turn out to be an interesting feud, but there's still one problem: NO ONE HAS ANY IDEA WHO RAVEN IS!!! This is supposed to appeal to all the ECW fans, yet most of them consider Raven and Richards "sell-outs". WCW's fans are still stuck seeing these two as "that guy who can't win a match" and "that guy who runs in from the crowd and beats up the first one". If you had no idea what ECW is, or hadn't seen it, then these guys have been presented to you as a jobber and an over-eager fan. Not exactly the caliber of competition which you would want to book in a high profile match against Randy Savage, unless they plan on pushing Raven by putting him over Savage. Early word is that these two will compete in some kind of "extreme" match at some point in the future, in a continuing effort to pull in the "hardcore" fans. - KONAN/SCOTT NORTON (w/ Vincent) vs. HARLEM HEAT (w/ Jacquelyn) I'm not going to even try to figure out what the point of this match was, nor why it was placed so high on the card. Booker T. comes out without Stevie Ray and tells the NWO that his brother is injured. He says he'll face either one of the two one-on-one. Norton, who apparently has the final say in all matches in WCW, tells Booker T. that he signed for a tag team match, and it's a tag team match that he will wrestle. I guess the ref has no say in all this? Booker T. wins the match by DQ a few minutes later when all three NWO members stomp on him. Remember what I said above about the various tag teams? I forgot to mention the on-again/off-again team of "Vicious & Delicious". It seems my omission of them was justified, as in this match one member of that team- Scott Norton-tags with Konan instead. - Nitro Girls. - JEFF JARRETT (w/ Debra McMichael) vs. CURT HENNIG (w/ Elizabeth) Jarrett comes out to a smattering of applause and boos, but little else. Hennig gets a better reaction, though that's probably due in part to his coming out to the NWO music. They cut to a commercial. This was, dare I say it, a fairly good match. A nice mix of mat wrestling and brawling. The crowd even got into, though at an energy level well below that usually generated by the likes of DDP, Flair, Lex Luger, Hogan and Sting. Hennig concentrates on softening Jarrett up for a submission hold like the sleeper, while Jarrett goes to work on Hennig's legs in preparation for the Figure Four-which Jarrett is eventually able to slap on. Liz then distracts the ref as Randy Savage comes running in to hand Hennig the U.S. Title belt. Hennig nails Jarrett, freeing himself from the hold. Jarrett sells it likes he's been hit by a bus. Hennig hauls up Jarrett's lifeless form and puts him in the Hennig-Plex, getting the three count and the win. Out comes the rest of the NWO to congratulate Hennig. Savage and some of the others take the opportunity to lay in a little extra punishment, which continues until the Giant comes out. In a completely insulting statement, Tony Schiavone signs off by yelling "We're out of time. We've gotta go!" Baloney ... you had time to show us that Konan/Booker T. crap! Nitro could run until 5:00 in the morning if it wanted to, so don't insult our intelligence by suddenly saying you're "out of time!" - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: I can't call this a bad show, but I can't rave about it either. The obvious theme of the night was "upsets", and each successive one was less believable than the one before it. This show also can't claim the top-to- bottom quality level matches as they could last week. The Wright/Inferno and Mysterio/Silver King matches were good, with the eight-man lucha match probably even better. My personal pick of best match was probably the main event, given the good mix of styles and story behind the match. Actually though, the weak finish would probably prompt me to name the Mysterio match as the best if pushed on the matter. Either way, that makes Nitro's best moment as being right at the beginning or the end, making the bulk of the show somewhat irrelevant, pointless, or at the very least uneventful. Sting's continued absence would seem to be due to them trying to push the Hogan/Piper match as actually meaning something. If that's the case though, then why does Hogan go ahead and ruin it by making the empty challenge to Sting? WCW tries hard to get the fans to forget about Sting for a minute and Hogan goes and puts his foot in his mouth. I did get a kick out of seeing Hogan wearing Flair's robe though. That's good old fashioned heel heat in my