Monday Nitro #22
Date: January 29, 1996
Location: Canton Civic Center, Canton Ohio
Commentators: Eric Bischoff, Steve McMichael, Bobby Heenan

Time to wrap up January and naturally there’s a huge match on the card. To open the show, Hogan vs. Flair. We’re still leading up to Superbrawl so there’s also Savage vs. Giant. Hopefully there’s nothing like we had last time with the absurdity that was the Hogan stuff. This should be ok though but I don’t see a really good match on the card. Let’s get to it.

Apparently Giant vs. Savage is for the title. They’re really not minding throwing out these title matches are they?

Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan

Hogan comes out with a bunch of women including Woman and Liz. Flair comes out with Jimmy Hart. Holy role reversal Batman! Flair tries to overpower Hogan and I think you know how well that goes for him. Chops get him nowhere either. Hogan hammers away and gets the clothesline in the corner and a backdrop to send Flair to the floor. Flair is getting dominated to the shock of no one.

Hart distracts Hulk though and Flair gets a shot to the knee which of course hurts his knee. Well what else is new? We take a break and back with Hogan taking a lot of work on his knee. Naturally he’s just fine and pops up like nothing happened.  Flair Flip and the clothesline puts him down to the floor again. Hogan goes to and gets drilled by Flair. Hart throws in some choking for reasons of being annoying.

A lot more leg work by Flair and there’s the Figure Four. Naturally this isn’t enough as Hogan rolls it over. Mongo wants to know how many people have been able to reverse Flair’s Figure Four. Uh, just about all non-jobbers? It’s Hulk Up time and there’s the usual. Hart distracts the referee though and here’s Arn. Hogan drills him but he slips Flair one of Liz’s stolen shoes. Flair pops him in the eye with it and Flair gets the pin. Naturally it’s not clean though. Heaven forbid the thought.

Rating: D+. They were totally going through the motions here and the match was boring as heck as a result. This went nowhere at all as they were just trying to get to the ending which set up some boring Hogan vs. Horsemen story for awhile. Yes they managed to make that boring. This was long but it was still boring.

Road Warriors vs. Faces of Fear

Bischoff brags about being in the top company in wrestling. Their real hot streak would be coming soon but so would the crash. The Warriors are in blue here. That’s just wrong. The fans chant for the LOD and we’re on after a break. Animal vs. Barbarian here. The Warriors have been back less than a week and they’re already in the title hunt somehow. Go figure.

We’re told by Eric that Flair has defeated Hogan and “become one of the elite in wrestling history.” Yes, in other words his twelve (thirteen depending on the source) world title reigns and countless other title reigns that he’s had over the years, being the top guy in the company for like ever, going to WWF and being the top heel, his Rumble win, all of the countless classics he’s had and all his other accomplishments meant nothing. What made him one of the best (not the best mind you but just one of them) was a cheating win over Hogan on a TV show after 23+ years in the ring. See what I have to listen to?

Meng goes off on Hawk but the no selling begins. Ok not yet. Oh there it is: Hawk does his signature move by taking a Piledriver and being on his feet first. I never got how that worked. The Faces of Fear run to the floor as the Warriors stand tall. Bischoff says this is all new talent. Riiiiiiiiight. He does list off some of the young guys that are here which is true. They are brand new here after they were all in ECW first.

Mongo gets us back into the match by talking about Animal having a bad back and Barbarian working on it. It says a lot when Steve McMichael has to bring us back to reality. There’s a chinlock by Meng for a little bit which gets us nowhere. This has been more or less pure dominance by the Fear dudes for the last five minutes or so. Nice way to make the Warriors look awesome.

Barbarian goes up for a BAD looking shoulder block which Animal falls forward from for no apparent reason. They try the spot again and Animal gets a clothesline this time. Oh well either way it gets Hawk in and one step closer to ending this. Hawk comes in and beats on both guys but gets caught on the top in almost a suplex. Animal picks Barbarian off to set for the Doomsday Device but it gets broken up. A top rope clothesline ends Barbarian shortly thereafter.

Rating: D. This was supposed to be their big return? Who thought the Road Warriors having nearly ten minutes was a good idea, especially against the Faces of Fear? This was sloppy and we don’t even get to see their big finishing move? This did not work in the slightest at all.

Gene is with Kevin Sullivan and Hugh Morrus. Kevin is mad about Anderson and in turn the Horsemen not letting Giant go in after Hogan last week. Anderson and Pillman come out and Sullivan says keep Pillman under control or face the consequences. Anderson yells at Pillman about his immaturity and how he wasn’t there when Flair beat Hogan earlier.

While Anderson is yelling at him and threatening him with tough love (cue ominous music!), Sullivan and Morrus beat down the Horsemen. Sullivan whips Pillman with a belt but Anderson gets a DDT on Morrus and Sullivan runs. This would lead to Sullivan vs. Pillman at the PPV in one of the weirdest moments in wrestling history as Pillman and Sullivan had a match set up where Pillman pretended to quit the company. WCW being WCW, they bought it and actually released him and he ran off to ECW and ultimately WWF. It was insane to put it mildly.

Sherri is here and we get a clip of Madusa breaking up her wedding to Colonel Parker. As we come back to the arena, Madusa dives off the top with a cross body and apparently it’s match time!

Madusa vs. Sister Sherri

Madusa kills her to start. Sherri has a surprisingly nice figure. Eric talks about Madusa throwing the WWF Women’s Title in the trash which I think she regrets now. After a quick beating Sherri gets a shot in and goes up, but Madusa slams her off the top. In an ending I haven’t seen before that I remember, Sherri holds on and rolls through into a small package for the pin. Madusa kills her afterwards. No rating as this wasn’t even two minutes long.

WCW World Title: Randy Savage vs. The Giant

Savage comes out with all the women again.  And never mind as there’s no Savage. He jumps Giant from behind and kicks the referee out. He jumps on Giant’s back with a sleeper because that works so well for everyone else and it’s thrown out in less than 50 seconds. Flair is at ringside too.

Flair annihilates Savage at ringside and Giant grabs him too. The fans cheer for Flair which I assure you isn’t real. The fans are just confused. They want Hogan! Chokeslam kills Savage dead. Oh of course Hogan runs down with his eye taped up and a chair in hand to take Giant out. Yes, Hogan saves Savage again because Savage can’t do a thing by himself.

The Dungeon comes out and Hogan kills all of them with the chair too. Flair storms the broadcast position and yells at Bischoff. WOO to McMichael too. Giant does the same and says he’s going to eat his body heart and soul or something like that. Bischoff walks off. Take a guess which of the two matches wound up going on last at the PPV. Flair declares himself the host of the show. Heenan praises them as only he can do to end the show. Oh and Flair is a 12 time champion at this point.

Overall Rating: D-. So let’s see. There are two matches that got any time and they both sucked. This was Hogan saving the day again and was once again the star of the show. It’s more or less a big commercial for SuperBrawl which wound up sucking hard. This was a bad show and one of the weakest they’ve had in their entire run so far. Bad show indeed.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Nitro #106
Date: September 22, 1997
Location: E Center, Salt Lake City, Utah
Attendance: 7,923
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko

This is a pretty big night in wrestling history. First of all, Raw is debuting in Madison Square Garden with a confrontation between Vince and Austin. Therefore WCW is likely going to try to do something huge of their own, which in this case is the debut of someone new. Other than that we’ve got Jarrett vs. Hennig for Curt’s new US Title. We’re getting closer to Halloween Havoc as well. Let’s get to it.

We open at the announce table with the announcers (including Tony dang it all) saying how great tonight is going to be for WCW. Apparently there’s an announcement from Commissioner Piper. Bischoff comes up and says tonight will be about the NWO but Larry argues back at him. We get a clip of Fall Brawl 1996 where Eric got beaten up by Hall and Nash. Zbyzsko says that Eric would rather join them rather than fight, which is why they’ll screw him over in the end.

Silver King vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

So we have Silver King vs. the King of Mystery. Rey gives his mask to a fan and takes Silver down with a headscissors before hooking a front facelock. The fans see something in the crowd as Silver gets ranaed out to the floor. Oh it’s Raven coming to his seat again. Rey hits a split legged moonsault for two followed by a reverse moonsault out of the corner for what should have been the pin. West Coast Pop is countered into a sunset flip for two for Silver. Cue Eddie as Rey gets another two off a rana. A superkick by Silver sets up a missed moonsault and the West Coast Pop gets the pin.

Rating: C. This would have been better if they cut out about 45 seconds. It was just a spot fest but some of the stuff looked great, especially when you consider how chubby Silver King was. The reverse rana looked great and probably should have ended things, but they needed to have Eddie out there so it’s understandable.

Eddie and Rey stare each other down to take us to a break.

Bill Goldberg vs. Hugh Morrus

Tenay has no idea who Goldberg is, shocking the other announcers. Larry: “YOU DON’T KNOW?” They trade hammerlocks to start and seem to miss each other a bit. Goldberg takes him down into a knee bar and pounds away in the corner. Morrus comes out of the corner with a middle rope clothesline and No Laughing Matter hits….for two? Goldberg pops up from a shoulder block and hits a powerslam and a regular slam to follow it up. The yet to be named Jackhammer ends this quick. As Goldberg says after the match: “That’s #1”.

Goldberg has nothing to say post match.

The NWO shows us some highlights of the Anderson parody.

We get a clip of Larry costing Hall his match at Fall Brawl. Tony: “This is a moment we will never forget.” I forgot it in about 12 seconds.

TV Title: Alex Wright vs. Disco Inferno

Wright is defending. Disco shoves him into the corner and gets slapped which fires him up. The fans don’t like Wright at all which is a good sign for him. Wright gets sent to the floor and walks in front of Raven before going back inside to crank on Disco’s arm. We take a break and come back with the champion hitting a spinwheel kick before stomping on Disco in the corner.

You would think the champion would follow up there but instead it’s time to dance. A belly to back suplex puts Wright down but he comes back with a back elbow for two. Wright hits a top rope stomp for no cover because it’s time to dance even more. Disco dodges a charge in the corner and pounds away before crotching Wright on the top rope. A swinging neckbreaker gets two for Disco but he misses a middle rope elbow. They both miss a few moves before both trying cross bodies at the same time. They collide in the air and Disco falls on top for the pin and the title in a shocker.

Rating: D+. The match itself wasn’t much but to say this was a surprise is an understatement. On the other hand though, I have almost no idea what the point is in having Disco win the title when Wright has been on fire lately and has the crowd HATING him. Disco on the other hand was just a comedy guy who hadn’t done anything in his entire WCW run until this point.

Post match here’s Jackie to say that she knows why Disco has been gone for six months and wants a match right now. Disco blows her off. I don’t see this ending well.

Here are Hall and Syxx to ask who the fans are here to see. Hall rips on Larry Z a bit for costing him a match at the PPV before challenging Luger to a rematch. When there’s no Lex, Hall calls out Larry Z instead. Zbyszko comes to the ring but says he won’t get in until it’s one on one. The man was boring as sin but he wasn’t an idiot. Syxx won’t leave so Larry walks away. We do however get someone to answer Hall’s challenge.

Scott Hall vs. Hector Garza

Hall beats on Garza to start and rips referee Mark Curtis’ pocket off. A fallaway slam off the middle rope puts Garza down before tormenting the referee again. Garza grabs a rollup out of nowhere for the shocking pin.

Hall destroys Garza and Curtis post match.

It’s Hour #2.

Ciclope/Juventud Guerrera/Lizmark Jr./Ultimo Dragon vs. Villanos/La Parka/Psychosis

Dragon and Psychosis start things off with Dragon taking over quickly before doing the headstand in the corner. He throws in some splits for good measure and things start speeding up. We’re in lucha rules so hitting the floor is as good as a tag. Things start going fast enough that I can’t keep up with them. Ciclope superkicks a Villano to the floor before it’s Lizmark vs. the other Villano.

Everything breaks down and I have no idea who is legal here. We finally get down to a Vllano vs. Lizmark but they both go to the floor almost immediately. Lizmark hits a big dive onto said Villano but hurts his knee in the process. Now it’s time for everyone to unleash the dives until it’s Dragon vs. Psychosis. Sonny Onoo breaks up the super rana but Psychosis dives onto Sonny by mistake. Back inside Juvy crotches La Parka and hits a springboard rana to get him back to the mat. A rolling cradle gets the pin for Juvy on La Parka.

Rating: C+. This was INSANE with everyone diving at various times and no coherence at all. That’s what a match like this is supposed to be like though and the fans were getting into it. This is when things were still awesome with all of the diving before people started imitating this style and not being as good at it.

