[Slobberknocker Central Monday Night Recap #87] (07/14/97) - Quick WCW Bash at the Beach 1997 results (07/13/97): * Wrath and Mortis defeated Glacier and Ernest Miller. * Chris Jericho pinned Ultimo Dragon to retain the Cruiserweight Title. * Raven and Stevie Richards were interviewed by Mean Gene Okerlund. Richards said Raven would make some kind of announcement on the 7/14 WCW Monday Nitro. * The Steiner Brothers defeated the Great Muta and Masahiro Chono. * Juvented Guerrera, Hector Garza and Lizmark Jr. defeated Psycosis, Villiano IV and La Parka. * Chris Benoit defeated Kevin Sullivan with the help of Jacquelyn. Kevin Sullivan must now retire. * Jeff Jarrett defeated Steve "Mongo" McMichael with the help of Debra McMichael. Debra handed Jarrett the silver briefcase, which he used to gain the victory. Debra is now Jarrett's manager, and he retains his United States Title. * Scott Hall and Randy "Macho Man" Savage defeated Diamond Dallas Page and his mystery partner, Curt Hennig. Hennig turned on Page, hitting him after Page had accidentally caused Hennig to fall to the floor. Hennig then left the ring. Hall nailed Page with the Outsider's Edge, then Savage dropped an elbow and covered for the pin. Hennig did not join the New World Order, but instead proved he was a "free agent". * "Rowdy" Roddy Piper defeated "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair with a sleeper- hold. Flair's fellow Horsemen Chris Benoit and Steve McMichael tried to interfere on Flair's behalf, but Piper was able to fend them off. * Lex Luger and the Giant defeated "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan and Dennis Rodman. Referee Randy Anderson was knocked out during the match. Referee Nick Patrick came out to take his place. A fake Sting (Kevin Nash) appeared and attacked the Giant with a baseball bat. Luger then put Hogan in the Torture Rack and he submitted. WCW Monday Nitro: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours+. Location: Orlando, Florida. HOUR ONE Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Larry Zbyszko. - WCW sinks very, very low tonight. They immediately kick off the show with Michael Buffer announcing the Nitro Girls: six dancers clad in tight fitting clothes shaking everything that can conceivably be shaked, in the center of the ring. I believe one of them was Kimberly, but I never got a good look at their faces ... for some reason. How low can WCW sink? Since I'm such a WWF Lemming, I'll point out that their dance moves were way out of synch with each other and the music. - Mike Tenay and Tony Schiavone mention all the mainstream press that the Rodman match has received. (Yeah, I'm sure those guys laughing out loud on Fox Sports is a good thing for wrestling). They then show stills to prove that the fake Sting was Kevin Nash. Apparently it took them all day, reviewing the tape, to figure this out. - ALEX WRIGHT vs. PRINCE IAUKEA Wright delivers some heel comments about how all the girls want him. No real match, as about a minute in the Giant comes to the ring. The ref tries to shoosh him out and the Giant chokeslams him. He then chokeslams Iaukea. Alex Wright takes off as the Giant chokeslams several security guards. He then makes a challenge to Kevin Nash, who is now at the top of his enemy list. They cut to commercial with the ring filled with bodies. This was okay, but would have been cooler if the Giant's chokeslam wasn't so weak looking. I've got no problem with a Giant/Nash feud, though. In fact, I called for it a few months back. Too bad the World Title and "future" of WCW wasn't part of it. Hey, by the time they wrap it up, maybe they will be! - EDDY GUERRERO vs. CHAVO GUERRERO JR. Doesn't this seem a bit early in the card for this one? A good match, but I'm going to forego the blow-by-blow for the sake of time. Back-and-forth action with several good high flying moves. Match ends when Chavo fails to connect with a Frog Splash. Eddy delivers a powerbomb, then a Frog Splash of his own for the win. He then lands a second Frog Splash after the match. As he's going up for a third, Hector Guerrero comes to the ring. Eddy drops down and gets in his brother's face. Hector points a finger and Eddy pushes him down. Eddy leaves, asking the camera "what are you going to do about it?" This is what most of the other cruiserweight matches are missing: motivation. However, the intent of this angle seems a bit strange. They dumped a promising Guerrero/Malenko feud in favor of this. They now seemed to have quickly put it to rest by having Eddy beat Chavo so definitively. Now an Eddy/Hector match seems likely. I'm not sure where they're going with this, other than to speculate that maybe they are just building Eddy up as one bad-ass heel. I guess I'll be okay with it so long as it results