book. Piper continues to be a problem for WCW as half the "announcements" he makes have to be clarified by Mean Gene in the interviews. Piper continues to make jokes uses references as much as a decade out of style. I'm surprised he doesn't ask Hogan "wheeeeere's the beef?!" Anyone else notice how much Halloween Havoc is shaping up to be a PPV of rehashed matches? Piper/Hogan, Savage/DDP, Hall/Luger to name a few. The Steiners vs. the Outsiders had been scheduled, but that seems to have been dropped with Nash's injury and Hall being put in the match with Luger. I'm guessing we'll now get some combination of the Steiners, Harlem Heat and Faces of Fear in a match, every combination of which I believe has been on PPV in the last year. Maybe they'll do another pointless triangle match. Hennig/Jarrett we just got for free on TV. Like most every other WCW PPV this year, this should be another one with okay midcard matches and a bad NWO-involved main event. Piper may somehow get the win, but there's no way he's getting the belt. Having Hogan lose it for even a day would diminish Sting's eventual victory and title win at Starrcade (assuming it happens). WCW is already all but refusing to acknowledge Lex Luger's recent title win for fear that it will make the prospect of beating Hogan seem too easy. You know what really bugs me about WCW right now? (And I don't mean the usual stuff like Eric Bischoff and Glacier and Kevin Nash and the Nitro Girls). It's the fact that they have five titles, yet not one "dominant" titleholder who can win based on ability alone. Hogan, Hennig and the Outsiders all rely on NWO interference. Disco Inferno just won his title, and you know he'll be at risk to lose it every time in the ring from now until he actually does lose it. About the closest they have is Eddie Guerrero, and he often plays the cowardly heel role and resorts to cheating to win. I'm not calling for an old style Hogan titleholder here, but it is nice once in a while to have a credible titleholder who proves himself dominant and wins cleanly over a series of challengers. They can be either a face or heel (Flair at his best during much of the 80's being a good example). Taken as a whole, I'd say Taz is right now the best titleholder in the U.S. wrestling promotions, with Bret Hart close behind. Having weak titleholders from top to bottom makes to promotion seem less realistic, and for some makes them less enjoyable to follow. Having it possible for the belt to change hands in most every match makes the eventual title changes seem less important and noteworthy, making the titles almost irrelevant. Take away the titles and wrestling loses a lot of it's appeal. After all, why watch people simply beat each other up if there's never a way to prove who is better and who is the best-even if it's only for a short amount of time? Look at pro boxing, which has about 67 different weight classes and a title belt for each. Even the UFC gives their champion a belt for winning (or at least they did in the most recent one I saw). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Quick WWF One Night Only Results (09/20/97): * Free For All Countdown Show: - The Undertaker, Bret Hart, Owen Hart and Shawn Michaels were all interviewed. Announcers for the PPV were Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler. * One Night Only Pay-Per-View: - Hunter Hearst Helmsley defeated Dude Love, pinning him after applying the Pedigree. - Tiger Ali Singh beat Leif Cassidy with a Tigerbomb, followed by the pin. - The Headbangers defeated Los Boricuas (Savio Vega & Miguel Perez). - The Patriot pinned Flash Funk following the full nelson powerbomb. - The Legion of Doom beat the Godwinns, pinning Phineas after executing the Doomsday Device. - Jim Ross interviewed Ken Shamrock, who was pulled from the card due to an injury. Rockabilly came out to taunt the injured Shamrock, but received an ankle submission hold for his troubles. - Vader pinned Owen Hart after catching him in a leap off the top turnbuckle, then powerslamming him. - Bret "Hitman" Hart defeated the Undertaker via disqualification. Both men focused on their opponent's legs. The Undertaker escaped from two Sharpshooter attempts, as well as reversing a Figure Four, applying one of his own. The match spilled to the floor where a cameraman was knocked out. The Undertaker was finally DQ'ed after hitting a number of referees and WWF officials. - Shawn Michaels scored a win over the British Bulldog to become the new WWF European Champion. Michaels was being dominated by the Bulldog when Rick Rude came to the ring and interfered. Despite Rude's presence the Bulldog mounted a comeback. Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Chyna then came to the ring. Michaels distracted the ref, allowing Rude, Helmsley and Chyna to work over the Bulldog. Michaels went on to work over the knee of Davey Boy's which Michaels had injured a few weeks ago. The referee stopped the match, declaring the Bulldog unfit to continue. Michaels was declared the winner and new champion. After the match Chyna intimidated Diana Smith, the Bulldog's wife. Bret Hart and Owen Hart came out to assist the Bulldog, chasing off Michaels, Helmsley rude and Chyna. WWF RAW is WAR: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours. Location: New York City, New York. HOUR ONE Hosted By: Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler. - A Jim Ross voiceover features clips reveling in the glorious past of WWF wrestling at Madison Square Garden over the years. I really can't do this segment justice, as it featured significant sights and sound from over twenty years of history in the Garden, ranging from the title reign of Bruno Sammartino to the return of Bret Hart. The WWF once again proves they are the best at evoking fond memories of the past and using them to hype the present. (BTW, nearly every current WCW star is featured in the clips with the exception of Kevin Nash. Hogan, Savage, Piper and Scott "Razor Ramon" Hall are all prominently featured). A massive crowd is in the arena, somewhere in the 14,000 range (with, as I understand it, over 10,000 paid, making for a gate of something like a quarter million dollars, apparently surpassing the Boston Nitro as the most profitable Monday night card of the year). - AHMED JOHNSON vs. ROCKY MAIVIA (w/ the Nation of Domination) Commissioner Slaughter orders the rest of the Nation back to the lockerroom. Ahmed, despite his recent alliance with the NOD, is way over with most of the crowd. Rocky draws several "Rocky sucks!" chants. The match starts off slow in the ring, with Rocky actually getting the upper hand early on. A few minutes in Rocky whips Ahmed into the ropes. Ahmed tumbles to the floor. He puts his hand up to the Spanish announcer's table to stop his roll and immediately pulls it back, gasping it in pain. A later shot reveals that he has cut it open on the edge of the table. Speaking of the table, both announcing teams are seated at new style announcing tables. They are solid podium-like structures, with the lower part being made of aluminum or stainless steel, and the upper part being made of wood or molded plastic. Each has sculpted cowlings which look a bit like windshields, which serve to protect the announcer's papers and such from flying bodies and debris. Each table has a WWF logo sticker in the center. The days of wrestlers trashing the announcer's tables look to be over. Back to the match, Rocky continues to dominate. Rocky tosses Ahmed into the ring steps. The camera shows Ahmed sliced his hand open pretty good on the rough underside edge of the new announcer's desk. Rocky throws Ahmed back into the ring. Rocky seems to have the match thoroughly in hand when Ahmed kicks him in the gut and applies the Pearl River Plunge. Ahmed get the three count, the win, and advances in the Intercontinental Title tournament. - *Kee-rash!* "Stone Cold's" music starts up as he's shown struggling his way through the upper level crowd. Austin says over a house mic that someone's going to get their ass whipped tonight. A shot of McMahon shows him looking pensive. - Floyd Patterson, former boxing great and current New York State Athletic Commission chairman is shown in attendance at the show. - They show still photos from the "One Night Only" PPV. - The Undertaker comes to the ring for an interview. McMahon outlines the details of the "Hell in the Cell" match at the "Badd Blood" PPV. It will be in an oversized cage with a top, with the underside of the ring being searched before the match. The match can only end with a pin or submission. Furthermore, the winner of the match will get a World Title shot at the Survivor Series. The Undertaker says the only way Shawn Michaels can win is over his dead body. Michaels' music starts up and out he comes. Shawn says the WWF is screwing him over again. He asks why they don't just give the Undertaker a title shot if that's their intention, whereas Michaels deserves a title shot simply because he's held every