[RESULTS/OPINION] WWF RAW is WAR/WCW Monday Nitro (06/02/97) [Slobberknocker Central Monday Night Recap #81] (06/02/97) (NOTE: Due to numerous coinciding factors, this week's Recap was unavoidably delayed for several days. Things should be back to normal for the next Recap. Then starting the week of the 16th, the Recap should be finished a day earlier every week, due to a change in my work schedule). WWF RAW is WAR: Live/Taped: Live. Time: Two Hours+. Location: Huntington, West Virginia. HOUR ONE Hosted By: Vince McMahon and Jim Ross. - In what I personally thought was a dumb move, the WWF spends the first several few showing a lengthy recap of the events of last week. Over on WCW Nitro, meanwhile, they have already grabbed the fans by setting the stage for a Scott Hall/Ric Flair match. Nitro already had a two minute jump on RAW, and this slow start gave them even more lead time. Would it hurt the WWF? More on that later. - The Undertaker comes out for an interview. He tells Vince McMahon that he did what he did last week to "protect the ones I love." He says he was blackmailed. He's forced to take on Paul Bearer as his manager to prevent the people in his past from being hurt. He says Paul Bearer will someday eventually get his, perhaps in the afterlife if necessary. Paul Bearer then comes out. Bearer is angry with the Undertaker for doing this interview, interpreting it as "talking behind his back." He feels that he pretty much owns the Undertaker, and whatever he says goes. Bearer says the Undertaker will defeat everyone in the WWF, making Bearer the ruler of the world. Sycho Sid's music cues up and out he comes. Long story short, he demands a rematch for the title which he lost to the Undertaker at WrestleMania. The Undertaker accepts. The Nation of Dominations music then starts, and Faarooq comes out to the ramp. He says the Undertaker is unworthy of the title because he sold out to blackmail. The Undertaker chases him off as Sid basks in the glow of the fans. On the way to the commercial break, Ahmed Johnson promises to take Faarooq out tonight. - FAAROOQ (w/ the Nation of Domination) vs. AHMED JOHNSON They recap the feud showing highlights which mostly consisted of Ahmed Pearl River Plunging D-Lo Brown. They also show clips from the Chicago Street Fight at WrestleMania 13. Ahmed controls most of this short, meaningless match. A couple minutes into the match Ahmed goes into the ropes and is tripped by Savio Vega standing at ringside. Before Faarooq could do anything about it though, the Undertaker comes out and starts fighting with the NOD. Both Faarooq and Ahmed come out to join the melee. The Undertaker accidentally shoves Faarooq into Ahmed, and Ahmed smashes into the ring steps. Faarooq tosses Ahmed into the ring for the quick pin. After the NOD split from ringside, Ahmed gets in the Undertaker's face. The champ offers up an apology by way of a chokeslam (which the audience seems to wholeheartedly agrees with). For those of you dreading a heel turn by Ahmed, be afraid ... very afraid. They then spend a minute or so replaying what we've just seen, followed by a replay of Steve Austin attacking Bret Hart from last week. - Bret Hart, along with the rest of his Hart Foundation, come out for an interview. Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin are on hand also via the giant screen (Austin and Michaels split-screen from different parts of the backstage area). Hart admits that his knee has been reinjured by Austin's attack, and that he won't be able to compete at the King of the Ring. He says Shawn has Austin to thank for screwing up his chance at revenge. Shawn then says he does take issue with what Austin did, since it ruins his chance o prevent Bret from ever wrestling in the USA ever again (due to the stipulations of that match). Austin says he doesn't care since his only objective was to put Hart out-which he did. The intensity between the two increases. Austin says to bring it on. Shawn shrugs and walks out of the interview, the camera following him from his dressing room to Austin's. Nose-to-nose once again, they hurl insults back and forth. McMahon asks Hart for a reaction. Bret has a confab with Brian Pillman. Pillman then offers to give up his spot in the match with Steve Austin at KOTR to Shawn, providing he gets a match with Austin somewhere down the line. Austin takes him up on the offer, and adds that he'll the kick Pillman's "little crippled, raspy hoarse-voiced ass!" the following night on RAW. (Apparently the wrestlers are able to make up matches at