WCW Monday Nitro - June 9th , 1997
Your Hosts - Tony Shiavone , Mike Teney , Bobby Heenan & Larry Zybsko
This week actually has the WCW Monday Nitro intro before starting. Shiavone welcomes us to the Fleet Center in Boston , Mass. 22,000+ fans are live watching this one folks. Dennis Rodman and Hollywood Hogan will now be a team coming up at the next PPV "Bash at the Beach. Tonight the Outsiders will face Ric Flair/Roddy Piper. Then we go backstage as the NWO is arriving as its Randy Savage and Elizabeth in a limo.
Suddenly in a very dangerous spot DDP arrives and begins to kick at the glass window. Repeated kicks with cowboy boots on and the glass breaks finally. Its a dangerous as hell spot given that Page gets his leg stuck at one point . Liz slams the door in his arm to get Savage away. The limo speeds off as he Page holds his arm on ground. The show begins as we get Ultimo Dragon , Super Calo and Juventud Guerrera as a team. WCW seemed to realize just how terrible their 1st hour was a week ago.
Also that Piper/Flair tag team match made for the Great American Bash PPV against the Outsiders now were pushed to this Nitro. The company seemed to make a quick move here. La Parka , Silver King and Pscosis are the team they are facing. Teney comically brings up lucha libre rules as Larry jokes there is none. Teney then brings up tag rules and lack of them. Psicosis finally starts off as he wants Ultimo Dragon as he gets a big shoulder block to start with kicks. In corner seconds later Dragon botches his leg hand stand in corner and hurts his knee.
Then seconds later Psicosis goes flying over the corner turnbuckle on a big splash attempt missing Dragon who moves. In ring La Parka and Super Calo work as he goes into his corner and does a weird move where he ends up using Parka's shoulders into a front arm drag deal. Big back body drop. Later in a wild spot Calo catches La Parka off the ropes and using his legs , elevates him right over the ropes to floor. Seconds later Calo does an awkward front body splash through the ropes onto a laying La Parka on floor.
This match is going so fast Silver King and Juvie comes flying across as he dives out. Then we get a single thrust kick to Juventud's chin. King misses a big splash as Juvie comes off turnbuckle with a nice huricanrana. They move so quick where they aren't clearly on same page at times. Juvie gets caught as he tries a move with his knees off the ropes as Silver King delivers a side slam type deal. Then misses an elbow drop as Guerrera moves too soon it appears.
Then we get off the ropes we see the spot retried at what Juventud wanted. He uses Silver King's body to jump up and deliver a big drop kick type move. King takes a breather as he's done and weirdly acts to someone in crowd ? Back in Dragon does his combination kick move to Pscosis ! In ring he tags Juvie who does an big elbow drop from into the air off the top ropes. La Parka comes in after as him and Juventud both start hitting ropes in a spot. Then we see them both seemingly go for a spinning back kick , but Juvie is faster and gets it off !
Calo in and after some slowed offense La Parka gets off a spinning belly to belly slam on him. We get a tag with a guillatine leg drop by Pscosis. 4 guys in working now as fans start a Oley chant for some reason but then in a cool spot Pscosis catches Juvie off the ropes and throws him over , where Juvie catches Silver King with a frankensteiner move. No one knows who legal man is due to this as referee is even confused. Later Dragon and Pscosis go in and after some fast reversals Dragon makes the 1st pin attempt of this match , where he catches him in a victory roll. Its a 2 count though.
Then seconds later Dragon tries a huricanrana attempt and Pscosis reverses it into a roll up attempt and gets a 2. Later in a funny cool spot as Dragon and Pscosis is outside on the floor as Silver King tries a splash and stops. Then La Parka comically helps elevate him into a moonsault to the floor where Silver King lands on his own man Pscosis as Dragon moves ! Super Calo does his suicide dive splash over the top rope on King . La Parka follows with using the chair to fly over onto Calo !
Juvie uses La Parka's chair to baseball slide into him then does a double step moon sault dive onto him where it looks like he's flying into the camera on the floor ! Back in ring Dragon delivers a huricanrana from top turnbuckle onto Pscosis. Then locks in dragon sleeper finisher to win ! Post match we see La Parka jump Calo using his chair and gives a beat down while Calo's team watches ...and don't help ?