belt in the WWF, as well as being the current European Champion. Shawn again says he lays down for no one. Then strangely, in what seems more like a lull in his speech as opposed to the actual finish, the show abruptly switches to a black screen, then the commercial. - Sunny comes out to introduce the next match. - LEGION OF DOOM vs. FAAROOQ/KAMA They replay Ken Shamrock getting powerslammed last week, which led to his spitting up blood and his being put out of action for the next few weeks. Faarooq is now back in the IC Title tournament, taking Shamrock's place. They thankfully keep this one quick. After a few minutes of mindless back-and-forth stomping Faarooq is set up for the Doomsday Device. The NOD's D-Lo suddenly runs in and clips Animal from behind, drawing the DQ. The three NOD members stomp on the LOD. Ahmed Johnson runs out to make the save, but the arrival of Rocky Maivia creates a four-on-three advantage. The LOD and Ahmed are left laying in the ring. - "One Night Only" ... available on video for $19.95 plus $6.00 s/h. - Another classic Garden clip is shown, this time of Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka doing his infamous cage dive on the Magnificent Muraco. - Owen Hart comes to the ring with goofy new music and an NYPD honor guard (on the look-out for that rogue Steve Austin no doubt). Brian Pillman drags Marlena to the ring. This week she's dressed in an even skimpier outfit than last week. Pillman has his left arm in a sling. Too bad, as this should have been an exceptional- "HEY BUTT-HEAD ... I JUST SAW HER ASS!!!" "Whoa! So did I! She gives me a *special feeling*, Beavis." "*Boi-oi-oi-oing!*" "*Uh-huh-uh-huh-uh-huh-uh-huh-uh-huh-uh-huh-uh-huh-uh-huh-uh-huh-uh!*" "*Eh-heh-eh-heh-eh-heh-eh-heh-eh-heh-eh-heh-eh-heh-eh-heh-eh-heh-eh!*" Pillman grabs a mic and says he injured himself by falling off the bed while making Marlena squeal like a pig. He says he'll have to forfeit the match, allowing Owen to advance to the final match in the IC Tournament. Owen grudgingly accepts the forfeit victory. Commissioner Slaughter comes to the ring and asks Pillman where his x-rays and doctor's note are? Pillman says he left them in his car and hotel room. Slaughter then tosses him the microphone, which Pillman catches with the hand on his "injured" left arm. Slaughter orders the match to take place, or both Owen and Pillman will be kicked out of the WWF. - OWEN HART vs. BRIAN PILLMAN (w/ Marlena) The two lock up in super slow motion, exchanging holds with no force behind them. This continues until they take a break a minute or so later. Back from the break things have escalated, as Marlena nailed Owen with her purse. Owen, thinking Pillman made her do it (or is at least responsible) nails him and slams him into the ring steps. This all happened during the break. In the ring both men are now going at it full speed and strength. Things look pretty even, but the match comes to an abrupt end when Goldust runs in the ring and attacks Owen. Since Owen was the one hit, he gets the benefit if the DQ decision, and thus advances in the tournament. Pillman escapes with Marlena in tow. Goldust can be heard yelling something that probably should have been censored, but someone was apparently asleep at the switch at the USA Network. Owen gets on the mic and dedicates his continued advancement in the IC Title tournament to his big brother Bret. Owen is still thanking his loving brother Bret when Steve Austin runs in from behind and clotheslines him. Austin is quickly surrounded by police officers intent on taking him into custody for violating the restraining order filed against him by Owen. "Wait a minute!" yells McMahon, who takes off his headset and climbs into the ring. McMahon asks the officers to back off and allow him to speak to Austin. Vince gets on the house mic and says Steve needs to calm down and realize that what he's doing is wrong ... that he can't break the law in his insane quest to gain revenge on Owen Hart. Vince says the WWF just wants him to take the time off and get better-that they and all the fans only want to make sure he doesn't hurt himself permanently. "You have to work within the system!" McMahon says. Austin grudgingly admits that he will abide by what the WWF wants him to do. He says he appreciates that the WWF cares for him. He also appreciates the fact that THEY CAN KISS HIS ASS!!! Austin kicks McMahon in the gut, then drops him to the mat with the Stone Cold Stunner! McMahon flops over Austin's body instead of just dropping straight down to the mat. In a performance that William Shatner would call "hammy", McMahon twitches and jerks on the mat, as his neural-motor system going haywire due to Austin's devastating maneuver. (Heh!) The ring fills with WWF officials as Austin drops to the mat and taunts McMahon right in his face. Once back on his feet he is surrounded and handcuffed by the police officers. "Stone Cold" is led away from the ring, but not before he flips McMahon the double bird. *Kee-rash!