in decent matches like this one. - Diamond Dallas Page (and Kimberly) come out for an interview. Page, in essence, threatens revenge against Curt Hennig. - The Nitro girls again. Mean Gene then kind of wanders in and waits for the Harlem Heat to come out. The Heat feel they deserve a title shot. - THE STEINER BROTHERS vs. VICIOUS & DELICIOUS (w/ Vincent) Seems the reports of the Steiners getting a title shot tonight were erroneous. That is apparently being saved for the Road Wild pay-per-view. Sorry, but I'm still not buying Bagwell and Norton as a team, much less Bagwell himself as a convincing heel. Bagwell has been in more tag teams than Ed Leslie has had nicknames. That, and my total indifference to Scott Norton, made this match difficult to watch. Except for a few good power moves sprinkled about, this was pretty much tag team action on autopilot. It didn't help that the announcers were busy heavily hyping the Bash at the Beach replay. About midway through they cut to the parking lot, where the NWO's limo has arrived. Surprise, surprise, Konan is with them. Also, Kevin Nash is displaying a back problem. Bagwell and Rick Steiner seem to wrestle the majority of the match, before and after the NWO cutaway. In fact, Rick seems to wrestle most of the Steiners' matches, with Scott coming in off of hot tags. This really leads to their matches looking the same each time out. This time around there's no definite finish as Masahiro Chono and the Great Muta run in, just as the Steiners are setting up Bagwell for some nasty double-team maneuver. Steiners win via DQ. The Steiners eventually are able to chase off all five men beating on them. - WCW, in their usual plug for the WCW Saturday Night show, promises a major announcement from James J. Dillon on this Saturday's show. - They show a clip of Raven's poetry at Bash at the Beach. Anyone who's seen his "quote the raven, nevermore" schtick before knows what this is like (and what little sense it generally makes). Okerlund tries for another interview and Raven is as vague as ever, other than to say that his announcement is that there is no announcement. Stevie Richards pops up and says "Boss ... you said if I signed a contract with WCW-" and is cut off when Raven spits on him and shoves him down. I watched this three times to make sure: there was again little crowd response to this, other than the people closest to the action waving their arms like goofs because they were on camera. This angle is going to get even worse in the eyes of the average WCW fans when Raven finally does get in the ring and they see how less than spectacular he is. My guess is that they are going to have Raven dump on Richards until Stevie eventually fights back, leading to a match between the two. They are probably doing it this way in order to draw in their ECW fans, figuring that playing off the past Raven/Richards relationship would make them more apt to be interested. Given the already negative reaction to this by the ECW fans, it just isn't going to work (if that is WCW's intent: to draw in the ECW fans). Any match between Raven and Richards in WCW would only be a fraction as intense as it would have been in ECW (unless WCW plans on allowing the two to use foreign objects, brawl through the crowd, bleed, wrestle for twenty minutes or more, and show up most every other wrestler on the WCW card. Yeah ... that'll happen). - CHRIS BENOIT vs. MEAN MIKE ENOS Comments from Benoit regarding how he took care of Kevin Sullivan. I really don't like the type of matches WCW continues to stick Benoit in. I think his ring skills have deteriorated from facing all these big stiffs. So much of his matches involve him taking a ton of punishment, then turning the tables with a little brawling and a submission move, or his flying headbutt. This match follows that formula, with Enos in solid control until Benoit kicks him in the gut, then slaps on an armbar/chin- lock for the victory. Benoit's reputation as being "tough" is maintained, yet we see very little in the way of offense on his part, much less quality wrestling. It's a little like when Shawn Michaels goes through an entire match taking a ton of punishment, then turns it around with one Superkick. You get sick of seeing that too often, and that's what Benoit has done for a lot of the last year. - The Nitro girls come out again. Man, that got old real fast. Heenan comes out to join the announcing team. - LA PARKA vs. SUPER CALO They show a clip of Page dressed as La Parka from last week. La Parka flashes the Diamond Cutter sign as he comes out, prompting the announcers to question whether or not it's Page under the mask again. No match, as less than a minute in Randy Savage runs in and attacks La Parka, thinking it's Page. Page then enters from behind and starts to