[RESULTS/OPINION] WCW Monday Nitro/WWF Monday Night RAW (10/21) WCW Monday Nitro: Live. HOUR ONE: Hosted by Tony Schiavone & Larry Zbyszko. - Replay of Miss Elizabeth's comments to Randy Savage last week. - BOBBY EATON vs. CHRIS JERICHO Jericho does his rail dive, but is embraced by men this time (that's the Minnesota crowd for you.) NWO Sting and Syxx are in the crowd looking on. Eaton is so out of shape he's starting to look like Bobby Heenan (or his son.) Jericho and Eaton deliver a solid enough match, but Tony and Larry are so busy hyping Halloween Havoc that they do little in the way of commentary for the match early on. The camera often cuts to Syxx in the crowd as well. Eaton's one highlight is a nice (and somewhat scary looking) kneedrop off the top rope. Jericho delivers an equally impressive dropkick from the top, followed by the pin. Tony then interviews Jericho regarding his upcoming match vs. Syxx at the Havoc. - Clips of Rey Misterio in action. Too bad he's all but disappeared from Nitro (though it used to be that he was on too often, so maybe it all balances out.) - DEAN MALENKO vs. JIMMY GRAFFITI Jimmy Graffiti? I thought maybe this guy used to be Super Calo, but who knows (and more importantly, who cares?) Graffiti's name is either mispelled on the TV screen or on his own t-shirt. Graffiti (or according to his shirt, Grafiti) looks to be a pretty good wrestler. In one offensive series he escapes a whip attempt and applies a DDT, then lays in an elbowdrop, a tigerbomb, then a superkick. Malenko responds with a side suplex, a dropkick, a short forearm clothesline in the corner and a high vertical suplex. They then trade pin attempts, spill to the floor briefly, then finish up with Grafitti missing a move off the top rope and Malenko applying the Texas Cloverleaf for the win. Nice match. - DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE vs. SGT. CRAIG PITTMAN (w/ Teddy Long) Guess what? Nick Patrick is the referee. Apparently Jim Powers was busy this week. This was a pretty poor match given Pittman's pne time potential. Page pretty much dominates for a few minutes, they run around a bit, then Pittman applies the Code Red armbar. Page looks to be submitting, but Patrick is busy arguing with Long. By the time Patrick turns around Page is free and applies the Diamond Cutter for the win. Patrick and Long argue yet again. End this now! End this now! Patrick does another interview refuting the claims that he's the masked NWO ref. - Clips of the attack on Ric Flair from a few weeks ago, then Jeff Jarrett's interview from the same show. - JEFF JARRETT vs. RON STUDD Before the match can start Ric Flair comes out. Flair then invites Jarrett to do his strut. Flair then does his own. The two have a little contest to see whose is better. (Ironic considering Flair stole his from Jarrett and Jarrett stole his from Jackie Fargo.) Flair's strut, by the way, looks really stupid. The crowd is solidly behind Flair though. Flair then shakes Jarrett's hand, gives him a "whoo," and leaves. Jarrett quickly squashes Studd, blocking two suplex attempts, doing a vertical suplex of his own, and winning with the figure four. Tony interviews him after the match. Jarret tells the Giant (who's in the crowd looking on) that he'll use the figure four on him. Flair comes back out and gives a good interview, essentially saying he'll be in Jarrett's corner at the Havoc. HOUR TWO: Hosted by Eric Bischoff and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. - LEX LUGER vs. ROAD BLOCK Road Block is a 300+ pounder who debuted on WCW Saturday Night. He can't wrestle, and is most assuredly Dungeon of Doom bound eventually. Luger lets him hit him for a few minutes, then no-sells his punches, bodyslams him, and tries to Torture Rack him. In his first try, Road Block slips out to the mat. "He dropped him on his shoulder!" Bischoff cries. On the second attempt Luger drops him before he can get him all the way up. "He's punishing him!" Luger does get him up on the third try and the ref quickly calls for the bell as the crowd pops wildly. - HARLEM HEAT (w/ Sister Sheri & Col. Parker) vs. AMERICAN MALES This was an okay match, but it's the equivalent of watching The Smoking Gunns vs. The New Rockers (or Bodydonnas.) I'll skip the play-by-play