Slobberknocker Central Monday Night Recap #136
June 22nd, 1998
WCW Monday Nitro:
Live/Taped: Live.
Length: Three Hours.
Location: Jacksonville, Florida.
HOUR ONE Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Larry Zbyszko.
- A few seconds of the Rodman/Malone press conference is shown. Through the
garbled audio we can dimly hear Tony Schiavone calling this the "Greatest
Match Ever!" Give me a break. Fifteen seconds in and they've already
pissed me off. After some hype they replay the footage of Diamond Dallas
Page getting nailed by Dennis Rodman and "Hollywood" Hogan. I realize two
things watching this again: 1) Tony Schiavone is really quite fat, and 2)
he's not much of a friend to run away without giving DDP a "look out!"
They begin teasing the footage of the much lauded "Tonight Show"
appearance, as well as the above-mentioned press conference. Nothing of
note happened on either, but WCW is damn sure going to make us wait a
couple of hours to see that for ourselves.
Let me just halt the Recap for a moment here and say that those of us who
are so down on WCW right now might just buy into some of their bullsh*t
if they weren't so prone to outrageous hyperbole. I realize Rodman/Malone
will be a big match (though not a good one), and will give WCW a ton of
publicity. Still, that doesn't mean you have to hype it as the biggest
match ever (which it isn't), and you don't have to hype the hell out of
these damn minor moments. The "Tonight Show" piece was garbage, with
Rodman, Malone and Jay Leno barely being able to keep a straight face
while Hogan and DDP overacted. The whole situation was highly contrived
and resulted in nothing more than some playful, halfhearted shoving. WCW,
meanwhile, makes it seem like all hell broke lose. To hear WCW describe
it you'd think the police were called, women and children fled screaming
and for a moment Western Civilization tottered on the brink of ruin! That
was followed by the "press conference", which had all the style and
substance of a paragraph long written press release. NOTHING HAPPENED! No
TV station in the world played this live (that I'm aware of). Rodman
barely even spoke. Malone seemed to have a hard time not just coming out
and saying "it's fake and I'm gonna win." DDP lifted almost intact Steve
Austin's speech from the WrestleMania press conference earlier this year
(which in itself was a big steaming load of nothing). WCW desperately
wants this to be like the Mike Tyson situation and to their credit it may
just end up that way. Still, whereas the WWF was able to put Tyson's
involvement into perspective by noting that his presence merely elevated
what was set to be a great match to begin with, WCW insists that Rodman
and Malone's mere presence is what makes that match great. Take Tyson
out of WrestleMania and you still had a decent PPV. Take Rodman and
Malone out of Bash at the Beach and you have nothing.
Of course there's a reason why they're doing what they're doing: Rodman
and Malone don't want to appear on TV. Not without being paid, that is.
Both men will be receiving somewhere around a million dollars each for
the match, and both will supposedly appear on TV once or twice to hype
it. Rodman's already put in his first token appearance. Malone will
probably appear the Monday before the PPV, as well as Rodman. Both will
then disappear for good, perhaps only to show up again next year at this
time. Will this all be worth it? Not to the fans, who won't be getting
any kind of good match out of it. (At least Mike Tyson was part of a good
match, despite the fact--or perhaps because--he didn't wrestle.) It may
be worth it to WCW, though that's only if they pull in a huge buyrate.
(The WWF got over a 2.0 buyrate, with TV ratings seeing a permanent
upswing and Steve Austin's name given tons of mainstream attention.) The
parallels are many, but I just have a hard time seeing WCW benefitting
from this in the same way the WWF did with Tyson.
Back to your regularly scheduled Recap.
- "Mean" Gene Okerlund interviews DDP. DDP gives his "hardest working man
in wrestling speech", though the cynic in me points out that he only
works hard fitting "Bang!" into the end of each of his interviews. He
claims that Karl Malone approached him about being his partner after he
saw DDP attacked with a chair. When did he see this, DDP? The night it
happened Malone was at a baseball game. The next day he told reporters he
didn't see it.
- Nitro Girls. Bowing the WCW's intentions, I will dutifully note the large
size of their breasts. Nitro Party Video follows.
- DISCO INFERNO vs. LYNN DENTON
Who the hell is Lynn Denton? (I'm sure I'll now get several E-Mails from
folks saying stuff like "oh Denton is a big star in the CRAPWF indy fed
in Podunk, Iowa!" The question still stands: who the HELL is Lynn Denton
to be taking up valuable airtime on Nitro?) Disco wins. Who cares.