beat on Savage. Moments later Curt Hennig enters and pops Page with a foreign object. Hennig leaves. With Page out, Savage is able to drop an elbow off the top turnbuckle. He then leaves. Wait a minute! He LEAVES?! Page is out cold ... and he walks away?! Didn't Kevin Nash and Konan break Rey Mysterio's leg simply because Mysterio challenged Nash to a match? Yet Page, Savage's most hated enemy since Ric Flair of a year ago, has him in a compromising position and he ... he ... he walks away?! No "NWO" spraypaint? No brutal beating with a chair? Not one ally of Page's in sight and he lets him off almost totally unscathed, much less breathing at all? Savage is driven to such a rage as to run into a ring during a match and attack a man who only has a 50/50 chance of even being Page, yet he's content with merely delivering ONE elbowdrop off the top. Savage has just risked a fine and suspension- possibly even expulsion from WCW-for attacking La Parka, and he just walks away? Are there any more ways I can express the same outrage with slightly different wording? Of course Hennig's attack leads the announcing crew to boldly declare him in league with the NWO, which is probably the best evidence yet that he will become a Horseman. Hennig is then interviewed by Mean Gene. Curt calls Page "the biggest mark in the business" and says he "can't even last thirty seconds with that hosebag he calls his old lady!" (which gets bleeped out on the replay). Ric Flair then comes out and the two embrace. Hennig doesn't exactly leave with Flair, but he does follow him out. Although the show up to now has had a "big" feel to it, and the crowd was fairly responsive, I felt this was a pretty weak first hour effort. The previous five minutes showed the only real spark (despite it's total lack of logic). As this was going out live against RAW, I completely missed the Page attack, and watched the Shawn Michaels interview over everything Hennig said. HOUR TWO Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. - The NWO comes out. Nash is wheeled out in a wheelchair. When asked by Eric Bischoff, Nash denies being the fake Sting from the previous evening. Nash then inducts Konan into the NWO, giving him the new name "K-Dog". I hate to call these people (the fans) sheep, but ... the Orlando crowd is a bunch of sheep. Even though they soundly booed during this, they loudly, en masse, mouth the NWO's catchphrases along with Hall and Nash ("NWO 4-Life!" and "Too Sweeeet!"). Talk about mass schitzophrenia. ("You suck!" [*pause*] "You rule!" "The NWO really sucks!" "So why are you wearing an NWO t-shirt?" "Because they rule!"). What was that old Bill the Cat song? Oh yeah ... "You stink, but I love you!" - HARLEM HEAT vs. THE OUTSIDERS (w/ Syxx) Nash is still in the wheelchair, too "injured" to wrestle, so Hall and Syxx fight this non-title match. Syxx's ego is completely out of control. So long as the "Clique" now runs WCW, it seems like he feels he doesn't even have to bother to let the Heat look any good. After doing a minimum of selling on a choke, he then lands a spinning heel kick on Booker T. He follows this with a chopping motion to his groin and yells "suck my d**k motherf**ker!" in the direction of Stevie Ray. (This was clearly picked up by the microphone. I don't know if they bleeped it on the replay or not). He does let Booker land a big leg guillotine, but that's about it before he tags out. Hall is a little more professional, and lets Stevie Ray beat on him a bit. The match then lapses into stomps and restholds. The Heat are solidly in control for several minutes until Nash jumps up on the apron and hits one of the Heat. Hall then delivers his best looking Outsider's Edge in quite a while, covering afterward for the pin. Heenan, regarding Nash's "recovery", yells "It's a miracle!" "Shut up!" replies Schiavone. The announcers try to sell the fact that the only reason the Heat lost is because they are without a manager. Mike Tenay then blunders by saying the Heat have never been without a manager in WCW. (I guess those two years they didn't have a manager don't count). - The Nitro Girls ... yet again. - MASAHIRO CHONO/THE GREAT MUTA (w/ Vincent) vs. THE PUBLIC ENEMY Muta has the spookiest looking outfit I've ever seen. The P.E. come out with their table. After a few moments of brawling on the floor, (including a stretch where the wrestlers deliberately fight along the rail so several anti-WWF signs can be shot), they then stall a bit before starting up in the ring. A few minutes of nothing much goes by. Rocco hits Chono with a springboard moonsault. Both men make the tag and Muta spends some time absolutely dismantling Grunge (which is as it should be). Rock and Chono tag back in, but all four men brawl for a bit. Muta eventually blows green mist