Here’s Commissioner Piper to make Luger vs. Hall again at Halloween Havoc, but with Larry as a special referee. The cage match with Hogan is still on and even though “NWA” is for life, Piper is forever. Somehow this took over five minutes.

Lee Marshall wastes a minute of our time.

Steiner Brothers vs. Faces of Fear

Scott and Meng start things off with the Steiner taking him down by the arm. They collide a few times with neither guy being able to move. They try it again and this time Steiner runs him over. Everything breaks down and the Steiners clear the ring. We settle down to Barbarian vs. Rick with Rick powerslamming Barbie down for two before it’s back to Scott.

A full nelson suplex puts Barbarian down but here’s Meng for their backdrop into a powerbomb spot for two. The monsters hit a double headbutt to Scott before a slam gets two for Barbarian. Scott comes back with a double clothesline and there’s the hot tag to Rick. Everything breaks down but Meng breaks up the Steiner Bulldog. Meng escapes a few suplexes and the Tongan Death Grip pins Rick.

Rating: C. This was a decent power brawl with a surprising ending. The Faces of Fear continued to win matches which would lead nowhere while the Steiners would get even more tag title matches against the Outsiders. This was a decent match though and I can’t believe there was a clean loss for the Steiners.

Here are Hogan and Bischoff with Hollywood wearing Flair’s robe. Naturally Tony is sickened by this, but that happens whenever there’s a stiff breeze around Nitro. Hogan wants Sting as usual and bows to Hennig for what he did at Fall Brawl. Piper is going to go down at Havoc.

Post break Savage says Liz will be walking down the aisle with Hennig tonight. Ok then.

Randy Savage vs. Stevie Richards

Savage stalls to start. Again Richards? Raven is watching from ringside as usual before we head inside for Randy pounds away. Even LIZ gets in some choking. Savage drops Richards on the barricade in front of Raven which causes a staredown. Now THAT is a feud that sounds intriguing. Back in and the big elbow ends this easily. Total squash and not enough actual wrestling to rate.

Post match Raven gets in and pulls up his knee pads but lays out Richards instead.

Harlem Heat vs. Scott Norton/Konnan

There’s no Stevie for no apparent reason. Booker says Ray has pulled his Achilles so he’ll fight either Konnan or Norton right now. The NWO says this is supposed to be a tag match so it’s a handicap match. Konnan starts and misses a charge into the corner but comes back with a backdrop. That gets him nowhere as Booker pops up with a SPINAROONI and the side kick for two.

Booker tries to speed things up but Norton low bridges him to the floor. Even Vincent gets in some shots before it’s back inside for a full nelson slam from Booker. Booker keeps fighting back but eventually is caught in a spike piledriver to kill him dead. In a really stupid ending, Vincent comes in to beat on Booker as well for the DQ. Was there a point to this that I’m just missing?

Rating: D. This was barely long enough to rate and it wasn’t any good on top of that. Booker would go on to huge heights while Konnan and Norton never were a full time team. I’m assuming Buff is hurt or maybe they’re just swapping the guys out for fun at this point. This came off like pure filler.

The Nitro Girls dance a bit.

US Title: Jeff Jarrett vs. Curt Hennig

Feeling out process to start with Hennig being sent to the floor. Back in and Curt gets sent right back outside as we’re filling in time. Back in again and Jeff hits a dropkick for two, sending the champion right back out to the floor. Curt comes in again and goes for the leg, hitting a chop block and wrapping it around the post. Hennig tries a chair shot against the post but Jeff sends Hennig into the chair instead.

A hot shot into the barricade has Hennig in trouble but the crowd isn’t all that interested. Granted it’s probably because that’s Jeff Jarrett out there beating Hennig up. Curt clotheslines Jeff out to the floor again (noticing a pattern here?) but Jeff crotches him against the post to take over. A swinging neckbreaker hits Perfect to put both guys down.

There’s a sleeper by Curt which doesn’t last long at all. Hennig fires off more kicks to Jeff but walks into a DDT for no cover. Now Jeff starts going after Hennig’s knee before hitting the signature slingshot to Curt. Liz distracts the referee as Jeff puts on the Figure Four. Savage sneaks in to hand Curt the title which knocks out Jeff to allow for the PerfectPlex to retain.

Rating: D+. You know for two guys who are as old school as these two, the chemistry wasn’t working at all here. They spent a lot of the time on the floor but the crowd didn’t seem to care at all. Like I said though, Jarrett didn’t get anyone to care and the match was heatless as a result. Thankfully he would be gone in two weeks.

Post match Jarrett gets beaten down until Giant makes the save to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. This wasn’t their best show of the year. Other than Goldberg debuting which wasn’t a big deal for a long time, not a lot happened on this show. We had two of the top matches officially announced even though it was clear those were already going to happen. This wasn’t a bad show but there’s nothing on it worth seeing other than a three minute match for history’s sake.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Nitro #105
Date: September 15, 1997
Location: Independence Arena, Charlotte, North Carolina
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone

It’s the night after Fall Brawl and to the shock of no one paying attention, the NWO beat up WCW again last night. This time though they did it with the help of Curt Hennig, who turned on the Horsemen last night and slammed the cage door on Flair’s head. The NWO won WarGames after Mongo submitted to make the NWO stop beating on Flair, which of course they did anyway. Halloween Havoc is in about six weeks. Let’s get to it.

We open with a shot of Flair in the emergency room and Tony says he can’t do the show tonight. Apparently Flair got him into the business and he’s too disturbed to do this. Well if that’s what we get from Flair having his head crushed, I can’t say I’m that upset.

Dean Malenko vs. Disco Inferno

Dean has a bad knee from last night thanks to Jarrett. Disco arm drags him down but walks into a clothesline like the idiot that he is. Malenko pounds away which isn’t exactly his norm. A leg lariat puts Disco down but he rakes the eyes to break up the Cloverleaf. Inferno tries a double ax off the middle rope but jumps into a punch to the ribs. Back to the stomping for Dean which is something you almost never get to say.

Disco gets up an elbow in the corner to slow Dean down but charges into a powerslam. Dean hammers away but can’t get into it because A, he’s Dean Malenko and B, his knee is messed up. Disco, FINALLY having a brain, goes after the big bandage on the knee. Malenko can barely even run the ropes but he’s pulling a Bret Hart as he grabs Disco in the double underhook powerbomb and Cloverleafs him for the win.

Rating: C-. Disco was just a foil here but Dean was selling the knee very well. Note the difference here between his selling and most regular selling: Dean actually changed up his style because of an injury rather than doing his regular stuff and holding his knee. That’s a BIG difference and it makes an injury that much more believable.

Eddie is on WCW.com.

Faces of Fear vs. Harlem Heat

Mike runs down the card for the rest of the card and it’s rather refreshing over hearing Tony’s same stuff over and over. Stevie and Meng start things off and Meng be clubberin. Barbarian comes in illegally and Stevie clears the ring. Off to Booker but the monsters double team him down and take over. A double headbutt keeps Booker down in the corner and it’s off to Barbarian.

Raven is sitting in the crowd. Back to Stevie who gets choked down by Meng as things slow down. Back to Barbie for more slow chops and strikes and an even slower choke. Ray comes back with a falling suplex and there’s the hot tag to Booker. He cleans house as everything breaks down but Meng gets Booker in the Tongan Death Grip for the win.

Rating: D+. This was a pretty slow paced match that didn’t really work all that well. As I’ve talked about before, there’s no reason for these teams to be fighting when no one ever gets a title shot at the Outsiders other than the Steiners on occasion. The Faces of Fear were fine for what they were but they never went anywhere.

Gene talks to Page (and even fires off a Diamond Cutter sign) and apparently it’s going to be Page vs. Savage III at Halloween Havoc.

Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera

Rey takes off his mask to reveal another one before giving the original to the crowd. Not only is this cool, but Mike’s panicking when Rey unhooked the match was hilarious. Mysterio immediately takes him down for two but Juvy escapes into a headlock. A flying headscissors puts Guerrera down again but Rey gets draped over the top. With Rey on the apron, Juvy hits a running sunset bomb out to the floor in a SICK looking bump.

A suplex back in sets up a slingshot legdrop from Juvy for two. Rey counters a powerbomb into a seated senton for no count as Juvy is in the ropes and things start speeding up. A kind of Sky High from Rey gets two as does a top rope rana. Juvy comes right back with a falling back powerbomb to put both guys down. This is starting to get pretty awesome. Juvy misses a charge into the corner and winds up on the floor so Rey can hit a BIG flip dive over the corner into a seated senton to take both guys out. Back in and Juvy springboards into a powerbomb and a perfectly smooth West Coast Pop gets the pin.

Rating: B. Take two cruiserweights, give them seven minutes and let them wow the crowd. It worked time after time and it worked here again. This was nothing but a spot fest and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. It’s WCW sticking with the idea of something for everyone again and it works here again. Really good stuff here.

Rey says he’s coming for Konnan.

TV Title: Alex Wright vs. Steven Regal

Regal is challenging. Wright immediately takes him down with an armdrag and it’s time to dance! They trade arm control until Regal takes him down to the mat with an arm hold of his own. Nice job of trading the same moves there. A big slap to the face staggers Wright so he comes back with European uppercuts from one European to the other.

The crowd actually cheers for Regal which isn’t something you often hear. That’s a good sign for Wright as a heel if nothing else. Alex dances a bit and Regal dropkicks him down to a face pop. Both guys collide and hit the mat to give them a breather. The challenger wins a slugout but can’t get the Regal Stretch on before Alex makes the rope. They trade rollups until Regal is sent into the corner and staggers into a German suplex to retain the title.

Rating: C+. Wright is definitely getting over as a heel and Regal is as solid as ever. This title would bounce around more than any other in the company which made for exciting periods, but the feuds never really went anywhere. At the end of the day, there weren’t a ton of feuds going on and that’s why the title didn’t mean much for a good while.

Ray Traylor will fight any member of the NWO if they’re man enough to face him.

Konnan vs. The Giant

Apparently Tony can’t bring himself out to do commentary. Still a sweet show so far. Giant tosses Konnan to the floor to start and the beating begins. Konnan tries to fire off some shots but they have no effect. We head to the floor again with Konnan trying to run but getting a headbutt for his efforts. Back in and Konnan is in BIG trouble as he gets slammed down. We head to the floor yet again and Konnan gets in some shots as they come back in, only to jump into the chokeslam for the pin. Total squash.

Hour #2 begins and STILL NO TONY!

Nitro Girls do their thing.

The announcers discuss if the Horsemen are dead or not. Larry is SURE that Curt was in the NWO since he got here.

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Stevie Richards

Stevie tunes up the band before getting in the Crane stance from Karate Kid. Page gives him the Diamond sign before starting to pound on the shoulder. A gutwrench gutbuster puts Richards down but Richards manages to guillotine him on the top rope. Raven is watching intently. Richards hits a running elbow in the corner before getting punched in the face for his efforts. TKO ends this easily for Page.

Rating: D. This was just to do more stuff with Raven vs. Stevie, even though Richards wouldn’t be around much longer at all. Page was just killing time before the next match with Savage before he could head towards the rest of his feud with the NWO. Actually I think he would be fighting Raven soon too.

Raven slaps Richards and sends him to the floor post match before leaving through the crowd.

Tag Titles: Outsiders vs. Wrath/Mortis

Hall and Mortis start things off with the Outsiders making fun of how over the top the challengers are. Scott cranks on the arm before pounding away but Mortis comes back with a big kick. He then spits on Hall’s body, despite wearing am ask meaning the spit would go nowhere. Hall comes right back with the fallaway slam and it’s off to Wrath vs. Nash.

Big Kev pounds him into the corner but Wrath throws him into the opposite corner and beats the TAR out of Nash, including getting two off a bicycle kick. Off to Mortis for a Russian legsweep and a middle rope legdrop for two each. A Syxx distraction lets Nash get in the big boot to both guys. The Jackknife ends Mortis.

Rating: C+. WAY better than I was expecting here, which is what I’ve wound up saying about every Mortis/Wrath match I’ve seen so far. Wrath had potential if he never had to talk, but since it was WCW he wound up being fed to people like Nash and Rick Steiner for the sake of making the old guys look good. The fans were getting into this when the Outsiders were in trouble. Naturally Hall and Nash wouldn’t be beaten for the titles until January.