* Ross and Lawler declare that Austin is sure to be fired for this. HOUR TWO Hosted By: Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler. - Hour two starts by acknowledging the passing away of wrestling legend Dick "The Bulldog" Brower. - They replay the Stunner three times. Ross takes a clear shot at Tony Schiavone by saying he won't walk off the job. An incredibly large pair of breasts can be seen behind the broadcasting duo. - HUNTER HEARST HELMSLEY (w/ Chyna) vs. DUDE LOVE Lawler reveals that the large breasts belong to Rhonda Shear, host of USA's "Up All Night". Dude's music plays, but he doesn't come out. He appears on the Titan-Tron instead. Dude says this match, which is "No DQ/Falls Count Anywhere", isn't his type of match. Dude says he knows a man who is better suited to this type of match ... a KIND man. Through a bit of video wizardry Mankind then shakes Dude Love's hand and sits down next to him. Mankind says that as much as he'd like to get his hands on Helmsley, there is someone who would like to do so even more than him. Someone who is better suited for this type of match. Enter Cactus Jack, who says it's time Mrs. Foley's little boy realized his lifelong dream of wrestling in Madison Square Garden. Out comes Cactus with a two garbage cans and a snow shovel. The crowd goes suitably nuts. "Cactus Jack" makes his WWF debut! - HUNTER HEARST HELMSLEY (w/ Chyna) vs. CACTUS JACK Cactus nails Helmsley on the head with the metal garbage can as Helmsley charges up the ramp (drawing a large pop from the crowd). Cactus dumps garbage on his back. The crowd chants "ECW!" as Helmsley is slammed into the ring steps. Helmsley tries to run around the ring, but Cactus catches him and takes him back to a spot where he has rolled back the floor mat, DDT'ing him on that spot. Helmsley is tossed into the ring then quickly taken back out with a clothesline. A "Bang! Bang!" from Cactus draws a cheer. Helmsley makes another run for it. Cactus follows, but is nailed by Chyna, who had been hiding down around the corner of the ring. (The camera doesn't really pick up the shot, but a later replay shows that she nailed him with an awesome clothesline). She then clotheslines him over the rail into and open area on the crowd side of the barrier, which is an aisle leading to another arena entryway. Helmsley follows and the two brawl down the aisle, through a curtain into a hallway intersection. Helmsley bodyslams Cactus and covers for a pin, but only gets a two count. Helmsley thinks he's gotten a three count and starts to celebrate. As the ref is telling him it was only two, Cactus comes out from behind the curtain with a fire extinguisher, shooting CO2 at him. Cactus chucks Helmsley at the rail, knocking the entire length of it on that side of the ring over. Another "ECW!" chant. Cactus again throws him in the ring, then tosses him into the corner. Helmsley goes up and over and drops back to the arena floor. Cactus throws the garbage can at Helmsley. He follows with an elbowdrop off the second turnbuckle to the floor, but Helmsley moves. Cactus smashes the garbage can flat instead. Chyna comes over and grabs Cactus, slamming him into the ring steps. Helmsley measures him for a garbage can shot as they cut to a commercial. *D'oh!* Helmsley is working over Cactus with a mop handle. A chair lies in the ring. They show the can shot we missed going into the break. Helmsley snaps Cactus' neck across the top rope, dropping him to the floor. Chyna pushes Cactus up onto the apron. Helmsley then hauls him into the ring, following up with a chair shot to the midsection. Helmsley takes him out onto the apron and slams him into the post a couple of times. He goes for a third but Cactus mule kicks Helmsley in the jewels. Helmsley drops to the floor. Cactus then does a Sunset Flip from the apron to the floor, rolling up Helmsley for a two count. Cactus charges, but Helmsley sidesteps and slams Cactus into the rail. Helmsley then charges at Cactus, but Cactus back