on Grunge. (Bobby Heenan asks what it is, claiming to smell it-even though their desk is about 100 feet from the ring). Chono covers for the pin. - RIC FLAIR vs. JEFF JARRETT (w/ Queen Debra) This match annoyed me. First off, let me say that this was probably the best match I've seen out of Flair in a couple of years, and one of Jarrett's best since arriving in WCW. So why did it annoy me? Two words: Debra McMichael. After some tremendous mat wrestling between the two, with some really stiff chops and brutal clotheslines mixed in, they then go through an extended sequence where the match is shot with Debra directly facing the camera-the action taking place over her shoulder in the background. Debra calls Steve McMichael a has-been, and says she's tired of living in his shadow. This was a great match up until then, with Jarrett giving 110%, and Flair looking five or ten years younger. Shortly after Debra's everlasting monologue, Mongo comes to the ring. Flair, by this point, has expertly maneuvered Jarrett into the Figure Four. Flair is on the verge of winning the U.S. Title, in what would probably have been remembered as one of Nitro's greatest matches ever. Jarrett is seconds from submitting, when Mongo enters the ring and stomps on him, stopping the match and earning Jarrett a DQ victory. Of all the stupid, moronic, idiotic ... What really sucks is that Flair doesn't even seem to mind, and the announcers only voice minor disbelief. Some of the highlights of the four-star-plus match that Mongo ruined: After a minute or so of solid mat wrestling, Jarrett hits a crossbody block off the top, but Flair rolls through it for a cover attempt. Flair does his flop, scrambles up another post, and comes off the top-but is met in midair by a Jarrett dropkick. Jarrett also suplexes Flair off the top turnbuckle. Jarrett tries a Figure Four, but Flair (the hold's master) reverses it into a small package. Flair comes back with a series of brutally stiff chops, dropping Jarrett to the mat. Flair then does a bump-and-grind, followed by his strut, which whips the crowd into a frenzy. Flair then lands a low blow which draws one of the loudest reactions of the night from the crowd. By then, though, Debra has launched into her camera-hogging monologue, and the next minute of action is relegated to the background. Then Mongo comes out and robs Flair of a clean, solid, definitive, spectacular title victory. Schiavone, incredibly enough, says winning the title wasn't the goal tonight, in a lame attempt to gloss over the fact that WCW has just done an incredibly stupid and illogical thing. What else is there to say? - By this point I had ceased to care about Nitro, and watched the end of RAW totally uninterrupted. Nitro itself ended with a lengthy Lex Luger interview. Luger praises the Giant, and says how much he enjoyed racking Savage, Hogan and Rodman. Luger challenges Hogan to a title match (which he's been due since March) at the Road Wild PPV on August 9th. (That would make it six months between title defenses by Hogan. Don't get me started on that one). The NWO comes out and surrounds the ring. Then "Sting" comes out, with the NWO assuming it's Nash again in wig and mask. Well, the wig and mask comes off and it's really Sting. Then the show ends. - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: I was really disappointed by this show, though I'm not entirely sure why. I didn't see the PPV, but I listened to it. I wasn't all that impressed, but it's hard to judge without seeing, so I'll let it go at that. As a result, I didn't approach this week's Nitro expecting all that much. Frankly, I think it delivered even less than that. One problem: too predictable. Not so much in advance, but once they showed you something, five seconds later you could guess what was going to happen. Nearly every match and interview went off just about as you'd have predicted the moment they began. Probably the only real surprise was the Giant's chokeslamming appearance, and that didn't amount to much. And the end? Geez, how anticlimactic ... and rushed. The moment they revealed that it was Kevin Nash as Sting, you just KNEW they were going to do exactly what they did: bring out the real Sting in a wig and mask at some future point. I figured they'd save it until some night when Hogan was in the building, but no ... they wasted it here, with less than thirty seconds of airtime in which to do it. I've read that when Nitro went off the air, Luger popped each one of the NWO members, handed them off to Sting, and he in turn Deathdropped them (or whatever it is they call his move) one at a time. At least then the fairly obvious ploy would have paid off somewhat. I didn't expect to see Rodman tonight, and wasn't surprised a bit that he wasn't there. From what I understand, he has one more match in his contract, and doesn't even have to do any Nitro appearances before or after it to hype it. Another annoyance is the way they continue to build the Hogan/Sting confrontation, yet simultaneously hype Luger as the top contender. Does anyone truly think Luger stands a chance of winning the title? Hogan will either win at Road Wild or lose via DQ or countout, then face Sting two months later at Halloween Havoc. 