- "Mean" Gene interviews Kevin Greene. It's the off-season for the NFL, so
Greene can make his first of two or three WCW appearances this year.
Greene says it's great to see all the guys in the lockerroom again. He
then repeats the story WCW floated a few months back that he was
roommates with Goldberg when the two were with the L.A. Rams. (How many
teams was Goldberg with, anyway? WCW never mentioned the Rams when they
first introduced him last year. They first only talked about him playing
college ball. Then he was an Atlanta Falcon. Now it's the Rams. Other
than a still photo of him in his college uniform, I have yet to see WCW
present any evidence that this guy ever played any football, especially
in the NFL.) Anyway, Curt Hennig and Rick Rude come out to interrupt him.
Green plays all tough, saying things like "who are these guys? Get them
out of here!" This is all just a distraction, though, so that the Giant
(?) can run in and attack Greene from behind. Hennig then joins in the
beating, delivering the WORST KICK TO THE RIBS I'VE EVER SEEN! He takes a
running start, like you'd place kick a football, then pulls way back at
the point of impact, so that the toe of his boot barely brushes Greene's
prone figure. My four and three year old nephews fight more realistically
than this! Greene gets on the mic after they leave and, pretending to be
hurt, calls the group a bunch of punks. After the commercial Schiavone
says something big happened backstage during the commercial. Then,
instead of showing it, they first replay the Greene attack in it's
ENTIRETY. The the footage from during the break: Green and Hennig had to
be held apart. Arn Anderson, Steve McMichael and Chris Benoit hold
Greene. (There's your new Four Horsemen if you ask me.) J.J. Dillon steps
in and announces a match for later in the show between Greene and the
Giant. What a load.
- YUJI NAGATA (w/ Sonny Onoo) vs. TOKOYO MAGNUM
Arrrrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhh! They actually misspell "Tokyo" for the name of
a Japanese wrestler. Nagata wins. Who cares. Schiavone spends most of
this match talking about Stevie Ray and Chris Benoit.
Cut to the back, where Stevie Ray is kicking the crap out of Chris
Benoit. Four security guards can barely hold Stevie back. Surely this
won't affect Benoit's upcoming match with Bret Hart later tonight ...
will it?
- Raven walks a train track and delivers some prose. His father beat him as
a kid ... or something. I stopped listening to Raven's nonsense while he
was still in ECW.
- PUBLIC ENEMY vs. SICK BOY/HORACE (w/ Lodi)
I now know why P.E. does those tinfoil weapon street fights: they can't
wrestle a lick! Johnny Grunge is plain awful, while Rocco Rock is a notch
above "competent". Horace shows all the skills of his uncle "Hollywood"
Hogan, while Sick Boy is the best of the entire group. They stick to
straight wrestling for most of this one, reviving every "Bushwhacker"
comparison made about the P.E over the last couple of years. They then
mix in some spots with a stop sign. Rocco gets the pin after Sick Boy is
accidentally hit by the sign (for the second time) and Rocco knocks the
sign into Horace.
As they'd done before each of the last few commercials they show a five
or ten second clip from the press conference. This clip is notable
because DDP, who is having his picture taken next to Malone by the
"press", can't even smile without looking like he's overacting. Malone
looks bored.
- Nitro Girls.
- "Mean" Gene interviews Bret Hart, who whines about the fans turning he
and fellow Canadian Chris Benoit against each other. That's it. Pointless
interview. WCW again kills time emphasizing what we all know.
- They finally show the "Tonight Show" clip. Schiavone outright lies by
saying "a fight broke out" in setting up the piece.
(Fortunately it's now time for RAW to start, so I can blow off watching
the rest of this crap until Tuesday.
HOUR TWO Hosted By: Schiavone, Tenay and Zbyszko.
- GOLDBERG vs. RICK FULLER
The taped chant plays. Goldberg now breathes smoke, presumably through
the use of a cigarette backstage just before he comes out. The two blow
the spear move. Jackhammer. Win #102. I doubt this two minute stretch is
going to hurt RAW much in the ratings.
- Mike Tenay talks to the fans outside the building in a pretaped segment.
The fans do an imitation of the taped Goldberg chant (for no reason,
since Tenay talks about DDP, Rodman and Malone).