bodydrops him onto the steel ramp. Cactus gives the crowd another "Bang! Bang!" Chyna then nails him with a chair to the head. She goes for a second but he blocks it. Helmsley charges in from behind, shoving Helmsley (and unfortunately Chyna) into the steel steps. Chyna is sandwiched and slumps to the floor. Helmsley and Cactus brawl their way up the steel entrance ramp. They trade two count pinfall attempts midway up. Helmsley back suplexes Cactus on the ramp. He then goes to the top of the ramp and gets the other garbage can, this one made of plastic, which he nails Cactus with. Helmsley nails Cactus with the snow shovel. He then goes through the curtain, only to emerge seconds later with a wooden table. (The crowd goes wild). Helmsley slams Cactus down onto the ramp to allow him time to set up the table. He then signals for the Pedigree and hauls Cactus onto the table. He starts to set up the move, but Cactus forearm shots him in the batch and puts Helmsley into a Piledriver, which demolishes the table. The two slump to the ramp, Cactus lying on top. The ref drops and makes a three count, giving Cactus the win. Chyna jumps on him to break up the count, but is way too late. In one word: awesome. (A quick not about the table: I've seen some news sites saying the table was pre-cut. I seriously doubt this as there was simply no need to pre-cut it. It was already constructed of cheap plywood, obviously made specifically for this table spot. The table bowed deeply with the two wrestlers on it, and would probably have broken immediately if there was any kind of cut along the underside). - Another classic Garden clip features Andre the Giant bodyslamming Big John Studd at the first WrestleMania. - In case you missed it, they show McMahon getting Stunned three more times. They also replay the "One Night Only" still photos. - Shawn Michaels comes to the ring carrying the chair he dented over the Undertaker's head (or a reasonable facsimile). Calling himself the WWF's first "Grand Slam Winner", he sets up the chair in the rings, takes a seat and calls the Undertaker out. Quick commercial. Shawn is still calling out the Undertaker. He again tells the crowd just how gay he is or isn't. Out comes the Undertaker. Before he can get to the ring Helmsley charges him from behind, but the Undertaker senses him coming and nails him. This serves as a distraction for Shawn to nail him with the chair. Shawn continues to lay in chairshots as Rick Rude and Chyna come out. The four of them nail him with the chair and stomp on him. The Undertaker finally sits up and Shawn's Kliqle Threat decide that this just isn't working. - BRET "HITMAN" HART vs. GOLDUST Non-title match. Hart gets on the house mic and says he doesn't care who wins between Michaels and the Undertaker because he's afraid of neither of them. Goldust comes to the ring with only half his face painted again, with the hammer & sickle logo which Pillman usually has on his tights on the painted side of his face. Fairly brief match. Hart dominates early, going to work on Goldust's knees. Bret is really going to work, slamming Goldust's knees against the ringpost when Shawn Michaels comes out to the top of the ramp. Bret still has the advantage, but Goldust begins to mount a comeback. The two battle back-and-forth until Hart is able to maneuver Goldust into the Sharpshooter for the win. (I'm skipping over quite a bit here, but it's already Thursday morning and my computer is telling me that it's out of memory, meaning this Recap is already monstrously huge). Hart gets the win, but refuses to relinquish the Sharpshooter. Shawn Michaels runs in and nails Hart from behind. For the first time since early this year the two trade blows in a wrestling ring. Helmsley runs in and he and Shawn doubleteam Bret. Owen Hart runs in, evening things up. The British Bulldog limps in after Owen, giving the Hart Foundation the advantage. Rick Rude comes out, making it three-on-three. The crowd pops as Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart suddenly appears and storms the ring, again giving the Hart Foundation the advantage. The melee continues until the Undertaker charges the ring and begins to toss everyone out. Left only with Bret and Shawn, the Undertaker grabs the two by the throat and chokeslams both. The show ends. - Next week: Faarooq vs. Ahmed. Comments: An absolutely great RAW. McMahon's Stunner, while long expected, was great to see. McMahon overselling it made it all the more memorable. What was a