on this one. Scotty Riggs slugs Col. Parker (who was on the apron,) turns around and is nailed by one of the Heat, pinned by the other. Referee Nick Patrick clearly counts to three, and Riggs' shoulders were clearly down, but Bagwell had attemped a save, then Patrick delayed in calling for the bell. This caused Bischoff to cry "controversy!" It was all cleared up by the replay though. Bischoff then announces that he's just been informed that Sting is in the building, but that it may be at the behest of Ted DiBiase. - THE FANTASTICS vs. THE FACES OF FEAR (w/ Jimmy Hart) Highlight move early on is Meng back bodydropping Bobby Fulton into the waiting arms of the Barbarian, who delivers a one armed powerbomb. Match ends with Fulton leaping off the top rope and getting caught by the Barbarian. Meng kicks him in the head, and then pins him. - Replay of the Elizabeth tape from last week. LENGTHY replay of the Elizabeth tape from last week. - J.L. vs. NWO STING I hear the arena program listed J.L. by his name, Jerry Lynn. The rest of the New World Order (minus Hogan) come to ringside. "Sting" lays out J.L. quickly, applying the Scorpion Deathlock. The real Sting, dressed in a black leather trenchcoat and whitefacepaint, comes out and works over the bogus Sting. The rest of the NWO just stand by. They then enter the ring and offer him a place in their roster. DiBiase, Nash and Hall all take turns on the mic. Sting replies that he may, or may not be in their price range, and that the only thing for sure is that nothing's for sure. Sting leaves, neither saying yes nor no to their offer. The saga continues. - CHRIS BENOIT vs. RANDY "MACHO MAN" SAVAGE No match takes place. Bischoff again intercepts Savage and plays a tape for him. Savage is dressed in his street clothes (black leather fringed jacket, looking like some kind of weird hippie cowboy.) This week's tape is one of those NWO segments. Hogan (with hair) is on the set of his "Three Ninjas" movie. Hogan bullies around the director and puts the Giant in charge. He then tries to get Elizabeth to film a message to Savage, but she refuses. (You have to imagine this all in black and white with that goofy porno-esque music playing in the backround.) Hogan then locks Liz in his trailer and tells her that she needs to make him and Savage believe that she loves him. I don't know if they're trying to insinuate that Liz is part of the NWO and not cooperating, or if she's just being held against her will. I'm sure the confusion is intentional. Again Savage seems to be at a loss for words, but eventually says "relationships are fragile... even marriages are fragile... Hogan, life itself is fragile!" "Randy, what do you mean?!" Exclaims Bischoff, but the Macho Man turns his back and leaves as the show fades out. - Next week's main event: Not announced. Comments: There's not too much I can say about this installment, other than it managed to deliver some decent wrestling (something missing from the last several weeks) and a few memorable moments, including the momentous Flair/ Jarrett meeting. I don't regret missing this TV taping (it would have been a 440 mile round trip drive for me) but I probably would have enjoyed it had I gone. WWF Monday Night RAW: Live. - Quick In Your House: "Buried Alive" recap: * "Stone Cold" Steve Austin defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsly. Helmsly was subbing for an injured Savio Vega. * Owen Hart/British Bulldog defeated The Smoking Gunns. Owen and the Bulldog retain the Tag Team Titles. * "Wildman" Marc Mero defeated Goldust. Goldust subbed for Faarooq, who was injured before the show by Ahmed Johnson. * Sycho Sid defeated Vader. Sid earns a WWF title shot at Survivor Series vs. Shawn Michaels. * Undertaker defeated Mankind in the "Buried Alive" Match. The Undertaker was attacked after the match by a masked "Executioner." He and several other heels then buried the Undertaker. - Clips of Bret Hart's departure from the WWF. Tonight we learn whether or not he'll return, retire, or go to WCW. About this time I get this vibe that his announced appearance is another Jim Ross trick. My brother threatens to hit me ("don't even joke about that man!") We both agree however that Mr. Perfect would never wrestle; me because of what I'd read