- The Wolfpac members comes out and give pointless interviews. The Wolfpac
is too sweet. Buy the shirt. A blow-up doll is apparently thrown into the
ring. Sting tries to interview it before it is whisked away off-camera by
security. Is this crap supposed to be amusing? Funny? Entertaining?
More comments from the fans earlier in the day.
- Nitro Girls.
- ALEX WRIGHT vs. EDDIE GUERRERO
Mediocre match, which Wright quickly wins when Chavo Guerrero distracts
Eddie with his "loco" gimmick. (Chavo's performance here is embarrassing:
every bit as bad as Al Snow's gimmick over on RAW.)
Another fan gives comments. After the break we get more, this time from a
fan who is deadly serious about DDP delivering the "Bang!" This guy looks
like he'll kill himself if DDP and Malone doesn't win. Seriously. I
actually felt sorry for him he looked so serious.
- KONNAN vs. SCOTTY RIGGS (w/ Lodi)
If you've seen one Konnan match you've seen them all. Konnan wins with
the Tequila Sunrise. Bobby Heenan has replaced Larry Zbyszko by this
time.
- We get our first look at Heenan: his hair is messed up, his shirt is
unbuttoned ... who mugged him?!
- The much vaunted press conference is shown. Lots of standing around for
photos. Karl Malone says he's serious. Hogan says he and Rodman are
champs. Malone calls them cowards. Rodman says something that you'd need
that translator box from "Mars Attacks!" to understand. None of DDP's
"hardest working man in wrestling" speech he gave is shown. For all the
hype, they show about a minute total of press conference footage. You all
can decide what a load of crap this was--I'm tired of saying it.
- Nitro Girls.
HOUR THREE Hosted By: Schiavone, Tenay and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan.
- STEVIE RAY vs. STEVE "MONGO" MCMICHAEL
Weak brawling, weak wrestling, this one stretched on for four or five
minutes--half that time because of a commercial break in the middle.
Stevie Ray wins via DQ when he tries to bash Mongo with a chair. Chris
Benoit runs in to pull away the chair, causing Mongo to lose. I think.
Booker T. then comes out, takes the chair away from Benoit and scolds his
brother for trying to use it against Mongo. How am I supposed to be
excited about Benoit going against Bret Hart when he's still wrapped up
in this lame angle?
- Schiavone reminds us that the mighty Eric Bischoff was the one who put
Randy Savage out of wrestling. Bischoff and Hogan then come out for their
obligatory interviews. Elizabeth, Scott Steiner and the Disciple tag
along as well. In case we missed how great Bischoff was, they replay him
breaking Randy Savage's knee several times. In black-and-white. In slow
motion. Highlighted with a lighted circle. What, no "*snap!* sound
effect?
- They show clips of Hart offering an NWO t-shirt to Benoit, then Benoit
getting into an argument with Stevie Ray. All these clips serve to do is
remind us that Benoit is involved in two angles which apparently have
nothing to do with each other. This will all only make sense if Stevie
Ray joins the NWO.
- CHRIS BENOIT vs. BRET "HITMAN" HART
Hart comes out to the NWO music, making it hard to still claim that he
really isn't part of the NWO.
Circle ... lock-up ... break and stall ... circle ... feel reach other
out ... lock-up ... armbar ... backed into the corner ... ref breaks the
two up ... circle ... crowd chants "USA!" (*snort!*) ... test of strength
... takedown ... armbar ... Hart escapes with a bodyslam ... misses
elbowdrop ... Benoit armdrags and slaps on another armbar ... almost a
full minute passes ... Hart backs Benoit into the corner ... punch ...
punch ... punch ... DDT ... time passes ... rakes Benoit's eyes on top
rope ... kick from Benoit ... Benoit chop ... punch from Hart ... grabs
hair ... choke ... punch ... headbutt ... punch ... punch ... punch from
Benoit ... chop ... kick ... kick ... chop ... stall ... kick from Hart
... Forearm ... forearm ... forearm ... time passes ... Benoit reverses
whip ... catches boot to the face ... Atomic Drop by Hart ... clothesline
... misses elbowdrop ... chop from Benoit ... chop ... punch ... chop ...
