Slobberknocker Central Monday Night Recap #188 June 21st, 1999 The Opening Word: "HOODY HOO!" I've done some boning up on Master P, just so I could get me facts straight about him. I learned a lot of stuff that made me say "wow", or "I guess I heard that before", or "imagine that". Nothing I dug up, though, has me all that excited about his signing with WCW. Master P has enjoyed a successful rap career of his own, though his biggest claim to fame seems to be the formation of his record label, "No Limit Records" (whose current list of artists include Snoop Doggy Dogg). His "No Limit" logo also extends to other business ventures, including a line of shoes, clothes, and--of all things--a car alarm system. He wrote and directed the movie "I Got the Hook Up." He owns a sports company which represents professional athletes. He played basketball at the University of Houston, as well as the Ft. Wayne CBA team, and got at least one pro basketball tryout, actually making it onto the roster of the Charlotte Hornets, until being cut just prior to the start of this season. He is, by all accounts, a fairly successful guy. He's not the paragon of virtue WCW is making him out to be, though. His recent album, "MP Da Last Don" (1998), is described in a review I dug up as "packed with more blather about sex, pimpin', dealin', and hustlin', and more songs on ghetto life". A few of the songs on the album are described as attempts to convey a "positive message" (presumably what Eric Bischoff spoke of at his signing press conference), but such songs are easily outnumbered by the usual generic gangsta rap songs celebrating the thug life of sex, drugs, violence, more sex, fast cars, more drugs, and keeping your bitches in line. (He has, to his credit, done a public service announcement calling for "responsibility in rap", and an end to rap artist "feuds".) Other reviews I read described his music as being "derivative" and "unoriginal". Of course his work has drawn positive reviews too, and searching out as many as I could find (a few dozen), they seemed split about 50/50 as to whether he's a genius, or just another rapper churning out copious amounts of music just to make a buck (a common complaint). None of this has stopped him from selling millions of records, and being one of the powerhouses in the world of rap music. In short, Master P is a giant in his industry, and if one is already a fan of rap music, odds are you're a fan of Master P. His story is one of success, having clawed his way up from the streets, where he started out as a drug dealer in his hometown of New Orleans (the site of this week's Monday Nitro). "What does any of this have to do with wrestling," you might ask? Not much. Most of the news reports I could dig up about WCW signing him say that he WON'T be stepping into the ring. It's very likely, though, that members of his "No Limits Soldiers" will step into the ring--especially his bodyguard Swoll. Master P will be limiting himself to ringside appearances and musical performances, most likely on PPV, given the nature of his music. I suppose it's possible that sometime down the road he may decide to don the tights, but as of right now no such plans have been announced. So what are fans like myself who don't like rap music supposed to get out of all this? Not much, I'm afraid. Unfortunately, WCW doesn't seem to care. They see this as a chance to make themselves look "hip", and perhaps draw a broader base of fans than usual. Master P, for his part, sees this as an opportunity to expose himself to a much larger audience than usual. Will both sides benefit from this? Can an R-rated rapper and a G-rated wrestling promotion coexist? Can Master P be true to his existing fans without compromising to conform to WCW's corporate standards? Will any new business he brings in, or fan interest he may spark, ultimately be worth the tremendous sum of money WCW is shelling out for his services? I don't know the answer to these questions, and frankly I could care less. These are things WCW has to worry about. This is one acquisition on WCW's behalf which means absolutely nothing to me. They might just as well have saved themselves a little money and paid for the rights to use his music as entrance themes. In the grand scheme of things his involvement in WCW will mean nothing to me. I'm not going to buy a PPV to see him perform, and if he does a number on free TV, I'll probably still change the channel. I have nothing against rap music or its fans. I'm just not a fan of it myself, and as such am out of the target group this move by WCW is aimed at. If perhaps he were to step into the ring and wrestle, that's another story. But until then, him being there, him not being there ... it means about as much to me as what Konnan is wearing, or if Tony Schiavone got a haircut. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WCW Monday Nitro: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Three Hours+. Location: New Orleans, Louisiana. HOUR ONE Hosted By: Tony Schiavone and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. - Video package looks back at least week's show. - A black Hummer pulls up to the arena. Randy Savage, Sid and their ladies exit. This is followed closely by a black limo. Kevin Nash emerges from inside and tries to catch a glimpse at the Hummer driver. The Hummer quickly drives off. Those who like to see angle development on a wrestling show can now change the channel for most of the next hour. - Nitro Girls. - Master P and Tru (C-Murder and Silkk the Shocker) are introduced. They launch into what can charitably be described as a "musical performance". Master P lip syncs to his own rap (perhaps because WCW/Time/Warner needed to screen and approve it first). Suspiciously similar Master P signs are peppered throughout the crowd. There are fans wearing brand new Master P t-shirts (probably handed to them ten minutes earlier). Even with this visible sign of support, the fans seem to show little appreciation for his efforts. The song, which is apparently titled "Hoody Hoo", is the first single from their new album "Da Crime Family". (I hope I've got this correct. I'm basing it on info I got from MTV. And say, why do all of these rappers spell like they're 1920's Italian mobsters? "Da Crime Family", incidentally, debuted on the Billboard charts at #5 last week, then did a freefall to #15 this week.) Anyway, few fans seem to be really into this. Some, realizing it's this or nothing, get into the spirit, but for the most part the Superdome crowd looks restless. It is tough to tell, though, as WCW wisely limits the number of crowd reaction shots shown. (The attendance, by the way, is announced as being "over 20,000". A week ago WCW had sold just 15,000 tickets. I'm betting they sold a few thousand more, then papered the crowd heavily to bump it up to "over 20,000". The Superdome holds 80,000+. Master P claimed it would sell out with him there. A huge crowd in any event, but not the blockbuster turnout WCW was hoping for.) "Hoody Hoo", the song, consists of a bunch of lyrics--none of which I could make out, save for them hooting "HOODY HOO!" over and over, and over, and over ... Why yes, I did change the channel during this. Thank you for asking. - Schiavone muses on the mystery on the Hummer driver. - Video package shows us Curt Hennig dissing Master P at the P-P-V, boy-ee! (Sorry, just trying to get into some kind of spirit here.) HOODY HOO! - Lenny Lane can't decide what color trunks to wear. Lodi walks in, says he likes the purple ones, and gives him a neck massage. Lane says he's got a lot of stamina, expresses how good that feels, and tells Lodi he has great thumbs. I WISH TO GOD I WAS MAKING THIS UP! Hey, isn't purple the color of royalty, like QUEENS would wear? THIS IS THE MOST OVERTLY GAY ANGLE IN THE HISTORY OF WRESTLING! Bob Ryder better be all over this one in his next "Notes From" column. - A few more minutes are killed with commercials, ticket sales announcements, and DJ Ran getting all up in my area. - PSYCHOSIS vs. KIDMAN Okay match. Can't fault the wrestling here. The finish goes all awry, though, as Randy Savage and Sid run in and beat down the two Cruiserweights. No decision. Sting runs out for the save, sending Savage and Sid (and the ladies) running without a hand being laid on them. Kevin Nash is then quickly on the scene, demanding to know why Sting never touched them, and vice versa. Nash thinks Sting might be the Hummer driver, which Sting denies. (Hmmm ... the theory I floated last week.) Nash calls Sting "Franchise", which I'll get back to later. - Ric Flair and Roddy Piper are in the WCW President's office. Flair suggests they book Nash and Sting as a tag team against Sid and Savage at the next PPV. Piper keeps calling himself "RPVP". Piper also suggests they have Sting and Sid fight later tonight. I'm not positive, but I believe a certain amount of drug use is required to get the most out of a bit like this. Maybe I'll take a lead from a certain great American writer: "We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half-full of cocaine and a whole galaxy of multicolored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers .... A quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amlys ... " Yeah, that'd about do it. HOODY HOO! - Clips