100 years of pro-wrestling history screams out the fact that Hogan will eventually face Sting and lose the title to him. Any less would be a serious disappointment to the fans, and would be a waste of a year's worth of storyline developement. In between we'll have Fall Brawl, which should feature a Wargames match, NWO vs. WCW being the most obvious matchup. With this new emphasis on Page vs. Hennig, it puts a strange capper on the Page/Savage feud. Savage won every PPV meeting, and now left him laying in the ring. I'd say Savage won that feud pretty definitively, wouldn't you? (Of course, nothing is ever really "over" in WCW-no pun intended). I'm really getting tired of them constantly revolving the Steiners and Harlem Heat as the only two top tag team contenders. Every other month one of those two teams is hyped as the ones who will take the belts away from Hall and Nash. Meanwhile, Hall and Nash defend the titles about once every three months, which makes any and all tag team jockeying pretty pointless. Should Hennig join the Horsemen, he'd be joining the stupidest version of that stable ever. WCW refuses to end the Jarrett/McMichael debacle. I also get the feeling Benoit/Sullivan is far from over. I can easily see Sullivan putting in a surprise appearance sometime down the road, perhaps as a manger of some big stiff who will seek revenge on Sullivan's behalf. Meng again? Or the Barbarian? Overall, I'm left with that one overwhelming message that WCW conveyed over the weekend: that spectacle and glitz come first before action and sensible storylines. No matter how negative a light Rodman's involvement shone on WCW, they decided to squint and wheel out a line of dancing elephants. Remember when the WWF used to get so much crap for that same philosophy? WCW truly has become the circus the WWF was in the 80's. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF RAW is WAR: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours+. Location: San Antonio, Texas. HOUR ONE Hosted By: Vince McMahon and Jim Ross. - RAW kicks things off with a video recap of how well the Hart Foundation was recieved in Canada last week, and how things are expected to be different this week in Texas. A wanted poster with the Harts spread across it is shown. - The Hart Foundation comes to the ring. Bret goes through the spiel about how Canada is better than the United States. He then discusses his upcoming World Title match against the Undertaker at SummerSlam. McMahon reminds him that he promised, and that it's in his contract, that he will never wrestle in the U.S. again if he doesn't winthe title. Bret not only must beat the Undertaker, but he must also win the title. The other Hart Foundation members each announce stipulations to their SummerSlam matches as well: * Owen Hart will have his ass kissed by Steve Austin if Owen wins. * The British Bulldog will eat a can of dog food if he loses his title to Ken Shamrock. * Brian Pillman, if he loses to Goldust, will wrestle him again the following night on RAW ... in one of Marlena's dresses! Pillman takes the opportunity to lay the badmouth on Dusty Rhodes. He also says Marlena's dress may not be the only thing of hers he'll get into. * Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart will shave off his goatee if any of his fellow Hart Foundation members lose. Bret sums up by saying the Canadian women are better, their money is prettier, and their sports are tougher. "It will be ... a Canadian summer!" *Kee-rash!* Stone Cold's theme starts up and out comes Austin to the top of the ramp. The crowd explodes. The Harts motion for him to come to the ring. Moments later Ken Shamrock comes out and stands beside Autsin. "Shamrock will be Steve Austin's partner!" Then out comes a masked wrestler. "Wait a minute ... that's Del Wilkes-the Patriot!" A few seconds later Sycho Sid comes out. By now the crowd has reached a frenzy level. Finally Shawn Michaels struts out, and total coolness has been achieved. The Stars and Stripes wave in the background on the Titan-Tron. *Sniff!