Slobberknocker Central Monday Night Recap #106 November 24th, 1997 WCW Monday Nitro: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours+. Location: Saginaw, Michigan. HOUR ONE Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Larry Zbyszko. - The New World Order has assembled backstage, preparing to make their entry. Bischoff is smoking a cigar. Everyone is present except Kevin Nash. One might think we are being shown this because something is supposed to happen. Instead, the camera follows them to the ring, where they generate their weekly quota of hot air. Hogan brings a "Bischoff owns Vince" sign in the ring (taken from the fan which it had most likely been planted with in the first place). Rick Rude reprises his Degeneration X role by standing around and doing nothing. Bischoff introduces Hall as the man who beat "59 other men!" (well ... 47 or so anyway. I didn't count anywhere near 60 for the WW3 main event. Maybe I just missed one or two ... or a dozen). Hogan then gets on the mic and, knowing that Sting isn't in the building, challenges "anyone in the building" to come out tonight for a title match. Here comes the Giant, followed by J.J. Dillon. The Giant accepts the challenge, but Dillon says he isn't cleared to wrestle. The Giant says he'll sign a waiver absolving WCW of any responsibility. Dillon agrees and the match is set. The Giant rightly points out that the WCW Title belt still has his name on it. He has a cast halfway up to his ass on his right arm. I thought it was his hand that was injured? You know why I hate the NWO? All bias against WCW aside, or my monumental dislike for Eric Bischoff, it simply comes down to this: they're the bad guys. I'm SUPPOSED to not like them! Somebody out there explain why I should ignore the traditional "face/heel" structure and like them. Their t-shirts are cool? Kevin Nash's long hair is cool? Buff Bagwell gives me a "special feeling"? Seriously, what is it about the NWO you guys out there like? Their interviews are weak across the board, so it can't be that. Hennig and Bagwell are okay wrestlers, so maybe I can see them being liked. Savage and Hall are adequate. Beyond these four, what is it that's just so damned great about the NWO? Konan is really that cool? Scott Norton? VINCENT!? - THE STEINER BROTHERS (w/ Ted DiBiase) vs. DISORDERLY CONDUCT Squash. - Nitro Girls. Yay ... boobies. WCW wants me to treat them as objects, well then I'm willing to oblige. - MENG (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. BOOKER T. (w/ Jacquelyn) Meng is beating the piss out of Booker, but Booker escapes from a powerbomb and rolls Meng up for the upset pin. Enraged, Meng slaps on the Tongan Death Grip(tm). Out comes Stevie Ray (you know ... the Harlem Heat guy that sucks) with a balsa wood chair, which he breaks over Meng's head. Just watching it hurt me more than that chair would ever hurt Meng. Stevie Ray gets his throat massaged Tonga style as well. I actually liked this match, though if this were the WWF the equivalent would probably be Henry Godwinn vs. Ahmed Johnson. (Which isn't really a fair comparison since neither Meng nor Booker T. have legitimately hurt as many guys as Ahmed has). On the way to the break they play the special sneak peek look at "Aliens Resurrection". The clip lasted exactly 30 seconds. In case you didn't quite get it, the Steiners won the above match. Easily. In poor fashion. - They show still photos chronicling Scotty Riggs' destruction at the hands of Raven at the PPV. They show a snippet of the J.J. Dillon interview from the PPV in which he made the ultimatum stating that Raven had 24 hours to sign with WCW. They go live to Mean Gene Okerlund and Dillon. Dillon says Raven did indeed sign a contract overnight, but that it had a "lot of scribbling in the margins" which altered the contents of the contract. Raven, at ringside with his Flock, says he'll wrestle when, where, how, and against who he wants to. Dillon says he isn't happy with the stipulations, but will apparently abide by them and considers Raven officially under WCW contract. During all this Scotty Riggs slinks out and takes a seat among the members of Raven's Flock (which now includes Riggs, Perry Saturn, Billy Kidman, Van Hammer, Sick Boy and Skank). - CHRIS BENOIT vs. RAVEN