Here are Bischoff and Hogan flanked by the rest of the NWO. Flair’s music plays and here’s Hennig in Flair’s red robe. Just getting everyone into the ring took SEVEN MINUTES. Hennig is welcomed into the team and gets hit in the head with a drink. Curt talks about how good it felt to slam the door on Ric’s head last night and join the greatest wrestling organization in wrestling history. He gives the robe to Hogan and we get an evil laugh.

Savage says he’ll beat DDP at Havoc. Hogan talks about how Piper was President of the WWF and tried to boss him around. I’ll leave it to you all as an exercise to figure out how stupid that line is. Now Piper has lied about going home to his family. Hall and Hogan tell Piper to come visit him “down here” (basically the NWO version of Suck It) and say Sting won’t be a problem after that. This was nearly 14 minutes of NOTHING.

Video on Piper vs. Hogan.

Cruiserweight Title: Eddie Guerrero vs. Ultimo Dragon

Eddie won the title last night. They immediately head to the mat but it’s a standoff. With no one being able to get an advantage, Dragon offers a test of strength. Apparently Eddie isn’t interested as he kicks Dragon down and then dropkicks him in the mask. Eddie cranks on the arm for a bit and even throws in an old fashioned hammerlock slam ala Arn Anderson. A few European uppercuts stagger Dragon but Eddie charges into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker to reset things a bit.

Eddie sends Dragon into the corner and there’s the headstand in the corner. Its hypnotic powers continue to astound and Eddie gets kicked in the face. A BIG running Liger Bomb gets a near fall for Dragon so it’s time for a freaking giant swing. Dragon’s arm goes out before he can really get going, but he still manages to counter an Eddie powerbomb.

Guerrero tries to send him into the corner but gets caught in a regular sleeper that grows a tail and breathes enough fire to turn into the Dragon Sleeper. Eddie somehow kicks Dragon in the head to escape, followed by a shoulder breaker (psychology!) and the Frog Splash retains. Nice to see the arm work earlier coming back more than once.

Rating: B-. Even more good stuff from the cruiserweights here as Eddie begins his reign on top. Dragon was a good guy to put in a spot like this as he’s been established as solid already but isn’t going to get the title off Eddie yet. Good stuff here too with both guys flying around but not so much to make it a spot fest. Eddie was on fire back then.

Nitro Girls.

US Title: Steve McMichael vs. Curt Hennig

Mongo is both defending and out for revenge at the same time. He sprints to the ring and the fight is on fast. Hennig decks him fast but Mongo stares him down. He throws Hennig down but McMichael can’t even hit a double ax handle right. Hennig takes the knee out and wraps it around the post before cannonballing down onto it ala Flair. Off to a reverse Figure Four but Mongo pokes him in the eye to break out. Hennig takes Mongo right back down and works on the knee even more.

Mongo comes back with some kicks (remember what I said about psychology earlier?) but Curt pounds him down and works on the leg even more. Steve throws Curt into the corner and yells at him a lot before throwing Hennig into the corner for the crotching. Mongo hits some clotheslines and an atomic drop to REALLY emphasize that he isn’t selling the leg. Hennig gets rammed into three buckles but avoids the three point stance charge. Mongo hits the bottom buckle (not really but close enough) and the PerfectPlex gives the NWO the title.

Rating: D. To clarify, anything bad about this is ALL on Mongo. He couldn’t sell, he couldn’t hit a buckle, and he couldn’t even hit a freaking DOUBLE AX HANDLE properly. You put your hands together and whack a guy in the back. Thankfully they kept this short and it was clear that there was no way Mongo was winning here. This was pretty much it for Mongo as far as anything important. Also, how weird is it to see the title change completely clean like that?

Overall Rating: B-. More good wrestling here but it’s getting annoying seeing WCW get strong one week and then get crushed even harder a week later. Unfortunately once the time came for WCW to get their big win, that got screwed up too. There’s some good wrestling here though and the shows were really getting into a groove at this point.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Nitro #104
Date: September 8, 1997
Location: Wisconsin Center Arena, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Attendance: 8,596
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko

It’s the go home show for Fall Brawl which I don’t think we have much of a confirmed card for. It’s pretty clear that Luger, Page, Hall and Savage will be in WarGames but other than that we don’t have much confirmed. This week’s show has to be better than last week’s or at least less dull. Hopefully this won’t be a bunch of whining from the announcers for two hours again. Let’s get to it.

We open with the Nitro Girls dancing in the ring with Tony running down the card for tonight.

Tony tells us that Flair is on Team WCW along with Luger and Page for WarGames. He starts to talk about the Horsemen parody last week but gets cut off by Eric Bischoff. Eric says run the tape but after a few moments, the tape cuts off and we see the Horsemen at the desk instead. Mongo (booed because he used to be a Bear (and a Packer) and we’re in Packer country) wants to fight right now and the Horsemen march to the ring.

They want the NWO right now so of course no one comes out. Hennig says that since he’s the enforcer of the Horsemen, it’s his job to get revenge. Flair says that last year was the first time that he was embarrassed to be a pro wrestler. Oh just wait Slick Ric. Just wait. Flair says that he’s not leaving until he gets his hands on Bagwell, Syxx, Konnan and Nash.

Post break the Horsemen are being escorted out of the ring.

Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Eddie Guerrero

During the entrances, Tony says that the new commissioner might be named tonight. Eddie grabs Rey’s arm to start but gets tossed around to break the hold. Guerrero comes back with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker before cranking on the arm some more before we go to break. Back with Eddie cranking on the arm some more until Rey breaks out and pounds on Eddie, only to get slammed back down.

Guerrero slides to the floor for no apparent reason, allowing Rey to dive down onto him to take over. Tony of course talks about the NWO and basically ignore the match while Tenay tries to keep the focus in place. Back in and a moonsault press gets two on Eddie but Guerrero catches a top rope cross body in a slam for two of his own. A BIG powerbomb takes Rey down again for two more, as does a butterfly powerbomb. Eddie busts out the Gory Special, but Rey rolls off his back to escape. Rey escapes powerbomb attempt #2 and heads to the apron, hitting West Coast Pop out of nowhere for the win.

Rating: B-. These two are guys that you always expect a good match out of. They would have a masterpiece at Halloween Havoc and while this is nowhere near that one, it’s still a solid back and forth match and a good choice for an opener. Also, can anyone take a powerbomb as well as Rey Mysterio? He sells them really well.

DDP says he wants respect and thinks both he and Luger have earned said respect. Tonight it’s Luger vs. Page so Team WCW can get along on Sunday. Luger says ok but don’t hold anything back.

Hugh Morrus vs. Disco Inferno

This is fallout from last week. Hugh pounds him down to start with clotheslines and headbutts, followed by a good looking spinwheel kick. The future Tough Enough trainer misses a corner splash though and crashes out to the floor for a bit. Back in and Disco slaps him because Disco isn’t that bright. Cue Alex Wright for some dancing as Morrus loads up No Laughing Matter (moonsault). Wright slides in the belt, but Disco puts it face down on his chest to injure himself. Like I said, he’s not that bright. Morrus gets the pin over the idiot.

Wright and Disco argue post match.

The NWO makes fun of the Horsemen again and apparently it’s Konnan/Bagwell vs. two Horsemen tonight.

Cruiserweight Title: Brad Armstrong vs. Chris Jericho

Before the match here’s Eddie to say that last week he should have gotten a shot. He asks Brad to step aside here but Brad basically ignores him and jumps the champ to start things off. Apparently the winner of this has to defend against Guerrero on Sunday anyway. Dang Eddie is greedy isn’t he? And didn’t he lose earlier tonight anyway?

Jericho blocks a monkey flip to send Brad to the floor, followed by a suicide dive from the champ. Back in and Jericho charges into a boot followed by a tornado DDT from Armstrong for two. Jericho comes back with a standing Lionsault for two followed by the missile dropkick to send Armstrong to the floor. Not that it matters as Eddie runs in for the DQ.

Rating: C+. These two were working well together with some solid back and forth stuff. Unfortunately it didn’t get to go anywhere because Armstrong was there to fill in a spot, but he could fill in a spot quite well. With Mysterio back and Eddie going after the title, the Cruiserweights are about to come back with a vengeance. Good stuff here and I wouldn’t mind seeing more from these two.

Hour #2 begins and it’s time to dance.

We recap Hogan beating up JJ from last week, which brings out Bischoff and Hogan. Eric introduces him as the champion of the universe before handing the mic to Hogan. Hollywood says everyone is here to see the NWO. Yeah that’s pretty much true. Flair isn’t the man apparently. I don’t remember him saying that lately but ok then. Hollywood says no one is going to touch Bischoff again. He’s kind of all over the place here. The Horsemen are going down tonight apparently. Finally, Hogan says he’ll put the title on the line RIGHT NOW against Sting.

Hogan poses…..AND HERE’S STING! He falls REALLY fast and hits the barricade….and it’s a mannequin. This causes Tony to have to act concerned and he makes Stephanie McMahon look Oscar worthy. Hogan freaks out and says that’s not what is supposed to happen and a stretcher comes out. The NWO picks Sting up and puts him limp body in the ring as Tony gets what’s going on. Hogan drops a pair of legs and Bischoff, now in a referee’s shirt, counts the pin.

Lee Marshall does his schtick.

Faces of Fear vs. Steiner Brothers

Scott starts and immediately walks into a powerslam from Barbarian. That’s not something you see that often. A double tag brings in Rick to face Meng and the Steiners clear the ring for their signature running around the ring pose. Of all teams that face the Steiners, the Faces of Fear actually are the ones smart enough to rush the Steiners when they’re posing and get the advantage.

We wind up with Meng vs. Rick with Meng hitting the dropkick which always impressed Jesse Ventura. Off to Barbarian for another powerslam for two as Rick is in trouble. Back to Meng who gets caught in a sunset flip of all things. That goes nowhere so it’s back to the Barbarian for a double headbutt from the monsters. Off to a chinlock by the Tongan which doesn’t last long as Rick fights up and hits a Steiner Line. The third slam of the match by Barbarian looks to set up the diving headbutt but Rick dodges.

The hot tag brings in Scott who cleans house until everything breaks down. Barbarian gets caught in a belly to belly superplex from Scott but Meng puts Rick in the Tongan Death Grip. Cue Harlem Heat along with Mortis/Wrath for the double DQ. Heenan: “Why do the NWO guys never fight each other like this?” Oh don’t worry Bobby. They will, and in different color shirts!

Rating: C+. The Faces of Fear were on a mini roll at this point and would have a surprisingly good match with Mortis and Wrath on Sunday. The Steiners would continue to spin their wheels against Harlem Heat while they waited to be able to win the titles they should have won about five times already. Another decent little match here.

Scott Hall vs. Super Calo

Hall wants Calo to take his glasses off, even though I believe they’re painted onto his face. Calo gets a shot in on Hall in the corner and that’s about the extent of his offense. Hall sends him to the floor before going back inside and cranking away on both arms. The fallaway slam from the middle rope sets up the Outsider’s Edge to end this squash.

Post match Big Bubba comes in to face off with Hall and lay him out with a spinebuster. Vincent comes out and takes a Boss Man Slam before Hogan himself comes out. Boss Man stares him down but poses in the corner, allowing Hall to hit the Outsider’s Edge and lay him down. Total time for Traylor to stand tall: about 83 seconds. Hogan calls him the Big Loss Man.

Dean Malenko vs. Psychosis

Apparently the winner of Malenko vs. Jarrett on Sunday gets a shot at the US Title at Halloween Havoc. They head to the mat quickly and why would you ever do that against Dean Malenko? Psychosis breaks a headscissors and gets up, only to get caught in a standing armbar. Psychosis tries a leg lock but Dean is in the ropes before it can be on full. A dropkick puts the masked dude on the floor and as they come back in, a fan tries to come in. Referee Mark Curtis, who might weigh 110lbs soaking wet, KNEES HIM IN THE HEAD and chokes him down until security takes him out.

After that’s settled down, Psychosis kicks Dean to the floor where Sonny Onoo can get in a few shots. Psychosis has to save Sonny from getting killed and we head inside again. Scratch that as we go right back to the floor where Psychosis hits a good looking suicide dive. That and a victory roll get two for Psychosis back inside but Dean takes him down with a leg lariat. Psychosis slams him down and loads up the guillotine legdrop but it only gets two. Sonny argues with the referee, which winds up meaning nothing as Dean counters a rana attempt into the Cloverleaf for the tap out.

Rating: C. Not bad again here as Dean can barely do anything wrong in 1997. Sonny Onoo as a manager was about as worthless as you could get as a manager around this time as he just kind of stood around and yelled at people while throwing kicks that didn’t do much damage. Also it’s interesting to see the cruiserweights being pushed more and more lately. It isn’t likely to last but it’s cool while it lasts.

