Slobberknocker Central Monday Night Recap #200 September 13th, 1999 The Opening Word: TWO HUNDRED WEEKS I've been writing this thing. I think I'll celebrate the occasion by taking the week off. ... Better yet, I'll just write the damned thing like every other week. Seriously, I was thinking out doing an in-depth retrospective of the last four years, but Rick Scaia beat me to the punch on the WrestleLine site. Not of my writing, mind you, but of what has happened over the course of the first four years of the "Monday Night Wars". There isn't much different I could write, other than what my own observations and such were. I also don't see much point in listing my "Favorite Matches", "Greatest Moment" and such. Maybe next year, to mark the fifth anniversary. Two big stories shook the wrestling world last week. The first was the death of Brian Hildebrand. I didn't know Brian personally, but I did shed a tear when I heard he'd died. Probably something about his death, and my own Father suffering such a serious illness, which brought it all close to home. The news of one triggering something deep within the cerebral cortex, reawakening the pain of the other. Who knows? All I know is it made me sad, and reading what a lot of his friends and co-workers had to say about him made me feel better. Being able to share grief like that is one of the positive aspects of the Internet. The other news making waves was Eric Bischoff's removal as the head of WCW. No matter how much we thought this would happen, it was still a surprise when it came down. I have a lot to say on the subject, and have done so, but you won't see it here. Check out the nWWWo website this weekend. Smackdown was a huge show last week. The ratings weren't that great for it, but I think that has a lot to do with the monster rating the MTV Music Awards pulled in. I didn't see Thunder, and skipped the ECW on TNN show (though I did tape the latter, and will watch it eventually). I saw bits and pieces of Sunday Night Heat. The WWF is making the show a lot more interesting than I thought they would. The whole "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" flashback segment was great. WCW's Fall Brawl PPV looks to be getting mixed reviews, as it seems to have been lacking anything even remotely resembling a great match. I've seen some somewhat positive reviews, but those were taking into account a few cumulative matches that were okay at best. The booking was weird, seemingly designed to deliberately disappoint most fans. Not exactly the smart thing to do at such a trying time for the company, is it? Harlem Heat regaining the Tag Team Titles was the only positive thing the fans could take away from it. Otherwise they saw the entire Revolution get squashed, Chris Benoit lose the Unite States Title to Sid Vicious, and Sting turn heel for the first time in twelve or thirteen years, winning the WCW World Heavyweight Title away from Hulk Hogan. Big night for Evil Running Amok. No big rumors going into the Monday night shows, though there is a major story brewing in what looks to be a jump from ECW to the WWF by their current World Champion, Taz, sometime in the near future. Piecing the story together from the usual sources, it looks like Taz is going to stick with ECW through to the end of the year, losing the belt sometime before then, then debut in the WWF in early 2000. I've got serious doubts as to how and where Taz would fit into the WWF scheme of things. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WCW Monday Nitro: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Three Hours+. Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina. HOUR ONE Hosted By: Tony Schiavone and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. - "Last Week" video package. Schiavone tells us it was Sting we couldn't trust, as he turned on Hogan and the fans at Fall Brawl. - CHRIS BENOIT vs. DEAN MALENKO This is a rematch from last week, a match which Sid ruined with a run-in. Funny story: apparently WCW was keeping track of fan reaction on the Internet last week. When this match came down, the fans were up in arms about the finish. So WCW quickly announced that Chris Benoit would get a shot at the World Title, as was promised to the winner of last week's match. Since then they rethought that, and instead decided