Raven gets up and sends Sick Boy into the ring, making it ... - CHRIS BENOIT vs. SICK BOY Very short match, as Benoit quickly gets the upper hand. The other Flock members run in, but Benoit holds them off. He then applies a submission hold to get the win. Another wave comes in and Benoit does well until Saturn clocks him with his TV Title belt. The Flock stomps Benoit into the mat as Raven looks on. Skank, by the way, looks just like Glacier. Short blond hair. - A black-and-white NWO sponsored promo replays Bischoff's "victories" over Larry Zbyszko. Larry heads to the ring and challenges Scott Hall. NWO leaflets drop from the ceiling, showing a picture of Bischoff kicking Zbyszko. Bischoff comes halfway to the ring and says Hall is too busy defending his tag team title to accept Larry's challenge. Larry challenges Bischoff, which Bischoff basically accepts, but security keeps the two separated. I guess you can pencil these two in for Starrcade. HOUR TWO Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. - Nitro Girls. - PRINCE IAUKEA vs. ALEX WRIGHT (w/ Debra McMichael) They show stills from the Wright/Steve McMichael match from the PPV. These two put together a solid match (though frankly by this point I'd switched over to RAW for good). The upshot here is that Wright is dominating, but Debra jumps up on the apron and her sash gets caught on a turnbuckle bolt. Wright is so distracted telling her to get down that Iaukea is able to hit a crossbody off the top for the upset pin. Afterwards Wright gets on the house mic and "fires" Debra. (Gee, and I'd just made the logical assumption that the two were sleeping together). Heading into the commercial they show a good (but waaaaaay over the top) promo for Starrcade. - RANDY "MACHO MAN" SAVAGE (w/ Elizabeth) vs. DISCO INFERNO Tony Schiavone mentions Bret Hart for the only time in the entire show (as far as I could tell), stating flat out that Hart was in the NWO. Savage has no trouble whatsoever with Disco, pinning him after an elbow off the top. After his third elbow he throws down the ref. Liz, who had also gotten involved in the match, comes in and places a boot on Disco as Savage makes a three count. (Since this is WCW we can probably count that as an actual victory, making Liz the number one contender for the WCW Television Title). Savage hits a fourth elbow off the top before the carnage is concluded. - Another of those Nitro party videos. This one wasn't nearly as embarrassing as the previous one: mostly because it looked more like a real party (as opposed to a drunken frat's cheap attempt to get on TV). - BRAD ARMSTRONG vs. DEAN MALENKO For those trashing the likes of Scott Taylor and Flash Flanagan in the WWF's Light Heavyweight tournament, don't forget that Armstrong was once considered one of WCW's top Cruiserweight contenders. A good match, but the crowd was absolutely dead until Malenko slapped on the Texas Cloverleaf for the win. - Mean Gene interviews Steve "Mongo" McMichael. Debra comes out and tries to sweet talk him into taking her back. He tells her to "get the hell out of here!" - Nitro Girls. - BUFF BAGWELL vs. CHRIS JERICHO Another good match. (You'd have a hard time convincing me that it meant anything, though). Bagwell gets the somewhat illogical win after Jericho had dominated for most of the match. Bagwell catches him with a boot to the chin, then blew his finisher off the turnbuckles (hitting him crosswise instead of flipping over him for the Buff Blockbuster). - They show stills from the Hennig/Flair PPV match. - CURT HENNIG vs. RAY TRAYLOR Mike Tenay plugs the Brian Pillman memorial video WCW is putting together. Why the hell is Traylor getting a U.S. Title match? Hasn't he gotten beaten up by the NWO every week for the last month or two? This match is no different, as Traylor once again falls victim to an NWO run-in and beating. In one particularly terrible spot during the match, Traylor hits Hennig with an uppercut. Hennig then leisurely turns around, takes a step and blatantly THROWS himself over the top rope to the floor (as if Traylor's blow had sufficient force to knock him from the ring). That aside, this match was actually watchable for the most part. Traylor is in control, on the verge of winning (yeeeeeeaaaaah suuuuuuuuure), when