[RESULTS/OPINION] WCW Monday Nitro/WWF Monday Night RAW (10/14) WCW Monday Nitro: Live. HOUR ONE: Hosted by Tony Schiavone & Larry Zbyszko. - Recap of last week's show. - DEAN MALENKO vs. BRAD ARMSTRONG They start out by showing a clip of Armstrong pinning Malenko on WCW Saturday Night (which blew away my theory that Armstrong would win this match.) Sure enough, Malenko wins with a 3/4 nelson rolled into a pin. - The entire NWO arrive in their limos. - M. WALLSTREET vs. "HACKSAW" JIM DUGGAN You know... this is the unfortunate side effect of WCW's booking of their top stars (not to mention other circumstances.) Sting is off making a movie, Flair is injured, and the NWO guys rarely wrestle on free TV any more. This leaves Lex Luger and Randy Savage to provide the marquee presences on Nitro. Since Savage is always either being beaten up or in "angst" over the situation with Elizabeth, that means Luger is the top guy right now. I bring this all up to make a point: with the top stars gone, WCW now has to dig deep into their midcard pool to fill the Nitro cards. This match is a case in point. What had been a silly little melodrama previously relegated to WCW Saturday Night now finds it's way onto WCW's premier TV show. You all know the history behind this one: Wallstreet usually cheats to win, or else Duggan wraps his fist with tape and knocks Wallstreet out. Yawn. Most recently when this happened referee Nick Patrick gave Duggan the win, then overturned it when he realized Duggan had used the tape. So this was the rematch sans Nick Patrick, making sure no one would muck up the fans opportunity to see the good ol' boy give it to the fancy pants rich boy. Duggan wins with a clothesline. - HUGH MORRUS vs. JIM POWERS (w/ Teddy Long) Example #2. Powers has been on more Nitro's lately than any other wrestler. The sad thing is that he isn't even getting a push out of it, he's just there to fill out the roster and further the Teddy Long angle - if there is one. Yes, Nick Patrick is the referee again, and yes, everytime Powers tries to go for a pin, Patrick's neck hurts too much for him to make the count. Morrus wins following a moonsault and Patrick and Long get into another argument. Apparently we're not supposed to remember that Long turned heel under similar circumstances. At the start of the match Tony takes the opportunity to thank "Mr. Lawler" for putting together this, the largest event ever at the Mid South Coliseum. He says they'll see him that Friday at the flea market. "He's selling fleas now?" Asks Larry Zbyszko. - LEX LUGER vs. GREG "THE HAMMER" VALENTINE Valentine looks like one of those 70's rock stars who are trying one too many comebacks. This is the usual, by the numbers match. Valentine dominates with a dazzling array of punches and kicks until Luger mounts a comeback. Valentine gets Luger down for a pin and uses the ropes. Referee Mark Curtis notices Valentine's feet on the ropes and halts his count. Valentine thinks he's won, then argues with the ref, allowing Luger to come up from behind and hoist Valentine into the Rack. Luger wins. During the match some of the NWO are seen in the crowd, and Tony Schiavone mentions that Hulk Hogan has demanded to be allowed to make an announcement later in the show. - Tony interviews referee Nick Patrick, telling him that the WCW Executive Committee had lowered Patrick's fine of $1,000,000 on Randy Savage to $500 and a five match suspension (to begin at the start of next season, err... next year.) They also show a clip of the NWO holding a tag team title tournament match in an empty arena, and Tony insinuates that the masked referee was Nick Patrick. Patrick says it looks like Randy Anderson, and that he resents the assertion that he was with the NWO. HOUR TWO: Hosted by Eric Bischoff and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. - RANDY "MACHO MAN" SAVAGE vs. "MEAN" MIKE ENOS Eric Bischoff waits in the aisleway to interview Savage. He shows Savage a tape of Miss Elizabeth saying that she still loves him. Savage then refuses to wrestle the match, leaving first the ringside area, then the arena itself, more than once doubling over as if sick to his stomache. Following the commercial Heenan and Tenay question Bischoff's playing of the tape. - EDDIE GUERRERO vs. THE CHEETAH KID Was that THE Cheetah Kid? (I haven't seen Rocco Rock with his shirt off enough times to be certain.) The Kid gets in a few good moves, but Eddie wins