Jarrett comes out and wants to fight right now but immediately runs away.

WE get the reveal of the new commissioner and it’s Roddy Piper. He says this is like putting John Belushi in charge of the frat house. Well Bluto became a Senator (and President if you got the anniversary edition) so that might not be a bad idea. Piper says he used to be President of the WWF so tonight he’s going to do three things. First of all he guarantees Sting vs. Hogan by the end of the year (BIG pop). Then he says he’s facing Hogan at Halloween Havoc in a cage (not as big of a pop). Finally he’s putting the Horsemen in WarGames (moderate pop). Not a terrible start I guess.

Ric Flair/Curt Hennig vs. Buff Bagwell/Konnan

The Horsemen clear the ring to start before we get down to Bagwell vs. Flair. Flair chops away to start but gets clotheslined and backdropped down. I’ll give Flair this: he never had an issue with making any kid look good. Off to Konnan for some choking before it’s back to Buff. Nice to see the Cuban contingent contributing so much here.

A dropkick puts Flair down again and it’s off to the corner for a Flair Flip. Naturally he runs the apron to go up top, but surprisingly enough he isn’t slammed down. Instead Buff crotches and superplexes him down for no cover. Buff poses as even Konnan is yelling at him to do something. A top rope elbow misses and it’s hot tag to Hennig who cleans house. The NWO is sent to the floor and Bagwell sneaks back in to take out Hennig’s knee.

Konnan drops Curt on the steps before getting tagged back in to work on the knee. A kick to the face misses though and it’s another hot tag to Flair to face Buff. Tony of course is going nuts about how THIS is how you work together. Flair fires off chops but walks into a powerslam because Heaven help us if WCW gets to look strong over Buff freaking Bagwell. Hennig jumps Buff and Flair locks on the Figure Four but Konnan makes a fast save. A quick PerfectPlex on Konnan gets the win despite neither guy being legal.

Rating: C. Basic tag match here to set up WarGames a bit more which is fine. Hennig looked good and Bagwell continued to look goofy as he always did. Flair wasn’t exactly furious here like he said he would be earlier, which makes the match seem like it doesn’t mean all that much. Still though, not bad.

Lex Luger vs. Diamond Dallas Page

Luger shoves him down to start as Tony says let them go at it. This coming from the same “STOP FIGHTING AND WORK TOGETHER” guy. Lex cranks on the arm and grabs a headlock before running Page over with a clothesline. Cue the NWO as Page throws Luger to the floor. Page didn’t seem to know the NWO was there.

Luger gets beaten up and thrown back in as now DDP sees the NWO. A neckbreaker gets two on Lex and there’s the Pancake for two more. Lex comes back with a belly to back suplex and his string of clotheslines. The third one misses though and Lex falls to the floor. Page follows and brawls with the NWO for the DQ.

Rating: D+. This was storyline advancement rather than a match. Page and Luger’s issues are pretty much done now as they threw up their hands and said forget about it. Well why bother having a conclusion to a storyline when you can just stop working on it at all? They would face Hall/Savage again on Sunday.

Page and Luger beat up the NWO as the Giant comes down to help. WCW stands tall to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. For a go home show, this was a pretty solid edition with a lot of at least decent matches. The main issue here is that the Horsemen didn’t close the show despite being the Team WCW for Sunday’s WarGames. Still though, good stuff here overall with some solid cruiserweight stuff. I don’t know what’s gotten into WCW lately with them but it’s working well.

Here’s Fall Brawl if you’re interested:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2013/01/16/fall-brawl-1997-wcw-gets-beaten-up-again/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

I’ve touched on this before.I was watching a Nitro last night and Alex Wright put his feet on the ropes to cheat.  At Genesis this past week, there were multiple instances where a heel pulled the trunks to win.  Why don’t we see these kind of things more often?  It’s so simple and it’s almost a guaranteed way to make the people boo you, but instead it’s almost always interference or something like that.  In WWE, when is the last time we got a belt shot to the head?  It may be easy heat, but it’s better than no heat.

Monday Nitro #103
Date: September 1, 1997
Location: Pensacola Civic Center, Pensacola, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schivaone, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko

We’re two weeks from Fall Brawl which has barely been touched on so far. The show wound up being pretty lame if I remember right but that goes without saying for a lot of these WCW PPVs. The main event tonight is a rematch from Clash of the Champions with Hall/Savage vs. Luger/Page. Let’s get to it.

This is the two year anniversary. Ok then.

We open with a video package on the career of Arn Anderson. That’s very cool and he still doesn’t get the recognition he deserves.

We also recap Hennig getting Arn’s spot on the team last week.

Eddie Guerrero/Jeff Jarrett vs. Steve McMichael/Chris Benoit

Like a true man from Memphis, Jarrett stalls on the floor before we get going. Benoit and Guerrero start things off and it’s a feeling out process. Considering how often they’ve fought, you wouldn’t think they would need to feel each other out. Eddie pounds him into the corner and does that spinning boot onto Benoit’s eyes move of his. Jarrett comes in and gets chopped down as we take a break.

Back with Guerrero doing pushups to annoy Benoit. So he’s Scott Steiner now? Jeff comes in again for a dropkick onto Chris before it’s back to Eddie. Chris gets a fast two off a rollup but gets caught by Jarrett in the running crotch attack while in 619 position. Benoit chops Jeff down and Mongo adds a clothesline to a BIG pop. Eddie comes back in with a clothesline to Benoit but Mongo breaks up the Frog Splash.

The Canadian hits a fast superplex to put both guys down and the hot tag brings in Mongo to clean house on both heels. Everything breaks down and Eddie trips Benoit up, allowing Jarrett to chop block McMichael. Jeff puts on the Figure Four and Eddie goes up for the Frog Splash, only to have Dean Malenko come in, shove Eddie off the top, and frog splash Jeff to break up the hold. Mongo gets the easy pin.

Rating: C+. Basic tag match here which went fine. I don’t know why it took so long for Dean to get involved with the Horsemen as he’s pretty close to a natural fit for them. Jarrett wasn’t long for WCW as he would have his last televised match in the company in the first week of October. Pretty decent opener here though and it advanced the story, even though I’m not sure they knew what that story was anymore.

Luger congratulates Arn on his career. I’d expect a lot of these testimonial kind of things tonight.

Here are Hall, Savage and Liz to the announce desk. Hall steals the mic from Larry and says Happy Labor Day. He talks about doing it for the little man and says the NWO is the real draw instead of WCW. Come on dude don’t rub it in that much. Hall brags about the NWO’s disrespect of authority to Larry who doesn’t have a great comeback. Savage challenges Page and Luger to a rematch that was already talked about earlier and that’s about it.

Silver King vs. Mortis

Mortis pounds away to start but King flips over him ala Daniel Bryan and kicks Mortis’ face off. Well his mask off but you get the idea. A mini springboard kick to Mortis’ gets another two as you may be noticing a pattern emerging here. Vandenberg finally realizes Mortis is losing to freaking Silver King and trips him up to let Mortis take over.

A guillotine legdrop gets two for the masked (Mortis if you’re not clear on that) dude before hooking an abdominal stretch for a few moments. King hits a quick backdrop and a paid of dropkicks to send Mortis outside for a plancha to take him down again. Back in they go and King’s run ends via a Russian legsweep. The Flatliner (middle rope Samoan Drop) gets the pin in an abrupt ending.

Rating: C-. This wasn’t bad but at the end of the day how interested can you get in Silver King vs. Mortis? That’s one of the things you did get on Nitro: matches between guys you would never think to put together that wound up being decent. They have these guys under contract, so why not throw them out there for five minutes and see what they can do?

Vandenberg wants the Faces of Fear to come out here, only to have his boys cleaned out by the monsters.

Time for some dancing chicks.

We recap Bischoff getting beaten up by Sting last week.

Yuji Nagata vs. Dean Malenko

Bah it’s Nagata. I never cared for this guy and he never was anything interesting in WCW. They fight for control to start until Dean takes him down to the mat and cranks on the arm a bit. Both guys try for the others’ leg with Yuji settling for the ankle. Dean is all like “oh you did not just try a mat hold on me” and puts on a freaky leg lock that only lasts a few seconds until Yuji gets a rope. Dean hits his leg lariat for one and we hit the chinlock.

Nagata fights up quickly and counters a whip into the corner with a boot to the face. We get the dragon screw leg whip which is getting more and more common in WCW at this point. They fight for the submissions on the mat again with Dean trying for a cross armbreaker that doesn’t last long due to those pesky ropes. Dean suplexes Nagata down for two and Nagata gets the same off a backdrop. Cue Jarrett for revenge from earlier (shouldn’t this be Eddie?). Debra distracts the referee, allowing Jeff to nail Malenko to give Nagata the win.

Rating: C+. This was one of the more entertaining matches I’ve ever seen from Nagata, although that may have been due to Malenko being able to do no wrong in 1997. The match was very technical, which shows another strength of Nitro: this is the third match of the night and we’ve had a tag match, a high flying match and a technical match. That gives a lot of fan bases something to care about and that’s a great idea.

The Girls dance some more.

La Parka vs. Ultimo Dragon

This is part of Sonny Onoo’s war with the Ultimo Dragon. La Parka pounds away to start and chops Dragon down. Ultimo is fine with that though, coming back with a nip up and an armdrag before sending Parka through the ropes and out to the floor. We head to the floor where Dragon’s handspring elbow misses La Parka but hits the barricade. Dragon tries to suplex Onoo on the floor but gets taken out by a nice suicide dive.

The fans chant for Dragon to mess with la Parka’s mind so he puts Ultimo in the Tree of Woe. A hard kick to Dragon’s chest keeps him down but he fires (see what I did there?) off a clothesline for one and it’s time for some martial arts. La Parka gets two off a powerslam but Dragon escapes a backdrop and fires off the kicks. A bridging fallaway slam (not a move you often see) gets two for Dragon so Sonny distracts the referee. Parka gets a chair but walks into kind of a Van Daminator from Dragon for the pin.

Rating: C. Not bad here although the ending was kind of stupid. The referee sees a chair laying next to the guys, La Parka is out cold, and presumably he would have heard the chair cracking off La Parka’s head, and he’s perfectly ok with that? Eh that’s one of the things you have to deal with in wrestling I guess. Dragon’s feud with Sonny would eventually move onto Nagata as Sonny’s enforcer I believe.

Sonny fires off a kick to Dragon and gets slammed as a result. Dragon puts him in the Dragon Sleeper but has to run from La Parka’s chair.

Buff Bagwell vs. Glacier

Now here’s an interesting match. I didn’t say good mind you but it’s definitely not a pairing I would have put together. Buff of course is obnoxious and makes fun of Glacier’s karate stuff. Ok to be fair it’s Glacier so it’s hard not to make fun of him. They trade armdrags and Buff pulls his eyes back like an Asian person. Ok then. Glacier can’t get in a shot as Buff is ducking around like a boxer. I don’t think a boxer often leapfrogs people but you get the idea.

Buff makes fun of Glacier some more and gets kicked in the head, ribs and chest for his efforts so far. After Bagwell chills (man I’m nailing these unfunny puns tonight) on the floor for a bit he comes back in to get kicked a few more times before Glacier hits a legsweep to take him down. A few shots by Buff slow Glacier down but Vincent actually doing something by tripping Glacier up puts him on the mat. Glacier, ever the schmuck, yells at Vincent instead of focusing on Buff and gets clotheslined in the back of the head for his troubles.

A back elbow to the face gets two for Buff and it’s time to pose. To be fair, Buff is really only good for a Blockbuster and posing so you can’t fault him for going to one of his pair of moves. I don’t think he had the Blockbuster yet anyway. Bagwell charges into a boot in the corner before Glacier unleashes the PALM STRIKES.

A hard kick to Bagwell face drops him but Glacier goes up and misses what I think was supposed to be a splash. Vincent gets kicked in the face as does Bagwell, but Glacier takes him to the top for no apparent reason. Vincent finally does his job again and holds Buff’s foot, sending Glacier to the mat. Blockbuster hits and we’re done.

Rating: D+. Not the best pairing in the world here but they gave me some decent joke material so I’ll forgive it. Either way, Glacier was clearly outliving his limited usefulness at this point while Buff continues to be at the top of the NWO C list. The fact that such a thing exists says a lot about where the team has gone in 13 months.

Larry Z thanks Arn for his career. They were world tag team champions back in the early 90s.