Benoit can be seen calling spot ... Hart drops him on top rope ... kick
from Hart ... kick ... Benoit rolls to floor ... Hart follows ... Benoit
slammed into post ... punch ... punch ... punch ... punch ... punch ...
ref comes out to floor so that the duo won't be counted out (half minute
has passed since they dropped to the floor) ... Benoit is down ... Hart
plays to crowd ... time passes ... grass grows ... paint dries ... Hart
rolls Benoit in (Benoit having been down on the floor more than a minute)
... piledriver by Hart ... covers for two ... Hart menaces ref ... time
passes ... headbutt by Hart ... time passes ... cut to commercial ...
this match is boring ... Hart finally picks him up ... legsweep ... two
count ... time passes ... rakes boot across eyes ... stomps on belly ...
time passes ... whip into ropes ... Benoit leaps over ... pushes Bret
into ropes .. Bret holds on ... Bret covers for two ... chews out ref ...
Bret misses punch ... German Suplex #1 ... German Suplex #2 ... Bret mule
kicks to escape ... switches ... Benoit slips behind ... Dragon Suplex
... both men are down ... ref counts to six, with several seconds going
by between every count ... Benoit kicks Hart in the head ... snap suplex
... headbutt off the top misses ... Hart headbutts stomach ... gets
caught on top turnbuckle .. Benoit punches ... suplex off top ... two
count ... time passes ... short-arm clothesline ... two count ... rake of
the eyes by Hart ... Benoit slaps on Crippler Crossface ... Hart reaches
ropes ... Benoit drags Hart to middle of the ring .. ref walks away to
talk to Stevie Ray ... Hart throws a rabbit punch which misses by four
inches ... Benoit falls down ... Hart rolls Benoit on top of himself ...
ref drops for count ... Hart "kicks out" ... applies Sharpshooter ...
wins match. The foreign object Hart used to not hit Benoit is shown lying
on the mat. Hart scoops it up and stuffs it back in his tights.
This match ran at least twelve minutes--maybe longer--and was one of the
DULLEST in recent memory. Moves and sequences of moves which would have
been exciting in a faster-paced match were drawn out here. Benoit spent
half the match on the canvas. I wanted to enjoy this match, but simply
couldn't because of the snail-like pace.
- KEVIN GREENE vs. THE GIANT
Greene only knows one move: a football shoulderblock. It doesn't work
against the Giant, who clotheslines him and drops him to the mat. Greene
gets in a blow to the groin, though, which causes Hennig, Rude, Vincent,
the Disciple and Brian Adams to run in. The whole gang takes turns
stomping Greene into the mat.
Here comes Goldberg, driving the crowd wild. He spears Vincent in the
aisle. He catches both Adams and the Disciple with the spear. He then
stands there and makes funny faces as the rest of the NWO leave. The
Giant has to "hold Hennig back". A real "Goldberg!" chant is interrupted
by the annoyingly loud taped chant. They actually have to turn it off so
that we can hear Greene challenge the Giant and Hennig to a match at the
PPV against he and Goldberg. With that done they turn the taped chant
back on.
- This Thursday: Nothing announced.
- Next week: Nothing announced.
Comments:
A "better" show than recent weeks, though I'm not sure if that says too
much. They squeezed in more matches, but for the most part the quality
still isn't there. Forgetting for a moment the bulk of the show which is
devoted to hyping the Rodman/Malone match, the rest is being used to build
up the undercard for the Bash at the Beach PPV. Sort of. One assumes all
these new elements they introduced this week will lead to PPV matches,
though not necessarily in each case. For one they seem to be pushing for
another Guerrero family match. Why? What's left to be resolved between the
two. We also seem to have a match or feud being built up between Chris
Benoit and Stevie Ray. Ugh. We got a number of surprises and plot twists
this week, but in almost every case they lead to unsatisfying future
developments, or are the type of things that can easily be forgotten by this
Thursday.
I'm sure a lot of Benoit's fans were salivating over his match with Hart
this week. I have a hard time believing too many were blown away by what we
got, though. WCW gave them plenty of time to do a match and they responded
with more restholds and down-on-the-mat selling than I've seen in any other
recent match. For a while t looked like Benoit was injured and Hart was just
taking it easy, though in the end that didn't seem to be the case. It was a
good match by Bret Hart's recent standards, but the damn thing just dragged
on and on, with the screwy finish pretty much tainting anything positive
done in the match. Hart looked tired, while Benoit seemed to be going at
half speed at best. These two were scheduled to face off next month at the
big house show in L.A., which was going to be broadcast over the Internet as
a "Pay-Per-Listen". It turns out that WCW apparently didn't know, or forgot,
that Benoit is scheduled to go to Japan then, and wouldn't be there for the
show. The match was scrapped, much to the consternation of Benoit's fans. I
guess this match here was supposed to make up for that. I'm anxious to read
certain descriptions of this match by other Monday Night Reviewers, which
will undoubtedly give the match far more credit than what was actually
delivered. I hope some of them are man enough to admit that this match
stunk--especially in light of what these two are capable of.
