Monday Nitro #151
Date: August 24, 1998
Location: United Center, Chicago, Illinois
Attendance: 17,094
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko

We’re closing in on Fall Brawl and the main event is coming into focus a little bit more. The main story coming into tonight ties into the PPV as Warrior is promising to begin a revolution tonight, whatever that means. He’s officially on DDP’s team to face Hogan and Hart for the Black and White and whoever is on the Wolfpack’s team. This three team stuff with one winner idea for WarGames is annoying. Let’s get to it.

We open with a black limo arriving with the Black and White coming out. It’s just Hogan, Bischoff, Liz and Disciple here and we get a long tracking shot of them coming all the way into the arena. Once they’re finally in the ring, Eric holds up a pen and says it’s what lets him keep in charge of WCW and the NWO. He ran Vader and Johnny B. Badd out of WCW and he’ll keep anyone he wants out as well.

Hogan takes the mic and talks about how he owns the world of wrestling and is more powerful than anyone. He can’t wait to get in the ring at WarGames and take everyone out one by one. Hogan promises to take the title back from Goldberg for awhile and that’s that. Shortest opening segment in a long time.

Opening sequence.

Mike Enos vs. Wrath

Enos fires in some knees in the corner but Wrath shrugs them off and chops away in the corner. They head outside with Enos being sent into the barricade and chopped even more. Wrath throws him back inside for a slingshot clothesline for two but Enos comes back with a powerslam for the same. Mike shoulders him in the corner but misses a second attempt. Wrath’s Meltdown (pumphandle powerslam) is good for the pin in a short match.

We look at part of Warrior’s speech last week, leading into the announcers talking about WarGames.

The Nitro Girls dance in the crowd.

Nitro Party winner.

Kaz Hayashi vs. Dean Malenko

The announcers immediately start talking about the Horsemen, despite most of the team losing almost every major match they’ve had in the last few weeks. Dean takes Kaz down by the arm and grabs the leg before putting on a reverse chinlock. Off to a headlock on Hayashi but he comes back with a knee to the ribs and a quick running senton. Dean easily takes him back down and puts on a figure four around the neck as we take a break.

Back with Dean winning a quick slugout but being sent to the floor. Kaz hits a very nice corkscrew plancha and gets two off a German suplex back inside. Hayashi goes up but his moonsault hits knees. A leg lariat (clearly misses Kaz by about six inches) sets up the Tiger Bomb and the Cloverleaf to give Dean the win.

Rating: C. Not a terrible match though I have no idea why they needed a break in there. Kaz was another in a long list of talented cruiserweights who got lost in the crowd despite being able to put on good matches. Malenko looked a bit off tonight but when you’re as sharp as he is most of the time you can miss once in awhile.

Video on the Wolfpack.

Here’s the Wolfpack minus Sting with something to say. After the catchphrases, Nash talks about Hogan running his mouth week in and week out, even though he can’t run with them. Nash says if Hogan wants a war, he’s got one. He talks about coming here for a war two years ago and his goal is to run the company. If he has to run off Hogan and Bischoff and become world champion to do it, then that’s what he’ll do. That brings him to Goldberg who has speared him twice in a row now.

After the first time, they had a beer and everything was cool. The second time there was no beer so everything isn’t cool. However, if Goldberg wants to make things right, he can team up with Nash tonight against someone whose names are cut off by Goldberg’s music. We get the long walk from the back to continue a motif tonight. Goldberg comes to the ring and says he’ll team up with Nash if that’s what Nash wants. Nash wants Hogan and Giant tonight.

Konnan vs. Jim Neidhart

Konnan went to the back during the break and comes out again for reasons I still don’t understand. A headbutt puts Neidhart down as Tenay explains what Arriaba La Raza means. Konnan grabs an armbar but Neidhart fights up and clotheslines Konnan to take over. Neidhart’s straps come down, making his back rakes all the more vicious. A middle rope knee drop only hits the mat though and the Tequila Sunrise gives Konnan a fast win.

Tony brings out Stevie Ray for a chat about the Black and White surrounding him at the end of Thunder. Stevie won’t comment on what they were saying to him but he’ll deal with the Giant in due time. As for the TV Title, Stevie is coming for Jericho soon but here’s an angry Booker T for his return. Booker says he’s been out of the country healing so he could come back and give the fans 110%. He can’t even leave his house to get his paper without people asking him about Stevie Ray.

Booker worked hard to get the TV Title and would like an explanation from Stevie about the title. Stevie says he defended the title because it got between the team. Booker was out for six months (it’s been like two) and Stevie did what he had to do. Tony informs Stevie that Booker is the #1 contender to Bret Hart’s US Title, ticking Stevie off. Booker says he’s coming for the title and wants Stevie to have his back.

Nitro Girls.

After a break Tony is in the ring and calls out DDP. He has a pen of his own and wants to shove it through Bischoff’s ear. Page runs down Hogan as usual and says if someone wants to step up as the third member of Team WCW, do it right now. This brings out Roddy Piper and I cringe a little bit inside.

Piper praises Page for doing a good job lately while he’s been in Hollywood. While he was out there, Piper heard people at Time Warner making fun of Bischoff’s power trips. Piper says he’s the only man that Bischoff can’t fire before implying Hogan and Bischoff are women. He’ll join Page in WarGames and promises to get Warrior to join them. Wasn’t he on the team already?

Hour #2 begins.

Steve McMichael vs. Riggs

Mongo takes him into the corner but Riggs actually takes over and stomps him down into the corner. McMichael is sent out to the floor and taken down by a clothesline from the apron as this has been one sided so far. Back in and the announcers talk about Saturn vs. Raven with the Flock’s freedom vs. Saturn being back in the Flock as the stakes. A dropkick puts Mongo down again and Riggs stomps away at the chest.

We hit the chinlock on Mongo who slaps the mat like he’s tapping but the referee says nothing. McMichael fights up but a knee to the ribs drops him again. Riggs mocks the Horsemen sign and avoids an elbow as Mongo can’t get anything going. A boot in the corner stops a charging Riggs and it’s a pair of three point tackles and the tombstone to give Mongo the win. Those were the only major offensive moves he hit all match.

Rating: D. This was basically a Riggs squash until the last thirty seconds. The Horsemen losing nearly every match they’re in sounds like something Bischoff would be behind to bury the team even further, because why would he care if the fans keep chanting for Flair? Granted having Mongo in there isn’t helping anyone. The guy just isn’t that good.

Post match Horace blasts Mongo in the head with the stop sign and the beating is on until Malenko makes the save. Saturn comes out as well but is quickly sent back outside, leaving Mongo and Malenko to hold up the Horsemen sign.

More Nitro Girls, this time in leather.

Scott Norton vs. Rick Fuller

They trade chops in the corner as Fuller has already survived longer than anyone has against Norton in weeks. Norton comes back with a Samoan drop but gets kicked in the face, only to pop back up and chop it out again. Scott blasts him in the face to take over again and a powerbomb is enough to end Fuller.

Here’s Scott Steiner with his doctor to make fun of Chicago and Michael Jordan. The doctor says Steiner can’t wrestle tonight but Scott wants Rick out here right now. This of course brings out Buff Bagwell dressed as Rick as the crowd can be heard groaning. Scott offers a doggie treat to get out of the fight, causing Buff to roll over and play dead for the pin.

Lex Luger vs. Brian Adams

They finally lock up after about a minute of stalling before taking their time with some lockups. Luger grabs a headlock as Heenan defends Bischoff for reasons of general weaselness. Luger sends Adams to the floor with some posing as the stalling continues. Back in and Luger hiptosses Adams down but a Vincent distraction lets Brian get in a right hand to take over. Luger is kicked to the floor and sent into the steps for two before it’s off to a headscissor choke from Adams.

Back up and Luger is whipped into the corner but comes back with right hands to a big reaction. Not that it matters though as Adams suplexes him down and puts on a nerve hold. Another comeback is thwarted by a gorilla press gutbuster for two but Adams misses a knee drop. The clotheslines and forearms are good for two, followed by a powerslam and the Torture Rack for the submission.

Rating: D+. Slightly better than the previous match but that’s mainly because the fans were more into the hometown Luger. The match was again close to a squash until the comeback at the end which doesn’t make for the most interesting match in the world. Adams getting this high of a spot on the card continues to astound me.

More clips of Warrior from last week.

Here’s Warrior to talk about how the Revolution that starts tonight. He talks about emulating the best in any field, such as when he emulated Hogan as champion. Warrior rants about Hogan selling out to mediocrity and self pity which is the most coherent thing he’s said in a long time. He does get in a good line by saying Hogan went from being one in a million to being one of the millions.

After pausing for no reason in particular, Warrior asks for patience before he takes out Hogan. Tonight is the beginning of the One Warrior Nation Revolution, which means he’ll destroy Hogan. A revolution isn’t based on cowardice and that’s all Hogan needs to know. I have no idea what this was supposed to accomplish.

Hour #3 begins.

TV Title: Chris Jericho vs. Curt Hennig

Jericho is defending and takes over a minute to get down the aisle due to jawing with fans about their signs. He takes one away and kicks it, falling flat on his face in a funny moment. Feeling out process to start with Hennig grabbing the hair and stopping a takedown attempt. Curt: “Two points!” They jockey for position until Henig goes to the ropes for a breather.

Jericho slaps him in the face, sending Hennig into a frenzy of headbutts and chops. Chris chops him into the corner as this gets very physical all of a sudden. Now it’s Hennig with chops of his own, setting up the Hennig neck snap for no cover. Jericho comes back with a spinning kick to the chin and some choking in the corner.

Curt takes out the knee to send Jericho outside for even more chops, only to have Jericho take him back inside to kick at Hennig’s legs. A springboard dropkick sends Hennig outside and a middle rope version of the same move drops Curt inside. Hennig misses a dropkick and gets caught in the Liontamer but Hennig is right next to the ropes. The PerfectPlex is countered into a small package for two and they slug it out as the time limit expires at…..6:10? At least make it close people.

Rating: C+. I was digging the heck out of this match with both guys working hard out there. Jericho seems like the kind of guy that would have a blast working with a guy like Hennig and he was on his game tonight. Really fun match which shows what happens when guys work hard. The lack of time makes me sad for a change.

Hennig gets the better of Jericho and here’s Giant for the double team, but Giant shoves Hennig down instead to save the Canadian. Curt is furious.

More Nitro Girls.

Booker T asks Stevie to have his back tonight but Stevie sounds mad.

US Title: Bret Hart vs. Booker T

Bret is defending. Before the match Bret grabs a mic and says he’s tired of being told he used to be a nice guy. The fans are the ones that have corrupted the heroes, which is why Bret went to the one man he could trust: Hulk Hogan. However, there’s a problem in the form of Sting. Bret says Sting is his buddy, so how can he pick between Sting and Hogan. The fans are to blame for his problems though.

Booker’s music plays but he never shows up. We go to a break and come back to see Stevie standing over a fallen Booker and saying Booker and JJ Dillon turned their backs on him. Stevie comes into the arena to take Booker’s place but yells at Bret instead of fighting him. Bret denies having anything to do with the attack as the NWO comes out with a shirt. Bret says there’s no reason for Stevie to take his frustrations out on him before offering Stevie a spot on the team. Since Stevie is a midcard guy who is starting to get some traction, he accepts.

Hollywood Hogan/The Giant vs. Goldberg/Kevin Nash

After about five minutes of entrances, we finally get down to Nash vs. Giant but the fans are all over Hogan. Giant shoves him into the corner to start but Nash avoids a big forearm. A headbutt staggers Kevin back and a big boot drops him to the mat. Giant misses an elbow though and Nash hits the framed elbow in the corner. Both guys hit clotheslines at the same time with no one going anywhere so they both hit big boots to drop the other.

It’s off to Goldberg vs. Hogan with the champion shoving Hogan down over and over. Hogan gets in some knees to the ribs and chokes to take over but Goldberg shrugs off being rammed into the buckle. A few shoulder blocks put Hogan down but Disciple hits Goldberg in the back with the title belt to change the moment. Hogan chokes away in the corner while Nash and Giant go at it on the floor (Tony calls it double teaming because he’s not that bright) as Hennig and Disciple come in for the no contest.

Rating: D+. This was more spectacle than match and that’s fine for the most part. They’re clearly setting up the idea of the team battle at Fall Brawl which is more than you usually get out of a Nitro main event. I’d still like to see Giant pin Nash just one time to make up for the last nine months or so but I can’t imagine it happening.

Luger and Konnan come out to even the odds until Goldberg and Hennig are the only ones left. Goldberg spears him down and Jackhammers him for the pin as this turns into an ECW show for a few seconds. Nash accidentally knees Goldberg in the face and Giant sends him to the floor as Warrior, Page and Piper come out to clean house and stand tall. Goldberg and Nash have a staredown to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. That was a really strong ending actually with an actual focus for a change. It’s not really surprising that WCW was actually winning a bit at this time with WarGames coming up and the Warrior offering something interesting. Unfortunately at some point he has to actually wrestle and it was all going to come down. Anyway though, less bad show than usual but all the nonsense earlier on brings down a good last hour.

 

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Thunder
Date: August 13, 1998
Location: Fargodome, Fargo, North Dakota
Attendance: 9,721
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Lee Marshall, Bobby Heenan

We’re coming off the Nitro that should have been Road Wild with the biggest stories being a new US Champion and Goldberg thinking Nash hit him in the back with a chair. I have a problem believing WCW is capable of planning a feud that far in advance so we’ll chalk it up to whatever random idea they’re throwing at us which will likely end up benefiting Hogan. Let’s get to it.

The announcers run down the card for a bit until Scott Hall interrupts. We get the survey with the Wolfpack winning before we go to a break less than five minutes into the broadcast.

Konnan vs. Scott Hall

We start with the stalling and a toothpick throw until Konnan slaps him in the face. Hall drives his shoulder into Konnan over and over before they trade paintbrush slaps to the back of the head. This match already has more energy than almost any match on Thunder in weeks. Hall fakes him out on a test of strength and pops Konnan in the jaw to take over. The fallaway slam gets two and Hall fires off some chops in the corner. This has been one sided so far.

There’s the abdominal stretch with Hall grabbing the ropes like a villain should. Hall finally gets caught and Konnan comes back with the X-Factor but Hall doesn’t even go down. Konnan rams him into the buckle but Scott kicks him low. That doesn’t have much of an effect as Konnan gets two off a small package, only to get caught in the Outsider’s Edge for the pin.

Rating: D+. This was just a step above a squash which is surprising with two bigger names. It’s also strange to see a match ending by pinfall instead of the constant run-ins and inconclusive finishes. While it wasn’t a good match, it was nice to have something definitive for a change around here.

The announcers hype up War Games and wonder how Goldberg will be involved.

Horace vs. Raven

Raven says insubordination will not be tolerated and Horace costing him the triangle match on Saturday was the last straw. He jumps Horace to start and pounds him down in the corner before grabbing the stop sign. Lodi shows a spine and takes it away from him, allowing Horace to kick it into Raven’s face for two. A slam onto the sign and a middle rope splash get two for Horace but he misses a charge into the sign in the corner. Raven throws him to the floor and hits the Russian legsweep into the barricade.

Lodi and Raven head back inside with Raven slapping Lodi in the face. Riggs, Kidman and Sick Boy run in for the beatdown as the bell rings, even though this is Raven’s Rules. Saturn runs in to get the three goons off of Horace but the big man jumps Saturn, setting up a four on one beatdown. Kanyon comes in for the real save and a good pop. I’m assuming the match was thrown out.

Rating: C-. The more I see of guys like Saturn, Horace and especially Kanyon the more impressed I am. The match was too short and had too strange of an ending (Raven’s Rules meaning no DQ remember) to be worth anything but I’m interested in where the story is going so there’s something good there.

Saturn goes after Kanyon for no apparent reason before suplexing Horace down.

Stevie Ray doesn’t want to talk about the TV Title but challenges the Giant to a match next week. That’s quite the step up.

TV Title: Chris Jericho vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.

Jericho is defending of course. Pepe is taped together after being broken in half on Nitro. Feeling out process to start with Jericho taking Chavo up against the ropes and grabbing the wrist, only to be armdragged down. They trade leapfrogs until Chavo bites Jericho to send him outside. We take a break and come back with a shot of Pepe in the corner as Jericho gets two off the Lionsault.

A suplex sets up the arrogant cover for another two before we hit a surfboard hold on Chavo. Back up and Jericho gets his third straight near fall off a spinwheel kick. Chavo comes back with a running clothesline and a forearm in the corner. A bulldog gets a close two and a rollup gets an even closer one but Jericho goes after Pepe. Chavo freaks out and gets an even thicker Pepe (Tony: “That looks like a Clydesdale!”) to blast Jericho for the DQ.

Rating: C-. This was more about Chavo’s insanity and most of the match felt like it was just killing time until we got to the ending. It’s a good sign for Chavo that his character is working against people other than Eddie. Jericho is his usual good self and his glee in breaking Pepe was very amusing.

After some stills from Hart vs. Luger from Monday, Bret says he’s the best there is, was and ever will be even though the fans are all against him. The only reason Luger beat him was because he caught Bret off guard.

Dancing Fools vs. Public Enemy

Tokyo Magnum is with Disco and Alex. Rocco cranks on Alex’s arm to start as the announcers debate whether the match on Saturday was a street fight or a Sturgis street fight. Rock gets sent to the floor and sent into the barricade with a baseball slide. Back in and Rocco blocks a middle rope ax handle, only to be suplexed down again.