on the 'Net - my brother because he thought the return had been hyped too much. - SYCHO SID vs. OWEN HART (w/ Clarence Mason) I can't believe Sid beat Vader at "Buried Alive." It really goes to show you how things can change in a year. Last year they couldn't sell a main event with Sid. Now... who knows? Sid comes out to a huge pop, nearly equal to the response usually reserved for Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker. Owen has gotten his hair cut, buzzed pretty short in the back making him look 10 years older. Sid dominates early in the match, frustrating Owen with his size and power. Soon enough the British Bulldog comes to ringside. Sid, who had tumbled to the floor, pops him one. Owen slips out behind him and clips Sid's knee from behind. Following a commercial break, we see that Owen has continued to work on Sid's knee, knocking it against the post and applying a pretzel-like side figure four kinda thing (first one to E-Mail me the name of the hold earns... my thanks.) Sid, for his part, does pretty well selling the knee injury. I don't want to get all gushy about Sid's performance, but he really did make Owen (with a little help from the Bulldog) look as if he had Sid's number. But we all know that wouldn't last, didn't we? Sid starts to make his comeback, trading blows with Owen. Owen goes off the ropes and Sid catches him, applying a chokeslam. Sid signals for, and sets up, the powerbomb, but the Bulldog enters to break it up. The ref calls for the DQ. A moment of double teamng ensues until Shawn Michaels (in street clothes) comes out to break it off. Owen and the Bulldog depart. Sid then seems upset with Shawn coming out and they do the usual tease of the two perhaps coming to blows. Sid concedes that Shawn's help was warranted and the two avoid a tussle. Look for this to happen at least once more before Survivor Series. - Clips of the Undertaker vs. Mankind at "Buried Alive." Undertaker wins, starts to bury Mankind, then is attacked by a masked "Executioner" (reportedly Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy, but I couldn't tell myself.) Then Mankind, Goldust, Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw, Hunter Hearst Helmsly and Crush all buried the Undertaker. As the PPV is going off the air, a bolt of lightning strikes the grave and the Undertaker's gloved hand thrusts out of the cold, dark earth. Yeah. What else did we expect from the WWF at Halloween? I won't complain too much though because a) I haven't seen it myself yet, and b) from most accounts it was preceded by a decent match between the two. - THE SMOKING GUNNS vs. THE GODWINS (w/ Hillbilly Jim) Jim Ross and Vince McMahon banter a bit about some audio problems, presumably referring to something that occurred at the the PPV. McMahon then asks Ross if Hart will really show up tonight, saying it was Ross who promised he'd be there. My hackles rise, and my brother flashes me a dirty look ("it better not be another fake!" "It'll be Jim Powers," I said, "and Ross'll introduce him as "The Hitman!") The match you ask? What else - Godwinns win. Bart is whipped into the ropes, knocking Billy from the apron to the floor. Henry Godwin then ganks Bart with the Slop Drop. Billy and Bart argue again, as yet another angle in pro-wrestling is dragged out waaaaaaay too long. Split up already, because the sooner you do, the sooner we can get the suffering of the Face Bart vs Heel Billy feud over with! - Hype for the WWF Hall of Fame banquet, showing clips of Pat Patterson, Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka and Vincent J. McMahon in their primes. (No, not THAT McMahon, his father.) A new generation of WWF fans gets a quick look at Snuka's infamous, wicked splash from the top of a cage. As they prepare to go to commercial, they give us a shot of Mr. Perfect limbering up for his match with Helmsly. Out of, well... not really nowhere since most everyone had to see this one coming, Helmsly chugs into view pushing a large baggage/shipping case. The case clips Perfect from behind. "God damn it!" Grunts Perfect as he drops to the floor, clutching his knee. My brother flashes me another dirty look, as he'd been holding out hope that Perfect would actually wrestle. I'll admit right now though that even