Slobberknocker Central Monday Night Recap #101 (10/20/97) October 20th, 1997 WCW Monday Nitro: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours+. Location: Biloxi, Mississippi. HOUR ONE Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Larry Zbyszko. - ... and there's bodies everywhere: Curt Hennig, Scott Norton, Konan, Buff Bagwell and Vincent have all been laid out on the concrete in the back. A baseball bat lies on the ground. Hennig has his outline sprayed in black paint. The initials "DDP" have been sprayed as well. A Roddy Piper "ICON" t-shirt is also there. Eric Bischoff and "Hollywood" Hogan come running up, yelling for someone to explain what has happened. Bischoff, Hogan and Randy Savage then head to the ring to call Piper, Page and Sting out. They quickly notice that a steel cage is suspended above the ring. Hogan says there'll be "no damn Halloween Havoc" and that they can have their steel cage match tonight. Quick note: notice how the WWF's new cage is the more traditional link fence type? Well this new cage looks like the WWF's old cage. Very easy to climb over. - They replay the end of last week's show. - CHRIS BENOIT vs. EDDIE GUERRERO Eddie's got really lame music now. Sort of a low-rider, Tijuana brass arrangement. The match started of like it would be a classic. Fast, stiff and fierce action. The high spot was Benoit nailing Guerrero with a tope through the ropes from the ring to the floor. Then they cut to commercial. Once back we see Benoit is in an Abdominal Stretch. He breaks free, they do a spot on the corner turnbuckles that doesn't amount to anything, then Benoit knocks himself out by ramming his head into the turnbuckles. The referee pushes Eddie away to see if Benoit is injured. Eddie takes the opportunity to climb to the top and come off with the Frog Splash. Eddie gets the pin. Promising match almost totally ruined by the commercial break. They cut away just as things were getting hot, came back for a resthold, then finished just a few minutes later. Benoit fans are at least able to say "he beat himself", while the win makes Guerrero's probable upcoming title loss to Rey Mysterio, Jr. that much more unrealistic. (After all, if Guerrero can beat Benoit-a "heavyweight"-how could he ever lose to that flyspeck Mysterio?) A fan holds up a sign that reads "Guerrero smokes crack". - They replay Diamond Dallas Page's "winning" the U.S. Title last week, then announce that the referee reversed his decision based on interference by Ric Flair. No mention is made of Roddy Piper's declaration last week that Page is the new champ. - BILL GOLDBERG vs. WRATH (w/ James Vandenberg & Mortis) Goldberg squashes Wrath, catching him with a football shoulderblock, then planting him with the Jackhammer (a Brainbuster which Schiavone accidentally calls a "Jacknife"). Wrath wasn't even able to remove his robe and helmet. The crowd popped for the shoulderblock, popped for the pin, then promptly went back to sleep. Goldberg stood in the aisle and (forgetting he's supposed to be a moody, quiet man) challenges anyone to come out and face him. Here comes Steve "Mongo" McMichael. The two stare down, with Schiavone making a big deal out of the fact that the two are both former football players. This is to get us to think Goldberg could be Debra McMichael's "secret" at Halloween Havoc. Goldberg is already scheduled to face Meng, so scratch that idea. - STEVE MCMICHAEL vs. MORTIS (w/ James Vandenberg) I actually give Mongo a lot of credit in this match. Mortis dominates most of it, with Mongo being able to take it all: suplexes, hiptosses, and so on. Mongo is tossed to the floor and Vandenberg sneaks in a kick. McMichael then just sort of shrugs off the punishment he's taken and nails Mortis with a Tombstone Piledriver for the pin. This match was probably better than the Guerrero/Benoit match if you ask me. Mean Gene Okerlund interviews Mongo after the match. Debra comes out and says she still has something in store for Mongo at Halloween Havoc. ("It won't be Jeff Jarrett!") On the way out Mongo takes a sign away from Stevie Richards at ringside, tears it up and smacks him with what's left. The announcers don't even mention this, instead kicking it over to the next promo. - More dreamy, dull comments from Raven-this week on a playground. I swear to God ... this put me to sleep. Seriously! This