Wright of course stops to dance, allowing Rocco to get his knees up to stop a splash. Off to Disco vs. Grunge but Johnny quickly brings Rocco back in for a double flapjack. Everything breaks down and Rocco is thrown into Disco. A table is brought in but Tokyo Magnum takes the bullet for Alex, allowing Wright to pin Grunge off a neckbreaker.

Rating: D+. This is becoming one of those matches that I do not need to see ever again. We’ve pretty much gotten the same story every single times these four have gone at it and there’s no reason to see them tell that story one more time. The matches aren’t horrible but they’re rapidly losing the limited interest I had in them.

Post match Meng runs in to destroy the dancers. Barbarian comes out to make the save but Meng shrugs him off and death grips Barbarian down. Public Enemy gets taken down as well.

Here’s Big Kev to spout catchphrases and invite Goldberg to join the Wolfpack whenever he feels like it.

Kevin Nash vs. Curt Hennig

Nash takes him into the corner for the heavy knees and a hiptoss across the ring. Hennig twists around in the air as is his custom. There’s the choke with the boot but Hennig avoids a charge, sending Nash’s leg into the ropes. Curt goes after the weakened leg but Nash gets right back up and hits Snake Eyes, thankfully using the ropes to support the injured leg. Nash looks for the Jackknife but Rude comes in to deck the referee for the DQ.

Rating: D+. Not enough time to go anywhere but much like Konnan vs. Hall, it was nice to see Nash have a singles match for a change. Also I was relieved by him holding the ropes on the Snake Eyes. I love little things like that which are unfortunately rare anymore as it helps to keep the fans in the match. The ending was expected because Heaven forbid a veteran job or anything like that, but not terrible while it lasted.

Rude squares off with Nash so Hall can come in for the beatdown. The fans want Goldberg but get Luger for the save instead.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Stevie Ray

Stevie shoves Eddie away and stands in the middle of the ring for a bit. Eddie literally jumps at Stevie and spins around while Stevie stands still. An armdrag and dropkick to the ribs put Ray down but Stevie just kicks him in the face to take over. Scott Hall and the Giant are watching from the stage.

The camera keeps cutting back to them but thankfully we can see the match on the video screen. Stevie gorilla press drops Eddie down and bicycle kicks him off the apron. Eddie comes back with something I can’t make out because the camera is focusing on the NWO guys but Stevie breaks up a belly to belly attempt. Eddie goes up top but dives into a big boot. The Slapjack is enough to pin Eddie completely clean.

Rating: N/A. I can’t rate a match when I missed long portions due to putting the camera on Hall and Giant every few seconds. On top of that, Stevie Ray just beat Eddie Guerrero clean in about four minutes. This is the Eddie Guerrero that had possibly the best match in WCW history less than a year before. Is it any wonder that he wanted out?

US Title: Lex Luger vs. Bret Hart

Luger won the title on Monday and this is the rematch. He shoves Bret around a few times before grabbing a headlock. Bret hiptosses him down and drops an elbow for two, only to have Luger take him into the corner and stomp away. Bret comes back with some stomps of his own before hitting the headbutt to the abdomen. Luger is catapulted throat first into the middle rope for two as Bret doesn’t seem interested in being out there.

The middle rope elbow only hits mat and Luger makes his comeback with the clotheslines and forearm. Luger clotheslines him to the floor instead of Racking him though, allowing Bret to get a chair. Another clothesline drops Hart and now it’s Luger with the chair. The referee tries to take it away and gets knocked down, allowing Bret to DDT Luger on the chair for two. Not that it matters though as Bret puts on the Sharpshooter and Luger passes out to change the title back.

Rating: D-. They clearly didn’t care and the ending was nothing interesting. Nitro’s match is basically erased and Bret has another meaningless title reign. Again, this is more and more like the Alliance every day: these title changes don’t make a difference and just prolong an already uninteresting feud.

Overall Rating: C-. This is an interesting show as it erases almost everything that happened on Nitro, but Nitro was so horribly dull that taking it all away is a good thing. Yeah Goldberg doesn’t resolve anything with Nash, but there’s nothing to resolve in the first place. In theory Goldberg should be fine after spearing Nash and Big Kev doesn’t seem mad at Goldberg at all. The wrestling was kept quick for the most part tonight and only the main event was bad. This show benefits from all the other shows around it being so uninteresting that even a mediocre show like this comes out looking great.

 

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The Monday Night Wars were over for all intents and purposes.Fifteen years ago today, WCW World Champion Kevin Nash laid down for Hulk Hogan after a single fingerpoke to the chest.  The NWO factions that had been at war for nine months reunited again and Goldberg was the second coming (and failing) of Sting from a year ago.  The whole thing just made no sense and whatever explanation they had didn’t work either.  This set up Hogan vs. Flair again because we hadn’t seen that a million times before.

Over on Raw, the WWF Title changed hands as well with Mankind beating the Rock in a huge upset with the help of Stone Cold Steve Austin, giving us the loudest pop you will ever hear at a wrestling show.  For reasons that Eric Bischoff alone can comprehend, WCW announced this match on their show, thinking that fans would be offended that it was taped.  According to Mick Foley, something like half a million people changed the channel at that announcement, sinking Nitro for the night.

 

So to recap: WCW screws the fans over and gives them the polar opposite of what they wanted (more Goldberg, less NWO) and the WWF gave the fans what they wanted (Vince at the Corporation losing at Austin’s hands).  Combining this with all the other reasons WCW was moronic, the winners of the Monday Night Wars really were becoming clear around this time.  For the life of me I still do not get what WCW was thinking.  Yeah it’s taped.  So is almost every show and entertainment broadcast on television.  It astounds me to this day.

Monday Nitro #149
Date: August 10, 1998
Location: Rushmore Plaza Civic Center, Rapid City, South Dakota
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko, Tony Schiavone

It’s the show after Road Wild and just like last month, nothing has changed. Goldberg has pinned Giant to wipe him out as a contender and Hogan lost to Jay Leno. Everything kind of resets now as we’re coming up on Fall Brawl, meaning someone should be showing up soon to bring Nitro to its final ratings wins, save for a one off show in October. Let’s get to it.

We open with the opening sequence for the first time in months.

Nitro Girls get us going in the ring, which now has a huge Nitro logo in the middle. Kimberly isn’t here because Page isn’t here.

Bischoff has put a gag order on the announcers regarding the main event of Road Wild. However, there will be a WCW executive here later to explain and show us what happened. Ok then.

Barbarian vs. Jim Duggan

Duggan spins the board around as he comes to the ring and accidentally drops both the board and American flag. The brawl is on in the corner with Duggan firing off right hands and a clothesline to send Barbarian out to the floor. The fans chant USA as Jimmy Hart distracts Duggan, allowing Barbarian to clubber Duggan down in the corner.

We hit the chinlock and one of the loudest USA chants I can ever remember starts up. It doesn’t help as Barbarian pulls him down by the hair and drops some elbows but it was a nice sentiment. Duggan fights up again but gets kicked in the face and chinlocked again. Another comeback works a bit better with Duggan slugging away in the corner and getting a rollup out of the corner for the pin.

Rating: D. Well this was better than having the Faces of Fear go at it for five minutes. Duggan may be old and hasn’t had a good match in years but the fans can get behind him with the USA chants. I’m not sure I’d use him every week on Nitro given how huge the roster is, but there’s at least an idea there.

Post match Hugh Morrus comes out to help beat up Duggan but Meng makes another save. Barbarian, Morrus, Hart, Duggan and Doug Dillinger all get Tongan Death Grips. Meng vs. Goldberg for the title later tonight.

We look at what’s happened to Lex Luger over the last week, including being attacked on Nitro and calling out Scott Hall as the attacker on Thunder. The battle royal elimination is ignored.

Here’s Luger with something to say. He names Bret Hart as another one of the attackers from last week and isn’t leaving without a match against Bret. This brings out Hart who calls Luger a liar because he was nowhere near Luger last week. Maybe Luger should say it was four guys or six guys (dig at Shawn’s Marines story?) but he’s not getting a shot without earning it. Bret says that Luger’s real problem is jealously with Bret’s relationship with Sting at the top of the list. Luger says the only thing he’s jealous of might be that US Title, so how about a shot tonight? Bret quickly agrees and Gene is thrilled.

We get a quick look at the TV Title match from Saturday.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Tokyo Magnum

That’s the scheduled match at least as we get Disco Inferno and Alex Wright. Before Eddie comes out, Alex yells at Tokyo and tells him to commit harikiri, meaning suicide. Disco says Tokyo needs to win if he wants to stay with them or he’s out. Eddie takes over quickly to start with a clothesline in the corner and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two. A slam sets up the frog splash for the pin in maybe a minute.

Stills of Kanyon vs. Saturn vs. Raven from Saturday.

Saturn vs. Kanyon

This is the result of Kanyon not showing up for some tag matches. Kanyon charges at Saturn but gets suplexed down with ease. An STO puts Kanyon on the mat again and Saturn fires off kicks in the corner. Kanyon comes back with right hands and gets two off something like a Michinoku Driver. A face first electric chair slam gets two more for Kanyon and an elbow to the jaw puts Saturn down again. Saturn quickly breaks out of a sleeper and puts on one of his own, only to have to counter a belly to back suplex into a cover for two.

Kanyon grabs the sleeper again and takes Saturn down for two arm drops. After breaking the hold, Saturn drops Kanyon throat first on the top rope before catching him in a t-bone suplex. A Russian legsweep from Kanyon puts both guys on the mat but it’s Kanyon up first with a neckbreaker out of the corner for two. Saturn doesn’t like being in trouble so he crotches Kanyon on top and hooks a top rope head and arms suplex. Here’s Lodi for a distraction, allowing Raven to come in and DDT Saturn, giving Kanyon the pin.

Rating: C+. Kanyon continues to entertain, which makes me all the more curious as to how they’ll screw him up. At least it seems like we’re getting somewhere with this story as it’s been going on for months now. These two work well together which doesn’t surprise me given how similar their styles were at times.

Meng beats up more security. They’re doing a decent job at building him up as a one off challenger.

More Nitro Girls.

We see the new grand prize Nitro Party winners. The Nitro Girls and Gene will be at their high school in three weeks.

Sick Boy vs. Steve McMichael

McMichael goes after Sick Boy before the bell but Lodi gets in some cheap shots to let Sick Boy take over. The match starts without a bell as Sick Boy hits a springboard dropkick and back elbow for two each. Sick Boy is a good sized guy so those are some impressive moves. Mongo comes back with clotheslines and a tilt-a-whirl slam but hits his head while trying a three point charge. The Cure (Pedigree) is countered and Mongo tombstones him down for the pin.

Hour #2 begins so here’s the Black and White. As always, Hogan is all smiles because nothing bad ever happens to him. That’s one of the major problems with WCW around this time: Hogan doesn’t care if he wins or loses and just goes on to whatever his next feud was. If he never gets his comeuppance, why should I care about what he does next?

Hogan says that Leno is done so now he wants the world title back. He’s beaten everyone in the world and there’s no one that can beat him, so he wants his title shot sooner than later. Eric says that since Meng has destroyed so many security guards, the NWO will provide security in the title match tonight.

For all of you people wondering if you should change over to Raw, the announcers have a three minute chat about the world title match tonight. Around this time on Raw, Mankind was confronting Vince and Kane about a massive conspiracy involving Undertaker. WCW counters with an announcement: the Wolfpack will also provide security, because apparently they have that authority. That’s enough talking though and it’s time for a commercial. My goodness this company makes me shake my head.

TV Title: Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Stevie Ray

Chavo is worried because he can’t find Pepe. Jericho pops up on stage with Pepe so Chavo runs after him and follows Jericho into the back. We can hear sounds of a beating and Jericho walks out with a broken Pepe. We have a change of schedule.

TV Title: Stevie Ray vs. Chris Jericho

Stevie easily shoves Jericho down to start and hits some big right hands, only to have Jericho dropkick the knee. A crucifix gets two on the champion so he kicks Jericho in the face to take over again. Jericho gets draped ribs first over the top rope but he low bridges Stevie out to the floor.

A plancha takes Stevie out but Jericho bangs himself up in the dive. Back in and Stevie catches Jericho coming off the top in a powerslam. Chris comes right back with a running dropkick in the corner but the referee takes an elbow to the face. Stevie runs Jericho over but the Giant of all people breaks up a Slap Jack and chokeslams Stevie to give Jericho the easy Liontamer for the title.

Rating: C. The match was shockingly decent but both guys were wrestling like faces for a good chunk of the match. The ending is confusing but it’s very nice to see a guy like Jericho get even a little taste of the big story. He’s been the most awesome thing in this company for a long time now and it’s nice to see him get away from the cruiserweight ranks.

Heenan joins us at the halfway point and here are Eric and Liz with something to say. He’s the WCW executive that is going to show us what happened in the main event. We get some selected stills and Eric says they won. Also don’t watch the Tonight Show because Leno is a liar. Again, why should I buy the show if Eric and Hogan are just going to laugh and act like the losses mean nothing? Would it be too much for them to be ticked off one time?

Lizmark Jr. vs. Psychosis vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

No real reason for this. Psychosis takes over to start with a front suplex to Rey and a lariat to Lizmark. He follows it up with a nice missile dropkick to Rey with a top rope backsplash to the lesser known masked guy at the same time. A flapjack into a spinebuster puts Rey down and then onto the floor but Psychosis misses a running dropkick at Lizmark to finally change momentum. Lizmark pounds away in the corner and scores with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker.

Psychosis is sent to the floor where we see Rey limping. Lizmark hits a suicide dive to take out Psychosis and Rey follows up with a running flip dive. So much for the limp. Rey stays on the apron for a springboard seated senton to a lifted up Psychosis (think a Hart Attack) but Lizmark and Rey get in an argument over who should get the pin. They make up and try a Doomsday Device with Rey swapping out the clothesline for a cross body but Psychosis victory rolls Lizmark for two, sending Rey crashing to the mat.

Lizmark stomps on both guys but gets kicked in the face by Rey. A split legged moonsault gets two for Mysterio but Psychosis gets back up, only to get caught in something like a swinging Fameasser. Lizmark goes up but dives into Psychosis’ feet, only to have Rey get monkey flipped into a quick hurricanrana on Lizmark for the pin.

Rating: C+. This was a different kind of match but it still worked well. I’m surprised by how strong Psychosis was pushed out there. He controlled the opening of the match and was destroying both Lizmark and Mysterio for good portions. Mysterio’s knee is always an issue but hopefully it’s not serious.

Nitro Girls.

US Title: Lex Luger vs. Bret Hart

Bret is defending in another match that should have been at the PPV. Luger shoves Bret to the floor to start before accepting a test of strength for some reason. A hammerlock gets the champion nowhere so Luger elbows him out to the floor. Bret grabs the belt and starts to walk away but Luger will have none of that. Luger actually armdrags him into an armbar but Bret takes him into the corner and stomps away.

We take a break and come back with Bret sending him into the barricade and slamming Luger down on the concrete. Back in and Bret does the Hogan hand to the ear but Luger jacks his jaw with right hands. A low blow puts Luger down again but the referee doesn’t seem to care. Hart puts him down with a Russian legsweep and the headbutt to the abdomen.

A snap suplex gets two and Bret takes a breather to yell at the referee. The champ loads up the Five Moves but Luger gets a boot up to stop the elbow. Luger comes back with his clotheslines and the forearm for two before putting on a sleeper. The referee gets taken down and Bret pulls out a foreign object. Before it can be used though, Lex picks him up in the Torture Rack for the submission and the title.

Rating: C-. Pretty basic match here but it was nice to see something get some time on this show. I continue to shake my head whenever Bret comes on screen though as he’s now lost his title in his first defense after being wasted for about nine months. The match wasn’t bad and the Wolfpack did need to win something so I don’t have much to complain about here.

Hour #3 begins.

Stills of the Cruiserweight Title match. The announcers talk about Dean being a fair referee, even though he helped Guerrera winning the title. That’s a quote, not pointing out a flaw.

Cruiserweight Title: Juventud Guerrera vs. Kidman

Kidman is cleaned up here but Juvy catches him with a spinwheel kick right after the bell. A springboard missile dropkick to the back puts Kidman down on the floor. Kidman takes over with a dropkick of his own before sending Juvy back inside for a slingshot legdrop. The champ avoids a charge in the corner and takes Kidman down with a running lariat. Kidman comes back with a short powerbomb as the announcers talk about Bret’s rematch on Thunder. Juvy takes Kidman down with a hurricanrana and the 450 is enough to retain the title.

Rating: D+. This is a match where they could have done something special if they had actual time but you can’t get very far in three and a half minutes. Kidman works better in the clean clothes as he picks up the pace a bit. Juvy’s 450 still looks great, but the announcers didn’t even acknowledge it to hype the rematch.

The announcers talk about Bret vs. Luger again.

We see the real stills from the Leno match.

Here are Raven and the Flock so the boss can beat up Riggs and Lodi for costing him the match on Saturday. Raven goes to hit Horace but he blocks the shot and we get a bell.

Raven vs. Horace

Raven beats on Horace to start and knocks him to the floor. A Russian legsweep sends Horace into the barricade but he comes back with a stop sign shot to the head, knocking Raven back to the floor. Horace hits a nice suicide dive before throwing Raven through the sign. The big man misses a top rope splash and Raven asks for a chair, setting up the drop toehold. The Flock has to stop an invading Kanyon, allowing Saturn to come in with a Death Valley Driver on Raven to give Horace the pin.

Rating: D+. The more I see of Horace the more I like him. He’s a big guy but moves well in the ring and has a good look to him. He’ll never go anywhere but it’s cool to see people like this who had some potential. The three way feud of course continues because we have to go months before getting any real development.

The Nitro Girls dance some more. Of note (for me at least) is Tony announcing a Thunder taping at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky. There’s a chance I was at that show.

Konnan vs. Curt Hennig

Curt cranks on the arm to start but Konnan comes back with the rolling clothesline to send Hennig to the floor. The fans chant Wolfpack while Konnan pulls on his pants. Back in and Hennig pounds Konnan down in the corner before shouting that he’s rowdy rowdy. A belly to back suplex gets two for Hennig but Konnan comes back with an X Factor. Curt finds a chain from somewhere but Konnan takes it away from him and chokes Hennig for a DQ.

Rating: D. This hasn’t been the best night for in ring action. It was another boring match with a lot of walking around by Hennig to fill in time. You would think on a show with five title matches (think they were desperate for something to pop a rating?) that there wouldn’t be a need to waste time but it’s been a staple tonight.

Tag Titles: Kevin Nash/Sting vs. Scott Hall/Giant

Kevin and Sting are challenging. The Survey says this is Wolfpack territory, causing Tony to refer to the Wolfpack as the good guys. Giant holds the belt above his head so the referee can’t get it in a funny bit. Nash punches Hall in the face to start but Scott gets away from an early Jackknife attempt. Back in and Hall drives in the shoulders, only to be clotheslined down again. Time for the battle of the giants with Nash firing off some knees to the ribs.

It’s back to Hall for more knees to the ribs but a Giant distraction lets Hall get in a low blow. For once in his career Tony makes a good point: shouldn’t the referee wonder why Nash is keeled over in pain when he turns around? Hall punches Nash down again and brings Giant back in, only to have Nash come back with a big boot. The hot tag brings in Sting for three straight Splashes on Hall but Giant chokeslams the referee for the DQ.

Rating: D. These matches are getting annoying. This was another match that could have been on the PPV but instead they just threw it on Nitro to fill in about ten minutes. It wasn’t entertaining due to the pure formula and cheap ending but the fans reacted to Sting as they always will. One other note: Tony said the powerbomb was banned for a few months, which is as close as we’re going to get to an official ending to the story.

Both NWOs come out to do security on the main event. Why the four guys in the previous match needed to go to the back and come out again is beyond me. There are only six guys in total: those four plus Luger and Hogan.

WCW World Title: Goldberg vs. Meng

Meng pounds away to start but Goldberg hits a kind of flying tackle. A superkick puts Meng on the floor but the Black and White leave Meng alone. Back in and Goldberg puts on a quickly broken leg bar before getting kicked to the floor on the Black and White side. The Wolfpack makes the save but Meng puts him in the Tongan Death Grip, only to let go early. Spear, Jackhammer, we’re done. Too short to rate but they actually did a good job of making Goldberg seem vulnerable. Given the opponent, that’s very impressive.

Hogan comes in with a chair shot to Goldberg’s back but Nash takes it away. Goldberg thinks it was Nash and Big Sexy gets speared.

Overall Rating: D+. It’s the usual WCW mantra: there’s good stuff in there but all the bad stuff is too much to overcome. The NWO feud continues to go nowhere and is starting to remind me of the Alliance. If there’s nowhere to go with these stories, what’s the point in sitting through them?

I mentioned the other problem several times: so many of these matches should have been on the pay per view. The US and Tag Title matches easily could have been done on Saturday to fill in time and make the card feel more complete. Instead they just threw everyone into one battle royal and gave us McMichael vs. Adams. Disappointing show tonight.

 

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Monday Nitro #146
Date: July 20, 1998
Location: E-Center, Salt Lake City, Utah
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko

There isn’t much of a main story at the moment other than the Wolfpack is done feuding with comedy heels and is going after the Black and White again. We’re moving closer to Road Wild but the show hasn’t even been mentioned yet. It would appear that we’ll be getting Hogan vs. Page and Goldberg vs. Hennig, even though we already saw that match. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Hall attacking Nash during the big brawl with the NWOs.

Opening sequence.

Nitro Girls.

Here’s Hall to get things going. There’s no point for a survey tonight because Salt Lake City is here to see the NWO. The fans don’t seem to agree but Hall ignores them and goes into a Gilligan’s Island metaphor. Apparently Hall is tired of laying on the top bunk and doing all the work while Skipper Nash lays on his back. Nash can’t lead the Wolfpack since he isn’t even a man, unlike Hogan. A Too Sweet takes us out.

Tonight it’s going to be Hart vs. Page for the vacant US Title, even though Hart hasn’t exactly beaten anyone of note in WCW.

We go back to Nitro last week for a look at all the Black and White drama, from Hogan challenging Hall to the match itself to Page running in and getting beaten down to the Nash stuff.

Stevie Ray vs. Johnny Boone

Boone is a jobber who would become a referee. Stevie doesn’t have the belt tonight because he left it with Booker and his attorney. Total squash with Ray kicking Boone around like the jobber that he is. Cue Chavo Guerrero with his Lone Ranger mask and the TV Title as Stevie Slap Jacks Boone for the pin.

We look back at Hogan shoving Bagwell out of the wheelchair last week.

Back from a break and we get an extended version of Hogan and Bagwell.

Here’s Rick Steiner to talk about what happened to Bagwell last week. When Gene says talk about Bagwell, Rick goes into a challenge to Scott Steiner for Road Wild. Here’s Buff in a wheelchair and Rick immediately apologizes for what happened last week. Rick apologizes for Bagwell’s injury and says there was no bad intent at all.

Bagwell says he was mad at Rick to begin with but the injury has changed him. He loves every single fan and forgives Rick for what happened. They hug but here’s Scott Steiner with a chair to Rick’s back. Buff pops up and takes the chair to blast Rick as well. He takes off the neck brace and his shirt, revealing a Black and White shirt. Buff is another guy that could have been a big deal with his look and story with the injury but they just threw him back into the NWO to get lost in the shuffle.

Back from a break with more talking but at least it’s Jericho. He talks about the mental anguish he’s suffered at Malenko’s hands, such as being attacked and tormented over the memory of his dead father (who appeared on Thunder a few weeks before). Jericho offers Dean a title shot next week, but it’s Malenko’s last shot. If he loses, Dean can just go back to Harry’s Burgers in Tampa and give up on wrestling.

Hall pops up at the announce table and throws a toothpick in Larry’s face. He talks about hanging with Hollywood and learning a lot about the movies. Hall doesn’t want to see Nash’s performance in the sequel to Terms of Endearment, referring to the sitdown interview with Tenay that we saw on Thunder.

We see a parking spot out back labeled “star of the show” but the car in front of it is wrecked with with windows all cracked and shattered.

Steve McMichael vs. Sick Boy

Hey look a match. Tony tells us that the wrecked car is a reference to Jay Leno, who always drives a different car to the Tonight Show. Tony: “That’s all it could be.” Lodi and Sick Boy jump Mongo on the floor and a clothesline gets two for Sick Boy. Mongo comes right back with a three point clothesline and the tombstone for the pin in about a minute.

We look back at Arn Anderson telling Malenko to let the Horsemen be over from Thunder.

Nitro Party winner.

Time for Bischoff’s talk show, which is now called NWO Night Cap. The bandleader intros the show again and at least Liz looks good in a leather dress. Bischoff has a full set now which looks a lot like the Tonight Show set. The entrances take nearly two minutes before Bischoff makes some bad jokes about the heat wave, stomach ailments, Secret Service testimony, the Monica Lewinsky scandal and chickens.

These are all accompanied by Eric complimenting himself and the band laughing hysterically. Tony FREAKS OUT because apparently these jokes are ripped off from the Tonight Show. Eric makes fun of Leno’s chin and talks about Leno being a disgrace to bikers. This ate up seven and a half minutes.

Hour #2 begins. To recap, WCW used their unopposed hour for three and a half minutes of wrestling, about ten minutes of recaps, a challenge for a Cruiserweight Title match, and Bischoff’s talk show.

We see Nash’s sitdown interview from Thunder. The tape cuts out in the middle and we cut to the production truck with Hall leaving. Nash walks up and a fight breaks out. They head outside but the Black and White comes out of a trailer to beat Nash down. The Wolfpack runs in to help and the huge brawl is on. Enough of that though as we need to go back to the announcers.

Hart shows up at the announcers’ table and wants Page right now. We cut to the back where Konnan is screaming for help and standing over Page’s writhing body. The trainer comes to check on Page as Bret heads to the ring. JJ Dillon comes out as well and says the match will have to be later.

Yuji Nagata vs. Saturn

Saturn takes him over with a quick northern lights suplex for two followed by a quickly broken armbar. Some kicks in the corner drop Nagata but he comes right back with a release northern lights suplex. Yuji goes after the leg, only to get caught in a German suplex. We’ve had a tag title match made for later: Nash/Sting defending against Giant/Hall. Nagata misses a running knee in the corner and gets suplexed down for two. Sonny Onoo gets on the apron as Raven runs in with the Even Flow to Saturn, allowing Nagata to put on the Nagata Lock for the pin since Saturn can’t tap out.

Rating: D. This was just there to announce the tag match and announce the tag title match. Nagata continues to be one of the least interesting guys you’ll see in this company throughout its entire run so thankfully this is his last appearance with the company. He just never gave us a reason to care about him in the year or so he was around.

Post match the Flock comes in to lay out the Flock until Kanyon makes the save. Kidman gets a sick looking middle rope piledriver. Saturn gets up and hits a Death Valley Driver on Kanyon for his unwanted help.

We look at Bret costing Rick Martel a match last week and attacking Mysterio and Guerrera on Thunder.

Nitro Girls.

Heenan is on commentary now.

Tag Titles: Giant/Scott Hall vs. Sting/Kevin Nash

Nash and Sting are defending. The Outsiders get us going as Tony talks about Jay Leno. Hall backs into the corner and tags in Giant for the big lockup with Giant sending Nash into the corner for a clothesline. Nash pounds back on Giant and everything breaks down with the Wolfpack quickly cleaning house. Back in and Sting clotheslines Hall down as we take a break.

We come back to see Giant on the floor before coming in for a tag from Hall. Giant gets in Sting’s face but gets slapped, enraging him enough that he misses a charge into the corner. A Stinger Splash hits a boot though and Giant takes over again. Giant can’t hit a clothesline but Sting’s cross body literally bounces off the big man. Back to Hall for some right hands and a two count followed by an abdominal stretch. The Black and White finally gets caught cheating, which doesn’t change anything but Sting hiptosses out of the hold anyway.

A hot tag brings in Nash to clean house for real and finally get his hands on Hall. Scott escapes Snake Eyes but gets his head kicked off as everything breaks down again. Sting hits Giant low and bulldogs him down before getting the hot tag from Nash. Hall is almost in the Scorpion but here’s Bret Hart to break it up. The distraction lets Scott hit the Outsider’s Edge for the pin and the titles.

Rating: C-. The match was nothing of note but at least Bret is FINALLY doing something. The bad thing to come out of this though is we get to deal with the Leno promotion. It’s going to dominate the next few weeks of commentary but there’s nothing that can be done about it. Nash and Sting losing the titles is a good thing though as they never made sense as champions in the first place.

The announcers recap the show so far. Tony: “I think Diamond Dallas Page was attacked by Bret Hart.” Insert your own joke about stating the obvious. We get a clip of the events from earlier.

Alex Wright/Disco Inferno vs. Masahiro Chono/Great Muta

Tony makes up for the obvious statement earlier by calling Wright and Disco the Dancing Dodos. Wright gets jumped from behind to start but comes back with a spinwheel kick to take Chono down. Disco comes in and stomps him in the corner, only to walk into the Mafia Kick. Off to Muta for some strikes to the face but he gets caught in a swinging neckbreaker for two. Muta comes right back with the dragon screw leg whip and a leg bar for the submission on Disco.

Post match Scott Norton comes out to destroy the dancers even more.

Hour #3 begins.

The Nitro Girls dance but the trainer comes out and takes Kimberly away due to something in the back.

Tokyo Magnum vs. Ultimo Dragon

Tokyo, usually the dancing idiot, comes out to traditional slow Japanese style music. Dragon jumps him to start and takes Magnum into the corner for the rapid fire kicks. The announcers talk about how the teacher is beating up the student as he kicks Magnum in the back. Magnum slams him off the top but dives into a dropkick, setting up a brainbuster and the Dragon Sleeper. Basically a squash in Dragon’s last WCW match.

We look at the ending to the tag title match which shows Bret telling Sting that the Scorpion is his hold.

Jim Powers vs. Scott Norton

Norton drives him into the corner to start and powerslams Jim down for no cover. He chokes Powers in the corner, misses a charge, catches Jim in a Samoan drop and powerbombs him down for the pin.

Video on Hogan’s evil deeds since he joined the NWO.

Here’s the Black and White en masse with something to say. Hogan brags about the new tag team champions and asks for a round of applause for their victory. He also admires the dedication of Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell as they help in the NWO conquering wrestling. That brings him to Goldberg….but first let’s praise Muta and Chono. Instead of talking about the world title, Hogan talks about Bischoff being the funniest man in television and how Eric is going to take over late night. Bret is going to take the US Title tonight and Page will know how awesome Hogan is and that’s about it.

We look back at the end of the tag match main event of Thunder where Hennig and Hall beat DDP and Konnan. Apparently this is supposed to make us care about the next match.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Konnan

Konnan has Antoine Carr of the Utah Jazz with him. Eddie takes him down to start and the fans think he sucks. Konnan comes right back by LAUNCHING Eddie into the air for a huge crash. A gorilla press slam has about the same result so Eddie goes to the floor to yell at Carr. Back in and they run the ropes a few times until Konnan monkey flips him into the ropes for two. An X-Factor gets the same on Eddie as this is one sided so far. Cue Chavo dressed like Konnan and shouting his catchphrases with the distraction allowing Eddie to suplex Konnan down. Eddie grabs Chavo’s stick horse and that’s a DQ despite a lack of contact.

Rating: D+. This was more of an angle than a match but Eddie’s insane height on the throws makes up for it. Chavo vs. Eddie doesn’t seem to have an end in sight and that could become an issue soon. I’m not sure where they can go with it now but it’s not a problem yet.

Lex Luger vs. Curt Hennig

Luger shoves him into the corner and pops the pecs a bit. Hennig has already lasted longer than last week so we’re on the right track. A hip toss sends Hennig out to the floor but he snaps Luger throat first across the rope to take over. Hennig goes after the ribs to keep Luger in trouble and snaps the neck for two. Some choking on the ropes leads to a sleeper on Luger to put Lex down. A belly to back suplex breaks the hold and Luger hits his atomic drops and clotheslines. The referee gets bumped in the corner but Rude comes in and gets a Rack. The distraction lets Curt hit the PerfectPlex for the pin (with Rude holding the foot).

Rating: D+. Total paint by numbers match here which doesn’t really accomplish anything. The Wolfpack civil war doesn’t do anything for me anymore as it just keeps going without actually having an end in sight. That’s the mantra for all of WCW at this point: there’s no idea to this but it fills in time.

US Title: Bret Hart vs. Diamond Dallas Page

The title is vacant coming in. There’s no DDP to start though as we’re running out of time. After a few moments, here’s a very bandaged Page with no music and a bad limp to try to make this work. Bret goes right after the bad leg to take Page down before working over the bad ribs. The Russian legsweep takes Page down and there’s the Sharpshooter but Page is right next to the rope. A second attempt goes on and Page gives up to give Hart the title. This wasn’t a match.

Page is taken out on a stretcher as the NWO comes to the ring to celebrate to end the show.

Overall Rating: D. This show is a good example of what’s wrong with WCW around this time. Where were Goldberg and the world title? Who is the next challenger for the belt? I have no idea, because none of that matters when Hollywood Hogan has something going on. That’s what happened when Sting won the title and it’s happening again here. It’s just them going from one Hogan story to another as he fights celebrity after celebrity. That might have made them some money in the short term but it’s speeding towards a cliff in the long term.

 

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Turning Point 2004
Date: December 5, 2004
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 700
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Don West

This is the second ever three hour PPV from TNA so don’t expect much in the way of groundbreaking stuff. That being said, the main event is one of the most famous as well as scariest moments ever in TNA. Also to the best of my knowledge, this is Randy Savage’s last wrestling match ever. Let’s get to it.

Oh and I forgot: this is the DUMB angle where TNA sent guys to a WWE show with a bunch of gifts and filmed the WWE wrestlers talking and chatting with TNA guys. For some reason, this is SCANDALOUS and we see the tape tonight.

The opening video is about the six man main event with Hardy/Styles/Savage saying they love the business and the Kings of Wrestling (Hall/Nash/Jarrett) in Elvis suits saying it’s about them. This goes on way too long and has way too many Elvis jokes.

Vince and HHH impersonators say they’ll never allow the tape to air. Abyss comes up with balloons and Fake HHH runs from him. This could be a really long night.

Tag Titles: Ron Killings/BG James vs. Eric Young/Bobby Roode

3 Live Kru are the champions. They won the titles from the Canadians a month ago, making this a rematch. Young and BG get things going with Young being rammed into all of the buckles. Young tries to steal BG’s gyrating punches so the Kru hits their version of What’s Up. Here’s Roode to face Truth. Truth is a replacement for Konnan who is injured so this is under the Freebird Rule.

Truth hits his usual not-WWE stuff and gets two off a spinning kick. The Canadians double team Truth with a double backbreaker for two. They take over with Roode bringing Young back in. Young stomps on Truth in the corner but Truth won’t even sell it at all. He pulls himself up and hits a missile dropkick. No tag as it’s back to Roode. They try their own What’s Up but Truth escapes and makes the tag.

James knocks Roode to the outside and punches Young down. Roode comes back in and James gets two on him off a forearm. Young goes up but Truth hits the ax kick. Roode hits his spinebuster on James for a VERY close two. Roode sets for maybe a spear but the Kru hits a Hart Attack with a side kick instead of a clothesline. James loads up the pumphandle but Johnny Devine runs in and hits James in the back with a hockey stick so the Canadians can get the titles.

Rating: C-. Not terrible here and it was ok enough for an opener. It wasn’t particularly good and I didn’t care who won by the end. That’s a running problem for this era of TNA: the matches and feuds aren’t really compelling as they’re trying desperately to keep a show on and fill in three hours. There’s some ok stuff in here though so it’s certainly not a failure or anything.

Shane Douglas talks to the Director of Authority (GM/boss) Dusty Rhodes. Dusty says this is a huge night and that the Kings of Wrestling will get what’s coming to them. The fans are talking on the internet about Cookie Gate. Yeah it’s about the tape again.

We recap the X-Division 6 man. This involves Roddy Piper and Jimmy Snuka for some reason. Apparently Kash has been saying that Jimmy’s dive off the cage meant nothing while Sonjay’s team says don’t diss the Superfly. I’ve heard far worse reasons to have a feud.

Matt Bentley/Kazarian/Kid Kash vs. Sonny Siaki/Sonjay Dutt/Hector Garza

The beard doesn’t work on Kaz at all. Sonjay and Kash start us off with some mat wrestling. Hector comes in and it’s Bentley punching him. Garza was a guy that was supposed to get a big push in TNA, even pinning Scott Hall if I remember. Siaki vs. Kaz now as things speed up. Siaki and Sonjay team up for an assisted rana to Kaz. Traci distracts Sonjay so Kaz can hit a one armed DDT to give us our face in peril.

The heels work over Sonjay, mainly focusing on the arm. They do the whole lack of tag thing to bring Bentley in to crank on the arm even more. There’s a Stunner to the arm and the heels work on Dutt’s arm even more. They tag in and out and all take some shots at it. Kash sets for a hammerlock slam but rams the arm into the buckle instead. Dutt tries to fire back with right hands but Bentley takes him down by the arm.

Dutt is pulled back to the corner and Kaz comes in again and more arm work follows. Do any of them know a match ending arm submission? Dutt is sent to the ropes and manages to hit a miracle springboard rana and it’s hot tag to Garza. Garza hits a high moonsault on Kaz and everything breaks down. Garza backdrops Dutt 360 degrees over the top to the floor. Traci’s interference backfires and Garza gets the pin on Bentley with a corkscrew moonsault.

Rating: C+. Pretty fun tag match here with more of a classic story than a spotfest. That’s very nice for a change of pace and it worked well here. Dutt did well selling the arm and Garza looked like a big deal. Then he got busted for steroids (which to be fair were legal in Mexico) and hasn’t really appeared in America since.

Savage talks to Scott Hudson (seriously?) and says nothing of note.

Coach D’Amore says Petey will keep the title.

Video on the Serengeti Survival Match, which means hardcore I think. Monty Brown beat Abyss in a Monster’s Ball Match and then got a world title shot on Impact. Abyss jumped him before the match and the injuries cost him the title. There’s a focus on thumbtacks in this.

Monty Brown vs. Abyss

Abyss is the monster heel here and Brown has bad ribs. Brown wants to start it on the ramp and here we go. You can win by pin, submission or slamming the other person into tacks. Abyss rams him into the apron to work on the back. He pulls off the tape early on and Brown is in trouble. Abyss gets a table set up quickly and the fans want fire. Greedy freaks.

The table is set up in the corner and Abyss grabs a bag. The fans still want fire. Brown comes back with a clothesline and right hands. We’re in trouble now as Brown has used up about 50% of his offense in the first three minutes. Big boot gets two for Abyss. West calls Abyss cunning and very smart. And people wonder why he’s not announcing anymore. Abyss brings in a chair and hits him in the injured ribs with it. Why don’t heels ever have injured ribs? When you turn face do you sacrifice the strength in your ribs?

The chair is placed on Brown’s ribs and Abyss hits an Earthquake onto the chair for two. The fans chant to use the table. All Abyss at this point as he pounds on the ribs. The fans continue to get on my nerves by chanting various annoying things. Abyss sets for another Earthquake but Brown moves the chair to crotch Abyss. A chair to the head puts Abyss down and Brown hits a British Bulldog powerslam onto the chair.

The Pounce is countered into the Black Hole Slam for a delayed two. That’s not a move you often see kicked out of. Abyss wedges a chair between the turnbuckles and of course is rammed into it. The Pounce hits but it knocks Abyss to the floor. The delay results in it only getting a two count. Brown tries another Pounce but Abyss ducks, sending Brown head first into the table for two. Both guys get bags of tacks and OH SWEET MERCIFUL GOODNESS BROWN RIPS ABYSS’ SHIRT OFF!!! THEY’RE JIGGLING!!! Brown hits an Alabama Slam into the tacks and I need to go see a doctor.

Rating: C+. This was a fine lesson in hardcore wrestling. Here’s the idea: if the match is about the guys and the weapons are props, the match is usually better. When the match is about the weapons and the guys are props, the match is usually worse. This was about Abyss vs. Brown and the tacks and other stuff were there too, making for a much more entertaining match.

HHH and Vince break any tape they find, including Best of D-Ray 3000.

Mike and Don run down the rest of the card.

Pat Kenney/Johnny B. Badd vs. Glen Gilbertti/Johnny Swinger

Gilbertti and Swinger are known as the New York Connection. Great: Jacqueline is the referee. Kenney is kind of famous as Simon Diamond from ECW. He and Swinger were a tag team in ECW so there’s history there. There’s no story here that I can find so we’re in filler territory. Kenney and Swinger start as the fans chant Simon Diamond. Simon (screw it) fights off both of the NYC until Gilbertti is sent outside.

Off to Badd who looks really weird with short hair. The NYC double teams Simon to take over. Badd seems content to chill on the apron. It’s not a heel move or anything. He just doesn’t seem to care. Jackie breaks up some double teaming and Swinger gets two off a clothesline. They work on Simon’s back which was injured in the match somewhere. Simon hits a sitout spinebuster on Swinger which allows the tag to Badd. Both heels get knee lfits TKO to Glenn is broken up by Swinger. Gilbertti shoves Jackie and Stuns Badd but Jackie gets involved (of course) and slams Gilbertti. TKO by Badd ends this.

Rating: D. Imagine that: Jackie messes up a match. To be fair though the match was boring, mainly because there was no real story to this. The NYC were one of the leftovers from the older run of the company so they were brought along for about five minutes. This was nothing of note though and was pretty bad. To be fair though, it was just there to bridge us to the second half of the show.

The Kings of Wrestling (who have no relation to Hero and Castagnoli if you’re curious) put Savage (we couldn’t see him) into a car and send it off, presumably making it a handicap match later.

Recap of Raven vs. DDP. Raven wants to be world champion so DDP came in and hit him with Diamond Cutters to come out of retirement. Erik Watts is in this somehow too but his black hole of caring keeps me from looking up why.

Raven vs. Diamond Dallas Page

Watts sits in on commentary. That’s fine as long as he doesn’t wrestle. Page’s music is a complete ripoff of his WCW song. Page claims Raven has been living somewhere rent free so tonight Page is collecting. Ok then. Discus lariat puts Raven down. Page baseball slides Raven to the floor and they head into the crowd. This is Raven’s Rules apparently.

Page hits him with a trashcan and we head back to ringside. We had a ref bump in there somewhere so a replacement came out. Page tries the Cutter but Raven grabs the rope. He puts on some weird helmet he brought with him and rams it into Page almost like Juggernaut. Raven has a chair brought in and then facewashes DDP in the corner. Drop toehold onto the chair gets two.

Page gets up like it’s nothing and hammers away on Raven. Another discus clothesline sets up a regular clothesline but the Cutter is countered by a low blow. Rollup gets two. Another rollup gets two and we’ve got blood. A horrible bulldog gets two for Raven. Page belly to bellies him for two. Raven superkicks him down for two. There’s no flow to this at all as it’s more of a spotfest than the X match earlier.

Diamond Cutter only gets two and we’ve got druids. DDT kills Page but it only gets two. Raven calls in the druids but Watts comes in to stop them. Both get chokeslams and the druid is revealed to be wearing khaki shorts. Watts turns on Page and clotheslines him down. Cutter to Watts, Cutter to Raven, pin.

Rating: D. Bad match for the most part because these two don’t bother selling anything. And why should they? Raven didn’t have to in ECW because he hardly ever lost and Page didn’t have to because he was over 40 in WCW. The match was really boring as a result and I don’t think anyone cares. Watts’ turn didn’t mean anything either.

Vince and HHH complain about the lack of food. Traci comes in with milk and cookies and Vince yells at her, saying bring him Dusty.

We recap the X Title match. Sabin won an Ultimate X match and has countered the Destroyer a few times to get in Petey’s head.

X-Division Title: Petey Williams vs. Chris Sabin

They trade counters to start and the fans are split. Cradle Shock is countered and Petey is freaked out. They mess up a leapfrog and Petey hits his leg on Chris’ head. Standoff as Petey is getting frustrated. Springboard dropkick sends Petey to the outside again and he almost jumps into the Cradle Shock again. They head to the floor and Petey hits a sweet slingshot rana from the ring to the floor.

Sabin one ups that and release powerbombs Williams into the barricade. Then he heads into the crowd and dives over about three rows of fans to clothesline Petey. Sweet sequence! Petey gets in a shot though and D’Amore chokes Sabin while Petey has the referee. Back inside and Petey does the O Canada bit as he stands on Sabin’s crotch.

Standing tornado DDT gets two as well. Tenay rants about D’Amore as he’s known to do. Petey hits a few suplexes for two. He’s trying to prove that he’s not a one move wonder. The fans are still split. I think the guys are a bit tired as the match has slowed down a good bit. Petey goes up so Sabin runs the corner like Angle to suplex Williams down. So much for things slowing down I guess.

They slug it out and neither guy can do much. Other than the spinning enziguri by Sabin followed by the running powerbomb for two. Sabin gets caught in the Tree of Woe but pulls up to avoid a suicide dive, then hits a BIG plancha to take Williams out. This is REALLY good. Petey flips into a Russian legsweep for two. Destroyer is countered into the Cradle Shock which is countered by Petey into a Sharpshooter!

Sabin gets the rope and they go to the corner. Chris sets for what looks like a superplex but Petey tries a sunset bomb to counter. Sabin counters that and flips Petey backwards so that Petey’s face slams into the mat. That gets rolled through after the contact into a piledriver by Sabin for a VERY close two. Sabin tries the Cradle Shock but D’Amore gets on the apron. That lets Williams get brass knuckles to hit Sabin with for the pin to retain. That ending BLOWS after the match they were having!

Rating: B+. This was AWESOME as they were countering everything and kept the pace going for at least eighty percent of the match. The ending is horrible though as they built up the match forever and then just stop it dead with a cheap ending. This got the crowd going strong for the two main events though and that’s why these guys are out there. Excellent match and if you give it a better ending it’s a classic.

A midget (Demo from Micro Championship Wrestling) beats up Vince for no apparent reason.

Recap of the Kings of Wrestling vs. Hardy/Styles/Savage. The Kings say they’re taking over and that’s about it. The other three guys say they’re fighting for TNA.

Jeff Hardy/AJ Styles/Randy Savage vs. Kings of Wrestling

Savage was kidnapped remember. The Kings come out to Elvis impersonator music and Elvis suits. AJ looks like he’s about 19 here. Jarrett is world champion. Hall looks almost human. AJ and Jarrett start us off. Bah I can’t say Jeff in this. AJ and the champ see who can get the bigger reactions from the crowd then do some technical stuff. A headscissors takes Jarrett down and a dropkick takes him down again.

Off to Hall. He and Nash are wrestling in those Elvis suits. Give me a break. Hall works on the arm so AJ takes the knees out to control. He wants Nash so Hall spits at him and makes the tag. AJ uses the speed again and dropkicks all three Kings down. Hardy is tagged in and dropkicks Hall and Jarrett down as things speed up. Slingshot dropkick by Hardy has Nash in trouble.

Nash gets in a big boot and Hardy is in trouble. Here’s the champ who beat Hardy last month at Victory Road. I always thought that was two or three months before this show. Jarrett hot shots him on the top rope and it’s time to strut. Back to Hall for a discus punch and chokeslam for two. Nash comes in for a sideslam which gets two also. Back to Hall who hooks the abdominal stretch. Nothing but trademark stuff from the Outsiders.

Hall hooks a modified STF but pulls on the hair instead of the neck. That has to hurt. Hardy gets his mule kick (catching Hall squarely in the hand) which is enough for the tag to AJ. Things speed up again and AJ cleans house. Moonsault into the reverse DDT gets two. Styles Clash to Jarrett is avoided and Nash breaks up the springboard forearm. Fallaway slam for two as we’re just waiting on Savage to make the big miracle appearance.

Nash hits the framed elbow (complete with Karate Elvis Action!) for two. Back to Jarrett and they work over the ribs which the Outsiders started on. Naturally this leads to the Figure Four LEG Lock but AJ rolls him up for two. Hall breaks up the tag and Nash hooks a bearhug. See, THAT makes sense. AJ makes the unseen tag and it’s back to Jarrett. They slug it out and both hit cross bodies to put them down.

AJ finally makes the tag to Hardy and house is cleaned. Stroke is countered into a Twist of Stunner and AJ adds a springboard cross body to Hall. Nash takes out the referee though as the numbers are catching up with them. Hardy goes up for the Swanton but Hall hits him with the guitar. Hardy falls forward onto Jarrett for the Swanton anyway but there’s no referee. Here’s Savage with a big old bald spot as is his custom. Naturally with everyone down he wants a tag and fires off right hands. All three of the Kings get caught in sleepers for some reason. Jarrett tries a sunset flip but Savage falls on him for the pin.

Rating: C-. The match was ok but the ending was HORRIBLE (again). Savage might have been out there 90 seconds. He would be gone the next day because he proposed a one month title reign for himself and said he’d drop it back to Jarrett the next month but it was vetoed. That’s his last match, which is a sad note to go out on.

Vince is loaded into an ambulance as HHH doesn’t know what to do without him.

Video on Final Resolution. I remember this video actually.

Here’s the tape that has been talked about all night. Shane Douglash, Traci (with cookies) and Abyss (with balloons) go to see…a bunch of blurry objects. Roadie and Ron Killings are there too. They steal some catering and the only body I recognize is I think Eddie Guerrero. Seriously you can’t see ANYTHING and they don’t say any names. These could be TNA dudes for all we know. That was it? Seriously? WE SPENT TWO AND A HALF HOURS BUILDING TO THAT??? Ok to be fair this was when TNA was nothing so it’s a bigger deal I guess. Rey was there too apparently but you couldn’t see him at all.

We recap XXX vs. AMW. This was the big tag feud in TNA as they’ve fought dozens of times but there hasn’t been a distinct winner to the whole thing. They’ve had cage matches before but they were in the four sided cage. AMW hit an awesome Death Sentence from the top of the cage to win that one. Now they’re having another cage match and the losing team has to split up forever.

America’s Most Wanted vs. Triple X

This is one of the things that TNA did that was indeed different: sometimes something other than the heavyweight title feud ended the show, which is definitely a good idea here. The six man was just ok but this was a great match. This is in a cage remember. AMW brings in handcuffs. That’s a signature thing for them and they’ll come into play later so remember that.

They have to tag here but I’ll give that ten minutes tops. Daniels and Storm start us off. Is there a significance to the tape that Daniels puts on his left shoulder that I’ve never gotten? I’ve always wondered that. Off to Daniels who kicks Storm in the back to take control. It breaks down quickly and AMW double teams Daniels. Off to Harris as Daniels is already busted open.

Skipper (XXX is Daniels/Elix Skipper if you weren’t sure on that one) gets his team the advantage and gives it back over to Daniels. He’s GUSHING already. Harris takes Skipper down and it’s back to Storm. Powerslam puts Daniels down. They load up the Death Sentence on Skipper but Daniels makes the save. Skipper pulls a towel back and handcuffs Harris to the post. West: “Oh what a dirty trick!” Yes, handcuffing your mortal enemy to a cage and making him defenseless is the same sort of thing you would hear on The Brady Bunch Don. Well called.

XXX double teams Storm and Daniels taunts Harris with the key. They drive the key into the head of Storm and hit a double team powerbomb/elbow combination for two. We get some heel miscommunication and Storm spears Daniels. There’s the key and Harris in free. That’s a nice twist on the hot tag because it’s basically the same thing. Harris cleans house and Storm is back up too.

I think everyone but Harris is bleeding. Triple X gets rammed into the cage multiple times but Skipper grabs a belly to belly to Harris. A suplex/cross body combo gets two. Hart Attack gets two on Skipper. Daniels hits a quick Downward Spiral to Storm and Harris goes into the steel. Harris is busted too. Death Sentence (AMW’s finisher) gets two on Harris who kicks out.

Skipper goes to the top of the cage (I don’t think you can win by escape) to Harris POWERBOMBS HIM OFF THE CAGE for two. FOR TWO. Angel’s Wings gets two for Daniels. Daniels goes up but Harris follows him. Now it’s time for the highlight reel moment to end all highlight reel moments in TNA. Skipper is sitting on another corner than Harris and TIGHTROPE WALKS THE EDGE OF THE CAGE AND HURRICANRANAS HARRIS TO THE MAT!!! WOW!

Daniels IMMEDIATELY drops an elbow off the top of the cage BUT IT GETS TWO. Daniels goes back up as we watch replays for a four man Tower of Doom. Daniels overrotates and lands on his face. Harris powerbombed Skipper who electric chaired Storm who suplexed Daniels. Everyone is pretty much dead but Skipper and Harris counter each others’ finishers. Everyone knocks everyone else down and Harris handcuffs Daniels to the cage in a nice play off what happened to him earlier. Last Call to Skipper and AMW pins him with XXX’s PowerPlex to split up XXX.

Rating: A+. What else did you expect me to give this? This match holds up incredibly well with the few moments from the cage walk to the Tower of Doom being as breathtaking as you’ll ever see. Absolutely awesome match and if you’re a fan of bloodbath cage matches that leave your jaw hanging open, find this right now because it’s excellent.

Overall Rating: B. There’s some bad stuff on here, but considering this is their second three hour PPV ever, this was incredible. Things slowed down a bit after this when it became about DDP and Nash and Jarrett, but they would pick it right back up with Lockdown in a few months. Very good show although it’s kind of hard to find. Check out the main event for sure though.

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Monday Nitro #145
Date: July 13, 1998
Location: MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
Attendance: 10,765
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko

We’re past Bash at the Beach and there isn’t much new to report on. Goldberg retained the title and Hogan/Rodman won the NBA match. We’re only a few weeks away from Road Wild now and it’s not clear where we’re going. Hopefully the good midcard stuff gets some more focus because the main event stuff is getting less and less interesting every week. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Goldberg winning the title last week.

Opening sequence.

The Nitro Girls do a long showgirl style dance.

Larry is in a Goldberg shirt but has to thank the crowd before bragging about the new champion.

We recap the entirety of Goldberg’s night last week.

Here’s the Black and White with something to say. Hogan promises that the Goldberg propaganda ends soon and he’ll prove that Goldberg is just a flash in the pan. That brings us to NWO business, meaning Hogan has to prove that he loves some of his brothers. They’re bonded for eternity, but sometimes you have to take care of a few things. Hogan blames Hall for the title loss and has been hearing Hall talking about taking over the NWO when he thinks no one is listening.

Tonight it’s Hogan vs. Hall so Hollywood can teach him a lesson. Hall says he’s done everything Hogan told him to do because he needs the money, but the match is on tonight if Hogan wants it. Hall reminds Hogan that it was him that got pinned for the belt. Hogan: “So wax up your ponytail Little Bo Peep because I’m the big bad creep.” Hollywood gets on Bischoff for chuckling and makes him the referee tonight. Disciple breaks it up as Hogan threatens Hall but Disciple takes the mic. He didn’t like that chair shot from Page last night and wants a match with him tonight.

Stills from the tag match last night.

Barbarian vs. Horace

They trade clubbering in the corner with Barbarian taking over, allowing Jimmy Hart to get in some choking on the mat. A Lodi distraction lets Horace get in a shot with the stop sign for two before going after Jimmy. Barbarian kicks the stop sign into Horace’s face for the fast pin. That’s a pretty overly booked two minute match.

The Flock comes in to beat down Barbarian but Meng comes in for the save. He cleans house but puts Barbarian in the Tongan Death Grip.

Stills of Goldberg beating Hennig last night.

Here are Rude and Hennig with something to say. Rude talks about Hennig having a bad leg from Minnesota because his flight was canceled. He blames Goldberg and Hennig says he’s figured out Goldberg’s weakness. Another match has been made for tonight and Hennig says he’ll go it alone, which is cool with Rude.

Here’s JJ to bring out the new Cruiserweight Champion Rey Mysterio. Before anything can be said though here’s Jericho with a rulebook. In short, since Malenko was suspended and showed up anyway, the match last night is null and void. JJ, the spineless jellyfish that he is, agrees and names Jericho champion again. Jericho demands that Ron Mysterio Jr. give him the belt back and here’s Malenko to say he’ll get the belt back. Chris laughs this off and says Mysterio can face Malenko for a title shot down the line. The match is on.

More Nitro Girls.

Nitro Party winner video.

We look at Savage having his knee injured in the cage a few months ago.

Jim Duggan vs. Rick Fuller

Duggan gets shoved from behind to start but quickly comes back with those big right hands of his. A clothesline sends Fuller out to the floor before Duggan pounds away in the corner. The three point clothesline and the Old Glory knee drop are enough for the pin on Fuller. WCW’s battle plan in the Monday Night Wars: win one week with Goldberg, then a Jim Duggan squash.

Hour #2 begins so the announcers hit the recap button.

We look back at Buff Bagwell returning last week and saying how much he loved his mama.

Here’s Buff again this week with his doctor. Gene has been hearing from the people in the hotels and airports and they want to know if Buff is NWO or WCW. WHAT AIRPORTS DO THESE GUYS GO TO??? Buff says he’s going to rehabilitate his neck before he goes to see Rick Steiner. He has to get something off his chest so Rick Steiner needs to come out here right now.

Here’s Rick with his arm in a sling but Hogan and the Disciple come out to say he can’t stand a couple of cripples. Hogan threatens Steiner with another broken leg (just go with it) before telling Buff to be a man. We get an actual evil act from Hogan as he shoves the wheelchair over and walks out.

Stills from Booker vs. Bret last night. Apparently Booker T has torn a meniscus and will be out 4-6 weeks.

Fit Finlay vs. Bret Hart

This should be interesting. Bret comes out to NWO music now. Finlay grabs a headlock to start but Bret drives him into the corner for some right hands. A European uppercut puts Bret down for two and a clothesline and knee drop do the same. They head outside with Finlay scoring with another uppercut but being sent into the steps for his troubles. Bret hits some right hands but gets poked in the eye and slammed down. We hit the chinlock for a few seconds before Bret charges into a boot in the corner. Hart comes right back with an atomic drop and a clothesline to set up the Sharpshooter for the win.

Rating: D+. This didn’t have the time to go anywhere. In perhaps the most telling reason why Bret Hart never caught on in WCW, this was his tenth televised match since joining the company in November. Of those ten, two were against Brian Adams and this one was against Fit Finlay. Again, this guy was WWF Champion nine months ago. How could they screw this up so badly?

Nitro Girls again.

Stevie Ray vs. Rick Martel

Stevie has the TV Title with him for reasons not yet explained. This is Martel’s return match after being gone since February with a knee injury. Martel cranks on the arm to start as the announcers talk about the NWO. Stevie sends him to the floor where Martel grabs his knee. Someone who might be a trainer comes down the aisle as we take a break. Back with Martel on the mat but getting two off a sunset flip. Rick stomps away but keeps leaning on the ropes.

A dropkick gets two on Ray and Martel puts on an armbar. Back up and Martel charges into a World’s Strongest Slam but Ray misses an elbow drop. A back elbow out of the corner staggers Rick and a kick to the face puts him down. Martel comes right back with a belly to back suplex and there’s the Quebec Crab. Here’s Bret Hart for no apparent reason to blast Martel with a chair. Stevie hits the Slap Jack on the unconscious Martel for the pin.

Rating: D+. This would be the last match of Martel’s career as he injured his knee again and called it a day at 42 years old. Stevie with the TV belt was an interesting idea that would be better suited on anyone but Stevie Ray. Martel having to go out this way is kind of a shame as his comeback was very entertaining.

Ray says there’s no deal with Bret Hart. Booker has given him power of attorney to defend the title against anyone that wants a shot. Documents are promised next week. Allegedly the Martel match was for the title.

We get stills of the two minute bonus match from last night with Konnan beating Disco Inferno thanks to Wolfpack interference.

Barry Darsow vs. Konnan

Sting is with Konnan here to ensure this is a squash. Darsow jumps Konnan to start and chokes on the ropes for awhile. Konnan avoids a charge in the corner and the rolling lariat sets up a seated dropkick. Tequila Sunrise ends Darsow a few seconds later.

Here’s DDP to accept Disciple’s challenge and the match is right now.

Disciple vs. Diamond Dallas Page

Page jumps him to start and takes Disciple down with a belly to back suplex, only to be stopped with a low blow. Disciple slowly punches a lot and hits a slow motion piledriver for no cover. Rick Rude comes down to ringside. Page comes back with a clothesline and goes up, only to be crotched by Rude. Page rams the NWO guys into each other and pins Disciple off a very sloppy rollup in another short match.

Hogan and Vincent jump Page with a chair while he leaves.

The announcers talk about Goldberg again.

Raven vs. Kanyon vs. Saturn

This is before the triple threat became the most overused gimmick match of all time. Raven jumps Kanyon in the aisle but Saturn jumps both of them as the bell rings. They get in the ring with Saturn t-bone suplexing Raven down, only to be caught with a neckbreaker from Kanyon. Saturn kicks at Kanyon’s head in the corner but some Raven interference allows Kanyon to catch him in a face first electric chair drop.

Kanyon’s fireman’s carry into a pancake puts Raven down and Saturn misses a charge to put him on the floor. That’s fine with Saturn as he pulls out a table. Kanyon is pulled to the floor and laid out on the table for a cool looking top rope splash. Raven tries to suplex Saturn back inside but gets kicked in the head.

Saturn goes up but gets crotched by Kanyon but Raven avoids Kanyon’s top rope splash. He can’t avoid Saturn’s though, giving Perry a two count. Kanyon goes to the corner but gets caught in a belly to back superplex from Saturn, who is caught in a belly to back suplex from Raven at the same time. Raven gets two on both guys but walks into the Flatliner from Kanyon for two as Saturn saves. The Death Valley Driver lays out Raven again but this time Kanyon saves. Kanyon and Saturn fight to the floor and we get a bell for I believe a double countout, giving Raven the win.

Rating: B-. Really fun match here with everyone moving for the entire match. This was before the triple threat matches became a collection of the same spots in every match, meaning this was something very unique at the time. I’m curious to see where this feud goes as everyone is awesome at the moment.

Hour #3 begins so we recap the Cruiserweight Title situation.

Dean Malenko vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

Winner gets a shot at Jericho at some point in the future. Dean works on a hammerlock to start as the announcers bicker over breaking rules. Rey fights free and both guys try dropkicks to give us a standoff. Back to Rey’s arm with Dean taking him to the mat and putting on a headscissors to supplement the armbar. Rey escapes into a cover for two and we get another stalemate. Dean sweeps the legs out for two but gets sent to the outside, setting up a BIG flip dive over the top from Mysterio.

Back in and Dean hits the tilt-a-whirl backbreaker but they trade rollups for two each. Rey charges at Dean and gets launched to the top rope but slips off, hurting the knee in the process. Mysterio pops back up with a hurricanrana but gets caught in a powerbomb for two. Rey loads up the top rope hurricanrana but Dean counters into the super gutbuster. The referee checks on Rey but Jericho sneaks in with a belt shot to Dean, giving Mysterio the pin and the title shot.

Rating: C+. Good stuff here as you would expect from these two. The Jericho story is still rolling but eventually he has to get his comeuppance. That’s going to happen eventually and it’s still entertaining but they’re running the risk of the story going on too long. Malenko getting screwed over again is good but something needs to give at the title match.

Kevin Nash/Lex Luger vs. Disco Inferno/Alex Wright

Disco goes on a long rhyming rant against the Wolfpack for interfering last night but gets cut off by the howl. Sting (with REALLY bright teeth) and Konnan are here as well. Luger starts but the dancers argue over who has to face him. Lex cranks on the arm to start but gets armdragged down, setting up dance time. Both dancers are clotheslined out to the floor and Luger poses. Konnan doesn’t let Wright and Disco walk out and Sting adds a Stinger Splash to crush Wright against the barricade. The Jackknife to Disco and the Rack to Wright get the win. Is this really what the Wolfpack is being used for?

Mongo still wants to reform the Horsemen. I believe this is the fourth time we’ve heard this promo from him. We also see Anderson’s promo before his match with Flair at Fall Brawl 1995 again.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Steve McMichael

Eddie jumps him to start as we hear about Heenan throwing out the first pitch at an Oakland A’s game. Mongo comes right back with something like Cena’s spinning belly to back slam but here’s Chavo on the horse. He says he wants to be a Horseman and the distraction lets Eddie dropkick Mongo’s knee out. Chavo comes in and that’s a DQ despite there being no contact.

Eddie dropkicks Chavo into Mongo so McMichael beats up Chavo.

We recap Hogan challenging Hall from earlier.

Scott Hall vs. Hollywood Hogan

Bischoff is guest referee and we get an old school weapons check. Hall throws toothpicks in Hogan and Bischoff’s faces so Hogan punches him to start. Hall bites Hogan’s fingers and drives his shoulder into Hogan’s. A slap to the face annoys Hogan even more so he clotheslines Hall down and pounds him in the head. Choking in the ropes gets no reaction from Bischoff and Hall comes back with right hands. Disciple gets in a cheap shot and Bischoff still does nothing.

Hogan rolls up Hall for two despite Hall being in the ropes the entire time. Scott comes back with a clothesline in the corner and more right hands followed by a chokeslam but Bischoff won’t count. Hogan puts on a choke but Bischoff still does nothing. Hall reverses into a sleeper which is broken up almost immediately.

A Hogan low blow gets a “that hurt” response from Eric as Heenan thinks Bischoff is one sided. Tony to Heenan: “Welcome to Nitro!” There’s the big boot but here’s Page to beat up Hogan and Diamond Cut Bischoff. Nash comes in for the save and does Too Sweet with Hall. Nash loads up the Jackknife but Hall decks him, which we’ll call a heel turn. Maybe? Hogan and company stand tall.

Rating: D-. I’m not sure what to say about this. Hogan is a jerk to Hall, Bischoff treats Hall like an enemy in the match, Nash saves Hall, but Hall is still loyal to Hogan and Bischoff. I get that Hall needs the money, but do you have to make him look like a nitwit along the way? At least give it longer than ten seconds between Hall seemingly turning face before jumping Nash. The match was all about the angle of course.

Hogan hugs Hall to apparently welcome him back into the family.

WCW World Title: Goldberg vs. Curt Hennig

Hennig takes forever to get to the ring for some reason. Goldberg gets the full entrance, complete with police escort. The entrances are nearly six minutes combined and Hennig bails to the floor. The match on the other hand is less than a minute and literally is just the spear and Jackhammer. Given the long entrance and the lack of anything in the match, I’m thinking Hennig might have been in no condition to perform here.

Goldberg poses to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. This is another hard one to grade as there was some good action at times to go with Hogan being genuinely evil for the first time in forever. That’s been missing from him for so long and it’s a nice return to form for him. Other than that though it was your usual time filler show with stuff like Barbarian vs. Horace and Fuller vs. Duggan wasting our time. It was entertaining at times though and that’s what WCW needs right now.

 

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Monday Nitro #64
Date: December 2, 1996
Location: Hara Arena, Dayton, Ohio
Attendance: 3,800
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko

We’ve got four Nitros to go before Starrcade and five to go before 1997. I can’t believe we’ve gotten this far but somehow here we are. The shows up until then are pretty much all build to Starrcade, as you would expect them to be. Also expect some more of the US Title Tournament to play out tonight. Let’s get to it.

The Steiners come out immediately and say they want to finish this with Sting tonight. We get a clip from last week of Sting attacking Rick.

Glacier vs. Hardbody Harrison

This is Glacier’s first match since October. I’m not quite sure why they stopped the character for that long but it didn’t do him any favors. Harrison was actually in a big lawsuit against WCW where he said he was discriminated against for being black. In reality, he was a jobber and that’s about it. Glacier wins in like a minute with a spin kick.

Some Cincinnati Bengals are here as well as a minor league hockey team.

Amazing French Canadians vs. Joe Gomez/Renegade

Gomez and Jacques get things going here and things break down quickly. Gomez is thrown to the floor and Parker stomps him for a bit. Hogan vs. Piper has been upgraded to the match of the millennium. Things break down again and there’s the hot tag (with a mild pop) to the Renegade. He hits the handspring elbow in the corner but the Canadians take him down with ease and the Cannonball off the top ends this.

Rating: D. Why the Quebecers were here is beyond me but they were also in the WWF for awhile after this so who knows. Nothing to see here but it’s nice to see actual jobbers like Gomez and Renegade. They’re better than guys like Heath Slater….somehow. Anyway, not much here but it got the Canadians on TV for some reason.

Arn Anderson says he’s known Piper for a long time and that Hogan can be beaten, which he’s proven before. Flair told Anderson that Piper was the toughest fight he’s ever had and Anderson believes him. Piper is focused and Piper will give him a receipt. This is said over an NWO chant. Piper will be here next week.

Faces of Fear vs. Robert Gibson/Scotty Riggs

Barbarian pounds Riggs down quickly as we get a split screen of Bagwell joining the NWO last week and the NWO destroying the Faces of Fear and Harlem Heat. Off to Gibson as they work on the arm of Barbarian. Meng comes in and double teaming puts him down also. Meng takes over with the power game and the Faces of Fear hit their backdrop into a powerbomb spot to a big reaction.

A piledriver basically kills Riggs dead but Gibson makes the save. Faces of Fear vs. Outsiders at Starrcade. Riggs finally gets a breather and brings in Gibson. An enziguri puts Barbarian down but after a distraction by Meng, Barbarian kicks Gibson’s head off for the academic pin.

Rating: D. Total dominance here as the Faces of Fear have no one else to beat up on before Starrcade I guess. Gibson’s time had passed so he went to the WWF with Morton soon after this. Riggs would flounder until Raven showed up and gave him something to do soon after this. The match was nothing though.

Riggs hits the Faces of Fear with a chair to make them leave.

We see some clips from the Baltimore house show that I mentioned before between Sullivan vs. Benoit. They fought everywhere and into the bathroom. The Dungeon of Doom came out of the stalls to beat Benoit up. Back in the ring, Woman came in to save Benoit.

Kevin Sullivan vs. K.C. Sunshine

James is just barely more famous as Sean Casey from OVW. You shouldn’t recognize that name. Total dominance as Taskmaster sends him outside twice in two minutes before winning with the Tree of Woe and double stomp.

Sullivan says that after Baltimore, Benoit is hurt. Sullivan is hurt too and he’s got a story for Benoit. Sometimes the sweetness wears off and even if he has to dig his own grave, either Sullivan or Benoit will be buried alive because it’s about three instead of two.

Cruiserweight Title: Dean Malenko vs. Billy Kidman

The winner gets Dragon for the title at Starrcade. Also the US Title tournament ends at Starrcade. Very technical match of course with both guys fighting for control on the mat. Dean is sent to the floor but avoids a plancha. A powerbomb on the floor takes Kidman down as Sonny Onoo comes out to take pictures.

Brainbuster gets two for Dean back in the ring. Kidman gets in some knees and a middle rope dropkick for two. They trade pinning combinations with both guys getting a few twos. The match gets fast paced so let’s talk about Piper vs. Hogan. A superplex takes Kidman down but Onoo flashes his camera in Dean’s face. It doesn’t really matter as the Shooting Star gets knees and the Cloverleaf ends this soon thereafter.

Rating: C+. Fun match but the ending didn’t really make a lot of sense. What was the point of Onoo cheating if Dean was going to win clean just a few seconds later? I don’t really get this one but it could have been a lot worse. These two had some good chemistry and Kidman was starting to get more regular time which is a good thing.

Big Bubba vs. Jeff Jarrett

Hour #2 begins. Jarrett speeds things up to frustrate Bubba so the power is used to take Jeff right back down. Bubba chokes him down on the ropes and Jimmy helps a bit. Bubba accidentally clocks Jimmy and Jeff goes up top for a cross body for two. The Figure Four is countered and Jimmy throws in the Megaphone but Bubba misses. Jeff rolls him up for one and then dropkicks the Megaphone into Bubba’s face for the pin instead of a DQ.

Rating: D+. Not bad here but was there a reason as to why there wasn’t a DQ in there? Either way, this wasn’t anything of note. The Dungeon was so worthless at this point other than as heel jobbers but they kept the feud going with the Horsemen for about six months as Benoit was wasted with Sullivan.

The Steiners call out Sting again. He pops up in the rafters and stares, as is his custom. Rick shouts up a challenge and Sting nods.

Here’s the NWO minus Hogan. They storm the announce desk and apparently they’ll be running things now. Eric and the Outsiders are doing commentary now and we get a clip from what looks like 1995 of Hogan beating up Vader. Now we see a clip from a few months ago of the NWO beating Flair down. Now it’s Hogan beating down Savage and spraypainting his outline.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Dave Taylor

Taylor takes over with European uppercuts to take Eddie down. A nice jumping headscissors takes Eddie down again and it’s off to a standing armbar. Eric says whoever wins the tournament has to defend against Giant. Eddie takes over, knocks Taylor down and the Frog Splash ends this quick.

Lee Marshall yells at Eric from Charlotte.

Arn Anderson vs. Jim Powers

Anderson sends him to the floor quickly and domination is on. Powers gets a cross body for two and Arn doesn’t seem thrilled by him hitting it. Anderson destroys him until Powers gets in his jobber offense, as in a clothesline and running kneelift. DDT ends this squash quickly.

US Title Tournament First Round: Chris Benoit vs. William Regal

This should be good. Regal is TV Champion. Chain wrestling to start as they get into a test of strength position and fight over the control for the opening minute. Both guys use some nice moves to take the other to the mat. I think Regal is busted open. The camera goes wide so I’d assume there’s something wrong. They pound on each other in the corner and the wide shot gets a little annoying.

Regal hammers on him for awhile but Benoit comes back with chops and a slam. The Swan Dive hits but Benoit can’t cover. The delayed cover gets two so Regal tries a tombstone. Benoit reverses into one of his own and Regal goes to the floor. A dive misses and Regal takes over again. They go up top and Regal hits a butterfly superplex for two. Benoit grabs a release German and Hall makes fun of the wide shot which we’ve never left. The Dragon Suplex pins Regal.

Rating: B-. The place popped big for the win but the camera angle got pretty annoying. It’s pretty clear that it was due to the blood on Regal’s head which is something you can’t get around. They hammered on each other for a good while here and the physical style was a nice change of pace from what you usually see on Nitro.

The other Horsemen say things are great and Anderson wants to know what’s up with Woman. Benoit says it’s cool but Anderson doesn’t buy it. Mongo gets on him for it too. Debra doesn’t like Woman (calling her Nancy) either. She goes on a LONG rant about how Woman is going to tear everything apart. Anderson is worried and tells Benoit to get this together.

Lex Luger vs. Rocco Rock

Hall and Nash rip into Luger the whole time as Grunge helps to choke away. Luger gets in a few shots but gets caught in the cheating again. Now repeat that for about a minute and a half. Lex finally wises up and keeps things in the middle of the ring and Rock doesn’t have a chance. Grunge interferes again but the team finally collides and Rock gets caught in the Rack for the tap out.

Rating: D. This was another short match and nothing really happened in it. It’s more about keeping Luger on TV until they get something to do with him. Public Enemy never really fit in WCW and it’s getting pretty clear at this point. They would actually stick around for almost two years which really surprised me when I looked it up.

Sting vs. Rick Steiner

Sting comes through the crowd as the NWO brags about how he’s their boy now. Sting has the bat but throws it away. He turns his back to Rick and Rick blasts him. Scott throws him back in and Rick pounds away. Death Drop kills Rick though and Sting picks up the bat and points it at both Steiners. He hands it to Rick and turns around but Scott stops the blast with it. Sting leaves.

Sting looks at the NWO and points the bat at them before leaving through the crowd.

The NWO brags about having Sting to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. This show was better but without Hogan and Piper around, there isn’t much going on here. The problem the shows with and without Hogan and Piper have is like comparing The Rise and Fall of ECW to Forever Hardcore. In Rise and Fall you can see all this stuff but without it they talk about everything so highly that you want to see it. The problem is that you get tired of hearing of it after awhile because you can only get so far on the talking. Piper is back next week though so a lot of those problems will be solved then. Still a pretty decent show though.

 

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World War 3 1997
Date: November 23, 1998
Location: The Palace of Auburn Hills, Detroit, Michigan
Attendance: 17,128
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Mike Tenay

Last show in this series here but not the last chronologically. It’s the final show before Starrcade 97 and the bullet that killed WCW. Anyway, the feature match here is of course the battle royal with the winner getting a shot at SuperBrawl which would later be changed to Uncensored (why Souled Out wasn’t an option is anyone’s guess). This is from when this was the hottest company in the world so I’d expect a lot more energy here than the next year. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is of a pilot/soldier in a decimated war zone with a destroyed ring in it. This is interspersed with clips of the show from the previous two years. Bet that cost more than some wrestlers’ salaries.

After the announcers talk for awhile we’re ready to go.

Glacier/Ernest Miller vs. Faces of Fear

Miller and Glacier aren’t total jokes yet and the Faces of Fear (Meng/Haku and Barbarian) are monsters at this point of course. We brawl to start and Meng vs. Glacier opens us up officially. Glacier moves around as much as he can but his shots don’t mean much at all. Standing armbar goes on and it’s off to Miller. It’s so weird to see Miller all serious like this instead of the James Brown thing.

Miller hammers on Barbarian but the three time world karate champion can’t put down the Tongan. Back off to Glacier as we’re up to speed vs. power here, making this mostly awesome. Miller dives on Barbarian on the floor, using Meng as a springboard. That looked rather awesome indeed. Jimmy Hart distracts Glacier and Barbarian runs him over.

Back in the ring Meng backdrops Glacier into a powerbomb by Barbarian for two in a sweet spot. We get into a basic face in peril sequence with Glacier getting beaten down. Powerslam by Meng gets two. Off to Barbarian in the corner and since Dusty isn’t here, I’ll say it: THEY BE CLUBBERIN TONY!!! THEY BE CLUBBERIN!!!

Apparently Barbarian used to play rugby on the Isle of Tonga. Why in the world would Tenay know that? I get that he’s the Professor but dude, does Barbarian even speak English? Another powerslam by Meng gets two. Time for the nerve hold which is an old Tongan/Samoan/Savage standard. We hear a cool story about Meng being a bodyguard for the Emperor of Japan as this needs to end rather soon.

Elbow drop misses and Miller still can’t get tagged in. We finally get to the hot tag and Miller cleans house. He kind of reminds me of Tajiri actually but a bit taller. Kicks all around, including one to Jimmy Hart. It’s not like it matters though as the Tongan Death Grip ends Miller cold.

Rating: C-. I’ve seen far worse actually. Not particularly good but it was light years better than the 10 minute squash that we got the next year with Glacier in there. This wasn’t anything I’ll remember in about five minutes but it was still decent enough for an opener and that double powerbomb spot was cool. Not terrible.

TV Title: Disco Inferno vs. Perry Saturn

Saturn had won the title in his debut off of Disco so this is his rematch. There’s your backstory. Oh and Saturn is in the Flock. Disco is being serious at the moment and he got the TV Title because of it. Raven comes to the ring with Saturn despite sitting in the front row pre match. Raven says let the stretching begin. Saturn immediately takes Disco down and the Inferno is frustrated.

Tenay vaguely references ECW by calling it an other organization. Saturn runs over Disco with power. So he can’t hang with him on the mat or power and Tenay said Saturn can fly. What chance does Disco have here exactly? Disco sends him to the floor as we hear about how during his six week reign with the title he never got a clean pin. Wait are we supposed to buy him as a credible guy or not?

Heenan might have picked Saturn for the battle royal but it’s not entirely clear. Disco makes Saturn take a break and then gets his head knocked off by a boot and clothesline. Atomic drop puts Saturn back down as this is a weird kind of back and forth. Disco hammers away with a back elbow and fist drop for two.

You may not believe this, but Disco does something incredibly intelligent here. You know that spot where a guy comes off the middle rope and jumps into a boot with no possible move they could have had other than jumping into the boot? Disco does it here but avoids the boot. Granted the elbow he attempted missed but I like what I saw there. T-Bone suplex to Disco has Saturn in control again.

Saturn covers him time after time but can’t get the pin. Second rope moonsault misses and Disco, who doesn’t have a finisher, tries a bunch of stuff for two. Saturn gets a backslide but sits down with it so that it’s like a sunset flip/backslide hybrid. Never seen that before. Disco is crotched on the top rope and Saturn hits a middle rope clothesline to send both guys to the floor.

They more or less fell onto the apron with that so it wasn’t the best looking move in the world. Disco yells at the Flock and hits Chartbusters (Stunners) on various members over the railing, including one on the debuting Lodi. He can’t hit one on Van Hammer and Saturn uses his chance to drill Disco and take over. Back to the middle ring and Disco gets a neckbreaker for two. Top rope cross body hits but Saturn rolls though into the Rings of Saturn (double arm hook submission) for the submission to retain.

Rating: C-. Not bad here but there were some bad spots. Also I still don’t know if we’re supposed to take Disco seriously even in his more serious persona or not. They didn’t seem to have much of a plan out there but that was somewhat typical of a Saturn match. Not bad though.

Yuji Nagata vs. Ultimo Dragon

Nagata has Sonny Onoo with him and if Dragaon, Onoo’s former protégé, loses then he gets five minutes with Sonny. Dragon has a bad arm thanks to Nagata. Dragon is fresh off one of the least interesting feuds over a title you’ll ever see, trading it twice with Alex Wright. Nagata is a much bigger star in Japan and takes over early by going after the arm, but Dragon fights his way out of it.

Nagata heads to the floor and Dragon follows. Sonny fires in some kicks so Dragon tries a suplex which Nagata breaks up to take over. Dragon grabs a headlock and gets suplexed. Nagata is one of the least interesting guys I’ve ever seen. Whenever his matches are on I can’t get interested in him at all. Piledriver gets two for Nagata. He grabs a chinlock and shifts it into a sleeper. Then he makes it even more interesting by going BACK to the chinlock! WOW!!!

Another Piledriver gets two. So is the BIG FREAKING BANDAGE on his arm not a big enough target that you should work on the arm? Nagata kicks him and heads to the camel clutch, shifting over to the back now. After that gets broken up he FINALLY works on the arm with a Fujiwara Armbar. Let’s hit that chinlock/sleeper again because that arm work can’t last that long.

Belly to belly overhead suplex gets two. Dragon avoids a backdrop and kicks the tar out of Nagata. Some Facewashes in the corner have Nagata in big trouble. Pescado is almost caught by a kick but Dragon catches the kick and hits a Dragon Screw Leg Whip to take Nagata down on the floor. Top rope cross body to the floor puts Nagata down again.

Back in and Dragon goes up again. Suplex off the top by Nagata is blocked and Dragon adds a moonsault for two. Dragon tries a suplex but Nagata reverses. That reversal is reversed into the Dragon Sleeper but Sonny distracts. Dragon Rana gets two but Sonny puts Nagata’s foot on the rope. We then get one of the sloppiest finishes I’ve EVER seen. Dragon tries a belly to back suplex but seems to fall towards the ropes. Nagata’s foot hits Sonny and Nagata falls on top. Dragon’s shoulder was up and he was in the ropes but the referee counted to four (yes four) anyway. That had to be at least one botch.

Rating: D+. I’m not a fan of Nagata at all and this didn’t help my opinion of him. Terribly boring match with a bad finish and a total lack of psychology. Once Dragon got going in there towards the end it was an improvement but it didn’t make up for the previous eight minutes or so. Nagata continues to bore me.

 

Tag Titles: Blue Bloods vs. Steiner Brothers

The Blue Bloods are Dave Taylor (old English dude) and Steve Regal (yes that Regal). This was when the Steiners were tag champions but the Outsiders had their own belts. This would result in the temporary “Unified” tag titles. Ted DiBiase is managing them here. Scott vs. Taylor to start us off here. Scott isn’t that far away from turning heel and breaking up the team.

We hear about how awesome the Steiners are, including their two tag title reigns from another promotion (WWF) and how dominant they are. The Dudleys would more or less destroy every record they had but until they came along it was all Steiners. The British dudes get thrown around with ease and are sent to the floor to hide a bit. Rick vs. Regal now and it’s a USA chant.

Regal tries to use his technical stuff so Rick grabs his hand and cranks on it to take over. Well no one ever accused Rick of being a mental giant. Regal takes over for a bit but gets cocky and Rick gets a Fujiwara Armbar of all things to take him down. Off to Scott who gets that sweet belly to belly for two. STF goes on for all of two seconds and it’s back off to Rick.

He goes for the arm of Regal again but as Dave has the referee, Regal gets a finger to the eye to take over. And never mind as Rick gets a shoulder block and powerslam to take over again. Regal gets a knee to the back of Scott and pulls the rope down to send Scott outside. Taylor goes for the arm and it’s back to Regal. He hooks Scott in a leg lock and brings Taylor back in.

The Brits have used a lot of European uppercuts and every time they’ve put the Steiners down. Regal tries to speed things up and walks into a belly to belly by Scott, allowing for a tag to Rick. Down goes everyone and it all breaks down. Scott backdrops Taylor onto Regal and the Steiner Bulldog ends Regal to retain.

Rating: C-. Just an extended squash here. I don’t get why the vast majority of these matches have been on this show so far. I guess because we can’t have a battle royal go on for three hours. Either way this was more or less exactly what you would expect here. The Blue Bloods were more or less tag team jobbers so this didn’t have any heat on it at all.

JJ Dillon says Raven has 24 hours to sign a contract or he’s gone.

Raven vs. Scotty Riggs

Riggs is in an eyepatch due to Raven hurting him. Kidman, a member of the Flock, insists on Raven’s Rules, meaning No DQ. Raven has been trying to get Riggs to join the Flock, so what do you think is coming at the end here? Riggs jumps him and beats on Raven for awhile in the kind of offense you would expect from a guy that has no chance at all. Riggs gets a rollup for two as Raven can’t get much going.

Heenan makes blind jokes which are kind of funny. First of all he suggests moving the patch to the other eye. That’s actually rather smart when you think about it. Raven uses the shirt around his waist to choke away and we head to the floor. Riggs reverses and sends him into the steps and chokes with a cord. Tony says Raven is helpless, just as he pops up with a jawbreaker. I love it when Tony looks like an idiot, which means I love a lot in WCW.

The announcers say Scotty has done nothing since Bagwell and he broke up which makes me laugh for some reason. Raven gets a chair and hits him in the back with it a few times for some weak shots. Riggs gets the drop toehold into the chair as a reversal to break Raven’s momentum. Modified Van Daminator by Riggs gets two.

Riggs manages a bulldog onto the chair which looked either awesome or awful and I’m not sure which. Either way it gets two. And never mind as there’s the Evenflow DDT to kill Riggs dead. Raven wants a microphone instead though. There’s a second DDT as he says he feels Riggs’ pain and that it hurts Raven more than Riggs. Heenan: I don’t think so. Raven shouts about feeling the pain again and a third DDT has Riggs unconscious. The referee counts him out and it’s over.

Rating: D+. What was the point of this being on PPV again? For the big blowoff for Raven vs. Riggs? Weak match all around and Raven looked completely dominant even though he got beaten up. I think he would sign the next night but I’m not sure. Either way he would have Riggs in the Flock then and that’s about it.

Steve McMichael vs. Bill Goldberg

This is over Mongo’s Super Bowl ring that Goldberg stole at the previous PPV. Mongo comes out with a pipe Goldberg’s music hits and there’s no Goldberg. Mongo says this isn’t happening and says he can sneak up on people too. We go to the back and Goldberg is out cold. So no one noticed the big man in his underwear out cold on the concrete just behind the entry way? Mongo more or less gives an open challenge, resulting in this.

Steve McMichael vs. Alex Wright

Wright isn’t here because he wants to be but because Debra, Mongo’s estranged wife, brings him out and more or less makes his fight. Wright whips him with his jacket to start. Wright is from Germany so wouldn’t that be a foreign object? Mongo is like screw this and hammers away, sending Wright to the floor. He tries to leave but Debra more or less makes him come back.

Alex tries to fight and gets slammed down to the mat with ease. Mongo is barely breaking a sweat in this. Was there a reason they didn’t have Goldberg in this that I’m not getting? Debra’s voice is irritating to put it mildly. Wright takes over for a very little bit with chops but McMichael takes out the knee. Side slam sets up the Tombstone to end it. Total and complete squash squash and no rating here. Heenan asks Who’s Next for Mongo. Nah that’ll never catch on.

Cruiserweight Title: Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio

They’re coming off an absolute classic the previous month at Halloween Havoc. Eddie (not Eddy blast it!) is champion here. Also what is with the total lack of promos here? I think JJ had the only one so far. They start off with speed stuff to the shock of no one. Eddie is in gold tights and they’re really not working on him here. Rey gets that elevated snap mare to take Eddie down and it’s a stalemate.

The fans are all over Eddie here and his reaction is quite funny. Eddie ripped the mask off partially last time so we talk about that a bit here. Guerrero hits a German suplex and busts out some suplexes to take over. The problem here seems that they’re trying to have the match of the year rather than having a great match.

They fight towards the ropes and neither guy can take over. Hilo misses and Rey hits the floor. Both guys try dives but neither can hit them. Rey can’t get a sunset bomb so Eddie hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Back in and Eddie goes up, only to get blocked by Rey. Superplex by Eddie takes Rey down but the Frog Splash misses. Eddie rolls through and Rey gets a rana for two.

Flapjack puts Rey down but Eddie can’t get up either. After some shots by Eddie he drops Rey over the top rope and spanks himself a bit. Eddie tries a sunset bomb which is reversed into a rana by Rey. Rey adds a front flip over the ropes to end Eddie. That and a moonsault gets in the ring. Eddie charges and is sent into the post but powerbombs Rey out of a rana to take over again.

Gory Special goes on by Eddie and Rey is in trouble. Rey counters that into a sunset flip for two. Leg lariat puts Eddie down again but Rey doesn’t cover for no apparent reason. They try something from the top and Rey falls off in what looked like a mild botch. Moonsault press gets two for the guy in the mask. Dropping the Dime gets no cover as Rey wants to go up again. West Coast Pop with a flip gets two as Eddie grabs the rope. Awesome looking move. Rey tries to run at Eddie who is on the corner but Eddie gets a hot shot to block it. Frog Splash ends it.

Rating: B. Good match but their match the previous month gave them WAY too much to live up to. Naturally this was still great as their matches always would be. Not a classic but worth watching if you like these two. There were some botches in there and they were trying to live up to the previous month which never works at all.

Ad for Starrcade. Remarkable that they managed to screw that up, it truly is.

US Title: Ric Flair vs. Curt Hennig

Hennig had turned on Flair and the Horsemen at Fall Brawl, slamming Flair’s head in the door. He won the US Title soon thereafter and more or less hasn’t looked back since. This is Flair’s revenge match rather than for the title. It’s also No DQ and Hennig brings a chair with him. The referee gets rid of the chair which is kind of pointless but whatever. Hennig is wearing a Syxx shirt for no apparent reason.

Curt stalls like a Memphis man but gets caught on the floor and Ric hammers away. This is the last match before the battle royal too. We hit the crowd with Flair dominating. This is your usual brawl in the crowd with various punches and eye rakes along with people being rammed into objects. Flair is rammed into the railing as Curt dominates for awhile.

Back into the ring and Hennig chokes away with a cord and we go back to the floor. We hear about Flair playing football at the University of Minnesota which isn’t something you often hear about. Flair goes up top and drops a double axe onto Hennig into the railing by the throat but he might have hurt his ankle. Flair chops away as we talk about the battle royal with the various countries etc that are going to be here for the match. Good to know that a bunch of people we don’t know will be competing here.

Back into the ring (again) and the referee got poked in the eye by Hennig apparently instead of letting him count three. Hennig was covering Flair which means it was even stupider. He works on the leg with Flair losing his mind as usual of course. Heenan says you can forget the Figure Four now. Why do I not believe that in the slightest?

He drops a leg between Flair’s legs as Flair’s ankle is still hurt. Modified Indian Deathlock goes on by Hennig and he gets two on it as Flair is laying there. Ric fights out of it and gets a chopblock as the crowd is way into him, or at least his wooing. Snap mare puts Hennig down and drops the knee. After some right hands Flair goes up. Take a guess as to how this goes. Just take a guess.

They chop it out with Hennig easily getting the best of it, resulting in a Flair Flop for two. We slug it out in the corner a bit more with Flair tossing Hennig into the corner where Curt is crotched on the post as is his custom. Hennig drops low to avoid a chop as it’s Flair in control again. They ram heads though and both go down for a bit. Belly to back gets two for Flair.

To change the pace a bit, Hennig chops away in the corner. They’re in a different ring now also. Flair Flip in the corner and we go outside again. Scratch that as just Flair does as Hennig chills in the ring a bit which is probably pretty smart. They fight a bit on the floor with Hennig in control again. Flair sends him into the railing and both guys are down again.

Flair suplexes him back into the ring but that also only gets two. This is at about 15 minutes now and probably needs to end very soon. Flair gets a chair as I had forgotten this was a No DQ match. It gets set up in the ring and Flair crotches him on it and kicks the chair into the knee. Flair rams the knee with the chair and brings the belt into the ring. Figure Four goes on but the belt that is RIGHT NEXT TO HENNIG goes into Flair’s head and it’s over. Weak ending to say the least.

Rating: D+. This was WAY too long. This is nearly 18 minutes long and I legitimately forgot about the No DQ aspect of it for a very long time. I’m not sure what they were going for here as Flair is made to look like a guy that can’t get revenge in a match where he’s supposed to be dirty. Not a great match at all and very boring and repetitive as can be here.

World War 3

Chris Adams, Brad Armstrong, Marcus Bagwell, The Barbarian, Chris Benoit, Bobby Blaze, Booker T, Ciclope, Damien, El Dandy, Barry Darsow, Disco Inferno, Jim Duggan, Fit Finlay, Héctor Garza, The Giant, Glacier, Johnny Grunge, Juventud Guerrera, Chavo Guerrero, Jr., Eddy Guerrero, Scott Hall, Curt Hennig, Prince Iaukea, Chris Jericho, Lizmark, Jr., Lex Luger

Dean Malenko, Steve McMichael, Meng, Ernest Miller, Rey Misterio, Jr., Hugh Morrus, Mortis, Yuji Nagata, John Nord, Diamond Dallas Page, La Parka, Stevie Ray, Lord Steve Regal, The Renegade, Rocco Rock, Randy Savage, Silver King, Norman Smiley, Louie Spicolli, Rick Steiner, Scott Steiner, Super Calo, Squire David Taylor, Ray Traylor, Último Dragón, Greg Valentine, Villaño IV, Villaño V, Vincent, Kendall Windham, Wrath and Alex Wright

What you might notice is that there are only 59 names there, so yes it’s time for shenanigans. As far as people you might not know, the only one that pops off the page to me is John Nord, who is more famous as the Berzerker. The introductions are odd as they say the wrestlers can go from ring to ring. What sense does that make?? Also once we get down to five people per ring we go to the middle. So if they get down to five in a ring and the other rings aren’t yet we just stop? See why this match tended to suck? The rules rarely made sense. Just have a freaking battle royal. How hard is that to accomplish?

As usual the entrances take about 5 minutes. They seem to be a bit faster this year though, mainly due to some people coming out in groups. The Giant is the defending champion and has a broken hand here. There’s an NWO member missing let the confusion begin. The missing one is apparently Kevin Nash who might be out with a knee injury.

The bell rings and we immediately go split screen, meaning YOU CAN’T SEE ANYTHING!!! WCW didn’t get this through their heads until the final year when they just didn’t film everything in every ring, like the intelligent people would suggest. Let’s get this over with. Lizmark Jr. and Disco Inferno plus anyone else Giant touches are gone. He must have gotten four people at a time. Louie Spicolli and a Villano are out.

La Parka is out. Expect a lot of “so and so” is out, just like Norman Smiley. Public Enemy goes after Meng and Grunge is put out. Ring 2, the Giant’s ring, is emptying quickly. DDP just walks into another ring. Scott Hall puts out El Dandy. I guess Hall didn’t doubt him. The NWO is in ring 1. Bobby Blaze is gone. Ring 2 has like 30 people in it. Or is that 3? The announcers say 2 and the graphic says 3. Whatever man. It’s in the middle.

Graphic now says 2. Flair isn’t here either apparently. Who replaced him I wonder since they made it clear he was an entrant during his match. Stevie Ray hangs on with a rake to the eyes. We’ve more or less stopped checking the other rings. Brad Armstrong is gone. Silver King is gone. Damien, a luchador, is thrown out. DDP and Wrath go at it but Wrath hangs on.

DDP tosses Prince Iaukea. Nagata is out so the match is less boring now. Wrath and Renegade are gone and fight up the aisle. No idea how many people are left at the moment. Ring 1 is rather empty now with maybe 7 people left and all of the NWO in still. Jericho is out. Hall winds up hanging on by one hand but the NWO runs in for the save to keep him in.

Greg Valentine is gone. Giant’s hand is killing him so Mortis and Duggan double team him. The people keep switching rings so you can’t tell who is where and who is left as you think they’re eliminated but they’re in a different ring. Most annoying indeed. Ring 3 is mostly empty now while ring 1 is a lot more full now. Harlem Heat beats on Chris Adams. Adams is gone but tries to sneak back in ala his most famous student: Steve Austin.

Ray Traylor (Big Boss Man) chokes Savage as Finlay is gone. Page and Benoit fight to the apron but both get back in. We’re roughly halfway done here as Dave Taylor is gone. Page and Malenko put I think Benoit out. Yep that was him. Miller puts Malenko out. Ring 3 seems to have Meng, Giant, Alex Wright and Mortis. Duggan is out to some booing. Miller is gone.

Leave it to the WCW cameras to focus on Giant’s hand. That’s all you see in the entire ring. Barbarian goes out and McMichael is also in ring 3. Rey puts Eddie out and gets ganged up on by the NWO who finally gets him out. Traylor is gone as is Darsow. Wait Mysterio pulled a John Morrison/Shawn Michaels and is hanging on to the apron! Mongo is out as are Wright and Mortis. Giant and Meng are the only ones left in that ring. Luger, Harlem Heat, DDP and Rick Steiner are in another ring and the NWO remain in the other.

Stevie Ray is out so we have ten left I think. Giant DROPKICKS Meng out. That was incredible and he wins the ring. Ok so it’s Vincent, Hall, Savage, Bagwell, Hennig, DDP, Rick Steiner, Luger and Booker T. The NWO won’t change rings and say come over here. They beat up the referee who says go to the other ring. Giant chills in the ring while the other four change to the NWO ring.

Ah there’s Giant so they’re all in the ring closest to the entrance because clearly the most fans can see them there right? Diamond Cutter to Vincent and a HUGE pop. Giant rolls Vincent out to get our first NWO guy out. Booker is out via someone we didn’t see as is Rick Steiner. Bagwell talks to the camera so Giant rams Bagwell and Savage’s heads together.

Luger hammers on Hennig on the second rope and doesn’t get tossed. Luger wakes up and hammers on people but gets jumped by the NWO. Giant comes over and puts out Bagwell, Hennig and Luger, leaving us with Savage, Giant, Hall and DDP. There’s a decent midcard tag match in there somewhere. Savage fights Page while Hall gets beaten up by the Giant. Giant slams Hall instead of throwing him out.

Savage wants an elbow to DDP but Giant stands in front of him. Savage, the crazy man that he is, jumps anyway and gets caught. He doesn’t get tossed though but takes a Diamond Cutter. Giant won’t let him get tossed though because he wants to chokeslam him. Savage is more or less dead and is tossed with ease to get us to three. The next year it would be the same three but with Nash instead of Giant.

More or less it’s a handicap match with Hall vs. Giant/DDP. Hall heads to another ring which is pretty smart actually. He does the point and here comes….no one as the NWO music starts and ends. Hogan’s music kicks on and is here now instead. So apparently Hogan, the WORLD CHAMPION, is #60, being allowed to skip 25 minutes of the match to potentially win a title shot against….himself? There are 7 minutes left so let’s just go with it.

We get a tag match now with Hogan fighting Giant and Hall vs. DDP. Ok so during Hogan’s two minute or so long intro, did Giant and DDP just stand there instead of going after Hall? Six minutes left so I don’t particularly care here. The fans want Sting as the NWO starts dominating. Hogan slams Giant to a big pop. Hall is sat on the top rope by Giant as DDP is crotched on the top rope.

Bear hug to Hall as Sting rappels from the ceiling, somehow about 10 inches taller and with darker hair. Hogan eliminates himself to run from Not-Sting and Not-Sting hits Giant with the bat to eliminate him as I guess DDP went out somewhere. Not-Sting points the bat at Hall as the fans chant Nash, having basic intelligence. The NWO celebrates to end this stupid, stupid match. Hogan gives DDP a Diamond Cutter to take us to the credits. Yes WCW had credits.

Rating: F+. Where do I even begin? Awful in every sense of the word with nothing making sense and the whole thing being a disaster. The switching of the rings thing made it virtually impossible to know who was where. The ending was just idiotic as Hogan apparently can just walk into a match he’s not a part of and has no business being involved in as he’s competing for a shot at something he already has. Nash made things look stupid and the whole thing was just a mess from start to finish. Also the triple camera didn’t help either.

Overall Rating: D-. Just a terribly dull show with nothing going on at all that was worth seeing. Rey vs. Eddie is good but it’s got nothing on the previous match they had at the last show. This was a very boring show overall as it was clear that Starrcade was all set in stone already. Not a good show in any sense of the word and boring beyond belief. BIG pass here.

 

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Victory Road 2009
Date: July 19, 2009
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 1,100
Commentators: Don West, Mike Tenay

The Main Event Mafia is still around but it’s not what it used to be. Angle vs. Foley is the main event for the title with Angle defending, which makes me think little about the upcoming match. This card looks pretty weak, although we have AJ vs. Nash for the Legends Title and Joe vs. Sting. It just lacks a spark for me, but better days were coming soon for TNA. And then they just left but we’ll get to that later. Let’s get to it.

The video is about starting the road to victory and it’s as generic as the rest of them have been. Seriously, TNA needs to work on its opening videos BADLY.

Knockouts Title: Angelina Love vs. Tara

Tara is champion here and showed up recently, more or less hating the Beautiful People just because I guess. She also took the title on Impact about a month ago so this is the rematch. They’re scared of the spider which I can’t blame them for since I have a spider bite on my arm that refuses to heal. It just works for her.

 

Of course the announcers can’t think because there are women in front of them. I love that Broken theme. We stall for awhile as they run from the spider. What was the point of that anyway? Is it supposed to be sexy? I don’t want a freaking tarantula anywhere near me. Tara starts in the t-shirt early on and then rips it off which was always hot to me.

 

Then again I’ve always had a crush on Tara so there we go. Tara busts out the Tarantula move which at least makes sense here. West is mostly heel here also. Love starts dominating after some hot girls interference. We get a Bobo Brazil reference that even Tenay doesn’t get. We go old school with a double clothesline spot. I love that move.

 

Skye accidentally sprays hairspray into Love’s eyes but it only gets two because the referee throws the other two girls out. Tara misses a moonsault and Love covers her, but Tara’s foot is on the rope. Doesn’t matter apparently as Love gets the title anyway. Post match Tara superkicks the referee and beats up Love.

Rating: C-. Not bad, but nothing great. The thing here is that the Knockouts at this time were AWESOME with their stuff destroying the Divas. Somehow in a year that’s completely switched but whatever. Anyway, this wasn’t anything great but it’s certainly not bad. It did the job it was supposed to do though so I have to give it that.

We run down the card, including BOTH tag title matches. Dang I hated that period.

We go to the Main Event Mafia’s dressing room where Kurt says not to expect a quality match from him tonight. Well at least he’s being honest. Instead he’s going to destroy Foley as soon as possible. Angle says if the Mafia doesn’t get a clean sweep by pins or submissions he’ll fire them all.

We get a video about Morgan vs. Daniels which wasn’t a feud but more a way to give Morgan another PPV win against a big name. Daniels wasn’t much at all here but he was AJ’s friend and since Morgan wanted to be in the Mafia he helped them beat up AJ. There’s your match.

Matt Morgan vs. Christopher Daniels

What is up with Morgan’s robe? He just doesn’t need it as it looks stupid. Oh sorry there’s no Christopher anymore as apparently he’s lost his first name. Check under AJ’s bed. Morgan dominates to start as I think we’re looking at a glorified squash here. Daniels has a mustache here and it looks pretty stupid. Daniels hits a suicide dive but it doesn’t even knock Morgan down.

 

What is the big deal with Daniels? He just isn’t anywhere near as great as he’s made out to be. He just isn’t. A springboard split legged moonsault FINALLY puts him down for like 4 seconds. That more or less ends Daniels’ offense for the time being. I like that rotating elbow thing that Morgan does to people in the corner.

 

Those would have to freaking hurt. Morgan works on the knee which is allegedly hurt but it’s kind of on again/off again which is annoying as all goodness. Daniels does some small stuff but of course it doesn’t mean much. Daniels counters a chokeslam but he can’t hit the BME because of the leg. The Carbon Footprint and the Hellevator end it.

Rating: D+. It was just a glorified squash like I thought it would be. Morgan was never in anything close to trouble and we never had any reason to believe that he would be, which isn’t good at all. Daniels looked like a jobber here, as he continues to be thought of as nothing important at all in this company.

Dr. Stevie says he’s been working on this forever so he’s going to make this no disqualification. Sure why not. Were we just supposed to believe we didn’t recognize this guy or something? Was that supposed to be what they were going for because if that’s it, TNA is stupider than I thought they were.

We recap Stevie vs. Abyss, which is based on Richards being his therapist and trying to cure him of his addiction to weapons and violence, which was just a bizarre angle that didn’t work for me in the slightest. And then Abyss hated him for no explained reason. Also Stevie was his therapist for ten years apparently, so back in the day when he was chilling with Raven in WCW, he was a psychiatrist? SERIOUSLY? Oh and he kidnapped Abyss’ girlfriend or whatever, Lauren, who was gorgeous to say the least.

Abyss vs. Stevie Richards

I’m in awe of how stupid this angle and character is but whatever. Abyss has just started wearing his current entrance attire that makes him look like a homeless man. Stevie has some kind of pipe or something and beats on Abyss with it. They continue to confuse me by calling him Stevie Richards and acknowledge his background in wrestling.

 

I’m not even going to rant about how stupid that is but whatever. Again we’re told how great Abyss can be. And again we ignore that he’s a former world champion. Are they ashamed of that or something? They say AJ is a former world champion here even though he had only won NWA Titles at this point.

 

I really hate that freaking clapping Abyss does. It’s stupid when Christian does it but it’s just freaking idiotic when Abyss does it. We head into the crowd so we can kill off some time to go along with the brain cells. Seriously, what is the appeal of the monster being all child-like? Is that supposed to be interesting or funny or something?

 

I’d assume it’s based off of being ironic or something but in order for irony to work it needs to be interesting which this just flat out isn’t. Since it’s TNA, of course Stevie starts bleeding. That’s a real problem with TNA today: they think blood makes a match better. Blood can help a match, but only when it’s done both in moderation as well as properly.

 

TNA has a real issue with it as they do it so often that it loses all effectiveness. The fans are insane and rather annoying here, wanting Stevie to get hurt more and more. Somewhere a man named Lee is crying. And now it’s chair time because we need to kill off more time in this match.

 

Just like the previous match, this is a glorified squash. He pulls Stevie up after two from Shock Treatment. Daffney brings Stevie a stun gun that he’s used lately. Instead he runs into a Black Hole Slam. He uses the tazer on him and smoke comes out of it. There’s the pin and I need a stiff drink.

Rating: D. This was even worse than the previous match as this one was even more of a squash. It was about 95% Abyss dominance which isn’t interesting at all. Then again neither of these guys are interesting characters so that likely has a lot to do with it.

The announcers tell us how this is THE most important event in TNA history. I love hyperbole.

Foley gives Beer Money a pep talk. I think they’re going for the Dudleys’ record for most turns in wrestling history. Oh and AJ is here too.

We hear about Team 3D vs. the British Invasion. But I thought Beer Money….OH! This is for the OTHER tag title. How could I be so clumsy? Basically the Dudleys were the TNA tag champions but the Invasion cost them the belts. So they just went and got their own belts. Sure why not?

IWGP Tag Titles: Team 3D vs. British Invasion

The Invasion is Magnus and Williams with Terry on the outside. These are the Japanese belts where the title defenses here aren’t sanctioned by New Japan but TNA just does it anyway because since the belts are Japanese they’re cool.

 

Apparently this is a career changing match because it would cost Team 3D their New Japan bookings. Yeah that’s how Tenay described it. Oh dear. What’s the deal with the wrist holding thing? Is that supposed to mean something? Then he talks about them again and this time throws in how important the pay days are. Great way to get your faces over there Mikey.

 

Doug Williams is completely different here. Today he actually has a personality which makes him far more interesting. D-Von dominates for the most part early on as I can feel the EPICNESS of this being for Japanese tag titles. I just have no desire to watch this match at all.

 

So what if they win the IWGP titles? There are OTHER tag titles to win. That’s what’s idiotic on this. In WWE it made sense where there were two different shows to have tag titles on. This is just stupid, but hey, they’re prestigious right? So is the WWE Title but it’s not defended on TNA television.

 

The Brits take over on Bubba and it’s very standard stuff. He gets out of it with a spear which is a move he doesn’t need to be doing. Then again there aren’t many people that should be. What is the appeal of Magnus? He’s not that good and he’s never on TV but whatever.

 

Bubba hits a Rock Bottom as the Dudleys take over. And now it’s table time. The fans get a solid TABLE chant going. It only lasts a few seconds and Magnus manages to not be able to be thrown over the top correctly. 3D ends Williams. The rest of what would become World Elite comes out and beats down the Dudleys. Never mind that as Team 3D fights them off and puts Bashir through the table.

Rating: D+. So? Like I said earlier, so what? This means very little in the grand scheme of things as there would be other tag titles for them to win. The match was bland as vanilla and since the titles would change in a few weeks on Impact anyway, this wound up meaning nothing at all. I’m bored beyond belief at this point.

We’re going to address the ending in the Knockouts match earlier where Tara’s foot was on the rope. Lauren is with the referee and asks what is going on. He says the decision is final even though it was wrong. He’s going to try to get Tara a rematch though.

Jenna Morasca vs. Sharmell

Neither of them are wrestlers, but they’re fighting on PPV anyway. These are both women in the Mafia and they’re fighting over who is the top girl in it. Sharmell is in an evening gown and is Booker’s wife. Sojurnor Bolt is with Sharmell and Kong is with Jenna. Jenna won Survivor so she’s guaranteed a spot on TNA’s roster.

 

Thankfully this would be her last appearance due to pure ineptness. She looked ok but that’s about it. No one knew who she was but why should that stop anyone? She tries to do a sexy entrance but it’s not working. Jenna thinks she’s hot and that’s about all she has going for her. This was voted Worst Match of the Year by Meltzer and that doesn’t surprise me at all.

 

Oh this isn’t going to be fun. When Sharmell is the best worker in it, that’s a BAD sign. Why they didn’t make this a tag with the two girls on the floor is beyond me. Neither of them can do anything and they just kind of run into each other rather than do actual wrestling moves.

 

My problem with these celebrity matches is that it undermines the people that work hard to get to a PPV level, but then again I’m putting too much thought into this. Even the fans are chanting boring. They have managed to tick off a TNA crowd. That’s IMPRESSIVE.

 

The girls on the floor get into it and Jenna is just laying there, not even selling. Well she’s rich so she can get away with that I guess. Oh look, a slap. And more slaps. And I want to shoot whoever agreed to let this happen.

 

Jenna pulls out some of Sharmell’s extensions and it’s still going. Kong hits Sharmell and Jenna grinds on her before pinning her. WOW Meltzer was right on this one. Kong beats Jenna up afterwards due to her making her sit through that mess.

Rating: N/A. This wasn’t wrestling.

Nash says good things about Kurt and runs down Foley and the guys Foley is with. Nash says if he loses tonight he’ll retire.

Nash wants the Legends Title for the money and AJ wants it because he won it. Yeah that’s it.

Legends Title: AJ Styles vs. Kevin Nash

The Legends Title is now the Global Title and AJ holds it here. This is back when AJ is the awesome version of himself that was on the rise back through the ranks and would win the world title in a few months. He was more or less considered the best in the world at this point and with good reason.

 

I was one of those people, but Punk was about to turn full Straightedge Messiah and the race was on. AJ hits and Nash runs which is a weird combination. AJ goes for the knees as you would expect. By the way, if a match like this happened in WCW (with AJ being replaced by Benoit or Malenko), the company could have had a fighting chance at the end.

 

Nash goes into his normal stuff but here it works for some reason. Nash was in a groove around this time with the whole in it for the money character trait. It worked very well for him though as that completely fit his character and it came off perfectly.

 

Nash kicks the tar out of AJ and knocks him to the floor where AJ hits his head. The Jackknife is blocked though and even I’m starting to cheer for AJ. He hits the forearm while Nash is sitting on the mat in a cool spot. AJ hooks a weird looking leg lock on Nash which is working quite well. It looks like a highly modified Sharpshooter but it’s working.

 

There’s the forearm which is one of my favorite moves of all time so I love it of course. Pele puts Nash down and West is refusing to believe AJ can lose…even though he’s the heel commentator…..he was new at it I guess. In a very anti-climactic ending, AJ goes for another forearm but Nash shoves the referee at him so AJ has to jump over him. That’s enough for Nash to catch him in a chokeslam for the pin. It came out of nowhere but it’s not horrible.

Rating: B. This really worked for me. AJ was able to make the David vs. Goliath thing work very well but I really do question putting a title on Nash. He wouldn’t hold it long at least but that’s another story. This was a fun match though as the dynamic was there which is usually the hardest part to get.

Lauren is looking for Tara but finds the referee from that match with Madison in the shower. Ok then.

So since Foley wanted a world title shot, he had to give Nash his title shot and Booker and Steiner their title shots. That’s all there is to this.

TNA Tag Titles: Scott Steiner/Booker T vs. Beer Money

Now remember that these are the OTHER tag titles. That stupid cruiser thing is back. I do kind of like how the tag belts look. We have to hear how awesome Steiner and Booker are as a super team because they both used to be in big tag teams years ago. So in translation, Axe and Marty Jannetty would be a great team? That sounds like an indy show nightmare.

 

We start off not very slowly here as we come to the realization that Beer Money doesn’t have a chance here. Even though they’re the champions they’re underdogs somehow because being tag champions is beneath being half of the tag champions like 15 years ago. And all companies to this. It’s a problem of modern tag wrestling: the constant throwing together of big names and calling them tag teams is what’s killed tag wrestling.

 

Implying that in their first match a team is the best team in the world is just ridiculous. Also it’s not about a team but two guys being together for one match or so. It’s why guys like Bubba and D-Von suck on their own but are great together: they compliment each other so well and without each other they’re far weaker and not a threat at all…even though Bubba was in the main event of an ECW PPV in a world title shot.

 

Oh look Steiner can throw punches and use belly to belly suplexes. What riveting offense! Storm gets beaten down as he must be used to since he’s been in tag teams for about 90% of his TNA career, of which can also be said of Roode although not as much. Roode gets the hot tag to no heat and hits a Blockbuster which is another of my favorite moves.

 

They hit a combination clothesline/backstabber for two on Steiner. Storm spits beer at Steiner and down goes the referee of course. And then Booker hits the axe kick so Steiner can pin Roode. Somehow they haven’t had the tag belts since.

Rating: C+. This wasn’t great or anything but it was ok I suppose. I hate how they more or less made Beer Money look subservient to a thrown together tag team but such is the way of modern tag wrestling like I got into earlier. This wasn’t anything terribly special but it did its job I suppose. Booker would leave soon enough so the Brits got the tag belts.

Booker and Steiner cut unintelligible promos about being Mafia or whatever.

Joe talks about beating Sting, complete with face tattoo. Also his mentor might be debuting tonight.

We see a recap of Joe joining the Mafia at Slammiversary after being bought off using Jenna Morasca’s money. Sting got thrown out and Joe took his place, setting up this match. This is also about Joe’s mentor and giving us the letters FTW and the number 13 on an orange background aren’t hints at all.

Samoa Joe vs. Sting

So let the countdown to Taz begin. TNA needs to work on their surprises a bit better. Sting’s coat is purple and his attire is red and black. Ok then. We’re going at it early and Joe is FAT here. There’s maybe a foot between the steps and the railing which is weird to see. And we hit the crowd for some brawling.

 

We then stay out there with Sting in control. Joe goes into the steps and his arm hurts now. I’m sure that means no choke out. Joe looks ridiculous and we finally get into the ring for a change. Joe hits a diving elbow through the ropes which gets two. Dang Joe’s tattoo is running again. I love that.

 

Sting is in trouble. Actually he likely isn’t because it’s all a DECEPTION BABY! Sting hits a pinful looking enziguri to take over for a bit. The crowd is somehow dead here. There’s the Scorpion and there’s Taz. Sting, like an idiot, lets go of the hold and Joe goes off for about 8 seconds before Sting beats him right back down. That was idiotic. Joe crotches him on the top rope, then doesn’t hit the Musclebuster but the Clutch to end it.

Rating: D+. This was all about Taz’s debut and then that sucked too. Taz would cut a face promo on Impact and throw this all away but whatever. Taz showed up and then Joe got beaten up again. Was that the plan, because if it was then it sucked. This just wasn’t much at all given who was in there.

Lashley is with TNA.

Foley says he’s not worried about the Mafia and even though he doesn’t match up with Angle that well, but if he can hit his running elbow it’ll work.

We recap Joe turning on TNA at Slammiversary (after destroying them for weeks after they hurt him a few months earlier to have it make even less sense) to cost Foley the world title. Angle cut a deal that said Foley gets his rematch for the Mafia getting two title matches earlier in this show.

TNA World Title: Kurt Angle vs. Mick Foley

Tenay says Foley has finally learned how to put the company ahead of personal accomplishments. And there goes any theory that TNA has a clue about anything for me. Yeah, Mick Foley’s ego is out of control! This was when Angle was in a movie and has a beard which just looks freaking stupid.

 

I actually had issues recognizing him at times. Angle MIGHT weigh 190lbs here. We start with a slow and ground based thing which is very weird to see. This goes on for awhile before Foley takes over and works on the neck. And now he gets thrown into the steps.

 

The Mafia has all the titles at this point so this is TNA’s last chance. The moonsault of course misses as there isn’t much to say here at all. No one buys Foley having a chance so it’s just killing time before we get to the finish here. The referee goes down as it’s sock time. Angle Slam kind of hits for two of course.

 

He drops an elbow on the referee for no adequately explored reason other than for the Mafia to run in I’m guessing. It’s chair time but the sock makes the save. Only in wrestling does that make perfect sense. Elbow hits on the floor and Angle is in trouble.

 

West: “he got his shoulder up in time. It wasn’t even close. Ok I lied it was as close as you could get.” Was there a point to that? The Claw gets two arm drops but here comes Angle. Ankle lock doesn’t work as surprisingly we haven’t had any run ins here. He gets the leg scissor and Foley has to tap. Well that was anti-climactic if there’s ever been an anti-climactic match.

Rating: D+. Like I said, just NO drama here at all. Everyone knew Foley was losing here and Angle never really seemed to be in any real danger. This wasn’t terrible but it felt like a very weak main event. AJ would get the title in two months, but this was all about the Mafia and it wasn’t good as it was just too much. The match was nothing special at all though.

Overall Rating: D. This was a rather weak PPV. There is one good match here and it’s hardly a classic. Other than that it’s just kind of there. This was ALL about the Mafia and it was total overkill at the end. You need to have one guy as a resistance to make the people want to watch. It just didn’t work for me and I wasn’t a fan of last summer. Take a pass here as it’s just a weak PPV overall, although there have been far worse.

 

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