I hate to trash WCW crowds (because it gets me negative E-Mails), but I'm
going to mention this one here. The fans popped for EVERYTHING. They weren't
overwhelmingly hot for everything, but they were loud and positive for
virtually everything that came out in front of them. Lynn Denton got a pop.
Tokoyo Magnum got a pop. "Mean" Gene got a pop. They cheered the good guys
and booed the bad guys, enjoying themselves immensely and generally bugged
the hell out of me. WCW could do no wrong in front of this crowd. I bet WCW
wishes they could pack them up and take them to every arena with them.
They really overdid it with the taped Goldberg chant this week. There was a
point near the end when the crowd started chanting, then the taped chant
kicked in. For a second you can actually hear the two separate chants. A pan
shot of the crowd showed that barely anybody was actually joining in on the
chant. (I myself couldn't see ANYONE mouthing Goldberg's name.) Schiavone
and Heenan made like the chant was an awesome show of support. They then
showed the crowd and no one was chanting, yet the chant kept getting louder
and louder as the show went off the air.
As I figured, Scott Hall and Rey Mysterio, Jr. never showed. Neither did
that other guy who shall remain nameless. Week after week it's clear that
most of the "predictions" about what WCW will be doing that you see on the
'Net are just wishful thinking on behalf of the fans. The excuse is usually
"Well, WCW changed their plans at the last minute just before Nitro went on
the air." Uh-huh ... right.
As I said, the show was "better" this week. The funny thing is I enjoyed it
even less than recent weeks, and that had been a stretch of pretty awful
shows. Take all the bad matches, dumb angles and piss-poor production
techniques and Nitro has become an absolutely horrible way to spend three
hours each week. Don't ask me why I still watch it. I don't even know any
more. Brain damage, maybe.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
WWF RAW is WAR:
Live/Taped: Taped 6/16.
Length: Two Hours+.
Location: Austin, Texas.
WWF RAW Hosted By: Jim Ross and Michael Cole.
- The drama of last week is replayed. After the opening Vince McMahon heads
to the ring. There he introduces "the next World Wrestling Federation
Champion. I give you ... Kane!" The lights go out, fireworks go off ...
the usual. Kane comes to the ring. McMahon, essentially giving Kane a
peptalk, tells him that his troubled past will be forgotten when he beats
Austin for the Title. Paul Bearer looks on "via satellite" from his home.
McMahon then says that Kane has challenged Austin to a "First Blood"
match, where pinfalls, submissions, countouts and disqualifications don't
count. The winner is the one who makes his opponent bleed first. What's
more, says McMahon, there is an additional stipulation. Kane then takes a
microphone device and places it against his throat, allowing him in a
garbled and distorted voice to say that if he fails to win the Title, he
will set himself on fire! Paul Bearer is shown reacting with dismay at
this revelation. Not only that, but he will "breath his last breath!"
adds McMahon.
Okay, I'll bite: how are they gonna get out of this one without Austin
losing the Title?
The "Hell in the Cell" cage hangs over the ring. They never do explain
why.
- KEN SHAMROCK vs. MARK HENRY (w/ the Nation)
The crowd reminds Rocky Maivia that he sucks. The refs force Rocky, Owen
Hart and Kama of the Nation to leave the ringside area.The match starts
fast with Shamrock using a series of stiff kicks to the leg and chest to
try and take the big man down. Henry comes back with a monster powerslam.
From there he applies a bearhug for a few hours, killing the momentum of
the match. The finish comes when Vader runs in and lays out Henry on the
floor. Once back in the ring Shamrock does a belly-to-belly suplex and
covers Henry for the pin. Kevin Kelly gets comments from Shamrock after
the match.
X-Pac and the New Age outlaws of D-X sell some of those crappy Super
Soakers.
- The Edge is shown watching the proceedings from the crowd.
- X-PAC (w/ Chyna) vs. DUSTIN RUNNELS
An okay match from these two, though nothing special. X-Pac uses his
limited array of offense--mostly kicks. Dustin rallies back a few times,
but usually falls prey to interference from Chyna. In the end a trip by
Chyna leads to X-Pac landing a kick to the face and scoring the pin.