legitimate surprise was the debut of Cactus Jack. I never even guessed that the WWF had this planned. I loved the way they did it, and the resulting fight was a Match of the Year candidate. Finally, seeing Shawn and Bret go at it again was a total shocker. Having Shawn win the European Title seemed to make little sense, other than assuming it was a token to keep him happy. It seems what it may really be is part of the concessions made to him to not only keep him happy in the WWF, but to entice him into resuming his feud with Hart. I'm guessing that McMahon, Hart and Michaels all sat down and worked out a booking plan that was mutually acceptable to all involved. Hart/Michaels at Survivor Series now seems a given, with Michaels' Kliq (or as I've dubbed them, the "Kliqle Threat") being the next feud for Bret's Hart Foundation. All in all it added up to a memorable show. It may not have matched up to Nitro in terms of total quality in-ring action, but it wasn't terrible either. Even the least interesting matches were either watchable or kept very brief. It wasn't perfect, though, and lacked a few things. A quality Light Heavyweight match would have put it over the top. Both Marc Mero and Brian Christopher were supposed to be there but weren't. (Mero's appearance was a long standing rumor, while Christopher said on Superstars that he would be there-or at least he indicated such). We also didn't see any of the wilder rumors come true, which involved everything from an ECW invasion, Yokozuna returning and a Headshrinkers reunion to the reforming of Demolition, the Nasty Boys showing up and the return of the Ultimate Warrior. As I had said the last two weeks, the odds of any of that stuff happening were slim and none. Slim obviously missed his flight. I'm told that once the cameras went off the dark match main event began between Hart, Michaels and the Undertaker. The match was short, with the Undertaker apparently hitting Shawn with a Tombstone Piledriver a few minutes in. He then covered for the pin, but was pulled out of the ring by Helmsley. Bret then quickly covered Shawn and got the three count! Far-freakin'-out! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bottom Line: The ratings tell an interesting story this week. Nitro won, of course, though the actual numbers show something really interesting (which most every WCW on-line fan and website has chosen to ignore). Not only did their ratings go down from last week, but they again for the second week saw the first hour get a higher rating than the second. Hour one did a 3.8, while hour two did a 3.65 (making for an approximate 3.7 average). The show peaked up to a 4.4 somewhere during the Bill Goldberg match and eight-man tag match stretch, and dropped way back down to a 3.2 for the end of hour two. Hennig/Jarrett did a 3.3 in the overrun, making it one of the lowest rated Nitro main events in the last half year. Nitro's ratings slide over hour two coincided almost exactly with RAW's ratings rise during their first hour. The ratings for Nitro's replay was fairly miserable, pulling in a 1.6 rating. This is actually the third week in a row that the second hour received a lower average rating than the first, as two weeks ago the two hourly scores were almost identical, with the second hour only being slightly below the first. The gap widened noticeably last week, and was again present this week. This week's averaged score was about a tenth of a point below last week's, (while this week's RAW, by comparison, dropped about three tenths of a point compared to last week). Prior to these last three weeks, Nitro's second hour almost always did better than the first. You actually have to go back to November of last year to find a Nitro in which the first hour did better than the second. In case you're interested, last year at this time Nitro earned a 3.0 to RAW's 2.0. As a matter of fact, both shows are very close to par for what they were doing at this time last year, which probably goes to show that both shows are more affected by whatever else is on TV at that time than whatever each other does. I just find it very interesting that after a year of jockeying and maneuvering both shows have pretty much ended up back where they started. Both shows have sizable core audiences, with a number of fans that swing back and forth between the two shows, as well as other TV programming on that night. What's undeniable is that Nitro's core audience is bigger than RAW's, though I'd say much of that's due to WCW's