will now in the WWF). Pillman flashes a look of terror, even though he just said he wanted a future match with Austin. - Shawn is shown gabbing with WWF officials in the back, which apparently signifies that they are going over the details of the newly made match with Austin at this Sunday's PPV. They then show footage of Bob Holly beating Owen Hart in a match on RAW from a few weeks ago. - OWEN HART vs. BOB "Not In His Hometown This Week" HOLLY Owen wins fairly easily and quickly. Holly is in control for most of it, but Owen is able to apply the Sharpshooter for the win. Michaels says he'll accept the match with Austin at King of the Ring. He gives McMahon credit for allowing him live mic airtime, which many are interpreting as a nod toward the rumored tension between the two over the last few weeks, taking this as a sign that all has been smoothed over. - They tease tonight's Mankind interview by rerunning a few minutes of last week's installment. - Sunny's latest squirtgun infomercial is played. This week she sprays the Headbangers, Jim Cornette and the Honky Tonk Man all at once with the ridiculous looking tri-nozzled Super Soaker. - HUNTER HEARST HELMSLEY (w/ Chyna) vs. GOLDUST (w/ Marlena) The winner of this match will face the British Bulldog for the European Title next week on RAW. Who cares! Has Helmsley wrestled on every RAW this year? It sure feels like it. This feud is starting to make Chris Benoit vs. Kevin Sullivan look like a grudge match between Mike Tyson and Bob Uecker, and if you don't know what that means, you aren't HARDCORE! (Sorry ... slipped into Joey Styles mode there for a second). After a few minutes of fairly mediocre action, Helmsley tries to cheat by having Chyna interfere. She jumps up on the apron and grabs Goldust. Marlena comes over and grabs Chyna's leg. Helmsley runs over to deliver a knee to the midsection, but Goldust is able to break from Chyna's grasp and Chyna is knocked to the floor. Goldust then rolls up Helmlsey for the pin. Helmlsey and Chyna the yell at the ref, and Chyna throws him out of the ring. - The Legion of Doom deliver comments from the back. They say they will follow up on a promise Shawn Michaels made a few weeks back and kick Shawn's teeth down Steve Austin's throat. They end the first hour by recapping some of last week's show, and hyping the two main events yet to come tonight. Let me just break form a bit here and comment on the first hour now instead of in the "Comments:" section below. This wasn't only a very weak offering on behalf of the WWF, but was also poor use of and management of time, in my opinion. Interviews took up more time than actual matches, and old footage may have as well. I didn't add it up, but I'd be surprised if the three matches here totalled more than ten minutes. All three matches were the type that is forgotten as soon as they were over. All the WWF really accomplished was to effectively restructure the King of the Ring PPV by changing two good matches into one really good match. Sid's return showed that the guy still has a lot of fans out there, and in five minutes managed to overshadow the entire Undertaker/Faarooq match, as well as the whole Undertaker/Paul Bearer angle. What really hit me though, was this feeling that I'd already seen nearly every wrestler currently active in the WWF. I went into hour two wondering how they could possibly stretch two confirmed matches and a Mankind interview into an entire hour. HOUR TWO Hosted By: Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler. - SHAWN MICHAELS/"STONE COLD" STEVE AUSTIN vs. THE LEGION OF DOOM They show a clip of the LOD beating the Nasty Boys back in 1991 for the Tag Titles at SummerSlam. Michaels and Austin come out separately. This match was miles away from the near masterpiece tag match put on last week. Austin brawls and cheats, Shawn takes some bumps, and the LOD get to "look good" without looking good. The only real interesting point takes place several minutes in when Animal "accidentally" shoulderblocks the ref. While he's down, Austin comes in and hits Hawk with a Tag Title belt. Shawn doesn't seem to mind, and actually covers Hawk for a two count. The Hart Foundation come to ringside twice during the match. The end comes when Shawn, who was knocked outside, starts arguing with the Harts. Austin, after a minute or so of fending for himself, comes out and grabs Shawn by the hair and drags him toward the ring. Shawn throws a punch, the two brawl and are counted out. The LOD maintain their status as "uncrowned champions" while Shawn