goes back to the middle of last week. My one year old nephew picked up a flu bug from his daycare. It hit him so bad that we actually took him to the clinic (which was part of the reason the Recap was so late last week). Over the weekend the flu then hit everyone else in the family: myself, my parents, my brother and his wife and their other children. Sunday night I felt so crappy that I actually slept that night (which is the opposite of my usual schedule. Since I work nights I usually sleep during the day). Monday rolled around and I was awake all day, only having gotten a few hours sleep since Friday. I was having a hard time staying awake as Nitro began. Then Raven's segment started and it put me out like a light. The next thing I remember I had missed about twenty minutes of RAW! More on that in the RAW portion of the Recap. Raven's message? Life sucks. - This week's "Lucha Libre" segment, which was nothing more than an "in-depth" look at Rey Mysterio, Jr. You know, these started out as a cool idea, but have quickly degenerated into promo's for how bad it'll be if Mysterio loses his mask at Halloween Havoc. Mysterio's uncle is shown again. (Didn't he "stab" Mysterio as part of an angle once in Mexico?) Almost entirely WCW footage this week. They finish hyping his match with Guerrero at the PPV, which will now be "Title vs. Mask". Either Mysterio wins the belt or he loses his mask. - JUVENTUD GUERRERA vs. YUJI NAGATA (w/ Sonny Onoo) They cut away briefly during the match to show Raven and his troops walking through the crowd. Nothing spectacular here. Nagata dominates, with Guerrera looking for one brief second like he might score an upset. He climbs to the top, but gets knocked off by Sonny Onoo. Nagata applies a submission hold and Guerrera taps out. Ultimo Dragon then comes out and chases Onoo around the ring. Nagata jumps him from behind, tosses him in the ring and applies a reverse Figure Four. Incredibly enough they cut away to show the replay of the finish to the match! Even the control truck realizes what a superficial, cookie-cutter feud this is. Raven, Perry Saturn and Billy Kidman have joined Stevie Richards at ringside. - VILLANO IV/VILLANO V/DAMIEN vs. ?/?/? No match. The Mexicans come out first. Then the Giant comes out. He gets on a mic and throws out a challenge to Kevin Nash, accusing him of faking his knee injury (pointing out that high school kids come back from knee "scope" surgery faster than Nash has). The Giant says he'll prove he's the "only real Giant in the WWF ... I mean WCW". Look for Nash to cut the Giant's hair, then the Giant to take $10,000 of Nash's money and toss it to the crowd (prompting Bobby Heenan to leave the announcer's booth and run to the ring, stealing the gym bag full of money). Damien gets mad at the Giant for interrupting their match. The Giant swats him down with a chokeslam. One of the Villano's gets a big boot, while the other receives a Jackknife (which the Giant "dedicates" to Nash). - Nitro Girls. - DISCO INFERNO vs. REY MYSTERIO, JR. Hardly a match at all. Mysterio is kicking Disco's ass until Eddie Guerrero runs out just a minute or so along in the match. Eddie pulls Rey out of the ring, causing a DQ. Disco starts to celebrate, but is jumped by Jacquelyn. Jacquelyn chases Disco from the ring area. Hey, I'd wrestle Jacquelyn. I wouldn't let any of you watch though. (Not for free, anyway). HOUR TWO Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. - Bischoff, Savage and Hogan come back out and pick right up where they left off. Bischoff says Vince McMahon is afraid of Hogan's new movie. - A video package hypes the Curt Hennig/Ric Flair match at Havoc. - DEAN MALENKO vs. CURT HENNIG Malenko just looked too small to effectively battle Hennig. Still, he actually seemed to be winning the match. The end came when Malenko whipped Hennig chest-first into the corner and followed. Malenko lowered his head and lightly bumped into Hennig's shoulder. Suddenly it's as if he's been nailed with a chair or something. He begins staggering around, leaving him wide open for Hennig to apply the Hennig-Plex for the win. This match clearly points out one of the problems the creation of Nitro has brought about. Remember what I said some time back about squash matches having their place? That and WCW needing to better define who are their jobbers, mid-carders