* I've got something in my eye ... Seriously, this was one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time. The Patriot's appearance was a total stunner, and the reaction Sid got was just short of amazing. Of course Shawn is still over; especially in his home town. - JERRY "THE KING" LAWLER/BRIAN CHRISTOPHER vs. IVAN PUTSKI/SCOTT PUTSKI Ivan sings that Polish melody that he used toi about a million years ago. Lawler and Christopher jump Ivan and son from behind, kicking off the match. There wasn't much to this one. Lawler nails Scott with the piledriver (which as we all know is registered as a lethal weapon in Memphis). Lawler covers for the pin, by Brian stops him, asking to be allowed to get the win. Christopher then takes forever to climb up to the top turnbuckle, where he comes off with a legdrop. Putski moves, then mounts a comeback. Both men catch each other with a clothesline. Lawler and Ivan are tagged in. All four men fight in the ring. Ivan whips Lawler into the ropoes and nails the Polish Hammer, then covers for the pin. - They show a clips package recounting Stone Cold's betrayal of Mankind, and Mankind's promise to do something he thought he'd never do again. They cut to the back for comments with Mankind, but he just sits and quietly rocks back-and-forth in the dim light. - Paul Bearer, in a brief interview from the back, promises to provide proof that Cain still lives next week. - TAKA MICHINOKU vs. TAJIRI YOSHIHIRO They show clips of Taka's best moves against the Great Sasuke in their two WWF matches. They lock up for a test of strength, which after being bent back into a bridge, Yoshihiro turns into a standing huracanrana. Taka rolls through it into a pinning maneuver, but Yoshihiro escapes. Taka then knocks him to the floor (with Yoshiro having a little trouble "falling" through the ropes). Taka then does his running springboard plancha off the top, which continues to look absolutely insane. Back in the ring Yoshihiro tries a belly-to-back suplex, but Taka lands on his feet. Yoshihiro is then whipped into the corner. He leaps up and over the ropes, landing on the apron. He catches Taka, who charged in behind, with a kick to the head. He then hoists him up and down in a Tigerbomb (Pearl River Plunge). Taka holds onto the legs and rolls. The two roll in a circle around the mat, jockeying for position (which Ross compares it to the "Oklahoma Roll"). Yoshihiro then lands a spinning heel kick. After Taka ends up on the floor, Yoshihiro does an Asai Moonsault. The action moves back to the ring and Taka tries a splash off the top, but Yoshihiro meets in in midair with a dropkick. He nails a few stiff kicks, which starts to bring the crowd into the match. The two trade stiff chops and kicks. Yoshihiro tries a German Suplex with bridge, but Taka escapes at the two count. Taka then whips him into the corner, nails him with a kick as he vaults over the ropes to the apron, then springboards into a dropkick which catches the staggering Yoshihiro in the back. Taka signals for the Michinkoku Driver and puts him away for the three count. The crowd wasn't as into this as last week's Canadian crowds, but part of that was due to the fact that it was a short match. Had it gone longer, I think the crowd would have gotten into it. Also, it didn't help that Michinko was a relative unknown, while Yoshihiro was a completete unknown. - Ken Shamrock delivers comments from the back, stating he will not be Austin's partner tonight. He will face Jim Neidhart later in the show. - Los Boricuas arrive at the arena in a low rider with a couple of fat chicks in the back seat. We get a good look at the DOA's motorcycles as they pull up into the garage. - Jim Ross continues to question Brian Pillman's allegiance to the Hart Foundation. More to this story can be found in the latest WWF Magazine. This makes two or three issues in a row in which Pillman's motives are questioned. Either the WWF is laying the groudwork for a Pillman turn, or they just want us to think that. - THE HEADBANGERS vs. LOS BORICUAS (w/ Savio Vega & Antonio) Miguel Perez and Jose Estrada Jr. are the ones in the match tonight. One of the Headbangers says his favorite Boricuas movie was "Up in Smoke". "We're not wrestling 'Cheech & Chong', you idiot!" Typical tag team action set on cruise control. Miguel ends up pinning one of the Headbangers in a manner I can't remember, even though I just watched it five minutes ago. Out ride the Disciples of Apocalypse: Crush, Chains (Brian Lee), Skull and Eight-Ball (the Harris twins). The DOA chase Los Boricuas from the ring. You know ... it's hard to do a run-in when you have to worry about where to park your bike. - Tha Patriot says he won't be Austin's partner, and has come to the WWF to defend America from it's detractors. They then show a shot of Shawn Michaels pacing in the back. They go to break with another "'Cause Stone Cold Said So" clip. - They relive the moment from this year's Royal Rumble when Shawn won the WWF Title for the second time in an Antonio. McMahon brings out Michaels. McMahon is all smiles as Shawn