guessing that Perfect wouldn't enter the ring, I had no inkling what would come of it - what the plan was. - Back from the break and we see a few moments of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin on Live Wire. Then it's to the ring where Jim Ross introduces Bret Hart. My brother and I hold our breaths as we expect to see some stringy haired nobody come out impersonating Hart. They even tease this, as the camera holds on a shot of the entranceway for at least ten seconds without anyone appearing. Eventually Hart does come out to a sizable, but less than thunderous (IMO) applause. Jim Ross lays out the question at hand, rattling off a few of the options open to Hart. Hart starts off by admitting that a "rival" organization had made him an attractive offer, and that they had dealt with him honorably and that he had nothing bad to say about them. He'd done a lot of soul searching over this and had decided that he owed all that he's done to his WWF fans, and that he would always be a part of the WWF. During this they cut to Vince McMahon looking very nervous, unsure of what Hart's decision would be. He seems quite relieved when Hart says he's staying. They also cut to the back where a consortium of heels look on, led by Austin, Brian Pillman, and the janitorial staff. Hart goes on to say that Shawn Michaels beat him fair and square at WrestleMania - that there were no excuses. He also says that he doesn't much care for Michaels. He feels that Shawn is too flamboyant, and that he'll never be as tough or as smart as he is. Hart says he'll beat him next time, and that at Survivor Series he'll face "the best wrestler in the World Wrestling Federation... 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin!" Cut to the back where we see Pillman celebrate, until Austin gives him a funny stare like "what the Hell are you so happy about?" Then followed what may have been the best line in his speech: "Steve Austin I want you to know one thing: Madison Square Garden... is not a church... but it's holy ground... Steve Austin 'Stone Cold' we'll see who kicks who's ass at Madison Square Garden!" Hart then goes on to talk of his family, how he was able to spend time with them. He also tells of his sick nephew, whom Hart made a promise to come out of retirement for if he'd get better. Unfortunately his nephew passed away, and Hart says from that moment on he knew he'd return. "Hey I can't dance, and I don't pose ahh... too well for girly books, but I am the Best There Is, the Best There Was, and the Best There Ever Will Be and I'm BACK!" - They then follow up that tremendous interview with some nonsense involving the 1st Annual Milton Bradley Karate Fighters Holiday Tournament. Todd Pettingill and Jerry Lawler announce the seedings for what is sure to be a set of patently stupid, crassly commercial taped clips over the next several weeks. Grown people playing with those ridiculous karate toys (four figures to chose from, each with six sets of weapons to chose from.) Here's the matchups: * Mr. Bob Backlund vs. Sunny. * Dok Hendrix vs. Sable. * Sycho Sid vs. Marlena. * Mr. Perfect vs. Phinneas Godwin. And we thought WCW's kowtowing to Slim Jim was bad. Jerry Lawler was barred from the tournament due to misconduct in last year's tournament. (I thought they said this was the 1st annual tournament?) Remember... Lawler taped the foot of his karate fighter to the base so he couldn't lose? Sad. Very sad. - MR. PERFECT vs. HUNTER HEARST HELMSLY Hunter is out first. Next is Perfect, followed by "Wildman" Marc Mero, Sable and Gorilla Monsoon. Monsoon announces that following the advice of the doctors in the back, he will not allow Perfect to wrestle. Hunter calls Perfect a coward for backing out. Perfect says that he'd do it, but Monsoon won't let him, which Monsoon corroborates. Perfect then says he's asked Mero to step in for him. Helmsly says he'll take on Mero only if the Intercontinental Title is on the line. Mero says he owes Perfect for giving him the guidance that led to his winning the belt, so he'd be willing to put it up. Monsoon okays this, and an "impromptu" title match is on. (At this point, most people had to figure there was about a 99% chance that Helmsly would win the belt.) The match starts off in progress following