from last week, chronicling the alleged "Young vs. Old" feud. - LENNY LANE vs. MENG Lenny, who looks just like Chris Jericho now (who?), suffers a "faggot!" chant from the fans. Meng then squashes him. Lodi comes out to console Lenny, laying his hands all over his sweaty body ... - Nitro Girls. - Clips from last week's Hak/Rick Steiner match drive home the fact that Sting was hiding in the black Hummer, and that maybe he *is* the mystery driver. Either I solved the mystery last week, or I predicted the swerve WCW would set up. Either way I'm the SMARTEST MAN ALIVE! HOODY HOO! HOUR TWO Hosted By: Tony Schiavone and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. - Master P and his No Limits posse are back out. HOODY HOO! It seems it's Silkk the Shocker's birthday. HOODY HOO! They have a cake for him and everything. HOODY HOO! Master P invites the silliest looking white man he can find in the front row to come into the ring to help sing "happy birthday". HOODY HOO! Curt Hennig then comes out, bearing a gift. HOODY HOO! Hennig apologizes for what has gone down between them. HOODY HOO! It turns out to be a black cowboy hat, which Silkk stomps on. HOODY HOO! The cake is then shoved into Hennig's face. HOODY HOO! All of this, by the way, was pretty much unprovoked, as Hennig did nothing to deserve it (other than being a "bad guy"). HOODY HOO! It should come as no surprise to anyone that this Nitro segment was one of the lowest rated in the last two years. HOODY HOO! You sick of that yet? Well, I haven't even done it a tenth the number of times it was hooted on Nitro. HOODY HOO! - JUVENTUD GUERRERA vs. EDDIE GUERRERO Great to see Eddie back, but why no fanfare? Eddie just walks in and picks up where he left off six months ago. Eddie pulls out the win, in a match which blows away most anything else I've seen in recent weeks. Pin following a Frog Splash. Little crowd reaction, though. I think WCW blew a chance here to make a big deal out of Eddie's return. This is easily WCW's peak for the night. - ERNEST MILLER (w/ Sonny Onoo)vs. PRINCE IAUKEA See. Ernest uses his ruby red slipper to knock out Iaukea and score the pin. Why is it every angle which involves Miller has him doing the SAME DAMN THING for several weeks running? It's like he gets confused or something if they try and book an actual storyline. They just tell him "Ernest, go out there and beat up Scott Norton," or "Ernest, go out there and knock out some guy with your shoe ... then dance like James Brown." Maybe Miller is a big old robot, and they have to reprogram him every time they change his batteries (once every six weeks)? Oh yeah, the drugs are starting to kick in now. HOODY HOO! - KANYON vs. BOOKER T. Now this match pissed me off, as the two wrestle for a whopping SEVENTEEN MINUTES, only to have Diamond Dallas Page and Bam Bam Bigelow run in, causing the DQ. The finish makes sense, since they're Kanyon's partners, but to wait THAT LONG to do it? Who even cares what happened in the match, with a finish like that. This has been amongst the worst two-hour stretches of Nitro this year. HOUR THREE Hosted By: Tony Schiavone and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. - "Mean" Gene interviews Ric Flair and Roddy Piper. Arn Anderson and Asya (damn!) tag along. Long story short here, Flair and Piper talk smack about WCW's young blood. Buff Bagwell comes in and gets the beating of his life. - BUFF BAGWELL vs. RIC FLAIR/RODDY PIPER I'm being overly dramatic, of course, as Bagwell manages to hold his own for much of the match. Hoping to recapture the magic of the eight-man tag match last week, WCW decides to do a scaled-down version this week--with drastic results. With no DDP and BBB to carry the load, Piper and Flair come off looking damn old, damn fast. Dean Malenko eventually comes out to even up the sides, but he manages to do little more than slap the Texas Cloverleaf on Arn Anderson. Piper then zonks Bagwell with an international object, and Flair gets back that pinfall he gave up last week. Those fans excited by this "Young vs. Old" feud should be now aware that they've been hoodwinked. This is all really just a new push for Buff Bagwell. Malenko, Saturn and Chris Benoit have just been secondary players. This "feud" will most likely end with Bagwell pinning Piper at the next PPV. (Man, isn't this, like, Flair's first pinfall victory in a year?) - Nitro Girls. - DDP/KANYON (w/ Bam Bam Bigelow) vs. KONNAN/REY MYSTERIO, JR. Sorry, I've already had seventeen minutes of Kanyon tonight. Is Bigelow injured, or just lazy? And why is WCW hiding from us the fact that one of these so-called "No Limit Soldiers" is in