and Steve hold onto the belts. The crowd lets forth with a sizable boo, and doesn't really react for any one team over the other-they just seem pissed at the cheap decision. - Jerry "The King" Lawler comes out to work on the crowd as they cue up the Mankind interview. As before, I will be putting up a transcript on my website soon. This week they show a clip of Mankind in the WWF as "Jack Foley" back in the 80's. They show tons of photos, magazine covers and clips of Cactus Jack in Japan (even a shot courtesy of ECW in Philly). Mankind says he was respected as Cactus Jack, but is spit upon as Mankind. He points out several scars on his body (including his mangled ear) and reads them off like a road map: "Tokyo, Japan ... Munich, Germany ... Knoxville, Tennesse ... and everywhere in between." He then says his greatest moment was when his scarred and mangled body made a woman sick on a plane flight back from Japan. This week's interview wasn't as revealing as the previous two, but the number of Cactus Jack shots in various gimmick matches were interesting, and makes one wonder if they might be testing the waters, so to speak. Next week is the final installment, detailing the creation of Mankind. The teaser shows Mankind claiming that he's thinking of Vince McMahon every time he applies the Mandible Claw. Jerry Lawler has joined the announcing crew for the rest of the show. - MANKIND VS. SAVIO VEGA (a/ The Nation of Domination) I thought they might actually try and put on a decent brawl here, but they pretty much just go through the motions. Mankind, while down on the floor during the match, drags Lawler out of his seat over the table. Shortly thereafter Crush of the NOD accidentally knocks out Savio and Mankind gets the pin. Savio and Crush come to blows, and Faarooq is shown turning his back on them and leaving. The KOTR Tournament is now set: Ahmed Johnson vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley, and Jerry Lawler vs. Mankind. Late news suggests that Ahmed was injured this past week and may not be able to fight, and there's the lingering rumor that Lawler may step aside and give Rob Van Dam his slot. (Events at ECW's Wrestlepalooza '97 may further suggest this). I wouldn't be surprised if Vader took Ahmed's slot, leading to a Vader/Mankind final. It's hard to say though, as there are just as many disappointing scenarios as there are promising ones. - Sable comes out and does a lapdance on the King of the Ring inflatable chair. - SYCHO SID vs. THE UNDERTAKER (w/ Paul Bearer) Bleah! Maybe two or three times worse than their WrestleMania match. The entire match comprised of the Undertaker punching Sid in the corner, Sid choking the Undertaker on the top and second ropes, and the Undertaker hitting a clothesline off the ropes. The Undertaker finishes him off with a Tombstone Piledriver and gets a clean pin. I usually don't rate matches, but I'd give this one one star, and that's for the clean finish only. The Nation of Domination runs in and lays out the Undertaker. When Sid tries to make a save, they flatten him too. After a seemingly endless gang beating, the show ends with both the Undertaker and Sid out cold in the center of the ring. - Next week's main event: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin vs. Brian Pillman. Comments: My reaction to this week's show was less than positive Monday night, and has become downright negative upon watching the show again. I had thought that maybe I had missed something live, since boredom caused me to flip over to Nitro so often. Nitro usually didn't hold me there long, but I saw more of that show live than I have in weeks. The wrestling was, top to bottom, terrible this week. The WWF did a good job of setting up the new PPV main event (Michaels/Austin), but the Undertaker/Faarooq match has nothing going for it going in. By my own shaky recollection, here's the card as it stands now: * Michaels vs. Austin. * Undertaker vs. Faarooq. * LOD/Sid vs. Owen Hart/British Bulldog/Jim Neidhart. * Ahmed vs. Helmsley. * Lawler vs. Mankind. * KOTR Final Match. This is all they've hyped. Six matches for what is supposed to be a major PPV. Other than Michaels/Austin, none of these show any promise. Some roster changes may spice things up a bit, but it's still pretty weak. I'm sure there'll be other matches, but the recent focus of the WWF would suggest that they would probably include the likes of Rockabilly, Leif Cassidy, Rocky Maivia, Flash Funk, the Headbangers, Furnas & LaFon, the Godwins ... I think you get my drift. With only six