to just do a rematch. The outcome, though, really wasn't in doubt, as Benoit comes away with the win following a decent match. - "Mean" Gene Okerlund is out to interview ... Ric Flair. This show nearly marks the one year anniversary of Flair's emotional return following his lawsuit-related banishment. I'll remind the readers that I was very critical of Flair's return, and expressed skepticism regarding the re-formation of the Four Horsemen. Looking over the events of the year that followed, I feel a bit vindicated in my skepticism. This time around I would express some guarded optimism. Flair does his usual "Crazy Old Man" and "Suck Up To The Locals" routines. Out comes Sting and Lex Luger. To really condense what follows (because it lasted almost twenty minutes) they tell Flair that he's old, that he should leave, and Luger attacks him. Here comes Hulk Hogan and Bret Hart for the save. Hogan and Hart challenge the two to a match. Having escaped to backstage, Luger tells Sting that he doesn't yet have his medical clearance to return to the ring. I was actually into all this, and I didn't really do the segment justice, but what I wrote is the essence of what happened. The only other thing I could do would be a lengthy transcript, which would delay the Recap by about a week (I don't know how CRZ can stand to do it every week). - PPV stills. - Berlyn's car arrives. - Rikki "Poor Man's Judd Nelson" Rachtman comes out and does the whole Nitro Girl thing from last week over again. This week's Nitro Girl hopefuls are named Alyson and Ashley. Take your pick, they're both pretty generic. Zuli was last week's winner. I'm really not giving two shits about this whole thing. J.J. Dillon is on the phone checking on Lex Luger's medical status. Some convenient expository dialogue reveals that Luger has had medical clearance for three weeks. There was something like ten minutes of wrestling this hour, if even that. I'm just saying, is all. HOUR TWO Hosted By: Tony Schiavone and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. - Some local athletes are in attendance, none of whose names I picked up. - PPV stills. - ERIK WATTS vs. DISCO INFERNO Watts really bites. Disco tries his best, and fails, to amuse me tonight. Late in the match they cut to a split-screen shot of the match, and Sid in the back watching on a monitor. Sid mumbles the same stuff he's been mumbling for weeks. Disco scores the pin, then as he's telling us how great he is, he's powerbombed by Sid. Sid is now 81-0. Referee Charles Robinson not only carries the signs, but is wearing Sid's U.S. Title belt around his waist. - SILVER KING vs. NORMAN SMILEY Either WCW is taking the sporadic Internet support these two guys have too seriously, or WCW is giving up on Hour Two this week. Sid comes out and does his thing. - Actual video clip of Berlyn beating "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan at Fall Brawl. - WEST TEXAS REDNECKS (w/ Hennig & Vincent) vs. STEVEN REGAL/DAVID TAYLOR Hennig with a cowbell assist, giving the Rednecks the win. - Jerry Flynn, accompanied by Jimmy Hart, is out for the next match. Here comes Goldberg, still in street clothes, with his security entourage. Flynn was supposed to fight Prince Iaukea. Goldberg excuses the interruption and calls out Sid. Split-screen to the back, where Sid mumbles at the monitor. Goldberg tells Sid "you're NEXT!" Flynn then attacks Goldberg, which earns him a Spear and Jackhammer. - PPV stills. - BRIAN KNOBBS/HUGH MORRUS vs. HARLEM HEAT The Heat have the match won when the Windhams run in and attack. A lot of wrestling this hour, and all of it boring as hell. But hey, we got to see Sid twice, and listen to him talk for about half an hour. HOUR THREE Hosted By: Tony Schiavone and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. - INSANE CLOWN POSSE (El Vampiro) vs. LENNY/LODI I think they're calling Lenny and Lodi the "West Hollywood Blondes", a name I refuse to acknowledge. The stalker fan is back again, running into the ring and being taken down by security. I hope all you fans planning on attending a WCW show live follow this example and run into the ring. Go on, WCW wants you to do it. Why else would they run an angle glorifying it? You should also obsess about Lenny and Lodi, and masturbate while looking at their pictures ... if I'm