takes off his shirt and whips the crowd up. Vince asks Shawn if he will be Austin's partner tonight. Shawn says he isn't 100% yet, but that he won the belts with Austin when he was less than 100% anyway. Shawn would be ready to go tonight, but only if Austin chooses him. Shawn then says he wants to be at SummerSlam so that he can see Bret Hart run out of the WWF. He says he'd like to be part of SummerSlam, but isn't currently scheduled as such. Only one man can make that decision (at which point Shawn gives Vince a goofy stare. McMahon laughs). Shawn grabs the mic and gets on his knees, begging McMahon to find a place for him-"the dirty rotten employee that I am!" (which draws a hearty laugh from McMahon)-on the card. Shawn says he'll set up the ring, sell t-shirts, whatever it takes. Shawn then starts to strip. McMahon is quick to wrap Shawn's t-shirt around the Boy Toy's waist. Shawn then goes after Vince's belt, which probably lets us know a LOT more about that relationship than we cared to know. That was a joke. Sort of. HOUR TWO Hosted By: Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler. - Savio's voice comes over the house mic, saying there has been an accident outside. He comes out and drags a cameraman outside. Once out in the garage, we see that Los Boricuas have trashed one if the DOA's motor- cycles. The DOA run out and a stick swinging, trashcan waving brawl ensues. Los Boricuas hop in their low rider and tear out, dragging the trashed bike behind their car. Skull and Eight-Ball roar off in pursuit. Crush checks out Chains, who had been worked over pretty good with a garbage can. I was always a sucker for this kind of stuff. - KEN SHAMROCK vs. JIM "THE ANVIL" NEIDHART Lawler joins the announcing crew. Little of note here, other than Shamrock showing that he is developing into a decent all around wrestler. He takes Neidhart down with a standing huracanrana, then puts him away with a submission headlock. The Bulldog runs in and he and the Anvil doubleteam Shamrock. The Patriot then runs in for the save, taking both heels down with full nelson bodyslams. - Mankind again refuses to speak. Another look at Austin's betrayal. - This week's Million Dollar clue: one of the Headbangers, out on a golf course, is truck by lightning after cheating on his scorecard. The other Headbanger remarks "that ain't right!" The guy in the bad smoking jacket then strolls in and says this week's clue is "life". So far, that adds up to "The key to a life ... ". - THE LEGION OF DOOM vs. THE NEW BLACKJACKS No match. The Godwinns attack the LOD on the way to the ring. Hawk has a big cut opened up on the top/back of his head. The refs scrap the match, refusing to allow Hawk to compete. - VADER (w/ Paul Bearer) vs. FLASH FUNK Vader destroys Flash, but not until Flash is able to get in a few decent moves, teasing an upset. Ross calls Flash "2 Cold Scorpio" and mentions that he trained in Japan with Vader at one point. Vader pins him after a powerbomb, then adds in a Vaderbomb for good measure. Some of Vader's tarnished reputation as a monster heel is restored here. - On the way to break, Austin comments from the back. He says he knows all about being less that 100% (referring to Michaels) and says that whatever Mankind has in store for him is no more drastic than Stone Cold's ability to get out of bed every morning. - "STONE COLD" STEVE AUSTIN/??? vs. OWEN HART/THE BRITISH BULLDOG Austin comes to the ring alone. He and Owen start out, showing that their match at SummerSlam should be extraordinary. Austin holds his own well at first, but some double team moves put the Hart Foundation well in control. The Bulldog tags in and Austin gets in some offense, but is quickly sent to the floor, where Owen drops him across the rail, then into the ring steps. Suddenly a drum beat starts and McMahon announces that Austin's partner has reportedly arrived. They cut to the back where all we see is a pair of white boots tapping in time to the beat. They go to break. (You DO know what's coming, don't you?) Austin has regained the advantage over Owen in the ring. Owen puts a stop to that with a belly-to-belly suplex, then tags in the Bulldog. They set up a double team move, but Austin catches both with a clothesline. Owen then swings things back their way with a clip to Austin's bad knee. Back- and-forth it goes, until Austin is able to dump both men out of the ring. "Awooo Steve-O! Looks like you could use a little help-like a tag team partner! Don't tell me you don't recognize me? Now, I don't blame you for not teaming up with that mutilated freak Mankind, but you never said nothin' 'bout teaming up with the hippest cat in the land. Steve-O, baby, it's me-DUDE LOVE-and I am comin' to save the day! Awooo ... have mercy!" Dressed in a tie-dye shirt, shades, blue