matches in two hours of RAW, and the announced PPV line-up, one can easily see how paper thin the WWF's roster is right now. This is how the card looked to be shaping up a month ago: * Undertaker vs. Faarooq. * Michaels vs. Hart. * Austin vs. Pillman. * LOD vs. Owen Hart/British Bulldog. * Ahmed vs. Vader. * Goldust vs. Mankind. * KOTR Final Match. * More matches to be added. The Undertaker/Paul Bearer angle has done nothing to help the PPV. I don't see how they can advance that storyline, yet deliver a strong match between the Undertaker and Faarooq. Either something is going to happen that furthers the Paul Bearer story (and the match itself will be subpar), or the two men will focus on delivering a solid match (and thus ignore the distracting angle). Most likely, however, is that we will not only see a bad match, but the WWF also won't do anything to further the angle, which makes the four to six weeks of setup for all this pointless. Michaels/Austin suffers from the same problem, though the odds are much greater that they will deliver a good match. Something involving the Harts seems assured, which may hurt the match if it causes a screwjob finish or prematurely ends it. Mankind looks to be the favorite to win the Tournament, but the possibility of Helmsley winning it is one factor alone which has caused me to decide to not get the PPV. The two matches, as advertised, could easily end up as comedy/squash matches. Ahmed vs. Helmlsey is already a proven loser, by virtue of those two wrestling one of the worst matches of the year several weeks ago on RAW. If Lawler does compete in his match, there's no reason to not expect Mankind to kill him. On paper, these two matches look just terrible. The six man tag match is a complete throwaway, meaning nothing to any of the competitors involved. No, I just have a hard time whatsoever getting excited about this PPV. The next RAW, on the other hand, looks exceptional. Austin vs. Pillman, and Goldust vs. the Bulldog could both deliver solid matches. There's also sure to be many surprises to offset the big show planned for Nitro. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WCW Monday Nitro: Live/Taped: Live. Time: Two Hours+. Location: Dayton, Ohio. HOUR ONE Hosted By: Tony Schiavone & Larry Zbyszko. - Scott Hall and Syxx immediately come out and challenge Ric Flair to come to the ring. They do so because they believe Flair isn't in the building. James J. Dillon comes out and says it's correct that Flair isn't there, but Dillon has spoken to him, and Hall's challenge to him constitutes an agreement to a verbal contract. Hall must now fight Flair later in the evening. Syxx is willing to fight him, but Hall says he'll wait until his match at te Great American Bash. Dillon says if Hall doesn't fight tonight, he and Nash will forfeit the Tag Team Titles. Hall says he'll fight. Since when did Dillon get all this power? I know he was brought in as an executive something-or-other, but Eric Bischoff showed that Dillon had no real authority over the NWO guys (remember the whole "Bite Me!" kick?) Now he not only authorizes a match based on a verbal challenge, but he also threatens to strip a title away if he refuses? This was one of those things you watch, then several minutes later it hits you how little sense it made. - GLACIER vs. ALEX WRIGHT The only moves in this match were kicks used by both men. Glacier wins in little over a minute. James Vandenberg comes out, and the obligatory beating at the hands of Mortis and Wrath takes place. Alex Wright even joins in. This time though, Glacier is able to fend off the evil duo and escape in one piece. Here's a question for you: why were Mortis and Wrath allowed into the building? They weren't on the card, so they had no business being there. Neither did James Vandenberg. How is it they are able to sneak into the arena past Doug Dellinger, and stay hidden until the end of this match? - "BUFF" BAGWELL (W/ Scott "Flash" Norton) vs. DESPERADO JOE GOMEZ Bagwell looks really weird these days. First off, he's so pumped up on steroids that he looks like a hotdog about to burst in a microwave. Add in his George Clooney haircut and pencil thin mustache and he looks like a total freak. Bagwell has a new buddy in Norton, and the two have become inseparable lately. Bagwell wins with the Buff Blockbuster, which is an off the top rope Sunset Flip that grabs the opponent's head into a neckbreaker instead of a roll-up. Impressive, but hardly necessary here. - Mike Tenay comes to ringside and talks about Earnest Miller