following this storyline right. This one's good for some laughs, and the ICP are becoming a watchable team (just not very believable, especially when they're on offense). Shaggy 2 Dope pins Lenny after Lodi accidentally hits him coming off the top turnbuckle (Lodi was aiming for 2 Dope). Vampiro was inactive at ringside, having been pretty well messed up in the PPV match against the Filthy Animals (hate that name too). - Chris Benoit is in the ring. He believes Sid tapped out in their match at the PPV. Benoit calls out Sting for their match. Rick Steiner comes out instead. Great, so there goes the Benoit/Sting match they promised for tonight. CHRIS BENOIT vs. RICK STEINER Benoit gets the pin by way of a fast count, after Steiner nails the referee. Benoit rolls Steiner up, and the ref gets revenge with the fast count. Steiner stomps on Benoit, and Dean Malenko runs out for the save ... sort of. Malenko just stands there, and the two stare at each other as Steiner walks out. Whatever. Benoit is the new Television Champion, which has to be a step down considering that just a day earlier he was U.S. Champion and number one contender to the World Title, a match which he even earned earlier in THIS show. WCW should just dump him in the Cruiserweight Division and get it over with. - Revolution video. - SATURN (w/ the Revolution) vs. EDDIE GUERRERO (w/ the Filthy Animals) Only the second good match of the show, which Saturn wins with a leg hook reversal of a Sunset Flip. The two teams stare down after the match. - BERLYN (w/ Uta Ludendorf) vs. BUFF BAGWELL If the rumors are to be believed, Bagwell refused to job to Berlyn at the PPV, forcing WCW to dig up Jim Duggan at the last minute. Seeing these two go at it here makes me wonder if WCW is punishing Bagwell for complaining. Berlyn's theme music churns my stomach, and they do something stupid to the video when he comes out. It's like watching a video clip with a slow frame rate and bad color contrast. Berlyn wrestles with a lot of energy, and is good at taking bumps. Overall I'd say he's a bit better than I remembered him. He's still not that good, though, and man--has his physique gone to hell! Alex Wright used to be really muscular, just really skinny. He's gone all soft now, lacking the muscle definition he used to have. He's also pale white, like he spent his time off huddled in a root cellar. Uta sits in on color commentary, spouts some bogus sounding German, and says "losing is unacceptable!" several times. This match is giving me a headache. Berlyn's offense reminds me of Ernest Miller. Bagwell just sucks. Berlyn gets the win, with help from his bodyguard. Why the hell couldn't they have done THIS at the PPV? Video history of Sting. WCW tries to convince us that his turn has been in the offing for years--or at least since he turned his back on WCW and put on the Crow makeup. The voiceover commentary goes a bit overboard here. ("Maybe Kevin Nash is right, and Sting really is the Hummer Driver. REMEMBER?!") - HULK HOGAN/BRET HART vs. STING/LEX LUGER Michael Buffer RRRUUUMMMBBBLLLEEESS the crowd. Hogan, strangely enough, wrestles the majority of the match for his team, meaning we get several minutes of him getting beat up, laying on his back, growling, grimacing, etc. Luger is worse, being unable to do anything more than punch and kick. No matter how interesting the storylines involving these guys are, matches like this are the inevitable result. Hart is tagged in and he and Sting combine for a flash of an instant's worth of good wrestling. Hart locks Sting into the Sharpshooter. Then Diamond Dallas Page comes in with a baseball bat. Hogan cuts him off. Luger gets hold of the bat and whallops Hart in the neck. (I hope that was a fake bat, otherwise Hart is going bye-bye again.) Sting cradles Hart for the pin. - This Thursday: Nothing announced. - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: "A journey of a thousand steps begins with the first," or something like that. WCW's got a long road ahead of them before they return to respectability. This week's show didn't take too many steps down that road. The show started off well enough, with a good, solid Benoit/Malenko match, and the interesting Flair/Sting/Luger/Hogan/Hart angle. Someone then switched on the autopilot knob and broke it off. Hour Three saw