tights, and white boots: it's Dude Love! Austin looks completely stunned, but is forced to take him as his partner when the Harts atatck again. Austin tags in Dude Love, who shows he hasn't changed all theat much by using the same moves. Dude tries to tag Austin back in, but Austin gives him a look that says "are you nuts, son? I just wrestled the whole damn match without you!" Dude Love stays in. The Bulldog tags in and shoves him into the corner. He then hoists him up for a powerslam, but Dude Love drops down and applies the Mandible Claw. Owen comes off the top with a dropkick, breaking it up. Austin then slips in and hits the Bulldog with the Stone Cold Stunner. Dude quickly covers and the ref counts to three. We have new World Tag Team Champions, and Dude Love is a hit in his debut! Dude gives the crowd a "Bang Bang!" When handed the tag title belt, he gives it to Austin. A pair of female groupies rush in the ring and mob Dude Love. Austin, still stunned by the transformation, hands the belt back to Dude, then shakes his hand. Austin heads out as Dude dances with the groupies, closing out the show. - Next week: Proof that Cain lives. Comments: While not one of the greatest, this was undoubtably one of the most memorable RAW's ever. I haven't yet decided whether or not "Dude Love" is a good thing, but it is damn funny, and I'll accept that for now. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bottom Line: The WWF is on a pace to set up SummerSlam as a spectacular show. Most of the card is set, with the next two weeks being crucial in not only advancing the Undertaker/Cain angle, but doing something to really heat up the Undertaker/Hart match. We should also see Michaels added to the card, either only doing color commentary, or possibly being put in against Vader (since Sid may not be ready to come back in time). If Sid does, there's talk of Shawn facing Jim Neidhart. In case you didn't see the Summer Flashback show, it was really decent. Other than going out of the way to bury Hulk Hogan, they did a good job of covering the highlights of every SummerSlam ever, from 1987 to 1996. No complete matches were shown, just clips. They did a good job of showcasing the stars of the past and present. Remember, Nitro won't be on next Monday. It'll air live the next night, on Tuesday, instead. There's been a lot of talk as to whether the WWF/ECW thing is done for. I'd just point out that last week's RAW was in Canada, while this week's was in Texas. Neither show would have been the best opportunity to use anyone from ECW, since they'd have to have been flown in special. Next week RAW is in Canada again. All indications are now that ECW will not be a part of Summer- Slam, thus there has been no need to include them on the show. The angle continues at full strength on the ECW and USWA shows, however. The USWA plays it as them vs. ECW, while on the ECW show, they are DEFINITELY still playing on a feud with the WWF. Jerry Lawler has appeared each of the last few weeks with an interview, each time the WWF logo is behind him. Last week, Taz set a Monday Night RAW t-shirt on fire, and did a tremendous "shoot" style interview aimed at his fellow ECW'ers, Paul E. and Vince McMahon. Jim Cornette did an interview this week, and he is solely representing the WWF, not the USWA. With Lawler scheduled to appear on their August 17th PPV, there's a good chance things will start up again following SummerSlam, which is now only three weeks away. Anyone else out there really dig Taka Michinoku? This guys rocks. It looks like the WWF may have signed him. Add together him, the other light heavy- weights coming in, the Patriot, the other wrestlers scheduled to come in, and everything else that's going on right now, the WWF is definitely the cooler of the two federations right now. On a final note, I'd just like to apologize for this week's Recap taking so long to finish. Something unavoidable came up last night and I was unable to finish until just this afternoon. Starting next week, changes have been made so that I should be able to start working on it early Tuesday. It should now be available much earlier than it has been-sometimes as early as noon on Tuesday (but I don't want to make any solid promises). Next week, obviously, the Recap will be worked on Tuesday night, following the special airing of Nitro. (Lastly, please excuse any spelling errors this week. I won't be able to run this through my spell checker until tonight. The copy on my website should have a completely spellchecked version by midnight). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- This Week's Winner: RAW. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "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 87 of the "Monday Night Recap", July 14th, 1997.