as they show photos of him. They then show a trailer from "Rowdy" Roddy Piper's latest straight-to-video movie effort. - HUGH MORRUS vs. PRINCE IAUKEA Morrus is attacked on the way out by Konan, which allows Iaukea to take advantage of the situation and get a roll-up pin in about a minute. - Mean Gene Okerlund interviews James J. Dillon. Dillon says Flair has arrived at the building and the match betwen he and Hall will take place later in the show. Dillon then addresses the WCW tag team situation by saying the Steiner Brothers are currently the number one contenders to Hall and Kevin Nash's title. This brings out Harlem Heat and Sister Sherri, who argue that they, as seven time World Tag Team Champions, should be the top comntenders. - They run a special feature on Diamond Dallas Page, showing clips of him in action as he relates, in voiceover, how tough it's been for him. I case you haven't picked up on it by now, Page is WCW's answer to "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. - MASAHIRO CHONO/THE GREAT MUTA vs. THE STEINER BROTHERS Okay, I'll admit I'm surprised that Muta's here this week. I just assumed that WCW had better financial sense than to fly a man all the way over from Japan just to compete in a throwaway tag team match. My mistake. During this break you can see the 1-800-Collect commercial which everyone is buzzing about, where it looks like Booker T. of the Harlem Heat is playing a boxer. It sure looks like him, and that was my assumption as well. The first few minutes involve the Steiners tossing Muta around like a rag doll. Then after about a minute of stalling by Muta, Chono is tagged in. Sciavone and Zbyszko, meanwhile, are doing their best to talk about everything BUT the match in the ring. Chono loses a test of strength to Rick Steiner then goes to the floor. Muta tries a move off the top, and ends up on the floor himself. More stalling. Chono and Muta then go to work stomping on Scott Steiner. Steiner breaks it up with a double clothesline. All four men are then in the ring for a minute or so. Muta hits Rick with his handspring elbow into the corner, which barely gets an audible reaction from the crowd. He then hits a bulldog, which gets a slightly louder disinterested reaction. Muta holds Rick for a Chono kick, but Rick ducks and Muta is knocked flat. The Harlem Heat then run to ringside and hit Rick with a chair. Muta then puts Rick into a leg submission hold. Rick just lays there, so the ref counts his shoulders down. Mean Gene interviews the Heat and J.J. Dillon. Dillon had said that if the Steiners won, they would recieve a title shot after the Great American Bash. The Heat assume that they now get the shot since the Steiners didn't win. Dillon says the match will be reviewed, and that they should worry about their own match later in the night, which is all the forshadowing they could afford right then. HOUR TWO Hosted By: Tony Schiavone and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. - They recap the first hour. - Ric Flair comes out and does a very loud interview. Flair says Hall made a mistake because Nash insn't here. "I am going to stomp a pothole in your toothpick chewing, white honky ass!" - M. WALLSTREET vs. DEAN MALENKO For the third week in a row referee Nick Patrick is at odds with Wallstreet, but it doesn't really figure into the finish this time out. After a few minutes of swapping restholds, Jeff Jarrett and Debra McMichael come to ringside. As Malenko is suplexing Wallstreet in from the apron, Jarrett grabs Malenko's boot. Wallstreet falls on him and covers for the three count. The ref raises his arm for number four, realizes his mistake, and signals that only a two count was achieved (Malenko having raised his shoulder before the four count). Malenko then quickly hooks on the Texas Cloverleaf. Wallstreet grabs Patricks's leg and holds on. Jarrett comes over to tell Patrick to move so that Wallstreet can crawl to the ropes, but this can't happen because Wallstreet has screwed up and is holding Patrick in place. Patrick finally breaks free and calls for the bell, indicating that Wallstreet gave up. Schiavone is then left with the tough task of incredulously pointing out that Patrick cost Wallstreet the match, while simultaneously criticizing Wallstreet for holding on to Patrick. ("Patrick cost him the match ... Wallstreet cost himself the match!") What a mess. Mean Gene then interviews Jarrett, who demands a match with Malenko. Steve "Mongo" McMichael comes out and yells at Jarrett for not letting him know he was coming