fact BRAD ARMSTRONG?! (I hear most of the rest are WCW Power Plant scrubs.) I'm sick of this whole mess. Somewhere around the ten minute mark or so a whole sh*tload of people run in, including Hennig, Barry Windham, someone who looks like Kendall Windham, Bobby Duncum, Jr., Master P, and the other No Limit Soldiers. No Tag Team Titles for the Human Penis and Li'l Rey Rey tonight. Master P tries his "HOODY HOO!" on the crowd again and they boo him soundly. - STING vs. SID They go through the motions for a few minutes, before Savage and his women run in, causing the DQ. Lex Luger makes the save. Needing to kill a few more minutes (even though the show ended five minutes early on account of "Pirates of Silicon Valley" being next), Savage and Sting trade barbs over the house mic. Sting, apparently thinking the show was off the air, yells to the crowd "I've got two words for you:" to which they reply, "SUCK IT!" My sentiments exactly. - This Thursday: Nothing announced. - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: I have now seen Hell, and it is called "WCW Monday Nitro". This one was seriously bad, folks. Imagine how much worse it would have been, though, if not for the ringwork of guys like Guerrero, Guerrera, Kidman and Psychosis. I want to make sure their efforts are recognized. The rest, though ... ugh. The only other nice thing I can say about the show this week was that Eric Bischoff stayed off camera. HOODY HOO! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF RAW is WAR: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours+. Location: Memphis, Tennessee. WWF RAW Hosted By: Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler. - Highlights montage. - Triple H and Chyna hit the ring, where a challenge is thrown out to the Undertaker. And here he comes. But before anything can happen, Vince McMahon is out to plead for common sense. He says this is exactly what the fans, what WWF CEO Steve Austin, and the Rock would like to see. He repeats his new chatchphrase, "not tonight--not any night!" The fans chant "asshole!" McMahon lays out the Corporate wishlist, which includes Chyna becoming the Queen of the Ring, the Undertaker beating the Rock, and he and his son Shane taking total control of the WWF from Austin. Speaking of which, there he is, carrying a ladder and a briefcase full of beer. Austin says he's been thinking about their PPV Ladder Match, and feels that there should be no outside interference by the Corporate Ministry. If there is, then Vince and Shane will be DQ'ed, and Austin will get total control of the WWF. McMahon says no way, that the match stipulation will instead be "No Holds Barred", and that anything can happen. Enter Commissioner Shawn Michaels. He says that seeing as how there's two possible stipulations for the big PPV match, the best way to choose is to have Steve Austin wrestle a member of the Corporate Ministry. If Austin wins, he picks the stipulation. If the Corporation member does, the McMahons can choose. Vince picks the Undertaker to face Austin. Michaels says no, because the Undertaker is already booked for a match tonight. They then pick Triple H. Michaels says no again, because Triple H is the one the Undertaker is booked to face tonight. So they decide to go with the Big Bossman. And to make sure the match is fair, Michaels himself will be the special referee. Also during all this Michaels is joined by Pat Patterson and Gerry Brisco, who bring him a cup of coffee. Once tonight's slate of matches is established, everyone leaves save for the two Stooges. They wiggle their butts as Shawn's music plays. McMahon, still in the ring with the Corporate Ministry, sics them on the two Stooges. As that is going on, Ken Shamrock runs in through the crowd and attacks Viscera, the last man left in the ring after Vince and Shane make their escape. Commish Michaels is in the back with Jeff Jarrett and Debra. Michaels checks out Debra's puppies as Jarrett complains about something or other. - Vince offers some words of advice to the Corporate Ministry. To get back at Shamrock, Vince has booked him to face his fellow Union member Test in the next match. In a bit of an odd moment, Midian says he saw some belts in Shane's bag, and asks him if he can have one. Shane says yes. Huh? - KEN SHAMROCK vs. TEST vs. JEFF JARRETT (w/ Debra) Before the match can start, Patterson and Brisco come out with Jarrett and Debra, saying that Commissioner Michaels has made this a "Triple Threat" match for the Intercontinental Title. That's why Jarrett was complaining earlier. He's not even dressed to wrestle. The match ends in a blink, as "The Lethal Weapon" Steve