some okay action, but the damage had already been done. About the only improvement I could put my finger on this week is that Ernest Miller wasn't on. That, and a general sense that things were more boring than outright sucking. Looks like the Demon and Maestro have been dropped. If that's the case, then that's another improvement we can point to. Where's my million dollars? I thought I'd get it by watching this week's show? If that was a Bischoff idea, don't be surprised if we never hear about it again. I just realized that Sting's heel turn means he faked his lights-out beating last week. The truly remarkable thing is that his heel turn, and him presumably being the Hummer Driver, does actually make sense. Well, not sense, really, but it does fit within the framework of most of the events which occurred. The one true bright spot I see in WCW is if Sting and Bret Hart pair off for a singles feud. That's got a lot of potential. With Hogan around, though, I can't see him keeping his stinking nose out of the picture. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF RAW is WAR: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours+. Location: Anaheim, California. WWF RAW Hosted By: Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler. - "Last Thursday" clip shows us Steve Austin trying to help Triple H lose some weight ... by dumping him in an ambulance and smashing it with a semi! Lucky for Triple H he was pulled out at the last second by Shane McMahon. Otherwise he'd be dead, which would really be a detriment to his push. - Clips from various random hallways around the arena show us that the Undertaker, Big Show, Kane, the Rock and Mankind are all waiting for Triple H to arrive. Seems they all want a piece of the WWF Champion. Pat Patterson and Gerry Brisco warn Linda McMahon not to head out to the ring, as things look way too explosive tonight. Linda says she's got "family business" to take care of. Triple H and Chyna arrive at the arena via police escort. Linda Mac and the Stooges hit the ring. Given the events of Smackdown, the five men who want to get their hands on Triple H will get a shot to do so, if they can win a five-way free-for-all match to name the number one contender to the WWF Title. Of course this assumes Triple H will still be the champ come PPV time, as he'll square off tonight against former champ, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Triple H is out, and he's not too happy about these developments. He and Chyna take out Patterson and Brisco, as Triple H's police escort surround the ring to keep people out. The various WWF challengers begin drifting in through the crowd. Triple H tries to throw a scare in Linda, but she bids a hasty exit. Pyro explosion on the stage, signaling the entrance of Kane. As policemen swarm to hold that monster off, the others are able to slip in the ring and pummel on Triple H first, then each other. Triple H slides out under the ropes and makes his escape. As if all this wasn't enough, Jim Ross suddenly notices that the Ominous Steel Cage is suspended over the ring. - Michael Cole is on hand backstage to get a word with Jeff Jarrett. Jarrett throws out an open challenge to any woman in the arena to come out and fight. - Shane McMahon has arrived ... - Cole holds the stick for the Rock and Mankind. The Rock is going to lay the smackdown of some rudy poo's candy-ass, while Mankind promises to get his rudy poo candy-ass smacked down. - JEFF JARRETT (w/ Debra & Miss Kitty) vs. LUNA VACHON Luna puts up a better fight than Jacqueline did last week, but still gets demolished. Before Jarrett can finish her off, though, Ivory runs in, yanks Jarrett's guitar out of Miss Kitty's hands, and waffles Luna with it. Luna wins by DQ, which pisses Jarrett off--and as we all know, you don't piss Jarrett off. Jarrett confronts ring announcer Lillian Garcia and chases her into the ring. Jarrett slaps the Figure Four on the helpless female, to major crowd heat. I may buy the Unforgiven PPV just to see Chyna kick his ass. Austin is in the house. Watching Smackdown last week one got the impression that Austin is the mysterious Hummer Driver. His passing by a gray Humvee here further solidifies that theory. - WrestleMania 2000 will be taking place at tonight's venue: the Arrowhead Pond. They'll also be doing that