out. Mongo then yells about Kevin Greene, his football arch-nemesis. - HARLEM HEAT (w/ Sherri) vs. CICLOPE/DAMIEN The Heat have the match well in hand until the Steiners come out and whack Booker T. with a chair. They roll him in the ring, the ref looks away long enough to let them escape, then Damien hits a splash off the top rope for the win. It's action like this that has made Nitro the number one wrestling show on the planet, you know? - THE BARBARIAN (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. CHRIS BENOIT Stomp ... stomp ... punch ... stomp ... The Barbarian hits a suplex off the top rope, which many are saying is what has given Benoit the concussion he recieved during this match. Barbarian tries a second, but Benoit blocks it, knocks him to the mat, and hits a flying headbutt. He puts the Barbarian away with, of all things, a chinlock. No Woman with Benoit this week. Mean Gene interviews Benoit and Jimmy Hart. Benoit wants a match with Kevin Sullivan, since he beat Barbarian. Hart now says Benoit must face Meng in a Death Match rematch at the Bash in order to get to Sullivan. Maybe this time Benoit and Meng will remember the stipulations of the match and wrestle it correctly. - SCOTT HALL (w/ Syxx) vs. RIC FLAIR Schiavone hypes this as the greatest match ever on Nitro, which means he's forgotten Hogan vs. Luger, Hogan vs. Sting, and numerous others. Flair looked positively terrible ... I don't care what others say. He's carrying a flabby gut, and has completely forgotten how to throw a punch. The easiest play-by-play this is to say that it mostly consisted of slaps and punches. Syxx hits his butt splash while Flair is down in a corner and Hall has the ref distracted. Hall slaps on an abdominal stretch for a minute or so, while holding Syxx's hand for leverage. The ref spots that and breaks it. Flair, who had been begging off for most of the match, mounts a comeback by landing several limp wristed punches somewhere about an inch in front of Hall's sternum. Flair then does one of the shakiest vertical suplexes I've ever seen. They finally put us and the match out of our misery when Hall hits Flair with Syxx's Cruiserweight Title belt, causing a DQ. Hall and Syxx then beat on Flair for the next few minutes until Steve McMichael makes the save with the Haliburton briefcase. - Randy "Macho Man" Savage drags Mean Gene to the ring. Okerlund tries his usual bluster, but Savage will have none of it and threatens bodily injury. Savage is pissed at Page, and goes into a rant about how he is the greatest wrestler who ever lived. Savage is on the verge of beating on Mean Gene, but J.J. Dillon comes out. Dillon says he's disappointed with Savage, and no longer respects him. He says his actions have been cowardly, which prompts an attack from Savage. Savage stomps Dillon to the mat. Out comes Eric Bischoff and several WCW officials and security. Bischoff tells Savage he's losing it, and has gone too far. Bischoff gets on a mic and calls on Page to "Slap into this!" as Dillon is being helped from the ring. - Next week's main event: None announced. Comments: This show was no masterpiece either, but it was interesting. I'll admit I watched a lot more of the end of this show than I did the Undertaker match on RAW. Nitro killed RAW in the ratings this week, earning a 3.3 to a 2.5 by RAW. RAW dropped to a 2.3 during the last 15 minutes, while Nitro soared to an incredible 4.7 for the Flair/Hall match and Savage attack on Dillon. The message seems really clear this week: show us something new and we'll tune in. I know I did. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bottom Line: Not much else to say, other than as I write this, I've been talked into getting King of the Ring by my brother and a friend of his. We'll split it three ways. "But how can you get it," you may all be asking, since I don't have PPV. Well, this past week I went out and got a satellite dish, bay-bee! I now get PPV, plus ECW about a dozen times a week. Yeehah! I'm still not hyped about KOTR, but I'm willing to go in on it since my brother really wants to see it so much. We'll see who was the wise man and who was the fool. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- This Week's Winner: Nitro. The Apocalypse approacheth. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Slobberknocker Central" and "Monday Night Recap" are copyright 1997 by John Petrie, and all opinions expressed therein are his own, and not those of Internet Access, Inc. Volume One, Number 81 of the "Monday Night Recap", June 2nd, 1997.