the NWO run in, drawing the DQ. Traylor is once again laid out and "NWO" is painted on his carcass. - Clip of the Giant getting his hand hurt by Hall last week, then still photos from the PPV. - "HOLLYWOOD" HOGAN vs. THE GIANT Bischoff and Rick Rude chase the announcers away to do the commentary for the match. Rude doesn't say much: maybe two or three sentences. Bischoff uses the time to trash the Steiners. The Giant, despite his injured hand, manages to nail Hogan with a choke- slam. The NWO quickly flood the ring, drawing the DQ. (This is #1). Sting walks to the ring and hits the Giant's cast with a baseball bat. Yup ... Kevin Nash. (This is #2). Sting drops from the ceiling and tragically falls through the canvas of the ring. Nash starts hitting it in the head with the bat, revealing that it's a mannequin. (This is #3). The show ends. - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: Three (3) elements made up the end of this week's show and all three of them have been done before. The NWO DQ run-in has been done dozens of times. Nash has dressed as Sting two or three times now. Finally, the dummy Sting bit was done once before as well. Obviously originality wasn't a big concern here. While some of the wrestling was okay, there wasn't the usual "standout" match where you could point to it as obviously being the best of the evening. My overall impression is one of "did anything happen?" I guess I'd attribute that to the fact that they now have to build to Starrcade: a PPV which was already established months ago as being "Hogan vs. Sting" and nothing else. Sure, they'll try to attach a big undercard, but the vast majority of buyers will be tuning in to see Hogan and Sting. Even as the matches of the undercard take place all the announcers will be able to discuss is the main event. WCW may manage to put together their biggest undercard ever and it will be overshadowed by the "greatest match of all time". I dunno ... this wasn't a bad Nitro, it just didn't do anything for me. All things considered that probably constitutes high praise from me. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF RAW is WAR: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours. Location: Fayettevile, North Carolina. WWF RAW Hosted By: Jim Ross and Jim Cornette. - Bret Hart or no Bret Hart, the crowd is huge. Jim Ross later announces that it's an all-time attendance record for the arena. One out of every two fans seems to have a sign. - "Ravishing" Rick Rude's music starts up, but it's "Handsome Harvey" (Whippelman) instead. Dressed in a suit and carrying the Haliburton, he heads to the ring to do the usual Degeneration X intro ("cut the music!") DX comes out. Shawn Michaels grabs the mic and says "THAT was a hard spot to fill!" then pushes Whippelman down. Hunter Hearst Helmsley shoves him out of the ring. Shawn then gets all serious and, in a very emotional tone, says that not only was Bret Hart screwed at Survivor Series, but that Bret, the WWF and the fans all deserved better. He says he takes full responsibility for what happened. Shawn says he's been in contact with Bret without the knowledge of the WWF, the Internet and "underground dirt sheets". Since Bret is still under WWF contract until November 30th, Bret will come out later in the show and the two will settle things once and for all-either with a handshake or a fight. Ohhhhhhhh reeeeeaaaaaaalllllllly?! - LEGION OF DOOM vs. ROAD DOG/"BAD ASS" BILLY GUNN Mr. Ass and the Dog come out wearing the LOD's shoulder pads. Like them or not, these guys are currently the most interesting tag team in either the WWF or WCW. During the match Jim Ross mentions the ECW pay-per-view scheduled for this Sunday: November to Remember. A lot of folks have been making a big deal of this, pointing to it as evidence that the two feds will be working together soon in an increased capacity. Ross says that ECW has "purchased" some time and will air some kind of a pre-taped promo for their PPV. Ross warns that ECW "is not for everyone" and that it isn't a sanctioned WWF event. My bet is that this is being said because the PPV will feature a number of present and past WWF wrestlers, and one of the bigger matches involves a stipulation in which the winner will hold aloft his promotion's flag. As