Blackman comes out and nails Shamrock with a kendo stick. Jarrett, having been on the floor brawling with Test, sees the unconscious Shamrock and covers for the pin. That was weird. A quick look at the Rock backstage. - Shamrock snaps, refusing medical attention backstage. A clip from during the break shows Blackman calmly leaving the building. - THE ROCK vs. EDGE Pretty much a squash, with the Rock nailing the Rock Bottom, the People's Elbow, followed by the pin. Vince would really like it if Triple H wouldn't fight the Undertaker. No dice, as far as Triple H is concerned. - Austin is preparing for his match. - MARK HENRY vs. VISCERA Ugly, ugly match. This is a "Gorilla Slam Match", meaning the first one to slam his opponent wins. After a few minutes of glacial "action", Mark Henry climbs the corner turnbuckles, allowing Viscera to grab hold and slam him. Viscera stomps on Henry after the bell, which brings out D-Lo Brown for the save. Somehow Viscera ends up on the buckles, and D-Lo and Mark team up to slam him. Out comes Midian, carrying the European Title belt, which he uses to beat up our two heroes. Since this is the WWF, does this mean Midian is now the European Champion? The WWF is giving us some weird stuff tonight. Michael Cole tries to get a word from Beaver Cleavage and Mrs. Cleavage. Beaver starts cutting his promo, then pulls off his beanie and walks off, saying he can't do this anymore. Somebody off camera calls him by his real name, "Chaz". So long "Beaver Cleaver". - Jim Ross announces that the scheduled Beaver Cleaver/Meat match has been scrapped, as we see Steve Austin heading out to the arena. WWF WAR ZONE Hosted By: Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler. - "STONE COLD" STEVE AUSTIN vs. THE BIG BOSSMAN Shawn Michaels is the referee. Vince and Shane come out to watch. The match features the usual action you'd expect from Austin, going in and out of the ring, with lots of brawling on the floor. Vince unwisely finds himself up on the ladder, which has been brought to ringside. Austin grabs the ladder and dumps McMahon onto the announcer's table! From there the action winds down in the ring, with Austin nailing the Stone Cold Stunner and getting the pin. The Ladder match at KotR will now have a "Run-in=DQ" stipulation. Members of the Ministry help the Bossman from the ring, as Austin and Michaels down a couple of beers. - Clip from during the commercial shows the Corporate Ministry beating the crap out of the Big Bossman, at the direction of Vince McMahon. - VAL VENIS vs. PRINCE ALBERT (w/ Droz) This one never really gets underway. Venis attacks both men, handcuffing each to the bottom rope. Val then grabs Prince Albert's tattoo/piercing kit, pulls down Albert's trunks (eeewwww!), and tattoos a "VV" on his butt. That was crude, but I kind of dug it. Don't look at me that way! X-Pac, Kane and Road Dogg are up next. - Brisco and Patterson are getting ready for their match. I think I left this out above: they'll be facing Vince and Shane later tonight. - ROAD DOGG/X-PAC/KANE vs. "MR. ASS" BILLY GUNN/THE ACOLYTES Another quick match, which sees X-Pac get nailed with the FameAsser onto one of the Acolytes' Tag Title belts. Gunn then grabs the belt and leaves, making the Acolytes wonder what's his deal? The Big Show is next! - Seattle Seahawk Cortez Kennedy is in the crowd. - "THE BIG SHOW" PAUL WIGHT vs. "HARDCORE" BOB HOLLY Holly makes the Mother of All Mistakes by suggesting this be a Hardcore match. Wight agrees, and in no time the two are brawling to the back. Outside they go. Wight dumps Holly next to a low concrete wall, then hops up to next higher level, where a compact car is parked. Wight leans against the car the car and dumps it over the side, dropping it where Holly had been moments before! Holy crap!!! Back down he goes and puts a boot on the unconscious Holly, getting the pin. The car obviously missed Holly, but it looked damn impressive anyway. How do you get a doctor's clearance to wrestle on PPV if you've had a car dropped on you? Stay tuned to this one, folks. - VINCE MCMAHON/SHANE MCMAHON vs. PAT PATTERSON/GERRY BRISCO Even Ross has to admit that with this match, the WWF isn't exactly presenting a young image. This one amounts to a bunch of punching, until Rodney and Pete Gas of the Mean Streets Posse do a run-in. They are followed by another beefy guy, presumably a new member of the Posse. Both Patterson and Brisco get a chair wrapped around their ankle and stomped on. - TRIPLE H (w/ Chyna) vs. THE UNDERTAKER (w/ Paul Bearer) Since we're looking at a future PPV main event here, we only get a little taste of what these two can do. Chyna