Dustin offers to shake hands after the match. X-Pac responds with a
crotch chop. During the match Jim Ross pulls a boner by saying that both
Dustin and X-Pac had been Intercontinental Champions. Dustin has ...
X-Pac hasn't.
- Comments are elicited from Paul Bearer at his home. He promises to be in
Kane's corner at the PPV.
- Jerry "the King" Lawler, in the ring, announces that Al Snow has stolen a
dress from the cleaning lady. He calls for Snow to come to the ring. Here
comes Snow dressed as an old lady. Lawler says he has a letter for Snow,
which he'll give to him if he gives him his crown back (which he stole
last week). Snow gives the crown back, then looks over the letter, which
he realizes is a contract for a match. Snow and the Head must face Scott
Taylor and Brian Christopher ("Too Much"). Snow asks Lawler if Brian
Christopher is his son? Lawler says no. The contract states that if Snow
loses the match, he and the Head has to leave the WWF. Snow says why wait
and lays down on the canvas, telling Lawler to "pin me .. pay me!" Lawler
calls out Too Much, but Snow fights them off with the Head and runs away.
The crowd couldn't care less about any of this.
Kevin Kelly is in the back looking for Steve Austin to see if he accepts
Kane's challenge. Is there any doubt?
- MARC MERO (w/ Jacquelyn) vs. "DOUBLE J" JEFF JARRETT (w/ Tennessee Lee)
Jim Ross mentions that Sable is apparently an employee of Titan Sports,
not the WWF, which is how she has been able to return. It's still a
mystery why McMahon brought her back, though, according to Ross. Michael
Cole adds that there is a "gag order" which prevents the details from
coming out right now. Huh?
An okay match between these two, though as expected it all comes down to
outside interference. Jacquelyn trips Jarrett, which brings Tennessee Lee
over to argue. The ref comes out as well, which is unfortunate for Mero,
who hits a TKO. He covers to no avail. Suddenly Sable comes out,
smuggling a pair of basketballs inside her skintight leotard. Mero is
distracted, allowing Jarrett to apply a DDT. Jarrett gets the pin,
advancing to face Shamrock at the PPV. Kevin Kelly gets a few "ain't I
great?" comments from Jarrett.
Jim Ross is still off this week. When mentioning how brutal the "Hell in
the Cell" match is he says Shawn Michaels beat Kane in the very first
one.
- ROAD DOG (w/ Billy Gunn) vs. KANE
The first hour ends as Gunn is forced to return to the back.
WWF WAR ZONE Hosted By: Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler.
Kane bounces Road Dog around like a ping pong ball. Road Dog uses his
speed and fast punches to keep the match going, but Kane dominates all
the way. A clothesline sends Kane to the floor, but he lands on his feet.
Back in the ring he goes for a chokeslam, but Road Dog breaks free with a
low blow. He tries to run, but Kane catches him by his hair and puts him
away with the chokeslam anyway. A Tombstone Piledriver is just a
formality leading to the pin.
They cut back to Paul Bearer at his home. Paul reiterates that he will be
at the PPV with Kane. When asked why the Undertaker attacked him last
week (Bearer is sporting a large bandage on his forehead), Bearer says
the Undertaker was simply mad that he had prematurely revealed the plot
between the two against Steve Austin. The lights then begin to flicker,
but Bearer dismisses it. What he can't dismiss, though, is the near seven
foot Undertaker, who arrives to slap him around like a bear with a
salmon! "Did you think I forgot where you live?!" growls the Undertaker.
He drives Paul Bearer across, the room, overturns furniture, and
generally demolishes the entire room. Eventually the satellite
transmission is cut off and they cut to a commercial. This was a brutal
looking attack, and word has it that Paul Bearer actually turned an ankle
during the beating.
- THE EDGE vs. JOSE ESTRADA
Colored filters turn the screen red, blue and orange as the Edge makes
his way to the ring through the crowd. His debut match is quick. After a
few punches and a spear to the gut he sends Jose to the floor with a
drop-kick. He then does a flying senton over the top rope to the floor.
His right calf catches Jose on the head, which knocks him cold. The Edge
wins by countout. Numerous replays show how Jose was knocked out, and
after the commercial they show him being stretchered out of the ringside
area, fearing a possible neck injury. He'll apparently be okay.