the angle is currently running in ECW, Sabu, Rob Van Dam, the Pitbulls and Lance Wright are all "acting under the orders of Vince McMahon"-or so they'd like you to think. They make numerous references to "Stamford, Connecticut", wear WWF clothing and even bring a WWF flag to the ring (Sabu and Van Dam, anyway). I myself took Ross' comments as an attempt by the WWF to distance themselves from the PPV, yet assist ECW in hyping it-clearly making the distinction between the two companies. We'll see this weekend on Shotgun (and probably Superstars as well) what this all amounts to. As to future joint ventures ... I'll believe it when I see it. The match actually starts off pretty good, but Hawk runs out of gas quickly (and as we all know Animal bats cleanup for the LOD, meaning Hawk usually spends the most time in the ring). An early commercial (and the stretch of restholds that usually calls for) kills any chance for this match to ever be anything much better than "okay". Once back the match is firmly set on "idle", with Hawk taking a prolonged amount of punishment until he can make the hot tag to Animal. Animal, as many people have noticed, is in the best shape he's been in in years, and looks pretty good cleaning house. They then set up a great ref bump: Animal pitches Billy Gunn into the ropes and launches a flying shoulderblock. Gunn drops down and Animal squarely nails the ref. An age old spot which looked really good here since the ref didn't obviously move himself into position. The LOD then set Gunn up for the Doomsday Device, but Road Dog nails Animal with a chair. Hawk chases the Dog out of the ring while Billy rolls Animal up. A second ref enters the ring and makes the three count. New World Wrestling Federation Tag Team Champions. Gunn and the Dog are so happy (and afraid of retaliation) that they run completely out of the arena ("just like bank robbers!" yells Ross) and into a waiting sports car in the parking lot. Gunn, at the wheel, tears out of the lot, narrowly avoiding a head-on collision with a long white stretch limo which is pulling up to the arena. Going into the break they run this week's Karate Fighters spot. This week Sunny bedazzles Shrimp Scampi with her cleavage, which gives her the edge and the victory. A slow-mo replay shows Sunny's winning moves: both of them ... bouncing up and down. After the commercial they replay the getaway, make note of the limo, and show Hawk and Animal assaulting a security guard in the ring (which took place during the break). Ross speculates as to whether or not Bret Hart is in the limo. Jim Cornette says everyone who is supposed to be in the arena is already there and accounted for. (Does that include Kane?) - Goldust, in a wheelchair, is rolled to the ring. Michael Cole moves in for the interview. After showing clips of the events which have lead up to this (between Goldust and Vader) Cole asks what Goldust hit Vader with last week. Goldust ducks the question and says what has been afflicting him has spread throughout his body. ("A broken bone!" yells Cornette). Goldust says he has become a paraplegic, and now in the last day a quadriplegic. He asks Cole to cross his legs for him. He also requests an alcohol rub from his nurse (which draws a swishy, lispy "Good God yes!" from him as she rubs his shoulders). Goldust continues recounting his woes until ... "It's time ... it's time ... it's ... " Vader strides to the ring, where he accuses Goldust of faking his injuries. Goldust's protests fall on deaf ears. He grabs the golden one, but receives an eyeful of rubbing alcohol from the nurse, who tears off her blues to reveal Luna Vachon! Vader stumbles around and issues a censor bleeped profanity as Goldust and Luna make their escape. Jim Ross accuses the duo of raiding Elton John's wardrobe, then ties it in to the most appropriate Elton song title: "The Bitch is Back!" - Cornette sarcastically calls a live shot of the white limo "captivating". - They show clips recapping the Helmsley/Slaughter confrontation. They then show classic clips of Slaughter in the ring. Commissioner Slaughter comes to the ring. In a bizarre, over the top interview (which ran much too long) Slaughter talks about dead bodies and gut wounds and such. He starts off mild mannered: by the end