and stars? This was one of those times where the fans would have been better served by a squash match, or a straight out win over a mid-carder. Instead we get what is arguably a PPV caliber match-up (without a PPV caliber performance). Malenko loses in such a way that he, like Benoit earlier, can say they "beat themselves" instead of losing. Hennig, meanwhile, gets a clean, albeit shaky, victory. Hennig doesn't really come off looking all that good, while Malenko's ego is only slightly spared. Unfortunately, by next week this loss will be forgotten and Malenko will again be thought of as a great star and contender for most any title. That just isn't believable. Obviously a win here would have meant Malenko winning the title. That's why this match shouldn't have taken place in the first place: or if it had to, then Hennig should have either won more definitely, or lost via DQ or countout. WCW continues to insist that guys like Benoit and Malenko are major stars, yet they never get anything better than hard fought wins over mid-carders and jobbers. Yet they try to "protect" them by giving then losses which they can "explain away". The titleholders are all either weak looking cheaters, or can only get "clean" victories when their opponents "beat themselves" through miscues and blunders. The titleholders have no credibility, their contenders have no credibility, no mid-carder is better than any other mid-carder, and this week's jobber could become next week's Television champion! Perhaps the most annoying part this week in these two matches is that both Benoit and Malenko were really in the wrong matches. Benoit, after silently proclaiming for the last year that he's not a cruiserweight, fights the Cruiserweight Champion. Malenko, who's been all over the place, is in a slightly more credible match because he's a recent U.S. Champion himself. Still, WCW tries to play both ends by saying on one hand "Hennig sure beat him!" and on the other "Malenko beat himself!" Both men end up looking weaker in the process. Of course this is all irrelevant if you aren't the type of fan who likes to think of pro-wrestling in realistic terms of "titles", "contenders" and "rankings". Still, it'd be nice to see some good matches come from these encounters. The two in question this week were okay, but nothing spectacular. Neither will probably have any bearing on the future, either. They end up as "so-so" matches where the title being involved was meaningless. Don't quote me on any of this, though. Next week I'll probably be griping about too many squashes. I guess I'd just like to have seen a bit more definite finish in at least one of these two matches. It was at some point during this match that I woke up Monday night. - RAY TRAYLOR vs. SCOTT NORTON (w/ Vincent) They show Traylor getting his ass kicked last week. The ref then looks on dumbly as Traylor fights off an attack by Vincent. As I mentioned last week, Traylor looks like hell. I've never seen him as overweight as he currently is. Norton wins this one after Vincent sprays Traylor in the eyes with black spraypaint. Norton covers for the pin. Post-match Traylor, "half blind", attacks Norton and Vincent. Konan, Hennig and Scott Hall run in to assist in the gang beating of Traylor. WCW cuts away from this potential homicide to run a DDP/Savage promo. - Nitro Party promo. - LEX LUGER vs. BOOKER T. (w/ Jacquelyn) You know the standard Luger match: Luger takes 99% of the punishment, "Hulks up" and applies the Torture Rack. I guess Lex decided he wasn't being allowed to look awesome enough, because this time around he slipped in a few offensive moves before his usual comeback. As Luger tries to put Booker in the Rack a fan in the background can be seen hoisting a friend of his up in the Rack! Everyone around them watches as the guys is bouncing up and down in the Rack. Funny stuff. Luger eventually does get Booker into the Torture Rack for the win. They then kill several minutes with an interview. Luger says he's looking forward to Larry Zbyszko calling the match down the middle between he and Scott Hall at Halloween Havoc. Zbyszko then comes out to correct Luger, saying he'll call the match down the middle. Huh? Lex gives a perp-Lex-ed look and says that's what he asked for. - Piper/Hogan cage match promo, followed by an NWO t-shirt ad. - Nitro Girls. - Scott Hall