Kane, having seen his father Paul Bearer attacked, is tearing apart the
lockerroom. Mankind is trying to calm him down. Kane tries to speak with
his neckrophone, but a loud buzz is all that comes out.
- DAN "THE BEAST" SEVERN vs. OWEN HART
Severn and Owen work well together on several moves, suplexes and such,
but little of the match has any sense of flow to it. None of the moves
lead well into those that follow. Owen eventually gets tired of trying to
outmuscle Severn and grabs Jim Ross' chair. Severn retrieves it after
Owen tosses it in, which keeps Owen down on the floor. As the referee is
occupied with taking the chair from Severn, X-Pac appears with a steel
chair of his own and whacks Owen in the back with it. Owen rolls in the
ring and is pinned by Severn. Blood can be seen spreading on the back of
Owen's head from the chairshot, a legit cut caused by the edge of the
chair. The Nation runs out to check on Owen. After the commercial they
are all still in the ring. The Rock challenges D-X to come out to a gang
fight. Out they come, held back by a mob of referees and official.
Another quick commercial is taken.
- ROCKY MAIVIA vs. HUNTER HEARST HELMSLEY (w/ Chyna)
Things go back-and-forth evenly until the Rock takes the advantage with
the People's Elbow. Hunter then winds up on the floor. As the ref is
checking on him Chyna comes in and DDT's Rocky (big crowd pop). Hunter
comes back in for the cover, but only gets a two count. Chyna then tries
to nail Rocky with the belt off a whip to the ropes, but Rocky spots her
and pulls up short. Hunter then comes up from behind and tries to apply
the Pedigree, but Rocky escapes with a low blow, then performs an out-of-
nowhere Fisherman Suplex with bridge for the pin. Wow. That's now two
cleans wins Rocky has over Helmsley in recent weeks. The rest of D-X and
the Nation hit the ring and a massive melee breaks out.
In the back Kane is still on his rampage, though Mankind has him pretty
much settled down. He hits the ring and after the commercial break
launches into a long, bizarre, rambling monologue about a photo of old
Civil War veterans he used to have meeting up on the battlefield of their
youth. Mankind says he always thought that he and the Undertaker would be
like that, meeting years from now in the boiler room of the Igloo, or at
Madison Square Garden, to reminisce of their old battles. Now that the
Undertaker has attacked Uncle Paul the way he did, Mankind now says the
final thing he wants to do in his old age is urinate on the Undertaker's
grave. Weird stuff. The "Hell in the Cell" cage lowers around him as he
says all this, then raises back up for the next match.
- "BAD ASS" BILLY GUNN (w/ Chyna) vs. MANKIND
Early in the match Chyna attacks Mankind, which causes her to be sent
back to the lockerroom. Gunn's only offense involves him slamming Mankind
into stuff at ringside. Otherwise the match is all Mankind. He gets the
win with the Mandible Claw. Helmsley comes out to check on Gunn as
Mankind heads to the back. The camera follows him to the lockerroom where
he checks on Kane. Kane has vanished, though.
- Sable comes to the ring to introduce "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Once
Austin comes out he gives her a middle finger message to take back to
Vince McMahon, telling her to tell him that bird's from "Stone Cold". As
Sable leaves Austin continues, saying he accepts Kane's match
stipulations and that if he's dumb enough to set himself on fire Austin
will bring the marshmallows and hot dogs.
Out comes Kane on the stage. After a dramatic pause he raises his arms
and back in the ring Austin is suddenly drenched under a torrent of fake
blood pouring from the ceiling. Austin gives a look like Carrie White on
prom night. With things now having veered dangerously close to a David
Lynch film, Kane says with his buzzy voice that on Sunday the blood will
be real. Austin is literally trembling with anger as the show ends.
- Next week: Nothing announced.
Comments:
My only complaint this week is that the show lacked any real flow from
segment to segment. I'm guessing that's just a side effect of the show being
taped and edited. Still, each segment in and of itself came off well, with
the whole show being one of the best PPV set-ups in a long time. Both main
events have been built up nicely, as well as the two King of the Ring
matches. Perhaps the nicest part is the way they not only built to the PPV,
but also set up things afterwards, such as the eventual Kane/Mankind Tag
Title shot. The Edge had an okay debut, while Dustin Runnels continued his
new "nice guy" gimmick. They managed to focus on the PPV, yet devote some
time to fleshing out the overall direction of the WWF.