interferes liberally. The finish sees the Rock come running in, drawing a DQ (what is it with all these DQ finishes tonight?) Triple H and Chyna exit, leaving the Rock to deliver a beating on the Undertaker. The Corporate Ministry tries to make the save, but they are cut off by the Big Bossman, who has apparently left them following that beating they handed him earlier. The Rock, after pointing to the ceiling, watches a large Brahma bull symbol lower to the ring. Smoke pours from the symbol's nostrils. The Undertaker makes a getaway, but unfortunately the same can't be said for Paul Bearer. The Rock handcuffs Bearer to the symbol, as the Undertaker looks on. - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: Two matches were good, the rest weren't, but overall a good way to set up the King of the Ring PPV this Sunday. I can't believe I left this out: at one point during the show they aired a "GTV" segment featuring Al Snow eating a booger. No thanks, I'll pass.
Paul Wight still looks to be the odds-on favorite to win, but that goes out the window if someone does something to knock him out of the tournament. Kane could win it, but it would be a bit of a letdown if he did (unless they built up to it just right during the course of the PPV). Chyna could very well win it, given the buildup she's received lately. I guess if I had to lay money down on it, I'd bet on a Road Dogg/Billy Gunn final. The WWF often makes heels the King of the Ring, which would bode well for Gunn. If the WWF wanted a big payoff, though, they should make Road Dogg or X-Pac the winner. Boiled down, I guess what I'm trying to say is I have no idea who will win. What better reason to get the PPV than for that? Here is the King of the Ring card: * Undertaker vs. the Rock. WWF Championship Match. * Austin vs. Vince & Shane McMahon. Ladder Match. Winner owns the WWF. * Billy Gunn vs. Ken Shamrock. KotR Tournament Match. * The Big Show vs. Kane. KotR Tournament Match. * Road Dogg vs. Chyna. KotR Tournament Match. * Bob Holly vs. X-Pac. KotR Tournament Match. I'm betting Vince and Shane screw each other out of regaining the WWF. Shane will have a chance to win, but Vince will stop him, and/or vice versa. They'll both want to win so bad, they'll give Austin the chance he needs to win. The "no interference" stipulation makes for some interesting possibilities. Could we see someone not currently in the Corporate Ministry interfere? Jeff Jarrett? Billy Gunn? A new arrival? Could the Bossman being ousted from the Corporation be a plot to create a loophole by which he could interfere in this match? I like the idea floating round whereby Austin wins the WWF, then "sells" it to the public (by selling stock). Will the Undertaker prevail over the Rock, or will the Rock regain the strap and begin a feud with Triple H? Will Triple H cause the Rock the win, so that he can go after the belt at the next PPV? When was the last time the WWF put together a PPV with this many open ended possibilities? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bottom Line: The big story this week was something that *didn't* happen. Rumors ran rampant last weekend that Shane Douglas would be making his WCW this week on Nitro. This wasn't just idle buzz, mind you, as even insider heavyweights like Mark Madden and Dave Meltzer said it was going to happen. Only Dave Scherer of the Lariat and 1Wrestling urged caution, saying from what he'd heard, Douglas had yet to sign. Turns out the latter Dave was right. Douglas hasn't signed yet, and never appeared on Nitro. Now a lot of the lesser news "sources" are saying "well, Douglas was in the building, he just wasn't used." Yeah, how many times have we heard THAT before? Douglas is apparently leaning towards signing with WCW, but he does have an offer on the table from the WWF, and as I write this, he is still mulling over which to choose. I personally think now would be a great time to sign with the WWF, since with the KotR PPV being this Sunday, the next week will be something of a clean slate for the WWF. Douglas could easily be inserted into just about any ongoing angle, or begin a new one. Having him debut at the PPV would make for a memorable entrance. Or the next night on the live RAW. I'm not as hopeful about his prospects in WCW. There is an opening for Douglas to be brought in as the mystery Hummer driver. The possibilities are intriguing, since Douglas did have legit heat with Kevin Nash back when they were both in the WWF. I also thought it interesting that Nash made a point of calling Sting the "Franchise" this week. That's also the nickname Douglas has gone by four the last four years. Perhaps