FanFest thing again, from March 31 to April 2nd. - Terry Taylor is on hand to get reaction from Chyna re: Jeff Jarrett. She remains unimpressed. - D-VON DUDLEY (w/ Bah Bah Ray) vs. FAAROOQ (w/ Bradshaw) "Bah Bah Ray"? Oops. D-Von and Buh Buh do their thing on the mic. Rumor has it that Vince McMahon really digs Buh Buh Ray's gimmick, so they've got him going back to stuttering so they can re-do the whole thing in from of WWF fans. Hey, he got over once by doing it, why not again? This here is a "Strap Match", so I should note that the WWF wisely doesn't pair off a black man against a white man, lest they inflame certain emotions. Lots of whipping, with an occasional wrestling move thrown in. Buh Buh secures the win for his partner when he nails Faarooq in the back of the head with a steel chair. D-Von covers for the pin. After dispatching Michael Cole, the Undertaker talks about some woman's ass at ringside. Swear to god! - Howard Finkel is out to replace Lillian Garcia, but is quickly sent packing by Jim Ross. Hey, J.R. still has on a cast from Triple H breaking his arm. Ross is there to interview the British Bulldog, who comes out wearing one of Vince McMahon's old suits. The Bulldog talks about proving himself again in what is probably his last run before retirement (an event, he says, which is still some ways off). Before he's finished he'd like to win the WWF Championship. Here comes the Big Bossman to ruin the day. Bossman throws out some general threats in the Bulldog's direction. Out quickly is Al Snow. Snow proposes a Hardcore Title match at Unforgiven, to be held in a steel cage, with the Hell in the Cell cage placed over that. Attack dogs will then be set loose between the two cage walls, and the winner is the one who can escape both cages. Well, that sounds pleasantly goofy. The Bossman agrees, he not being all that smart. The Bulldog then knocks him on his arse, but the Bossman gives as good as he gets, knocking the Bulldog into the steel post. Snow then sics a pair of rottweilers on the Bulldog: a move he picked up from Tank Abbott over drinks one night. Michael Cole's next abusive interview is with the Mean Street Posse and Terri Runnels. Joey Abs says he's not going to honor Shane McMahon's wishes, and will instead make a life a living hell for Test and his "tramp" fiance. Triple H, off somewhere pacing, practically has smoke coming out of his ears he's so mad (upset, scared). - Comedian Dennis Miller looks to be very embarrassed to be in the house. Miller, a closet wrestling fan, had Goldberg on his HBO show a few months back. - EMT's rush to a room backstage, where Shane McMahon has been laid out. Who committed this foul deed? Probably the Hummer Driver. Too bad Shane couldn't have been helped by whoever raised the briefcase. - Tony Chimel replaces Howard Finkel again. Poor Fink. Jericho fired him last Thursday for being a fu**-up. JOEY ABS (w/ the Mean Street Posse) vs. TEST The usual stuff here. Pete Gas and Rodney interfere, causing a DQ. Shane McMahon comes out and actually helps Test, pounding on Pete Gas, until he too is stomped like Test. Have a mentioned that Pete Gas looks like Magilla Gorilla? I really do not care for the Posse. Test and Shane rally back, and chase the rich punks completely out of the building. Last we see the two they are piling into a vehicle to continue the chase on California's freeways. Steve Austin's match is next. WWF WAR ZONE Hosted By: Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler. - "STONE COLD" STEVE AUSTIN vs. TRIPLE H (w/ Chyna) Yeah, like this match was going to happen this early in the show. Triple H comes out with his police escort. Citing the vehicular assault attempted by Austin last Thursday, Triple H reveals that he's sworn out an arrest warrant for Austin. The cops close in and cuff "Stone Cold". Triple H takes the opportunity to get in a few cheap shots. - Triple H looks on as Austin is loaded into a squad car. What is Austin's arrest record now, anyway? Linda McMahon stands nearby, perhaps contemplating calling her attorney. - THE GODFATHER (w/ Ho's) vs. CHAZ Damn, but is the Godfather over or what! Heat clip shows Chaz admitting that his relationship with Marianna is over. The Godfather doesn't offer Chaz a night with the Ho's because of his recent back luck with women. The match is