Actually my only real complaint is the Al Snow angle, which gets worse every
week (and I wasn't wild about it to begin with). This stuff should have been
saved for a swing across the WWF's core arenas in the northeast. The Texas
crowds haven't cared a bit about all this. Snow should get a decent reaction
from the Pittsburgh crowd at the PPV, though.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Bottom Line:
Right off the bat with RAW we saw what separates the WWF and WCW. Here the
WWF took upwards of 20 minutes worth of footage from last week and
condensed it into a dramatic clip less than two minutes in length. What's
more, instead of telling us how exciting the events of last week were, we
were allowed to see that for ourselves, letting the footage speak for
itself. Were it Nitro the show would have started with a few seconds of the
footage as a tease. Tony Schiavone would have then told us how exciting and
spectacular what happened last week was. Then they would show little
snippets preceding every commercial break over the next few hours. Finally
they would have then shown the footage almost in its entirety late in the
show. All of this, even though the vast majority of the viewers saw all the
footage already for themselves the week before! The WWF shows us the footage
to set the tone for the current week's show. WCW shows the footage as if
we've forgotten what happened, or missed it the first time. It isn't used to
set the tone because we don't even get to see it until way into the show. In
the WWF the footage is used to kick off the events for the new show, with
what happens usually tying in directly to the past footage shown. On Nitro
the footage usually has to serve as a reminder of the angle being done
because WCW rarely picks up on any storyline for two successive weeks. This
week, for example, there should have been a direct confrontation between
Hogan and DDP, picking up where the chair attack left off. Instead we had
uneventful Hogan and DDP interviews, with the old footage from the chair
attack, "Tonight Show" and press conference being used to tie it all
together. One week's worth of footage is used to tell the story for two
straight weeks. It's a lazy form of storytelling and is usually done because
the principals either aren't there (such as Roman and Malone this week)
and/or they need to fill those three damn hours every week. Don't be
surprised next week if nothing new happens in the Greene/Goldberg/Hennig/
Giant angle. Goldberg and the Giant could wrestle squashes, with extensive
footage shown from what happened this week, thus hyping the angle without
actually doing anything new (with maybe a Hennig interview thrown in for
good measure).
Here's the King of the Ring card:
* Austin vs. Kane. "First Blood".
* Undertaker vs. Mankind. "Hell in the Cell".
* Shamrock vs. Jarrett. Tournament match.
* Maivia vs. Severn. Tournament match.
* Tournament final match.
* New Age Outlaws vs. LOD 2000.
* Al Snow & Head vs. Too Much.
I'd also expect Owen Hart to face either X-Pac or Triple H. Is the Tag Title
match still on? That's the only one they didn't hype this week. I originally
thought Shamrock would meet Severn in the final, but now I'm leaning towards
a Shamrock/Maivia final. I'd look for Severn to lose by DQ or countout. I
still think Shamrock will win the whole thing.
RAW beat Nitro in the ratings again: 4.3 to 4.1. Rodman ... Malone ...
Greene ... nothing worked. They did have a better unopposed first hour this
week (4.1), but dropped to a 4.0 for the second hour, then climbed back up
to a 4.3. RAW won both the head-to-head hours with scores of 4.1 and 4.5.
RAW's rating is almost indentical to that which it's gotten the last two
weeks. Nitro, because of their unopposed first hour, got a higher overall
share (which doesn't mean all that much). With RAW being live next week it
looks likely that they could win again, that show rumored to be featuring
the WWF debuts of Steven Regal and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams. Nitro will
counter with ... well, who knows. Does it really matter? WCW's best hope
for future ratings dominance may now lie in the fact that TNT will be
switching to a tape delayed west coast feed on July 1st. That means west
coast viewers will see Nitro at 8:00 PM instead of 5:00 PM. RAW airs at 9:00
PM out west. Of course the Nitro Replay may figure more into the ratings now
more than it did before. Previously west coast viewers could watch all of
the early Nitro, then all of RAW. Now they have to chose like the rest of
the country. UNLESS they want to wait until the Nitro Replay, which now airs
at 1:00 AM their time instead of 10:00 PM. Odds are more will opt for the
prime time "live" airing instead of the much later Replay. That should
translate into more viewers for the first airing. Just how many ... we'll
find that out on the already big night of July 6th.
[Ratings & news info courtesy 1Wrestling.com.]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This Week's Winner: RAW.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Slobberknocker Central" and "Monday Night Recap" are copyright 1998 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 136 of the "Monday Night Recap", June 22nd, 1998.