a commercial break. While both men wrestled well, and Helmsly wrestled much better than Faarooq, I didn't enjoy this one as much as the RAW match where Mero won the belt. Mero had the upper hand more often, going through a nice variety of moves. Helmsly got off enough decent maneuvers to show what promise this feud could have. Mero looked to have things wrapped up, putting Hunter flat out on the mat and setting up the "Wild Thing." Mero climbs to the top, but Helmsley pushes the ref into the ropes, which upsets Mero's balance and he drops, bruising his family jewels. Helmsly goes up top to suplex him off, but Mero reverses it and drops Helmsly back to the mat face first. Mero then uses that move where he bounces in a 180 degree half circle, then moonsaults onto Helmsly (and maybe this match was better than the Faarooq match once I think about it. It's a close call.) McMahon mentions that Mero is still worn out from his match with Goldust (who had replaced an injured Faarooq at the PPV. Faarooq was taken out by Ahmed Johnson, and McMahon announced that Gorilla Monsoon has temporarily suspended Ahmed for that.) The two then get in close together in the corner. Mero whips Helmsly to the center of the ring, but Helmsly reverses it, whipping Mero back into the corner, taking out the ref. Helmsly then slips outside and grabs a chair. Sable jumps into the ring apron and tries to pull the chair away. In comes Mr. Perfect and he ends up with the chair. He approaches Helmsly, Mero gets to his feet, and Perfect nails Mero with the chair! Sable screams at Perfect, then whips around to the other side of the ring where the ref is recovering. (You can actually hear the cheers of the crowd change in pitch, tone, and level of approval, first extolling Perfect to nail Helmsly, then expressing their rage at his betrayal.) Sable screams at the ref that Maro was hit with a chair, but the groggy ref ignores her and staggers over to witness Helmsly apply the Pedigree to the near-lifeless Mero. A three count later and we have a new champion. Perfect enters the ring and embraces Helmsly, handing him the title belt. McMahon says Pefect has pulled off the "Perfect Hoax," and the two co-conspirators celebrate as the show goes off the air. - Next week's main event: Not announced (as far as I recall.) Comments: A decent enough RAW I guess, but I was fairly disappointed. The show started off well enough, but I was disappointed to learn that Sid had beaten Vader (I didn't see the PPV, and hadn't had access to my computer to get results, so I had to rely on RAW.) The show then went into a nosedive until the Hart speech, which was terrific. I was then bummed (but as I said, not surprised) when the Perfect/Helmsly match didn't happen. I really do think it was cheap of the WWF to do this, since Perfect apparently never had any intention of coming back to the ring at this time. To make up for it, they gave us the title match, title change, and Perfect heel turn, but none of these really paid off. I think it was pretty obvious that Helmsly was going to win the belt, and given the setup the Perfect turn wasn't all that much of a shocker (and it's not like he wasn't a heel already.) Bottom Line: The WWF now is set up for what I feel is a less than Perfect Survivor Series. Hart vs. Austin is really the main event, no matter when it happens on the card. Shawn vs. Sid may be a match that many of the fans want, but I can't see it being all that good. Sid's chances are slim and none, since a Shawn/Bret rematch for the title looks inevitable. We've also now been robbed of not only a Perfect/Austin feud, and a Perfect/ Helmsly feud, but probably a Perfect/Michaels feud as well. I doubt that Perfect will ever get back into the ring, and if he does, it would be vs. Mero I suppose. And as far as Mero/Helmsly goes, that's okay, but we have seen it before. I also not only hate to see Mero's title reign cut short in this way, but also seeing Helmsly win the belt in this manner. The question now is will Mr. Perfect be his manager, or will it be another one of these uncomfortable situations (like the Jim Ross affair) where he goes back behind the mic and they almost act like it never happened? So where does it leave the Survivor Series, and thus the direction of the