only about a minute old when Marianna comes out. Off comes her sunglasses and we see a black eye, the implication being that someone hit her. Chaz asks her what happened? She asks him back "why, Chaz, why?" Let me cut in to say right now I don't like this at all. It's a fine line, I guess, between this and what Jarrett is doing. I can't really explain the difference, but I can handle the one, and not the other. Some aspect of the victimization of women. Even when Jarrett went after Lillian Garcia, that didn't bother me. But this did. I can't explain the difference--maybe there isn't one--but to me there's a line, and here the WWF crossed it. Anyway, I'm not sure if the inference is that Chaz hit her, that someone else did, or if she's trying to set him up. Whichever it may be, I don't agree with it. The Godfather, enraged at Chaz's supposed act, lays in a solid ass whooping. Peddle the ass, just don't smack it around, I guess. Ho Train. Pimp Drop, pin, Ho Pile. Patterson and Brisco are advising Linda McMahon that she go home and call it a night. She won't hear of it. - Video package showing the split between Kane and X-Pac. Where is X-Pac? - As the steel cage is lowering the Y2J Countdown kicks in. Chris Jericho enters the cage. (Jericho is wearing a black armband, presumably in the memory of Brian Hildebrand.) Jericho deconstructs Ken Shamrock's name, asserting that he is indeed a "sham", but does not "rock" at all. Jericho proposes one final lesson for Shamrock, which will take the form of a match against submission wrestling expert "Gotch Gracie". ("Gotch", from olde tyme wrestler Karl Gotch, and "Gracie" from reknowned shootfighter Royce Gracie and his siblings.) "Gotch Gracie" comes out, build like the Big Bossman, dressed all in black (including a mask). CHRIS JERICHO vs. "GOTCH GRACIE" Jericho applies various submission holds, with "Gotch" supplying little resistance. This is running way too long. Jericho gets the win, at which point Shamrock runs in. "Gotch" then helps Jericho deliver the beating. The mask comes off, revealing Curtis Hughes. - Our various main event competitors are beginning to drift towards the ring. D-Lo Brown and the Godfather seem to be conducting some business. Whatever it is, it's costing D-Lo more money than he'd like. Michael Cole has tracked down Jericho and Mr. Hughes. Jericho calls him "Curtis Huge". Is that his name now, or is Jericho just being clueless as always? - The UNDERTAKER vs. THE BIG SHOW vs. MANKIND vs. THE ROCK vs. KANE Both the Rock and Kane do delayed entrances, giving the Big Show a chance to cover Mankind, only to be pulled off by the Undertaker. Viscera and Midian are at ringside, and lend a hand to the Undertaker in beating on Mankind. Things go along from there until the Undertaker knocks out the referee. The Rock drops the Undertaker and gives him the People's Elbow, but scores no pin as Kane stomps on the next referee to come in. Two more referees come in and they are taken out by the Big Show. Here come the "WWF officials", but they too are dumped back out (Sgt. Slaughter taking a huge bump, being sent flying over the corner post to the floor below). Senior WWF referee Earl Hebner takes one look at the bodies lying everywhere and refuses to enter the ring. It's Code Blue time, so wrestlers start coming in to try and establish order. The Godfather gets his salad tossed. Chaz eats a Rock Bottom. "Crash" Holly delivers a flurry of fists to the gut of the Big Show, and takes a chokeslam ride for his troubles. Prince Albert loses his crown. Stevie Richards goes down for the count. Now our five title contenders are side-by-side, as the ENTIRE WWF LOCKERROOM empties into the ring! Cut to commercial. - The referees have been laid out in a room backstage. One of them tells Earl Hebner "we have no control out there." Teddy Long says "they hurt me real bad. I'm bleeding." - VAL VENIS/D-LO BROWN vs. STEVE BLACKMAN/MARK HENRY This is out main event? Henry never shows, leaving Blackman all alone. No surprise that he's pinned quickly following a Fisherman Suplex by Val and a D-Lo Frog Splash. "GTV" appears on the Titan-Tron. It seems Mark Henry has been lured to the back, where the Godfather is entertaining him with a few of his Ho's doing a table dance. D-Lo's money well spent. Looks like Triple H and Chyna will be out next. - A lone police car and limousine have entered the building. The plot thickens. - Triple H and Chyna make their way to the ring. Triple H calls out Linda McMahon. Ross calls Triple H a "first class jerk", and worries for Linda's safety. Once there, he demands that she put Steve Austin back at the bottom rung of the ladder for blowing his last chance at the title. She says "no". He repeats his demand, but she again says "no" and turns to leave. Triple H grabs her arm, saying he isn't asking, he's telling. Things don't look good for Linda. "No Chance in Hell" fires up, and a rumble in the crowd turns into a roar when VINCE MCMAHON makes his way to the ring. "Listen, I gave my word that I wouldn't interfere in WWF business, but this isn't business, this is personal. Listen up you son-of-a-BITCH! Who in the hell do you think you are. Yeah, you're the WWF Champion alright, maybe you need a little reminder as to who gave you that break. Who gave you the opportunity, huh?" Vince strips off his jacket, tells Linda to leave the ring, then throws the coat in Triple H's face. The two square off, when-- **KEE-RASH!** "STONE COLD" STEVE AUSTIN vs. TRIPLE H Austin drags Triple H all around the ring area, beating on him. Into the announce tables they go, sending the Spanish team scurrying. Suplex on the floor by Austin. Lou Thesz press in the ring, followed by an elbowdrop. Austin rolls to the floor and grabs a chair, nailing Triple H with it. He then goes to work on his knee, paying Triple H back for what he did to him. Referee Hebner pulls the chair away, so Austin slugs him. The bell sounds, Austin having been disqualified. He and Triple H battle up the ramp. In the background we see the steel cage lowering again. Austin drags Triple H back into the cage and lays him out with the Stone Cold Stunner. - This Thursday: Nothing announced. - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: Quoting from last week's Recap: "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if she did something to cheese off Triple H, and he tried to put his hands on her, only to be stopped by Vince McMahon?" I'm beginning to suspect I'm on the WWF's booking committee. A somewhat average show this week, with a really hot finish making it memorable. The booking in the five-way match was to set up the Unforgiven main event, which is expected to feature a six-way match for the title, with Steve Austin as the referee. Here's my theory as to what Shane is up to: Shane will used his newfound trust with Test to throw him a bachelor party. He will then get some tramp, such as Terri Runnels, to jump out of a cake and give Test a lap dance. Of course this is all a setup, as he and the Posse will be surreptitiously filming it. Maybe they'll get Test drunk, or drug him, so he can't resist. Shane will then show the tape to Stephanie, in a bid to get her to call off the wedding. BUT, at the last moment, a GTV clip will play, revealing that Andrew was the victim of a plot. Shane will be the outcast again, while Stephanie and Andrew will walk down the aisle on October 11th, which I believe you all know by now happens to be the huge live RAW from the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. Well, that's what I'd do, were I booking the show. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bottom Line: Here's how Unforgiven is shaping up: * Triple H vs. Undertaker vs. Big Show vs. Kane vs. Mankind vs. the Rock for the WWF Championship. Steve Austin special guest referee. * Jeff Jarrett vs. Chyna. Intercontinental Title Match. * Al Snow vs. Big Bossman. Hardcore Title Match in a Double Dog-Filled Steel Cage. * Ivory vs. Luna. Women's Championship Match. * Mark Henry vs. D-LO Brown. European Title Match. * Chris Jericho vs. Ken Shamrock. * The Dudley Boyz vs. the Acolytes. * Steve Blackman vs. Val Venis. Possibly a Test/Joey Abs match as well, or Test & Shane vs. the Posse. Something like that. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Slobberknocker Central" and "Monday Night Recap" are copyright 1999 by John Petrie, and all opinions expressed therein are his own, and not those of "USLink". Check the "Slobberknocker Central" main page for info on how to receive the "Recap" free via E-Mail every week. Volume One, Number 200 of the "Monday Night Recap", September 13th, 1999.