At top of the ramp we see Mean Gene Okerlund. He brings out the Total Package . Luger is ripped for sure at this time. Gene brings up the Rodman/Hogan match tag team wise at Bash at Beach. Lex claims him and Giant have put their names down on the contract to do that match. He then mocks how Hulk has a lot of issues defending his title at times with all his movies and side deals. Tonight Hollywood is being forced to wrestle....TONIGHT. He has to defend the WCW World title against HIM ! Lex Luger vs Hollywood Hogan tonight.
Earlier today we see Roddy Piper and Ric Flair outside to be interviewed by Mike Teney. Piper claims him and Flair are together in sync and ready. Also they are 2 dinosaurs , 2 cool T-Rex dinosaurs ready. The Outsiders are gonna see what the Lost World is all about. Flair tells em tonight the Outsiders are gonna think they are seeing Bobby Orr and Larry Bird at the Fleet Center WOOOOOO !!
Alex Wright is out playing a heel telling TV camera it stinks. He then mocks fans walking by some signs. He is facing Chris Jericho who is still a face at this stage. The announcers discuss how Wright's frustration led to this turn after 3 years. To start Wright tries a quick roll up but gets a 2 count. Teney brings up Jericho's tour of Japan recently. He starts off in control with a big shoulder block. But fails in time as Chris delivers a spring board drop kick off the ropes to knock Wright to floor off apron.
Wright takes control with dropping Jericho throat 1st across the ropes. Back in later he delivers European upper cuts and uses kicks n punches in the corner. This small beat down is later followed by Alex deciding to dance like an idiot. Which even Larry is against saying dance after the match. Jericho tries to rally as they both exchange punches but Wright wins and delivers a Perfect plex into a pin which he stops and decides to use top rope after pointing at his brains.
Then in a dangerous spot which really is kinda stupid to do looking back now , Wright comes down off the top rope with a knee and lands square hard on his knee (he has knee pads on but you know it hurt like hell). He manages to loosen his knee and deliver a spinning leg lariat catching Chris. Later Chris tries another rally and is cut off by Wright. Then we see Wright try a body slam but he suddenly falls forward in a sloppy power slam. Has to be knee still bothering him. Anyhow Chris later catches Alex in what seems like a sunset flip into a pin attempt off the ropes.
Alex locks on a sleeper hold to slow the pace . Jericho works it into a back suplex on him. Then seconds later back into another sleeper off the ropes on Chris ! Finally Wright gets frustrated this won't work. Chris rallies back and delivers a thrust kick knocking Alex into ropes , but he bounches back with a clothesline into a pin attempt by him. Later in a cool spot Jericho gets a roll up and nearly another pin attempt.
Later Alex locks in a camel clutch. Some idiots in audience try to start a boring chant that fails. Back up Alex eats a foot to the face in corner and Chris delivers a missile drop kick off middle rope. Teney wonders if Chris has jet lag due to how he's working right now. Later Chris hooks a butterfly suplex into a power bomb pin attempt that gets a 2 count. Chris puts Alex in tree of woe later and delivers a sliding drop kick. Alex later catches him with European upper cut.
Then later as Chris delivers a flying body press off top rope , Alex rolls into a pin attempt and puts his feet on ropes for the cheap win. The referee didn't see it.
After promoting WCW Saturday Night and discussing Madusa putting her WCW career on the line ; Malia Hosaka is out for this match. Hosaka has quite a history and is still wrestling and has been in business 33 years at this point in 2020. Hosaka is also a former NWA World Women's champion (she held it a couple days) . She is facing Akira Hokuto who is managed by Sonny Onoo. Hokuto is coming out in well , a look inspired by Mad Max : Beyond Thunder Dome folks. Its pretty wild to see and kinda scary.
Of course Sonny kills this by stopping to snap a picture like the Japanese tourist deal. Way to kill that vibe we were getting. Teney brings up that she is married to Kasuke Sasaki. The 2 are still married and have 2 kids. Hokuto tries to broker some deal and later jumps Hosaka then throws her in ring by the hair....oooch. Then she does it again outta the corner. Into a suplex by her as she stays on heel offense. Shiavone promotes a huge IMPACT player arriving to WCW on June 30th.
END OF PART 1