WWF for the rest of the year? We now have Hart/Austin, Sid/Shawn, presumably Mero/helmsly, and what of the Undertaker? A match against the "Executioner?" The Bulldog and Owen Hart will probably face The Godwins. One would assume then that some combination of Mankind, Goldust, Vader, Crush, Jerry Lawler and Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw will maybe fill out a Survivor Series team. The WWF's problem is that they're out of faces! Savio Vega, Jake Roberts and the Stalker are the only top level ones left. Bob Holly, Mark Henry and Aldo Montoya will maybe be called upon (*ugh*) to fill out the opposing team. Where does this leave "Diesel" and "Razor Ramon?" Not to mention Brian Pillman. (The Smoking Gunns, Bodydonnas and New Rockers might find their way in their as well.) That's about it as far as the WWF's roster goes and there just aren't too many promising combinations to put together a decent undercard. After that we have the December In Your House, with a main event of Shawn Michaels vs. Vader, Austin, or in some kind of tag match being the safest bets. Then it's on to 1997 and the Royal Rumble, where Shawn vs. Austin seems the likeliest (it will take place in San Antonio after all - Shawn's hometown.) I betcha right now that Hart wins the Rumble, with the WWF playing it up as it being one of the few accolades that Hart had yet to accomplish (forgetting the '94 Rumble which he co-won with Lex Luger.) That leads to another forgettable IYH, then Shawn vs. Hart at WrestleMania. Now none of the above is necessarily bad, but it's doesn't seem to be the most adventurous course for the fed to take. One can easily imagine the next six months in the WWF involving the same guys on the roster, just mixed around a bit into new combinations. This could get very old. They've gotta bring in some new talent, and drop some of the dead weight, especially in the tag team ranks. (You know, it's funny how much my optimism for the WWF has dropped over the course of a weekend.) We're really going to have to watch them week-by-week, and every misstep along the way will be that much more magnified. WCW meanwhile has managed to slightly improve the Halloween Havoc lineup with the addition of the Chris Jericho/Syxx match, as well as putting Jarrett against the Giant (probably won't be a great match, but the "extracurricular activity" which is sure to take place could be interesting.) It's still not a PPV I'm inclined to order, and I still think they've completely botched the NWO angle, but I am willing to wait it out. Obviously Sting will eventually tell them to stick it, but I am interested in watching it play out, so long as they don't drag it out too long. That's the one thing that's buggiing me most about WCW (and the WWF) right now: all these angles where the outcome is either obvious or inconsequential, yet they drag them out way too long. Nick Patrick, Teddy Long, the Smoking Gunns split, etc. Again, my prediction for the Halloween Havoc main event: Liz turns on Savage. Hogan keeps the belt. Savage returns to the WWF. Sting becomes top face in WCW. I just can't see Savage not coming away with the belt, yet staying in WCW. If he never gains revenge against Hogan (and how do you do that without taking away the title belt in the process) what's the point of him being there? He's already wrestled the Giant. Hall and Nash are locked in a tag team. Who else is there is there for him to fight? Would they seriously keep slamming him against the wall of Hulkamania? Would he allow himself to keep getting his nose rubbed in it if the title weren't in his future? If he does win the belt though, I'd assume that's the catalyst for Hogan's return to facedom. Savage's winning of the belt would make him the top face, and the buildup for the match certainly has supported that possibility, and it is one that I myself can't entirely discount. Savage on top, reunited with Liz would probably go over well with the fans. It makes so much sense,though, that that's why I'm betting it won't happen that way. Maybe I'm just being pessimistic. In any case, WCW has gotten just a touch more watchable, but not enough to get me to start yelling "whoo," buy one of those NWO t-shirts, or call the WWF fans "lemmings." This week's winner: Nitro. JRP