he's wearing his drill sergeant hat and nearly frothing at the mouth. Slaughter says his match with Helmsley will be a "Boot Camp" match. If I remember right, the stipulations for one of these involves Greg Gagne showing up wearing cammo and a headband calling himself "Rambo". - BRIAN CHRISTOPHER (w/ Jerry "the King" Lawler) vs. FLANAGAN Flanagan loses his "Flash" for this one. Early on Christopher nails Flanagan with a Sunset Flip from the apron to the floor (nice move). From then on it's a foregone conclusion. Lawler gets in a few licks while Flanagan is down on the floor. Christopher finishes him off a few minutes later with a legdrop off the top rope. Christopher will face Scott Taylor next week. Taka Michinoku faces Aguila. The two winners will square off at the December 7th In Your House "Degeneration X" PPV. Two matches ... ouch. It was entertaining, but that's just too few matches for an entire hour. WWF WAR ZONE Hosted By: Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler. - The War Zone has its own new intro now. It's similar to the start of the first hour, but it incorporates more of the footage the WWF shot back in 1995 for the unsuccessful country music intro (which they only used one week). My brother tells me that the music is from the "In Your House" video game for the Playstation. - DX returns to the ring. Helmsley quickly tosses off a few insults at Sgt. Slaughter, resuming his military theme from last week (threatening to show Slaughter's wife his "soldier in the purple helmet!'). Shawn then takes the mic and introduces "Bret Hart" ... ... who turns out to be a midget in a Bret Hart mask. Dressed in a leather jacket, he plays to the crowd just as Hart does. Once in the ring, Helmsley acts as ringmaster, recounting the events at Survivor Series. Michaels pushes "Bret" down, then applies the Sharpshooter. Helmsley holds the mic close as "Hart" (mimicking referee Earl Hebner) yells "Ring the bell! Ring the bell!" The mini "Hart" then confirms that Shawn is the best, the Icon, etc. A "WCW" sign is slapped on his butt and "Bret Hart" is sent packing. While Hart's theme is still playing Jim "the Anvil" Neidhart comes out. "I AM the Hart Foundation!" yells the Anvil. He threatens to take out Michaels, but Shawn turns the tables by pointing out that Jim has always been in Bret's shadow, and that he's not benefiting from Hart's new big WCW contract. "Bret's at home in Calgary," says Shawn, pointing out that Jim is here working to feed his family. When asked about the Bulldog, Neidhart says he's having surgery done on his knee. Shawn makes fun of this, alluding that the Bulldog is faking it (adding that he himself is "familiar" with that type of injury). Neidhart says Owen hart is "emotionally distraught", which Shawn also makes light of. Shawn bottom lines it by offering Neidhart the opportunity of his life: a spot in Degeneration X. Funny stuff, though it went on too long. Yeah, they pulled a "Nitro" with the bait-and-switch. If you're still pissed, Hart will be doing the same when he shows up in WCW. (Consider this: would this segment have been "disgraceful" if Hart was still in the WWF? Suppose they had done it six months ago. Why should it be any different now? He didn't die, folks, he just quit the WWF. That's all). Michaels now has a firm lock on "most hated wrestler" in the world. - They show a brief clip of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin having dinner with the winner of the Survivor Series "Super Supper" contest. They fortunately cut this short before it looks like a Nitro Party video. - A special look at Butterbean, showing him beating up guys, video games he's in, a song that's been written about him and other stuff that has nothing to do with professional wrestling. - KEN SHAMROCK vs. SAVIO VEGA (w/ Miguel Perez) Ken beats the salsa out of Savio, making him submit with an ankle hold. Miguel Perez tries to interfere with no success. Steve Austin is shown pulling up to the arena in a snazzy looking pickup with "Austin 3:16" painted on the door (as well as other identifying "Stone Cold" logos on the hood and such). I thought Cornette said everyone who was supposed to be there already was? Austin make a beer run? - Rocky "the Rock" Maivia comes to the ring for an