Piper is back at Halloween Havoc.

Lizmark Jr. vs. Villano IV

I’m sure their dads fought at some point. They pound on each other to start but Lizmark dropkicks him to the floor and hits a big over the top dive. Tenay talks about Lizmark and his dad being cliff divers from Acapulco. I don’t know if all this stuff he says is true or not, but man alive does it make matches more interesting. Back in and Villano takes him down with a clothesline and hits a backsplash as Raven is in the audience.

A DDT puts Lizmark down and Villano drops a knee only to get taken down by a spinwheel kick for two. A standing rana gets two more for Lizmark and the seem to mess something up in the corner as Lizmark tries a running dropkick but Villano puts his feet up. Lizmark sends him to the outside and hits a big dive to the floor, only to see Villano IV change with Villano V. Not that it matters as Lizmark hits a standing Lionsault for the pin out of almos nowhere.

Rating: C+. Is this Cruiserweight night or something? This is the third match with a luchador in it out of six matches we’ve had so far. This was entertaining stuff though as Lizmark is a pretty good diver (from Acapulco. Thanks Mike!). The Villanos were fine for a lower card heel gimmick and the match worked pretty well despite how short it was.

Luger says he and Page can get along and asks Page to come out and bury the hatchet. Page is nowhere to be seen so Luger shrugs.

Remember earlier when the Nitro Girls danced? They do that again here, until Disco Inferno comes out to join them. Alex Wright comes out for his match and a dance off breaks out with Inferno.

TV Title: Hugh Morrus vs. Alex Wright

Wright tries to use some speed stuff to avoid Morrus before punching his way out of the corner like a jerk. Hugh charges right back at him and pounds the champion (Wright in case that was missing) in the corner. Wright bails to the floor for a bit before coming back to run a bit more. He gets Morrus to chase him and when your name is Hugh Morrus, it’s pretty clear you’re not that bright. Alex gets in some shots to take Hugh down and works on the knee, wrapping it around the post in the process.

Morrus goes to the floor and hits a clothesline from one leg but gets taken right back down inside. Wright stays on the leg but goes up and gets slammed down. Hugh’s leg is suddenly fine enough to run back and forth to splash Wright in the corners, although he does limp a bit after each one. Disco is at ringside again as Hugh slams Wright down. Disco is pulled in and beaten up but walks into a spinwheel kick for the pin (with feet on the ropes) to retain the title.

Rating: C-. This was going well until Wright got slammed off the top. I get that Morrus is a power guy, but the lack of selling was stupid. Selling does not mean doing all of your moves and then limping a bit. Selling means you CAN’T DO THE MOVES PROPERLY because of your injury. The match didn’t work at that point, and it didn’t do either guy any favors.

Raven is still here.

Heenan spends most of the ten seconds he has to thank Arn for his career complaining that he only has ten seconds.

Video on Sting.

Damien vs. Stevie Richards

As Damien comes to the ring, Raven grabs him for a DDT on the concrete. He throws Damien in to Stevie who didn’t notice what Raven did. Stevie of course performs CPR until Raven smacks him upside the head, making Richards cover him for the pin.

Here’s Gene for an interview with Big Bubba of all people. Bubba says he’s tired of wearing different costumes and his name is Ray Traylor. He got beaten up when he was in the NWO but they never came to check on him. Bischoff sent him a letter throwing him out of the group and that’s it. Now, he wants to take the NWO out. Makes as much sense as any other reason.

Prince Iaukea vs. Ray Traylor

Traylor pounds on him to start (GOOD MAN!) and sends him to the outside after no selling a dropkick. Ray sits on a sunset flip attempt and hits a big boot to send the Prince’s head back to whatever island he’s a prince of. Prince manages to block a powerbomb but walks into the Boss Man Slam to end the squash.

JJ thanks Arn for being awesome.

Gene calls out the Horsemen but instead he gets the NWO. It’s time for a parody! Syxx is Flair and Konnan is Mongo. Syxx has a big fake nose and a bad blonde wig while saying WOO a lot. He calls Flair down to the ring as Tony thinks he’ll be sick. I think the same thing every time you call a show Schiavone. Bagwell is playing Hennig here. Flair talks to Hennig about joining the Horsemen (WOO!). Bagwell keeps chewing the gum and says spot a lot. Flair brings out Anderson (as played by Kevin Nash) who has a bald wig, a neck brace and a cooler. Oh and he’s fat.

Anderson makes fun of himself for being fat and says he feels like he’s in labor here on Labor Day. He talks about how he has average size, speed, quickness, looks, intelligence and carpentry skills but he parlayed that into a wrestling career. Then he hurt his neck and lost the strength in his beer opening hand. A few weeks later he went to a bar and a fat broad slapped him on the back and it woke him up. He looked at the longneck he was drinking from and it was like sand going through an hourglass…..and so are the days of our lives.

Anderson makes fun of himself for being a drunk who would give as much as he could every night he was in the ring. Now he wants the fans to remember him as he is now, not as he was. This brings him to Hennig. All he has left to offer Curt is a spot. Not a liver spot or a dog named Spot, but his spot. Hennig agrees and that’s that. Tony acts like we just saw the Kennedy assassination or something.

This segment apparently was controversial and offended the Horsemen badly. At the end of the day….the NWO are heels. What do you expect them to do? Write Anderson a card and get him a plaque? Yeah the Horsemen probably should have been allowed to run in or something, but this really isn’t as big of a deal as I’ve heard it made out to be.

Given how ridiculous some of Flair’s promos were back in the day and how ridiculous Flair would get, I find it hard to feel bad about this. You can’t be a group on top for so long and not expect to be made fun of once in awhile. If you don’t like it I can totally understand that, but to nearly quit over it as I’ve heard Flair and Anderson wanted to do is a bit much.

Cruiserweight Title: Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Chris Jericho

Eddie comes out before the match to yell at Chavo (who is challenging). He says he’s failed to make Chavo a man, causing Chavo to yell a bit. This draws out Scotty Riggs, Damien, Prince Iaukea and Kidman for no apparent reason. A brawl breaks out and here comes the Villanos. Dragon and Wright are out now. They all get in the ring and throw each other out like a battle royal until only Jericho is left. Eddie blasts him with the belt and hits a frog splash and that’s it.

Giant thanks Anderson.

Here are Hogan and Bischoff to respond to Sting. We still have the main event to go even though this show has felt like it’s been on for nine hours or so now. Eric says that Hogan has driven Sting to the rafters and Hulk suggests Sting get into dry cleaning because he won’t be in the ring anytime soon. Hogan says he wants Sting and calls him down to the ring (and calls him a jabroni in the process). Instead Hulk calls out JJ Dillon and demands that JJ produce Sting. Since there’s no Sting, Hogan beats up JJ instead. Tony walks off set, instantly making this segment better. Dillon gets the spraypaint. Tony is already back.

Randy Savage/Scott Hall vs. Lex Luger/Diamond Dallas Page

Tony of course whines about how hard is job is and dear goodness are we supposed to care? JJ has been treated like a goon since he got here so why are we supposed to be all depressed about this? Luger and Page are in different corners due to not trusting each other until it’s Page vs. Hall to start. They slug it out in the corner with DDP taking over. Off to Savage and you know Page is cool with that.

We take our second break in about five minutes (first was during the NWO’s entrance) and come back to see Hall holding Page in an armbar. Apparently Page hasn’t even tried to tag in Luger yet. Savage takes Page down before it’s back to Scott for the fallaway slam. We hit the chinlock from Savage followed by a double ax from the top for two.

The announcers are sounding like they all just saw their puppies drowned. Page finally hits a discus lariat to drop Hall but Savage distracts the referee from seeing the hot tag. Luger comes in anyway to beat on the NWO with atomic drops all around. Lex accidentally decks Page with the forearm but Racks Savage anyway. There was no tag though so Hall makes the legal pin on Page.

Rating: C-. Just angle advancement for WarGames here but DANG was that commentary annoying. “WE NEED TO WORK TOGETHER!” Yes Tony, we know this because you’ve been saying it FOR THIRTEEN FREAKING MONTHS ALREADY! LEARN A NEW TRICK YOU STUPID PARROT HEADED MAN! The match told a decent story but at this point it’s really hard to care as I just want this show to end.

Luger is frustrated with Page to end the show.

Overall Rating: D. I’m glad I’m laying down as I watch this or I would have collapsed a few times during the show. SWEET GOODNESS did this feel long. It’s one of those episodes that juts keeps going with almost nothing being done at all. This show had ten matches and two LONG talking segments, which is too much for a two hour program. The announcers are reaching the levels of annoying that they’re famous for, as it’s constantly “we’re doomed!” and “please pull together WCW!” Yes, we get it: the NWO is dominating right now. TELL US SOMETHING NEW! Really bad show this week.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Nitro #20
Date: January 15, 1996
Location: James L. Knight Center, Miami, Florida
Commentators: Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan, Steve McMichael

We hit the 20th show as somehow we’re five months into this series. Tonight it’s Luger vs. Savage….again, which should be at least watchable as they tend to be when they fight each other. Hogan vs. Meng as well could be ok. Also we have some guy named Flair vs. some guy named Sting. Wow they really aren’t going for originality are they? Let’s get to it.

Apparently Hogan vs. Meng is billed as just a match vs. a member of the Dungeon and Sting vs. Flair is for the title. Sting vs. Flair is billed as the main event. Keep that in mind. Savage is going to get the winner, presumably at the PPV but they imply next week.

Randy Savage vs. Lex Luger

Apparently if Savage wins or loses he still gets the shot. What the heck kind of sense does that make? Why would Savage deserve a title shot if he loses here? Luger jumps him early as apparently he’s beaten Savage three times in a row now. He beats Randy down on the floor but Savage goes to his vast array of right hands. Heenan again manages to not be able to tell time, saying they’ve been on the floor for six or seven minutes when it’s been maybe 90 seconds.

Savage gets a top rope axe handle for two as they’re flying through this. Randy takes over as this is far closer to a brawl than a wrestling match so far. He gets Luger down with a slam and goes up with a HUGE elbow but Luger gets up. Luger throws him in the Rack for the submission of all things. Lex won’t let go though which is rather surprising. There lies your #1 contender, which Luger points out.

Rating: C+. Savage submitting? Wait the replay shows that Savage’s arm dropped three times, not that he gave up. That makes more sense. This wasn’t anything really bad at all with both guys brawling for the most part which makes sense as this was a big time feud. Not bad at all for the most part.

We’re supposed to have a tag match with Horsemen vs. Dungeon but they all come out at the same time and not ready to fight. They have the new US Champion, the One Man Gang whose initials are far more amusing now. Anderson says he and Sullivan agree that there’s no point in having this war any longer as no one is going to win and it doesn’t gain them anything else. That’s why they feuded for another 6 months.

Sullivan says Flair is awesome and that the Yankees or the Red Sox would love to have him. Giant/Flair vs. Savage/Hogan at the Clash. Sullivan respects Anderson too, but he doesn’t respect Pillman at all. Pillman goes all nuts again about not being afraid so Anderson smacks him upside his head.

Since that match didn’t happen, here’s a standby match.

Public Enemy vs. American Males

This is Public Enemy’s debut. I don’t see good things for a match where Marcus Bagwell is the ring general. The Males jump the males and clear the ring to start. Eric says they’re bringing the newest athletes every week. As in a guy that was rookie of the year ten years ago, a guy that won the world title 8 years ago and former tag team champions are brand new. Got it.

The Males clear the ring again because the first time didn’t explain things well enough I guess. There’s the ECW chant which I’m sure Bischoff has never heard of before. Riggs gets a sunset flip on Grunge for two. Some heel cheating lets Grunge take over for the first time which lasts about 4 seconds.

Heenan suggests Public Enemy use spraypaint to draw pictures. Eric: No spraypaint here. That’s rich. A few seconds later Grunge rolls up Bagwell with tights to win it. This was about as much nothing as you could squeeze into three minutes. Post match the winners put the Males through tables which was a new thing for mainstream audiences at the time. Mongo says they’ll have to pay for those tables. I get why the Dudleys can’t retire now.

WCW World Title: Sting vs. Ric Flair

How many times has that been written over the years? Jimmy is with Flair here. Sting with a pair of nipups to counter Flair and freak him out. We hear again about the lack of PPV this month which is rather stupid. Now let’s talk about Mike Ditka for awhile. Also, the world title match is on third so that Hogan vs. Meng can go on last. Let that sink in a bit.