broader focus. Their product isn't necessarily better, it just appeals to a broader range of fans, thus appealing to more people. RAW, for the record, did about a 2.4 in their first hour and a 2.3 for the second, making an average of 2.35 or so. While certainly far from terrible, they had to have been a disappointment to the WWF. The possibility of getting into the 3.0 range had to have been reasonable expectation. RAW peaked at a 2.6 when McMahon got Stunned, and did so at the same time as Nitro plummeted down to a 3.2. This was one of the rare cases where it's very reasonable to assume that Nitro lost viewers directly to RAW. Usually both shows see raises and decreases that don't exactly correlate with one another. Up until recently both shows just started slow and increased viewers as they went along. Something has now changed. Whether it's directly contributable to the two wrestling shows, or has something to do with the larger arena on Monday night television is uncertain. What is certain though, is that the ratings war will continue for some time. While it's unrealistic to predict a RAW win any time soon-if ever-the recent numbers show that we may again reach a point where both shows get very close in the ratings. A year ago it was the arrival of Roddy Piper which saved WCW from sliding down to the point where RAW actually had a chance to beat them (and believe me, there were a few instances when things got close). Nitro and WCW had started to flounder until Piper arrived, which boosted things and carried them into what was and still is their most profitable PPV over the last year: Starrcade. WCW may be in a position to repeat this with the return of Sting. The WWF has a tougher road ahead, though there are now several things in their favor. Building to a Hart/Michaels rematch at Survivor Series should give them enough of a boost to carry them through to the new year. If they then set up a Steve Austin return (and probable win) at the Royal Rumble, and either a Hart/Michaels match or Hart/Austin match at WrestleMania, then the WWF is set to at least maintain what audience they currently have over the next half year. Add in to that Marc Mero and Ahmed Johnson coming back from injuries, as well as the continued building of the Light Heavyweight division, and the WWF has quite a bit to offer over the next several months. With the ball back in WCW's court, the real question then is what will they have to offer after they shoot their wad with Hogan and Sting at Starrcade? Sting vs. Nash? Hennig vs. Flair? Hogan vs. Nash? Will the new WCW show on TBS (rumored to focus almost solely on WCW wrestlers and feature the likes of "Hacksaw" Duggan, Bam Bam Bigelow and Rick Martel-if you can believe that) pay off? Will a Monday Nitro dominated by and focusing on the NWO still draw like it currently does? Will the two shows coexist and make WCW bigger and better, or will the two shows water each other down and divide the audience? What happens if fans perceive the new Thursday show to be the more important of the two? It took WCW Saturday Night a long time to recover ratings-wise from the time Nitro debuted. Many fans saw Nitro as a far more important show and WCWSN suffered because of it. Could we actually see RAW beating Nitro, yet still "losing" to the new unopposed Thursday night show? What happens to WCWSN, not to mention the other wrestling shows on TBS, with the advent of the new Thursday night show? Will it hurt or help PPV buyrates? WCW has to answer all this questions next year, with the most important being "is more too much?" Add together the new show, Nitro, WCW Main Event, WCW Pro, WCWSN and WCW Worldwide and fans are exposed to as much as NINE hours of programming a week. Throw in a PPV and the number hits TWELVE. Add to that a rare occasion when a Clash of the Champions happens to be on the same week as a PPV and the number hits FOURTEEN hours of WCW in one week!!! Compare that to the WWF's meager FIVE hours of weekly programming (and that's only if you happen to get Shotgun Saturday Night). Throw in a PPV and they go up to EIGHT, which is still below what WCW does on a regular weekly basis. Something's got to give, and I'm betting one Kevin Nash's knee being one of the first things to go. [Ratings info courtesy the Micasa website. Archival ratings from Herb Kunze's website. Links to each area available on my "List of Links" page.] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 97 of the "Monday Night Recap", September 22nd, 1997.