Douglas' first feud in WCW would be against Sting, to see who is the real "Franchise"? The only problem with all this is that Douglas will immediately find himself dumped into a top level feud already crowded by Nash, Sting, Savage and Luger. That's a lot of guys to share the spotlight with. What happens in a month or two, though, when Goldberg, Bret Hart and Hulk Hogan all return? (And let's not forget about Dennis Rodman.) WCW's going to have to do a lot of juggling, and put up with a lot of backstage politics. Douglas, being the new guy, would surely see himself end up at, or near, the bottom of the ladder. The other potential direction for Douglas in WCW is to hook up with Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko, reforming the "Triple Threat". An interesting idea, but even Douglas has to realize this puts him well down into the midcard. A feud against DDP, Bigelow and Kanyon seems a natural, though, and a Tag Team Title may even come out of it. I could even see WCW doing both. Bring Douglas in as the Hummer Driver, then shift him into the "Triple Threat" thing after the next PPV. I can't help but think, though, that he'd be better off in the WWF. Unless the WWF has everything mapped out and locked into place for Steve Austin for the next several months, Douglas could easily be interjected as a new opponent for him. Douglas would only have to compete with Austin, the Rock, Paul Wight and the Undertaker for the spotlight. Maybe Triple H too, and Mick Foley when he returns. Of course if the WWF sees Douglas as better fitting in the Shamrock/Billy Gunn/Road Dogg/Val Venis crowd, then Douglas would probably be better off in WCW. There's also the longterm career to consider. At best, Douglas will see the herd thin a bit in WCW. How much it thins depends on what aging stars are willing to give up their spots. As of now, none of them look to be going anywhere anytime soon. Things aren't too much better in the WWF, as there you are always asked to constantly prove yourself. If Douglas works hard, he can rise to the top. But if he half-asses it, or someone younger and better comes along, he can get left by the wayside. In the WWF it's the "survival of the fittest". In WCW, it's the "survival of the oldest". Going to the WWF has more risks, but may have a better payoff in the end. In WCW, Douglas will have to commit himself to playing a political game which he may never be given the chance to win. One thing Douglas will have to put behind him is past experiences. He's already had forgettable runs in BOTH companies. Bringing that luggage with him wherever he signs will only harm him in the long run. In the WWF the climate that made him "Dean Douglas" has completely changed. In WCW, Ric Flair is no longer in any position to "hold him back" (as Douglas has claimed). The game's already going to be tough enough for him. Pissing and moaning about what happened five or ten years ago will only make it worse. As a selfish (WWF biased) fan, I'd rather see him in the WWF. At least there I know he'll amount to something, even if he did wind up in the midcard. In WCW, I just can't imagine him breaking through and making much of an impact. It's his decision to make, and we'll see soon enough which way he chooses. For my part I'll try and do my best to not hold it against him if he makes what I think is the wrong decision. Now, if only we knew what Chris Jericho was thinking? He's got to be looking at all these new guys coming in and thinking "where do I fit in?" If Douglas comes in, that should add more fuel to the notion of him jumping to the WWF. I've said before I don't know if the WWF can do any more with him than WCW could, it's just becoming a matter of physical space and time limitations. Here the WWF is sitting with a brand new weekly two hour primetime network show waiting in the wings. They desperately need some new talent to help them fill that time. The current roster is already being strained to fill their weekly Heat and RAW shows. Heat's having its format changed, but that still leaves a new additional hour to fill with Smackdown. Like the WWF or not, they are in a prime position to make a few new superstars in the wrestling business. Both Douglas and Jericho would do well to keep that in mind. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Slobberknocker Central" and "Monday Night Recap" are copyright 1999 by John Petrie, and all opinions expressed therein are his own, and not those of "USLink". Check the "Slobberknocker Central" main page for info on how to receive the "Recap" free via E-Mail every week. Volume One, Number 188 of the "Monday Night Recap", June 21st, 1999.