Sting gets a top rope suplex as we take a break. Sting misses a splash on the ropes as we’re back to allow Flair to take over. There’s a sleeper by Sting but Flair gets a belly to back to escape. They slug it out on the ropes which of course Sting wins. And screw that as Sting goes too fast and gets caught. Figure Four is reversed into a small package for two though.

Backslide gets two for Sting. And there’s Flair’s back to fulfill contractual obligations. Bobby sounds a bit snookered. Sting no sells a chop and here he comes again. Jimmy gets up on the apron to do no good. Here’s Luger to take care of him but when he snatches the Megaphone from Jimmy it hits Sting in the head. The referee is fine with this for some reason and Flair throws on the Figure Four and Sting can’t move so it’s a pinfall for Flair.

Rating: C+. Definitely one of the weaker matches they’ve had but this is a pairing where the rating goes up automatically because of who is in there. These two are guys that have such a history and chemistry together that anytime they fight it’s worth seeing. Nothing great but nothing bad at all which makes for a fine match.

And of course Hogan hits the ring IMMEDIATELY to get as much camera time as possible. I mean less than ten seconds passed between the bell ringing and Hogan and Savage hitting the ring. Hogan yells at Sting about Luger not being on their side and Savage agrees. Again, WHY WAS THIS NEVER A TAG MATCH IN THE MAIN EVENT OF A PPV??? Sting didn’t realize Luger did it apparently.

Sting leaves and it’s the Hulk Hogan Show! He asks Savage why he’s getting a title shot when Luger beat him four times and Hogan is on such a roll. That’s….actually kind of a good point. Why shouldn’t Sting get a title shot if they agree he got shafted just now? Savage says he’s got the shot so get over it.

Jim Belushi will be on Saturday Night. Kind of odd but it’s mainstream appeal I guess.

Hulk Hogan vs. Meng

Yes, this goes on after the world title match between the two biggest stars in WCW history. The stupidity of this is the theme of Super Brawl is IT’S ALL ABOUT THE TITLE. Bischoff starts the kissing up immediately, saying that he’s the king of the sport. Yes, the world champion means nothing and no one else means anything either. It’s all about Hogan.

Meng takes over early as Bischoff likes to say HULK HOGAN a lot. Meng hits the nerve hold as Bischoff talks about how great WCW is. Heenan keeps talking about how Hogan is going to lose and how he has to be right eventually. Meng uses some spike object on Hogan, gets two, Hulk Up, you know the rest, Hogan wins with a shot with the spike.

Rating: C-. Standard 4 minute Hogan beats up a monster match from the 80s. It’s nothing special at all and I mean that pretty literally because it’s been done so many times. This was needing to go on after the main event right? Can’t you see the connection there? Hogan does something he’s done 1000 times so it goes on after the world title. Sure why not.

Savage came out to help and Hogan shakes his hand. The announcers recap things to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. FAR weaker show from last week and what a shock that happens when the older guys were out there. This Hogan stuff needs to end soon and it will as we inch closer and closer to May and the Outsiders. Not a good show by comparison but it wasn’t bad. They were really pushing this whole great month of wrestling and it worked to a certain degree. This wasn’t bad but by comparison it was if that makes sense. Twenty shows in the book. Not bad.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

I did this one specifically for this series so today you get a double shot.

Monday Nitro
Date: January 8, 2001
Location: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, Minnesota
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Scott Hudson, Disco Inferno

It’s the go home show for Sin and since this is 2001 WCW, odds are things are going to make a lot more sense than they did the year before. Scott Steiner is world champion and is getting ready to face Sid and Jeff Jarrett in a fourway on Sunday. That’s only three names though, because the fourth man is a MYSTERY MAN who is running around in a mask at the moment. Let’s get to it.

Here’s Ric Flair who is CEO of the company and flanked by security here. Flair sucks up to the Vikings fans so apparently he’s a face here. He talks about how awesome WCW is but he has business to attend to. Apparently no one wants Mike Sanders to be Commissioner because Sanders won it in a match. Flair isn’t sure but there might have been outside interference to win the job. I guess Flair doesn’t watch his own matches. Anyway, Sanders has to defend the job on Sunday.

As for the world title, Scott Steiner interfered in some match on Thunder so Flair isn’t sure who to put in the main event. Yeah it’s six days before the PPV and they don’t have a main event. Here’s Jarrett to say he’s already in the three way on Sunday, so Sid shouldn’t get in because Sid didn’t beat him. Logical enough I guess. Flair says Jarrett is being a Tennessee Titan (how is that an insult?) and says there’s no three way on Sunday.

This brings out world champion Scott Steiner who wants the three way with Jarrett and the Mystery Man. Instead, it’s going to be a fourway with Sid thrown into the mix. Steiner freaks so Flair shows us a clip of Steiner and Jarrett arguing over Jarrett getting into a qualifying match for the PPV title shot. Now we get a clip from Starrcade where Jeff accidentally hit Steiner with a guitar. Wouldn’t Steiner know both of these things already? Tonight it’s Steiner vs. Jarrett for the title.

Goldberg and Sarge, as in Buddy Lee Parker, get here. Goldberg is looking for Kronik.

Mike Sanders complains about being put in the match on Sunday. Tonight it’s Ron Harris vs. the Cat, as in Sanders’ opponent at Sin.

Shane Douglas yells at Flair in the back and gets a match with Sid as a result. If Shane wins, he might get into the title match.

Chavo Guerrero vs. Shannon Moore

Moore is in 3 Count here which is always awesome. Chavo is Cruiserweight Champion but this is non-title for no apparent reason. The last days of WCW didn’t get much right but Chavo was on fire around this time so the match should be good. Apparently Shane Helms, Moore’s 3 Count teammate and guest commentator for this match, gets a shot on Sunday. Chavo runs his mouth to Helms before the match to hype Sunday. Actually he does even better than that and makes this a title match. If he loses, his rematch is Sunday so Helms is locked out on Sunday.

Cruiserweight Title: Chavo Guerrero vs. Shannon Moore

Shannon jumps him to start and hits some Hardy style offense, including a kind of Whisper in the Wind and Poetry in Motion minus a Matt in the corner. Chavo comes back with a belly to back suplex and some HARD chops. Off to a modified chinlock as Chavo yells trash at Helms. After we kill some time in that, Shannon fights up and gets a fast two off a victory roll. A small package gets the same and it’s back to the chinlock. That goes nowhere so Guerrero settles for a dropkick for two.

Moore comes back with a spinning springboard Fameasser for a near fall of his own before putting Chavo on the top. He tries a springboard something but botches it badly, falling down without touching Chavo at all. A headscissors puts Chavo down for two but he can’t hit a sleeper slam (second Billy Gunn move of the match). Chavo grabs a brainbuster (by name only as it was really a suplex) to retain out of nowhere.

Rating: C. This was your usual cruiserweight spot fest but that’s perfectly fine. At the end of the day this had a lot of untapped potential with Shane wanting to get the title shot but not wanting to screw over his partner at the same time. Instead, Helms sat on the floor and did nothing at all. That’s WCW for you: the one time character development would be good, they don’t do it.

Shane chases Chavo off to prevent another brainbuster.

Kwee Wee and Paisley (Sharmell) arrive and Sanders beats up Kwee Wee (the resident flamboyant gay character) for no apparent reason. Big Vito makes the save for an even less apparent reason.

Luger and Bagwell are in the back standing there. Nothing is said, nothing is done. Ok then.

Ernest Miller vs. Ron Harris

Miller has Ms. Jones, a decent looking Hispanic chick who dances with him, in his corner. Both Harris Brothers get in the ring and Miller says he may be mad but he’s not crazy. He says he has no beef with them but they look like baby Frankensteins and the beating is on. We finally get down to Ron pounding on Miller on his own for a few minutes until the Cat (Miller) comes back with his kicks and dancing elbow. The referee gets in Miller’s face and the twins switch. Not that it matters as they come in and hit their H Bomb finisher for a fast pin. Nothing to see here, other than somehow overbooking a two minute match.

Post break, Miller dances in the back.

General Rection wishes Sid luck.

Jarrett tells Steiner to not let Flair get in his head. There are enough people in there already.

Mike Sanders and the Natural Born Thrillers and the commissioner makes Vito/Kwee Wee vs. two “randomly selected opponents.”

Luger and Bagwell tell Kronik that Sarge and Goldberg have been talking trash about them. A non-sanctioned match is made for later.

Here’s Team Canada (Lance Storm, Mike Awesome, Elix Skipper and Major Gunns) to talk about their opponents on Sunday: the Filthy Animals. Tonight it’s Storm vs. Kidman but on Sunday, the Canadians want a Penalty Box match. If you break a rule, you go to the box. I guess the match is made.

Lance Storm vs. Billy Kidman

Kidman hits a fast rana to take over but he gets draped over the top rope to slow him down. Awesome throws in a chair which Storm wedges between the top and middle ropes but Kidman slows him up to avoid being rammed. Storm hits a backbreaker and bends Kidman over his knee for a bit. We hit the abdominal stretch for a bit before Storm springboards into a dropkick to put both guys down.

Kidman speeds things up and hits a BK Bomb (Sky High) for two before Storm hits a superkick for the same. Kidman’s kickout sends Storm’s head into the chair (not a DQ for no apparent reason) and Kidman rolls him up for two, as Awesome pulls Billy to the floor. A brawl breaks out but it’s STILL not a DQ. Kidman hits the Kid Crusher (Killswitch) for the pin.

Rating: C-. Again the match was fine but they overbooked it with weapons and interference that just wasn’t needed. I get the brawling on the floor between the teams, but at the same time, did we really need to see everything else going on? That kind of stuff can get really annoying and distracting after awhile and that moment was about a year ago in WCW.

Shane Douglas vs. Sid Vicious

Shane jumps him to start but Sid will have none of this selling stuff. We quickly head to the floor where Sid sends him into the barricade to put Shane in even more trouble. Douglas gets dropped face first onto the announce table as the beating continues. Back in and Shane hits Sid low to take over for a bit. Sid comes back with a big boot but Shane pokes him in the eye to break up a chokeslam. The second attempt connects though and a powerbomb ends this quick. Not much above a squash here.

Steiner and Jarrett jump Sid as he leaves.

Flair says Sanders is out of control but he thinks things will work out for the best. If Steiner and Jarrett don’t go their hardest, they’re both suspended and Steiner is stripped of the belt. Also the penalty box match is on and Jim Duggan is referee for no apparent reason. Duggan says he’ll call it fair. Why isn’t he wearing a shirt?

Here’s Hardcore Champion Terry Funk with something to say. He says he’s the king of hardcore and it’s about time for the CEO to realize he’s the king. Flair wants to destroy him by putting him against nobodies like Crowbar. Apparently if Funk associates with nobodies like that, he’ll become one. Gee, GREAT way put over young talent there guys. Funk wants GOLDBERG in a hardcore match. Or Steiner. Or Page. Crowbar finally comes out with a chair (and Daphne dancing with sparklers for some reason) to say he stood toe to toe with Funk at Starrcade. Crowbar idolized Funk growing up apparently. Funk: “You should idolize me.”

Funk says there wouldn’t be hardcore in this country if not for him because he started ECW. Is this an attempt to turn Funk heel? Crowbar says he’s tougher than anyone Funk has ever fought and on Sunday, he’ll take the title from Funk. He promises to take the torch from Funk and become the new leader of hardcore. He charges the ring now but Funk bails. Ok so Funk is a heel. That makes a lot more sense.

Meng sneaks up on Funk and hits him with a chair but can’t put Funk down. He kicks Daphne instead and Death Grips both Funk and Crowbar (literally through the wooden chair Crowbar was holding) and takes the belt, saying (!!!) that if they want the belt, come take it from him. Meng would win the title on Sunday and sign with WWF, returning to the company at the Rumble. You know, because putting a title on a guy you don’t have signed to a contract (in other words, EXACTLY what WCW exploited with ECW) was stupid.

We go to an office in the back (presumably Sanders’) where someone changes the envelope that he had earlier with the names for the match later.

Kronik vs. Goldberg/Dwayne Bruce

The idea here is that Goldberg has to match his old winning streak to get another title shot and if he loses, he’s out of WCW. Bruce is a tiny trainer and has a broken arm thanks to Luger and Bagwell. Adams jumps Goldie in the aisle as Clark beats up Bruce in the ring. Clark, ever the genius, goes out to help beat up Goldberg instead of beating up the career jobber with a broken arm. Even SCHIAVONE says this is stupid.