interview, flanked by the other Nation of Domination members. As Rocky speaks, strange things happen: the lights flicker, his mic cuts out, "Rocky Sucks" flashes on the screen. Rocky cuts his comments short and sends the NOD off to check out what the problem is. Steve Austin then appears on the Titan-Tron, showing him in the control truck messing with the switches and buttons. Austin says "when you're walking through the airport and your beeper goes off, and it says 'Austin 3:16', you'll know your ass is mine!" Austin asks Rocky if it's "live or Memorex?" Back in the ring Austin is shown sneaking up behind Rocky. Rocky's beeper goes off and he checks it. Presumably seeing "3:16" his eyes nearly pop out of his head. Austin whirls him around and delivers a Stone Cold Stunner. The NOD returns, but Austin slides out to grab a chair. By then Rocky has scooped up the IC belt and he and the NOD make their getaway. Austin offers Maivia an early Thanksgiving bird by flipping him one. - Replay of what just happened. - CRUSH vs. JEFF JARRETT No match. After Crush rides his bike to the ring they cut to Jarrett in the lockerroom. Jarrett says McMahon hasn't lived up to his end of their contract, pointing out the shabby quality of the accommodations (as well as the opponent in the ring). Jarrett, for some reason, is dressed like a futuristic Aztec priest. Crush wins the match via forfeit. The lights then cut out, the pyros blow and Kane comes out. Crush quickly falls victim to a chokeslam and Tombstone Piledriver. The other DOA bikers come out to pull Crush from the ring. WWF official Jerry Brisco accidentally bumps into Kane and he gets slammed as well. Wow ... two "Nitro's" in one night! - VADER vs. SHAWN MICHAELS (w/ Degeneration X) Before Shawn and crew hit the ring they bring out DX's newest member: Jim "the Anvil" Neidhart. One can imagine a TV screen being shot out somewhere in Calgary. Vader has one eye bandaged (from the rubbing alcohol tossed by Luna). The match starts during the commercial break. This one is almost all Vader. Neidhart shows he's definitely on DX's side by pulling down the ropes as Vader hits them, sending him to the floor. He and Hunter then stomp on Vader as Shawn distracts the ref. Vader is tossed back in, but continues to dominate Michaels. Vader sets up Shawn for the Vaderbomb, but Hunter throws a cup of "hot" coffee in Vader's good eye (as Neidhart distracts the ref). Shawn nails the Superkick and covers for the pin. The newly expanded Degeneration X celebrates in the ring. Suddenly Chyna, who had surreptitiously circled around behind Neidhart, whomps him with a crotch shot from the rear. Shawn and Hunter turn and clothesline the Anvil to the mat. The show ends with the three stomping on Neidhart as Shawn yells stuff like "Who is the 'Icon'?!" into the mic. - Next week: Michinoku vs. Aguila. Christopher vs. Taylor. Comments: Four matches. I generally liked all the interviews and angles, but showing only four matches in two hours is inexcusable. Since the four matches they DID show were okay (barely), my only major complain this week was the lack of in-ring action. Maybe we're lucky, though, in that we didn't have to see the Truth Commission or Godwinns. Maivia's reaction to his beeper was one of the funniest things I've seen in the last six months. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bottom Line: There's too many PPV's. World War 3, which I won't criticize too much (since I didn't see it) came off as very weak listening to it via RealAudio. With "November to Remember" this Sunday and "Degeneration X" next week, that's just too damn many PPV's. Let's not forget Starrcade, which is only about four weeks away. Quality line-ups aside, it's just too hard to get fired up for them when they now happen almost every other week. The PPV's suffer from the matches being underdeveloped, while the TV shows suffer from having to hype the PPV's, which hampers the ability to set up coherent, well thought out angles and storylines. It seems the best they can do is like in the case of Hennig vs. Flair: one wrestler gets a few wins over the other, then the other (generally the face) gets his revenge the second or third time around. This pretty much describes the Guerrero/Mysterio feud to a "T". Of course none of