comes to the ring and gives a long, boring, poorly delivered speech. For about the fourth or fifth week in a row he does his "survey". He then tells the Giant that Nash will get him. He calls the Steiners "Einsteiners". This just plain sucked, with the crowd chanting "boring!" before he was finally cut off by the Steiner's music. - SCOTT HALL vs. SCOTT STEINER (w/ Ted DiBiase) Poor match. Two-thirds of it consisted of the two trading restholds. Steiner did a nice belly-to-belly suplex near the very end. Hall eventually knocks out the ref (who had very clearly and obviously moved into position to get knocked out). Steiner gets Hall with a double- underhook suplex, but no ref. Hall then puts Steiner in the Outsider's Edge. In comes a black referee (presumably Vincent-the only black member of the NWO) wearing a black hood with eye holes, to make the three count. Nitro had run at least fifteen minutes over by now, and this match and Hall's speech accounted for most of it. - Bischoff, Hogan and Savage come out yet again, picking right up where they left off the two previous times. Bischoff takes another shot at McMahon (saying he had "no will to win". Get some balls Bischoff and think up a jab with some teeth to it). They also take the opportunity to shamelessly hype Hogan's new movie some more. Let's talk about that for a bit: "Assault on Devil's Island". First off, it's just "Thunder in Paradise" take two. Second, it stars Hogan-which is an immediate strike against it. It also stars Carl Weathers, who hit he acting career zenith with "Rocky IV" about a decade ago (unless you consider "Action Jackson" to be fine cinema). Finally there's Shannon Tweed. Frankly, if she's not nude, then what's the point? A fake Sting appears in the aisle. How can you tell it's fake? 1) it looks fake and 2) the camera cuts away so you don't get a very good look at him. Meanwhile two other Stings enter the ring from the crowd. These two quickly turn out to be DDP and Piper. They scuffle with Hogan and Savage until the rest of the NWO runs in (flooring the fake Sting as they rush to the ring). Suddenly the cage begins to lower and a rope drops down, which the real Sting uses to make his entry. Sting floors anyone who comes near him. The NWO are scrambling to get out of the cage as the show ends. - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: This is pretty much the usual stuff you see just before the PPV. Every match hyped a PPV counterpart. Raven and his group were shown several times throughout the night, but they never did anything. I can't recall which match it was in, but fans at home got a chance to see the WCW sign Gestapo's in action. A fan right at ringside, dead center of the screen, had his sign taken away by a pair of security types during a match. The camera tried to switch away so we wouldn't see but they did it too late. How did Piper get a cage constructed and hoisted to the ceiling without anyone in the NWO or the announcing crew getting wind of it before the show? (They were all surprised when they "spotted" the cage on-air). Who was the fake Sting, and why would he agree to stand in the aisle until he got whacked from behind? Suppose he hadn't gotten nailed ... would he have eventually gotten into the ring and helped Page and DDP? How did Vincent know to dress up as a referee? This show wasn't really bad, but it certainly wasn't all that good either. It all evened out into a blah two-and-a-half hour show which quite literally put me to sleep. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF RAW is WAR: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours. Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. HOUR ONE Hosted By: Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler. - As I mentioned above, I missed nearly twenty minutes of RAW this week: only the third or fourth time I've missed some or all of RAW in the last two-and-a-half years. Since Nitro had put me to sleep, I didn't even have the chance to start recording it (as I usually do every week). Therefore I have no tape to go back and watch either. I did start taping from the point where I woke up, so I do have most of the show on tape. These first few results were gathered from my brother, as well a being culled from several of the news sites. - AHMED JOHNSON/KEN SHAMROCK vs. KAMA/ROCKY MAIVIA (w/ the NOD) Ahmed and Shamrock were accompanied to the ring by the Legion of Doom. All eight men brawled in the ring, but the ref eventually sorted the mess out and started the match. Out comes Degeneration X carrying a bunch of signs (including "Who booked this crap?" being carried by Hunter and a sign telling McMahon to spank Chyna). Rick Rude then went to the ring and conferred with Faarooq, eventually giving him his briefcase, which was used to knock out Shamrock. Maivia covered for the pin. As everyone was leaving the ringside area the Godwinns appeared from out of the crowd and attacked the LOD with a pair of trashcans. - During the commercial (or earlier) someone trashed the Nation of Domination's lockerroom. Stuff like "Malcolm X" and "Uncle Tom" were spraypainted on the walls. (This is about where I started watching and taping). A Canadian flag left behind pointed to the Hart Foundation as the culprits (though Shawn Michaels' Degeneration X seem the more likely suspects). The NOD came back to the ring and Faarooq accused Vince and the WWF of being racist, which McMahon vehemently denied. Faarooq then called Bret Hart out. The Bulldog, Jim Neidhart and Owen Hart come out first, followed by Bret. - BRET "HITMAN" HART (w/ the Hart Foundation) vs. FAAROOQ (w/ the NOD) Barely a match. Faarooq immediately jumps Bret as he inters the ring. Here comes Shawn and his D-X Kliq. Shawn grabs a headset and says he had no idea that Bret was such a racist, and maybe the WWF needs Shawn to be the champion (since he's such a better role model). Once Bret spots Shawn he exits the ring to go after him, but gets surrounded by the Nation. The other Harts jump in and a big brawl signals the end of the official match. Shawn and his crew take off, with Hart in pursuit. - The Head Bangers do a commercial for the new WWF tag team action figures. - Whoops! It seems the Hart/Faarooq match is still on! Bret is working over Faarooq's legs. He drags him over to the corner to apply the Figure Four around the post. Rocky, Kama and D-Lo attack, which brings over the Bulldog, Owen and Neidhart. The referee just looks on, still not stopping the match. From out of the crowd comes "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, who runs in and nails Faarooq with the Stone Cold Stunner behind the ref's back. Bret reenters the ring and seeing Faarooq out covers him for the pin. - They kick off this year's "Karate fighters" tie-in to Survivor Series. (*Shudder*) - Holy crap ... it's Jeff Jarrett! Okay, so we all had a pretty good idea he'd be there, but still ... it's Jeff Jarrett! Dressed in a jacket with his hair tied back (looking a lot like Curt Hennig) Jarrett delivers the mother of all "shoot" interviews. (How did we know it was a "shoot"? Jarrett told us. Heh). The high points: * He mentions Monday Nitro by name, saying that they tried to bury him last week. He mentions the offer that was made to him and subsequently pulled by WCW. He accuses Bischoff of holding him back, denying him any chance of advancing. * He gripes about being put in the ring with an "ex-football player" and his "dumb blonde" wife. * He trashes McMahon for turning him into a lame country singer. "You booked me with a clown ... a former drug addict ... and a black man who couldn't even speak the English language!" (Yoiks!) "You told me to come out here tonight and 'shoot', and that's exactly what I'm doing ... right between your eyes! You can take 'With My Baby Tonight' and stick it up your butt!" He accuses McMahon of trying to finish his career since he couldn't put his father (Jerry Jarrett) out of business. * He says Bret Hart is living off his past accomplishments. * Shawn Michaels can only wrestle once a week. All he can do is point at his crotch and give his little hand signals to his "boys down south". * All Steve Austin does is say "ass" to get noticed. He says Austin will always be the "Ringmaster". He says he's offended by the blasphemous "Austin 3:16". By the end the crowd was chanting for Austin to come out and kill him. Jarrett says this is what McMahon gets for all that money he gave him, and that he better be prepared for a lot of headaches. - BRIAN CHRISTOPHER (w/ Jerry Lawler) vs. MARC MERO (w/ Sable) Not a bad match. The announcers make a point to note that Christopher is competing outside his usual weight class, and is thus the clear underdog in the match. Lawler takes a Steve Austin cap and puts it on Sable, in an effort to show McMahon how to properly sell merchandise (though the obvious real reason was to spark what followed). Mero sees Sable wearing the cap and comes out to take it from her, tossing it into the crowd. Christopher uses the distraction to attack him from behind. Brian is briefly in control, but Mero stops him cold with a shot to the 'nads. He then puts him away with his new "TKO" finisher. Mero gets the pin. On the way out Mero drags her behind him, not too pleased that she's there playing to the crowd. - They end the first hour after a commercial with a highlights package of events leading up to the Owen Hart/Shawn Michaels match. HOUR TWO Hosted By: Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler. - OWEN HART vs. SHAWN MICHAELS Owen's music is really, really annoying. In the ring he challenges Shawn to leave his "boys" out of the match, promising to do the same with his family members. Rick Rude, Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Chyna come to the top of the ramp. Rude introduces Michaels. Shawn comes out, then tells the Kliq to wait in the back. This match was "Title vs. Title". A good match (and one I would usually do play-by-play for, but this Recap is already running long and late). Let's cut to the finish: Michaels has Owen set up for the Superkick. He lets it fly, but Owen ducks it and launches a kick to the gut. Michaels catches it, which allows Owen to nail Shawn with the Enzuguiri kick to the back of the head. Owen then does a great job of looking concerned (just as he did when he put both Shawn and Steve Austin out of commission before). In comes Steve Austin through the crowd. The ref tries to cut him off, which earns him a Stunner from Stone Cold. Owen is then caught by a Superkick from Michaels, but there's no ref to make the count. (Austin has already taken off through the crowd). Cut to the back, where Bret Hart and company are hauling ass to the ring. Bret slides in and starts pounding on Shawn. Rude and Helmsley arrive to drag Michaels out of the ring and to safety. - The Undertaker, delivering brief comments, says Paul Bearer poisoned Kane's mind. The Undertaker says he will never fight his own brother. - DUDE LOVE vs. THE BRITISH BULLDOG No match. Dude dances to his new music video on the Titan-Tron until Kane comes out. Dude attacks him, but Kane no-sells it. Dude clotheslines him over the top rope, with Kane landing on his feet (just like the Undertaker). Dude retrieves a chair from under the ring and nails Kane with it in the head. Kane barely reacts. He then grabs Dude and delivers two chokeslams on the steel ramp: the second of which looked devastating. - They promo the "Survivor Series Flashbacks" show. A lot of folks on the Net are criticizing the fact that the WWF is using current WCW stars to hype the show. They seem to forget that most of the guys mentioned actually did fairly badly at some of the past Survivor Series'. In particular, Hulk Hogan lost the World Title to the Undertaker in 1991, while Diesel (Kevin Nash) lost the World Title to Bret Hart in 1995. Both of these matches were specifically mentioned in the promo. Not exactly the best "advertisement" for WCW. This will air next Tuesday: head-to- head with Hogan's "Assault on Devil's Island". To those not sure which show they'll watch, I'd remind you that the "Flashbacks" show will only be on once, while the Hogan movie will probably air a dozen times over the next month. - THE HEAD BANGERS vs. ROAD DOG/"BAD ASS" BILLY GUNN A blah match with a great foreign object spot. The Bangers come to the ring carrying their boombox radio. Late in the match Billy Gunn smashes it over Thrasher's head. Road Dog covers for the pin. Thrasher is "busted open". During the match Ross and Lawler get into a semi-heated argument over the Head Bangers. Lawler calls them "freaks in dresses". Ross says they're great athletes-that they're former Tag Team Champions. "How many WWF titles have you won, King?" - A clip is shown of Taka Michinoku signing his WWF contract Thursday. - Bret "Hitman" Hart will be on "Mad TV" on Fox Saturday, November 1st. - Sunny comes to the ring to introduce the next match. The crowd pops (as do the seams on my shorts). *Boi-oi-oi-oi-oing!* - TAKA MICHINOKU vs. TAJIRI YOSHIHIRO A good match, with a few new moves mixed in with many of the ones we've already seen from these two. Much as was the case when the Great Sasuke came it (and it was Taka who looked more impressive), I'm finding myself being more and more impressed by Tajiri the more I see him. Taka wins with the Michinoku Driver. After the match Sunny sits on Lawler's lap. *Boi-oi-oi-oi-oing!* - Jim Cornette does another rant about Phil Mushnick, this time reading some of the responses that wrestling fans have posted to the TV Guide message board. - They show the Head Bangers commercial again. - THE GODWINNS vs. THE DISCIPLES OF APOCALYPSE The Godwinns come to the ring dressed in sweatpants and Oklahoma Sooners sweatshirts, which have been defaced with "Texas Longhorns" painted on them. Hell, just getting the Godwinns out of those coveralls raised my tolerance level for them by 10% (making my overall total level of tolerance for them ... 10%). The match never really gets underway as all four DOA members attack the Godwinns. Then the Truth Commission runs in to help the Godwinns, making a huge 10 man melee. The ring fills with officials trying to break it up. The "seven foot tall" Interrogator eventually kicks everyone out of the ring. Cut to the bowels of the arena where Mankind sits, vowing to battle Kane "anytime ... anyplace". - Next week: Bret Hart vs. Ken Shamrock for the World Title. Comments: I'm still pissed that I missed the beginning. As it was, I really enjoyed most of the show up until the end of the Michaels/Owen match. The finish to that match was kind of annoying, then the show just sort of wandered along until the anticlimactic ending. Jarrett has situated himself to be a major player, but they didn't give any hint as to which direction he'd take first. With all the big stars tied up for the next few weeks, we may have to wait until after Survivor Series until we learn what their plans for Jarrett are. They announced that the Light Heavyweight Tournament will begin on the November 3rd live RAW from Hershey Park, PA. I have no idea how they'll be able to fill anything larger than a starting pool of eight wrestlers (and most of those would be existing jobbers). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bottom Line: A quick "hey" to all of those getting this via E-Mail now. Hopefully future Recaps will be done a bit sooner than this one was. The ratings this week were big for both shows. Nitro jumped back up above the 4.0 range, hitting above a 5.0 for a couple of their quarter hours. RAW did very well also, pulling in a 2.9 average and going over the 3.0 mark several times. Their lowest quarter hour was a 2.7, which was their first and was the exact same number "Walker Texas Ranger" provided as a lead-in. I really can't account for the huge numbers Nitro pulled given the quality of the show. RAW seemed to benefit from less talk and more quality in-ring action. Both shows also benefited from a less than spectacular Monday Night Football game and no playoff baseball to contend with. This, as best as I can tell, is the card for Halloween Havoc: * Hogan vs. Piper. Steel Cage. * Flair vs. Hennig. U.S. Title match? * Luger vs. Hall. Larry Zbyszko special referee. * Savage vs. Page. "Death Match" rules. * Guerrero vs. Mysterio. "Mask vs. Cruiserweight Title". * Disco vs. Jacquelyn. Non-title. * McMichael vs. Mystery Opponent (with Debra). * Ultimo Dragon vs. Yuji Nagata. * Bill Goldberg vs. Meng. My Predictions: * Piper will probably win. Who cares? It doesn't mean anything. The title isn't on the line. * Flair via DQ due to NWO run-in. I think they're going to build this up to a bigger rematch. * Zbyszko turns and joins the NWO. Hall "wins". * Page will beat Savage. * Mysterio wins the title. Everything WCW has done the last month has been a swerve to get us expecting him to lose the mask. * Jacquelyn WILL win. Purely a comedy match. * Alex Wright will beat Mongo, keeping Debra in WCW. * Dragon will beat Nagata in this throwaway match. * Goldberg will win. Yay. * Sting won't appear. Hey ... I didn't get to say *Kee-rash!* this week! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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". Check the "Slobberknocker Central" main page for info on how to receive the "Recap" free via E-Mail every week. Volume One, Number 101 of the "Monday Night Recap", October 20th, 1997.