Clark sends Bruce’s arm into the post as the two of them officially start the match. Off to Adams as Hudson panics. There’s a gorilla press to Bruce but he counters a suplex into a bad DDT. Hot tag to Goldberg, Kronik gets in some offense, Goldberg remembers he’s Goldberg, house is cleaned, Jackhammer, pin. Not enough of the actual match to rate but it was nothing of note.

During Goldberg’s offense, Luger and Bagwell came out and ripped the cast off of Bruce’s arm and beat on the broken arm for a good while. They beat Goldberg up as well and Luger decked Adams for no apparent reason.

Here’s Sanders to pick the names to face Kwee Wee/Big Vito. If your name IS NOT in the envelope, you’re banned from ringside. Apparently this is a last man standing match for no apparent reason. The names are Sanders, Chuck Palumbo, Sean O’Haire (all Natural Born Thrillers) and then the fourth and fifth are DDP and Nash, making it a 3-2 handicap last man standing match. Sure why not. Oh and Page and Nash are tag champions who just happen to be defending against O’Haire and Palumbo on Sunday.

Natural Born Thrillers vs. The Insiders

It’s a huge brawl to start of course with Page getting beaten down by Chuck in the corner. The camera work sucks here as they keep focusing on one thing when a simple wide shot would be perfect. Palumbo and O’Haire superkick each other so only Sanders is left standing. Page hits him low to put all five guys down. Everybody gets up at about 8 thank goodness and Page cleans house. The other Thrillers try to run in but Kwee Wee and Vito (weren’t they supposed to be in this?) hold them off. Page and Nash win with their finishers. This wasn’t even three and a half minutes long.

Rating: F. This was not only bad, but REALLY stupid at the same time. We have the challengers for Sunday with a man advantage and they lose in less than four minutes in a match where you have to stay down longer than for a regular pin? This company deserves to go out of business. Oh and of course Page/Nash would drop the belts on Sunday, because this match means nothing at all.

WCW World Title: Scott Steiner vs. Jeff Jarrett

Steiner says he would beat anyone thrown out here tonight but he gets to face his friend instead. Actually he isn’t and Flair can get over it. Jarrett is in the back and says it’s not happening either. Post break here’s Jeff to say the two of them are tired of this c-o-n-spiracy stuff so the match isn’t happening until Sunday. Flair comes out and says have the match and Jeff is all okey dokey so there’s the bell.

Jarrett pulls back the guitar but Midajah (Steiner’s chick) warns Scott and the beating begins. Steiner charges into some boots in the corner to put him down and Jeff chokes away a bit. A jawbreaker and atomic drop stop a Steiner comeback and a top rope cross body gets two. Steiner comes back with a tilt-a-whirl side slam but stops to pose instead of covering.

Jeff gets put in the Tree of Woe so Steiner can choke a bit and we head outside. Jeff is whipped into the barricade a few times before Steiner slams him onto the announce table. A WEAK low blow slows Steiner down and back inside we go. Back in and Steiner blocks the Stroke before getting two off the belly to belly. Sid and the Mystery Man run in for the double DQ.

Rating: D. This was pure filler with an ending that should have been seen coming a mile away. Steiner was all muscle and dominance and we didn’t have time to see if that would mesh with Jarrett’s basic style. Make no mistake: Jarrett could wrestle with anybody but Steiner was a hard style to work with. The match was nothing at all though.

The fans bark because they think it’s Rick Steiner (it’s not) and a big brawl ends the show.

Overall Rating: D+. This wasn’t terrible, but the lack of star power and the BIG barrier between the old and new guys really stands out here. WCW was long past dead at this point so it’s not like it matters in the long run anyway. Sin was built up well and wound up being a pretty decent show if I remember right, but overall there’s just nothing worth seeing here with some head scratching booking, pretty lame matches and nothing that makes me want to watch Sin. Again though, the company was dead by this point anyway and the stuff that happened at Sin was just filling time until they closed the doors.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Nitro #102
Date: August 25, 1997
Location: Carolina Coliseum, Columbia, South Carolina
Attendance: 8,048
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko

We’re past the Clash and the main change is that we have Sting vs. Hogan on the verge of being announced. Other than that we’re getting ready for Fall Brawl which is in like three weeks I think. The main event tonight is Savage vs. Luger as they renew an old rivalry. Other than that I wouldn’t expect anything big tonight. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the vulture stuff from Clash which is over the top but fits well for Sting at this point.

Here’s Gene in the ring to recap JJ’s offers to Sting. He calls out “Earic” Bischoff to address the possibility of Sting vs. Hogan. Bischoff says ultimatums can come back to bite you, which means the WCW ship has to sail without Sting. JJ is on the phone (seriously? They couldn’t get JJ Dillon to a show?) and says that Eric is jumping to conclusions.

Apparently WCW was flooded with letters from fans so Hogan vs. Sting will happen. Eric FREAKS and says it won’t happen because Hogan is too busy, but if the match happened, Hogan would destroy him. Cue Sting who puts Eric on his knees and puts a Hogan shirt down his throat. Sting smiles for the first time in a year.

Raven jabbers a bit.

The Nitro Girls dance.

Ernest Miller/Glacier vs. La Parka/Psychosis

Glacier vs. La Parka to start with Ice Man kicking him in the face. I’m as shocked as you are I assure you. Psychosis trips up Glacier but gets caught by a spin kick from La Parka in a bit of heel miscommunication. A powerslam puts La Parka down and Psychosis screws up again by hitting his partner by mistake. They’re even now I guess. Miller comes in and gets caught in some EVIL double teaming on the floor while being stretched over the railing. Back in and the masked guys screw up AGAIN with La Parka kicking Psychosis in the head. Everything breaks down and La Parka hits Glacier with a wooden chair for the upset pin.

Rating: D+. What in the world was the point of this? Go show that Glacier and Miller aren’t a good team? I think we established that about the day they started teaming together. Other than that, it’s nice to see a new team who has done well before getting a win, even though they look like the Three Stooges at the same time. Nothing to see here, as usual.

Silver King and Ultimo Dragon come in as the brawl continues post match. Dragon gets beaten down, leading to this.

Silver King vs. Ultimo Dragon

Dragon is in trouble from the beating by all three other luchadores before we get going here. He says he’s ready to go and it’s on. King already misses a charge but a following kick in the corner connects with Dragon to take him down. A top rope legdrop and moonsault get two for King and we hit the chinlock. Silver misses a top rope elbow but takes Dragon’s head off with a clothesline.

King chokes away a bit but jumps into a dropkick as Dragon makes his comeback. He pounds away on King in the corner and adds a Muta Handspring Elbow. A kind of rana is botched by Dragon and both guys are down. They try it again and Dragon gets much higher this time and hits the rana perfectly for two. King goes up and after bumping the cameraman twice, gets caught in the super rana and the Dragon Sleeper for the tap out.

Rating: C-. Not much here but at least they’re trying to give these guys a story. What that story is I’m not sure but at least they’re trying somehow. Other than that though, the botch on the rana wasn’t great and it really slowed the match down. Silver King is a much bigger deal in Mexico, but in WCW he never amounted to anything.

Here are Savage and Hall for a chat. Hall says you can’t have a party without the NWO and they’re the reason why everyone is here and watching on TV at home. Apparently DDP has joined the NWO even though Savage voted no. As for Luger, the slump will continue tonight when he takes the Big Elbow. Gene asks Page to come out and asks if the Diamond Cutter to Luger on Thursday was intentional or not. Page calls the question stupid and says he and Luger will settle their differences like men. Just advancing stories here.

Chris Benoit vs. Jeff Jarrett

Benoit drills him three times in a row to start and ducks the enziguri attempt from Jeff. Jarret heads to the floor and is immediately caught by a baseball slide, so he hides behind Debra like a coward. Back in and Jarrett misses a charge in the corner but manages to avoid the Swan Dive. Jeff goes up top but Benoit pops up for a superplex, but Jarrett hooks Benoit’s legs once they hit the mat for a fast pin. Short but intense as you would imagine from a Benoit match.

The Nitro Girls dance some more.

Mortis/Wrath vs. Faces of Fear

Apparently this is a rematch from Saturday Night where the Faces of Fear lost. Wrath and Barbarian start things off with neither guy being able to keep an advantage. Vandenberg grabs Barbarian’s leg and Wrath kicks him down for two but Barbie pops right back up. A top rope lariat gets two more for Wrath but he misses a middle rope elbow. Off to Meng for a double middle rope headbutt for two more. Everything breaks down so let’s talk about WarGames.

There’s no Jimmy Hart out here with the Fear dudes for some reason. Things calm down a bit and Wrath charges into a Meng boot in the corner. Back to Barbarian who gets caught by a cross body of all things. Not hot tag brings in Mortis to fire off kicks but Meng goes into MONSTER MODE….which lasts about four seconds before Mortis kicks him down for two. Everything breaks down again and Mortis jumps into the Tongan Deathgrip to end this.

Rating: C. I’ll give them this: they’re giving these lower level guys some programs which while not great do in fact exist. So many people today have nothing of note to do and just wait for a story to come along. This isn’t much of a story for these guys but it’s something to do and a chance for them to show their skills a bit. That’s kind of nice to see and the matches aren’t horrible or anything.

Wrath and Meng fight some more post match.

BUY THIS STUFF!

Hour #2 begins.

Here are the Horsemen with something to say. Flair wants to know RIGHT NOW if Hennig is with them or against them. Curt comes out but he says he’s still not ready to give Flair an answer at this point. However, Flair was expecting this so here’s Arn Anderson to give a final sales pitch. Anderson talks about how he’s never been the biggest, the strongest, or the best at anything, but he’s parlayed that into a wrestling career. Then a few months ago he had to have neck surgery which left his left hand (he’s a southpaw) too weak to hold a glass or button a button.

Then a few days ago at the gym, he dropped a water bottle and saw the water falling out of it like the sand in the hourglass of his career. Therefore, he’d rather walk away than endanger the careers of men he respects. Every time he got in the ring, he gave you everything he had and that’s how he wants to be remembered. However he has one more challenge and that’s to Curt Hennig. He asks Hennig to be the new Enforcer of the Horsemen, which is Anderson’s spot on the team. Hennig says it would be a privilege and shakes Arn’s hand to join the team.

US Title: Steve McMichael vs. Eddie Guerrero

Mongo (the champion) gets jumped from behind to start with Eddie going after the knee. A snapmare puts the champ on the mat and Eddie stomps away before hitting a DDT out of the corner for two. A headscissors gets the same as Mongo is in trouble. Steve comes back with some basic power stuff including a slam and another slam and then a SPINNING slam. A charge misses in the corner and Eddie goes up, only to jump into a Tombstone for the pin to retain. Nothing to see here.

Here’s Rey to update us on his knee injury. He shouldn’t have wrestled at Road Wild which brings out Konnan to run his mouth. Trash is spoken but Giant comes out to scare Konnan off.

Bischoff comes out and runs off Heenan and Tenay, saying he and Tony are doing commentary for the rest of the show. Ok then.

Cruiserweight Title: Yuji Nagata vs. Chris Jericho

I never got the appeal of Nagata. I know he’s a big deal in Japan but his WCW stuff bored me to death. Technical stuff to start with Jericho being sent into the ropes where he misses a spinwheel kick. Yuji takes it to the mat and fires off a HARD kick to Jericho. You know, because he’s Japanese and Japanese wrestlers kick a lot. Jericho comes back with a dropkick and slam to set up a springboard splash for two. We hit a chinlock for a bit before Nagata is put in the Tree of Woe for some kicks.

We take a break and come back with Jericho getting dropped stomach first onto the ropes. We head to the floor where Jericho comes back with a cross body and it’s back inside. Yuji punches Jericho coming off the top to break up an ax handle shot. Jericho shrugs that off, hits the Lionsault, the WCW-rare double powerbomb and hooks the Liontamer for the tap out to retain.

Rating: D+. This didn’t work for the most part for me. Nagata is another guy who is just there with no real character or anything resembling one aside from “he’s a big deal in Japan.” Therefore, it’s hard to care about him and it’s hard to buy him as a legit threat to Jericho’s title. Not bad but nothing interesting at all here.

Harlem Heat wants to be #1 contenders but they have to get past the Steiners apparently. Ray talks about not having to go up north (to WWF) or to Japan because they’re the big tag team of WCW. The Steiners come out to say they deserve another title shot because of how the previous match ended. Vicious and Delicious come out to brag and a fight breaks out.

More dancing.

TV Title: Alex Wright vs. Dean Malenko

Alex is defending. Dean messes with him by using amateur stuff on him to start before taking him to the mat for two. The champ heads to the floor and comes back in with a strategy of punch Dean in the face over and over. Sometimes it’s the simplest ideas that work best I suppose. There’s an elbow drop but the champion stops to dance instead of covering.