these are new observations. It's just that they seem especially noticeable now with the current scheduling of the shows. There was barely any time between Halloween Havoc and World War 3, and they're already hyping Starrcade now (as well as, to a lesser extent, "Souled Out 2" and "SuperBrawl VIII"). The WWF, to their credit, hasn't started shoving the Royal Rumble down our throats yet (but that'll begin soon enough). The ratings were interesting this week. Nitro did a 3.9, while RAW pulled in a 3.0: the closest margin of difference since before Luger beat Hogan on Nitro for the World Title several months back. Both of these are slightly down from the last few weeks, with Nitro's drop being a bit bigger. A look at the quarterly breakdowns showed that RAW lost viewers during some of the lengthier interview segments-Slaughter's in particular. Had they shown a few more matches the numbers may have been even closer. You can see all the numbers for yourself at "1Wrestling.com". In other ratings news, WWF Superstars beat WCW Saturday Night this past weekend for the first time in ... well, a LONG time. They also tied them the week before, which many in the TV business would count as a win to Superstars since it had a higher share (due to the smaller number of overall TV viewers on Sunday mornings). In fact, Superstars has been tying Saturday Night roughly three out of every four weeks for the past several months. When Saturday Night does beat Superstars, it has only been by a slight margin (usually well below half a ratings point). This past weekend on Superstars they started the show by thanking the fans for making them the most watched wrestling show the previous weekend, which means that they may actually have narrowly beat Saturday Night instead of just tying them (as was reported on the Internet). If this was the case, that makes two weeks in a row in which Superstars beat Saturday Night. With the show having a good share for the timeslot, it is rapidly becoming a very important show for the WWF. The WWF should seriously consider putting more resources into the show, airing more original matches (and being less of a RAW recap show). If they could feature less of the "controversial" subject matter, yet maintain the ratings, Superstars could alone serve as a valuable asset in the WWF's relationship with the USA Network. I think the WWF should start busting up the various gangs and "factions" in the WWF, then go back to pushing guys like Ahmed Johnson, Crush and Savio Vega as singles wrestlers. There's some slight talent there being wasted in these matches, which invariably end in run-in DQ's. A lot of these guys could be pushed as straight up tag teams as well. They could also dump the Truth Commission altogether, and put the Godwinns out to pasture. They also need to start showing the OTHER Light Heavyweights in matches together. Just because they were showing the tournament match this week didn't mean that they couldn't show a Super Loco/Tajiri match (just as an example). And green or not, they need to get Brakus and Mark Henry in the ring. Same with Glenn Kulka. Marc Mero is being wasted as well (though things may look up if they do indeed kick off a Mero/Dude Love feud soon). It's time for some new blood, and with the build to the royal Rumble about to begin, this is the time to start it. ECW, maybe? As for WCW, just wake me up after Sting beats Hogan for the title. Maybe then they'll get back to some REAL wrestling. You know, I'd actually have given Nitro the win this week if ANYTHING had actually happened. On a whole other topic, local station KBSU (which is run by students at the nearby Bemidji State University) started airing Music City Wrestling this Monday. The best thing I can say about it is that it has a charming cheap look to it. I guess I'm just spoiled. MCW airs at 6:00 PM, ending just as Nitro starts. They also show ECW at 10:00 PM, which is just after RAW ends. It's obviously being put together by some serious wrestling fans, and kudos go out to whoever they are. I'm sorry this week's installment was so late. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 106 of the "Monday Night Recap", November 24th, 1997. John Petrie petrie@bji.net Slobberknocker Central http://www.bji.net/pages/petrie/index.html