easily enough with a Frankensteiner off the top rope, followed by the Frog Splash. Bischoff offers his apologies to the Poffo family for putting Randy Savage in such a tough situation. - Bischoff talks to Lee Marshall via telephone in Minnesota regarding Friday's WCW card at the Target Center. (I'd have gone to this card, but couldn't see driving 300+ miles round trip and spending X amount of dollars to see WCW again. Same for the Nitro in Mankato.) - JEFF JARRETT vs. BIG BUBBA (w/ Jimmy Hart) Bischoff says it isn't about singing... it's about wrestling (wonder why he said that?) Crowd chants "Double J." Hometown crowd goes moderately nuts when Jarrett does the Fargo Strut. The action spills outside the ring, where Bubba tries to decapitate Jarrett on the overturned ringside steps. Back in the ring Jarrett really has to work for the win. Bubba lands a belly-to-belly splash, then clubs on Jarrett until the ref walks into Bubba's fist. Jimmy Hart siezes the opportunity to toss his megaphone into the ring. Bubba catches it and Jarrett lands a flying dropkick, knocking out Bubba with the megaphone. In a post-match interview, Tony Schiavone insinuates that Jarrett will defend the U.S. title vs. The Giant at Halloween Havoc (subbing for the injured Ric Flair.) - FACES OF FEAR vs. HARLEM HEAT (w/ Sister Sheri & Col. Parker) Chris Benoit, Steve and Debra McMichael come out to scout the FoF for the first few minutes. This match really meant little since it was non-title, and also since there was no finish. Hall and Nash come through the crowd to the ringside railing. All four men stop fighting and exit the ring the face-off with the Outsiders. The ref apparently declares a "no contest." - Bischoff speaks about Savage maybe being unable to pull himself together enough to beat Hogan (pretty much setting the stage for an eventual loss and his leaving WCW, if you're inclined to believe the rumors.) Out comes the New World Order, dragging Liz with them. They then bring out the Nasty Boys, who are wearing NWO t-shirts. Brian Nobbs tries to point out that there's a problem with their contracts (not enough money.) Hogan looks over the papers, points out that he hasn't signed them, then steps aside as Hall and Nash attack them. "You don't wear our colors unless we tell you" sez Hogan. The Nasties are stripped of their NWO shirts, then spraypainted. Hogan then spends several more minutes taunting Savage and menacing Elizabeth. The show wraps up with yet another invasion of the announcers desk, followed by a replay of the haunted look on Savage's face as Liz professes her undying love for him. - Next week's main event: Not announced. Comments: The NWO angle gets less interesting each week. The recent segment they did where they held a match in an empty arena was great, but I hate having to watch an entire 2 hour show to see that really good 5 minutes or so. As mentioned above, with Hogan, Hall, Nash, Flair, Sting, and even The Giant and Savage not appearing on a regular basis, they're really stuck for matches. This actually isn't a bad thing, as prior to this were maybe guilty of giving away too much in their insane quest to kill RAW. However, it does make the show too much like WCW Saturday Night. (Maybe they should consider going back to one hour.) What's worse is the fact that we aren't seeing much in the way of quality matches from the midcarders anymore. Where have the good cruiserweight matches gone? Why are guys like Diamond Dallas Page and Eddy Guerrero only on a third as often as Duggan, Bubba, Wallstreet and Powers? The tag team division seems to have died as well. I'm also surprised at how hard they're making Jeff Jarrett work to get over (especially in front of his home audience.) I actually think I like the way they're doing it (and Jeff do throw a pretty dropkick, don't he?) You want my Halloween Havoc prediction? Liz betrays the Macho Man, proving she is fully part of the NWO (Hogan may even give her some kind of "academy award" for her performance.) Just a hunch. WWF Monday Night RAW: Taped 9/23. - "Stone Cold" gives us a bit of gospel from Austin 3:16. - VADER (w/ Jim Cornette) vs. PHINNEAS I. GODWIN (w/ Hillbilly Jim) Pretty much a squash, though I finally realized just how big the Godwins are. Put P.I.G. in funky tights and he could be every bit as cool as Vader (heh.) Sid comes out to bother Vader, but it doesn't work as Vader wins via Vaderbomb. - Jim Ross interviews Mr. Perfect. - JERRY "THE KING" LAWLER vs. JAKE "THE SNAKE" ROBERTS Lawler, during a lengthy session working the crowd over the mic, announces that Jake has fallen off the wagon. Out comes Roberts, walking slowly, his hair mussed up, carrying a bottle in a brown paper bag. President Gorilla Monsoon comes out to pull Roberts from the match, but Roberts conveys to him (and the audience at home) that he's just faking. The bell rings, Lawler closes in, and roberts boots him in the belly - following up with a DDT and the pin. Match lasts all of 10 seconds. Roberts then dumps the bottle of booze on Lawler and brings forth the snake, Revelations. Lawler heads for the hills. - Yet another interview with Jesse James. - HUNTER HEARST HELMSLY vs. FREDDIE JOE FLOYD Hunter handcuffs his escort to the ring. Out comes Mr. Perfect with a key and unlocks the lovely damsel. He then returns the key to his accomplice, a security guard at ringside. Hunter gives chase, but Perfect smacks him in the aisle. Helmsly is counted out as Freddie Joe hoedowns in the ring. - Sony Playstation Slam of the Week: Henry O. Godwin Slop Dropping the British Bulldog. - Sunny comes to the ring, tells us how great she is, then shows us another one of those jumbo pictures of herself. She then sits in for color commentary during the next match. - FAAROOQ vs. THE PUG A clip of the Faarooq/Ahmed Johnson telephone confrontation is shown. Faarooq wins with a one-shoulder face-forward powerbomb called the "Tigerbite." - Clip of the Undertaker in the cemetary. - "STONE COLD" STEVE AUSTIN vs. "THE HEARTBREAK KID" SHAWN MICHAELS This had the makings of a fabulous match, and for a few minutes we weren't disappointed. Shawn relied on his speed, while Austin used his ring savvy to counter anything Michaels would throw at him. There was one great segment where the two traded pin attempts, as well as a series of switches and reversals to avoid the pin. Unfortunately, just as the match was getting good they cut to a commercal. Upon return, the match never got into gear because Vader ran in and interfered. Shawn wins via DQ. Savio Vega tries to run in and make the save, but gets stomped for his trouble. Sid arrives and Vader takes off. We also see Diesel and Razor looking on from the entranceway. Sid and Shawn bump into each other, bringing the two of them nose-to-nose for a few moments. The heels mount a half hearted attack, but are chased off again. - Next week's main event: Mr. Perfect vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsly. Comments: Thank goodness this is the last of the taped RAW's in this set, as they'd really run out of material. A good chunk of the show was filler. Austin/Michaels will be a great main event if they do it on PPV someday. "Buried Alive" will in all likelihood have the lowest buyrate of the year, given the poor undercard, overexposure of the two main event combatants, and no Shawn Michaels match. The following night's RAW looks much better though, with the in-ring return (maybe) of Mr. Perfect and a reported appearance by Bret Hart. Bottom Line: Is anyone else having a hard time watching WCW right now? Nitro has become so NWO dominated that they have a hard time focusing on anything else. When they do, they have to refer to developements on other shows to get the viewers up to speed. It seemed like they ran a clip of something that happened on WCW Saturday Night or WCW Pro prior to each of the matches just to explain what's happening. That wouldn't be bad if they were interesting, signifigant storylines, but c'mon - Duggan vs. Wallstret?! WCW Saturday night is the place for the Leprechaun, the American Males, and Glacier. I'd hate to see it "elevated" to the status that Nitro has held, because WCWSN has really stood for mediocrity over the last several years. Nitro was WCW's showcase, but it's rapidly becoming something less. The same might be said of RAW, but really to a much lesser extent. The other shows have actually gotten better, and when something different happens on one of them, they usually are interesting or signifigant (McMahon's appearance on Live Wire, or the verbal argument between Mr. Perfect and Steve Austin on Superstars being examples.) The WWF is running crisper, tighter, more believable angles right now (there just may not be enough of them.) I'm still at a loss as to what they are going to do with Undertaker and Mankind after one of them are Buried Alive. This week's winner: RAW. JRP