There’s a backbreaker and Wright bends Dean over his knee for a little while. Wright’s piledriver attempt is blocked into a backdrop. Malenko loads up a superplex but gets shoved down. Instead Dean settles for a dropkick but Wright goes to the eyes to break up the Cloverleaf attempt. A pair of suplexes take Dean down but Dean counters into another Cloverleaf attempt, drawing Dean and Eddie out for the DQ.

Rating: C-. This was just waiting around until we got to the ending. The matches tonight haven’t had much to them at all other than setting up stuff for the future. That’s ok for a bit but when that’s all that happens on the show it gets old. Dean needs Jarrett to go to the WWF already so he and Eddie can just do their thing without being dragged down.

Lex Luger vs. Randy Savage

Savage, an old Memphis man, stalls before we get going. Luger punches him into the ropes and gets pulled away by the referee, resulting in Savage getting in a punch to take over. Randy seems to be keeping things simple tonight with punches and a clothesline as we head to the floor. More basic attacking by Savage as he starts focusing on the ribs by sending Luger into the barricade.

Luger tries crawling around but gets kicked in the head. You can’t say Savage didn’t live up to his name. A double ax off the apron puts Luger down again, preventing him from getting back into the ring. Savage finally throws him back in and drops the top rope ax on him for two. A sleeper on Luger is quickly countered into a belly to back suplex and both guys are down.

Luger gets up first and starts his comeback with his complete assortment of non-Rack moves (punch, clothesline, atomic drop, forearm) before calling for the Rack. Hall of course runs in and rams the guys together by mistake. Page comes out and checks on Luger, resulting in Lex Racking him to end the show.

Rating: D+. This was again just there for the ending to play off the idea of Luger and Page having issues. Based on that, I’ll set the over/under for pleas for WCW to come together at 4 for the first hour of next week’s show alone. Savage and Luger fought forever in WCW so it’s kind of nice to see them rekindle that a bit here.

Overall Rating: D. This show just wasn’t very good. It was almost all angle advancement, but at the same time there weren’t any good matches to back it up. We’re heading into WarGames now and nothing is really set in stone yet. We can see most of the card though, and that’s the most important part. Anderson’s retirement speech is worth checking out, if nothing else to keep in mind for the parody that would follow.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Nitro #101
Date: August 18, 1997
Location: Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center, Birmingham, Alabama
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko

We’re about a month away from Fall Brawl and the final traditional WarGames match with WCW vs. the NWO. On top of that, we’ve got Sting vs. Hogan looming which would be huge financially, but not so great critically. I’m talking about the future so much because there isn’t much to talk about in the next few weeks other than the final Clash of the Champions a few days after this. Let’s get to it.

Raven reads us a poem about ugly people to start things off.

Harlem Heat vs. Vicious and Delicious

Buff and Ray start things off with Buff running his mouth of course. A hiptoss shuts him up for a bit but he comes back with a hiptoss of his own and some posing. Ray still tries to shut him up, this time with a slam and a tag off to his brother. Norton comes in as well to pound down Booker, only to get kicked in the face a few times. Back to Ray who gets grabbed by Buff to give the NWO a quick advantage. A few elbows are dropped before one from the top by Buff misses. Everything breaks down after the hot tag to Ray and Vincent comes in for the fast DQ.

Rating: D+. Nothing to see here as the Heat were out of the NWO’s league here and Vincent continues to be nothing of note. The match was short too but given that this is Nitro, I almost have to take the shorter ones just to have something to rate. The Heat weren’t long for WCW though as it would soon be Booker getting the big singles push.

Booker clears the ring anyway.

Barbarian vs. Mortis

This feud isn’t exactly lighting the world on fire but it’s nice to see a story getting to run its course. During Mortis’ entrance, we hear about Jericho winning the Cruiserweight Title on Saturday Night. Mortis kicks away to start and pounds Barbarian down into the corner. Barbie misses a charge into the post and Mortis hits a Fameasser off the middle rope for two. The guy not in a mask comes back with a powerslam and pounds Mortis down in the corner. Mortis goes up again but dives into a powerslam for another two count. The Kick of Fear ends Mortis a few seconds later. Wow Barbarian gets a clean win on Nitro. That’s different.

Post match Wrath comes in to take Barbarian out but Meng puts him in the Tongan Death Grip to knock Wrath out.

Here’s the NWO for their weekly chat. Bischoff is looking forward to the party on Thursday because Larry Z and Giant can’t come near him. Apparently Giant was arrested last week. Eric wants his own show for the NWO and says he’ll see us Thursday. Just hyping the Clash here.

Flair and Hennig have their weekly promo: “You’re a Horseman!” “No I’m not, but we’ll win our tag match against the NWO anyway.” More Clash hyping.

Stevie Richards vs. Scotty Riggs

Richards charges to the ring like a maniac. Riggs grabs the wrist to start before nearly botching a monkey flip. A dropkick puts Richards on the floor but he rams Scotty’s shoulder into the post to take over. Back in and a sitout spinebuster gets two for Stevie but Scotty comes back with some clotheslines. Richards loses his half shirt and gets caught in a side slam for two. Raven jumps the railing as Stevie hits the Stevie Kick for the pin.

Rating: D. I guess this was to set up future stuff but that didn’t make this any easier to get through. Riggs is just not that good and Richards is a comedy character which doesn’t make for an interesting or good match at all. Not much to see here but that would be the case for a lot of Nitro matches.

Raven lays out Richards with the Even Flow.

Eddie, Debra and Jarrett make fun of the fans and tell Wright that he has to win the TV Title if he wants to hang out with them.

The NWO says this Thursday is going to be their birthday.

Chris Benoit/Steve McMichael vs. Jeff Jarrett/Eddie Guerrero

Benoit and Guerrero start things off with Chris taking over with a gorgeous suplex to send Eddie crawling to Jeff. Jarrett won’t come in to face Mongo who he faces for the US Title on Thursday. Mongo goes after Eddie instead but Jeff sneaks in with a dropkick to the back of McMichael’s knee. The heels start working over said knee with some Horsemen style tactics. A Benoit distraction lets Mongo hit a three point stance charge to take out Guerrero and make a hot tag. Everything breaks down and Eddie has to break up the Crossface on Jeff. Mongo blasts Jeff with the US Title to give Benoit the pin.

Rating: C+. Short but very hot match here. I was hoping for more selling from Mongo of the knee, but they didn’t work on it that long so it’s not terrible I guess. As usual, the less Jeff Jarrett is involved in a Jeff Jarrett match, the more exciting that match becomes. He would be gone in about two months thank goodness.

We recap Sting’s segment with JJ last week.

The Outsiders say they’re ready for Page and Luger tonight. I believe that was the main event of the Clash as well.

Ric Flair vs. Syxx

Road Wild rematch. They have a pose off to start until Flair is backdropped and sent into the corner. It’s a Flair match. Did you expect things to start well for him? He chops Syxx down and takes over with a headlock followed by another after an escape. Flair pounds on the head and clotheslines Syxx down before going after the knee. Syxx comes back with an enziguri to set up the Bronco Buster, drawing huge heat from the southern crowd.

Some chops don’t get Flair that far as Syxx punches him right back down. A guillotine legdrop gets two and there’s the Flair Flip out to the floor. Back in and a second Bronco Buster misses and you can almost feel the crowd laughing as Syxx crotches himself. They punch each other down and it’s Flair up to backdrop Syxx down again. There’s the knee to the head and it’s time to go to school. That also means it’s time for Vincent, Bagwell and Norton to run in for the DQ.

Rating: C. These two fought each other quite a bit and we got some decent matches out of them most of the time. The respect angle was fine, especially when you have a punk like Waltman and a pretty big jerk in Flair out there talking about it. Not much to see here but it was designed to set up the Clash again, which is fine.

Hennig makes the save post match.

JJ and Nick Patrick are with Gene and Dillon says that Nick did nothing wrong at the PPV. Patrick questions Randy Anderson’s officiating, drawing him out for the always fascinating referee argument.

TV Title: Ultimo Dragon vs. La Parka

Dragon is defending of course. Things start fast with Parka getting flipped over and backdropped. Dragon does his headstand in the corner and fires away with the kicks to take the challenger down again. A dropkick sends La Parka to the floor and there’s a big dive by the champion to take him out again.

Sonny Onoo (La Parka’s manager apparently) kicks Dragon down and Parka sends Dragon into the steps. A powerbomb gets two for Parka so he puts Dragon in the Tree of Woe for a kick to the chest. Now let’s stand around for a bit! Dragon comes back, hits the super rana, Sonny’s interference fails, and the Dragon Sleeper retains the belt.

Rating: D+. Just a quick title match here with no doubt as to who was going to win. Dragon was pretty good at what he did but as usual, the lack of mic skills held him down. If we can’t connect with these characters, the matches have to be amazing for them to get over. Dragon was good, but not that good. He would lose the title soon enough anyway.

Curt Hennig vs. The Giant

Hennig slaps him in the face for some reason and is tossed into the corner accordingly. An attempted whip out of the corner fails completely for Hennig so Curt bails to the floor. Giant hits some of those LOUD chops to Curt’s chest and suplexes him down. He calls for the chokeslam and here’s Eric to say that Giant is violating the restraining order. Doug Dillinger (WCW security) won’t do anything about it so Giant goes after Eric, losing via countout in the process. Short and basically a squash until the ending.

Dillinger still won’t do anything so Larry Z comes out to corner Eric. Bischoff runs into the crowd and escapes as cops hold Giant back.

We recap the Sting segment from last week again.

JJ is in the ring with another offer for Sting which I’m sure will work this time. Apparently he doesn’t have a new contract for Sting tonight. Stupid me, thinking the rolled up paper in his hand that has been a contract the last two weeks is a contract again here. JJ says he needs answers from Sting soon or they may have to go their separate ways. Geez even the WCW on screen bosses are stupid. Sting has until the Clash to tell JJ what he wants.

Here’s Sting in the crowd and the fans go nuts. The fans chant Hogan and Sting points at them again. Even TONY FREAKING SCHIAVONE is saying how obvious this is. Sting takes a sign out of the crowd that says Hulk vs. Sting. And JJ STILL doesn’t get it. Apparently HOLDING UP A SIGN THAT SAYS THE MATCH ON IT isn’t telling him what Sting wants.

The NWO is having a birthday party on Thursday.

Tag Titles: Outsiders vs. Diamond Dallas Page/Lex Luger

The announcers point out that the Steiners are being passed over AGAIN here. I’m sure another #1 contenders match is coming up soon too. Hall and Luger start things off as we go past ten o’clock which was a different thing back then. Luger slaps Hall in the face and shoves him into the corner to get things going. He beats on both Outsiders in the NWO corner and Hall tags Nash.

The big man wants Page so they both stand in opposite corners for a bit. The high powered offense begins from Nash until Page takes him down with a swinging neckbreaker for two. Page fires off his shoulder blocks but Nash clotheslines him right back down. DDP escapes Snake Eyes and gets two off a Russian legsweep. Back to Hall for a clothesline and the fallaway slam for two.

Off to the abdominal stretch for a bit until Page hip tosses out of it. Nash breaks up the tag attempt to Luger and it’s time for corner elbows. The Outsiders change without a tag and the referee yells at them. Hall makes an overblown tag and now Snake Eyes hits for no cover. They change again sans tag and Anderson is fine with it now.

Off to a sleeper by Hall and Page is in trouble. His arm drops twice before Page comes back with a belly to back suplex to put both guys down. Nash breaks up the tag AGAIN and clotheslines Page down. Page busts out a headscissors of all things and finally tags in Luger. Not that it matters as the NWO runs in about five seconds later for the DQ.

Rating: B-. I was digging this until the obvious ending. We knew the titles weren’t changing hands here and the NWO would run in, but it was cool to see WCW guys hanging in there this long. They played the formula here and as usual, it worked as well as anything else was going to. Good stuff.

Flair and the Giant run in and a brawl ends the show.

Overall Rating: B-. Pretty good show here as they set up the Clash quite well. There’s some stuff on there I’d like to see (including a main event of Page/Luger vs. Hall/Savage which I listed wrong earlier). The Sting stuff would really come to a new level on Thursday which it’s needed to do for months now. Solid episode here as WCW is kind of on a roll.

Here’s Clash of the Champions if you’re interested:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2011/07/23/clash-of-the-champions-35-the-final-clash-probably-a-good-idea-too/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews