WCW Monday Night Nitro Review!

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As Shiavone discusses the Giant/Hogan match coming at Souled Out , out comes the New World Order. Nash and Syxx lead the B-Team out as Shiavone and the others are told to leave. Then we see Ted Dibiase , Eric Bischoff and Kevin Nash take over announcing. Bischoff proclaims that they have gained control of this show. Eric claims we are getting a brief little taste of NWO Souled Out now.

Carl Oullet is out with Robert Parker in singles action. Nash jokes that Oullet hasn't missed too many meals has he. He demands everyone stand up and starts to sing as both Bischoff and Nash hate this song. Lucky for us we get Hacksaw Jim Duggen who comes out waving the WCW flag. Nash isn't happy and suggests they go down and tag Duggen with spray paint. But Bischoff claims they will later.

Bischoff starts changing things , Mashiro Chono was off tonight but he needs a tune up for Saturday's PPV. And Rick Steiner is taking the night off....for the 1st time ever in singles action Scott Hall will face Booker T. Yeah because he can do it. In ring Oullet jumps Duggen for the early advantage. In a nice spot Carl drops a 2nd rope leg drop. As the match rolls out comes the Steiner's ! They jump Jacques at ring side and Scotty nails Oullet with a punch as it allows Duggen to wind up with a tape fist and lay him out for the win !

After commercial we see replay of what happened at WCW Starrcade 1996 where Hall & Nash dropped DDP and cost him the match. They tried to claim it was a wake up call. Then we get clips of the following Nitro's leading up to what happened last week. Bischoff claims this is where Page dug his own grave with what he did. Nash claims he had tears in his eyes last week , he's HIS BOY. That he so wanted him in group. Ted claims that DDP is a Judas for what he did to Hall and Nash.

Squire Dave Taylor comes out in a new look and outfit weirdly. Ted discusses Chono and how he spurned New Japan and signed with NWO instead. To make it a level playing field out comes Nick Patrick who tells the referee to go take a break. He will be the NWO referee for this one. Nash comically jokes that Taylor is dressed up like Sherlock Holmes and questions where Watson is. Before the match even starts Mashiro jumps Taylor from behind and delivers a nice shoulder block off the top rope.

Chono tries a backslide , but we see Taylor reverse outta it and delivers a drop kick. It knocks Chono outside the ring as he starts to get frustrated. Back in ring Mashiro gets the advantage with a nice uppercut and he locks in the STF as Dave taps quick. Nick Patrick slowly walks over and calls for the submission win. Nash wonders when his best buddy Hall gets to beat someone up as Bischoff claims....its NEXT.

Now its time for Booker T vs Scott Hall as fans do erupt. Nash comically claims that Booker is the most Bass Fishing OG he's ever seen. Nash jokes that the size , the raft he smells MOOOONEY with Scott Hall. Nick Patrick stays as referee. "I've not seen so many black t-shirts since a 1977 Foghat concert !" - Kevin Nash about the NWO fans in the United Center.

Hall to taunt throws the toothpick in Booker's face. He then gets a slap to the face for that. Hall actually starts off in some control with an arm bar slam . Then he starts paint brushing his neck to taunt as Booker delivers a Harlem side kick to Hall's face. Booker is in control and nails a sloppy jump wheel kick onto Hall. The tide turns as Scott catches him with a fall away slam.

Booker delivers a cross body from the top turnbuckle seconds later and should have the pin but Patrick moves so slow and acts sore to make the count. This pisses off Booker who gets Patrick in the corner and it allows Scott to get up and deliver an Outsider's edge for the win. Outside the ring Buff keeps Sherri busy and keeps wanting her to see the pecs as he poses. Post match Hall tells Luger he's next !

Another NWO commercial airs and its the NWO Hotline. Its 1-900-454-4004 . No clue who owns this number now , but back then kids ...don't get your parents permission before calling ! Stevie Ray is next in action as he's not happy as we see him claim once he finishes off Lex Luger , he's gonna get those NWO suckas. Nash jokingly asks what is left on a neckbone and what the hell it means.

Before the match Lex has strong words for Nick Patrick as we see Stevie Ray pick this moment to strike him for the early advantage. Luger rally backs briefly and he gets thrown through the ropes. Back in ring as him and Stevie face each other , Lex goes to lock the torture rack on and he gets him up for a second as Patrick rings the bell giving the match to him. Lex is unhappy with this. Walking off pissed at this result as Nash claims that Lex is such a prima donna over this...a win's a win. Stevie Ray tries to beat up Patrick who runs outta the ring post match.

Now the NWO music hits as its Hollywood Hogan. Bischoff and Nash proclaim what an icon and how the crowd loves n worships the ground he walks on. Nash jokes the "the roof , the roof....the roof is on fiiiireee..." Hogan stops and holds a Trillionare Ted sign and laughs. Hollywood plays air guitar as Nash n Syxx claim that Hogan's having the most fun ever in his career and he seems to.

Hollywood tells us the NWO Maniacs wanna see his pythons as he rips the shirt. "He's hangin n bangin like only he can !" - Nash.

Hogan claims he flew into the Windy City and punched out the windows and used the pythons to fly them into O'Hare Airport. Then we see Hogan mock the Giant for being a big pimple faced kid that he'll smack down at Souled Out. He asks Ted if he should give the Giant any mercy at NWO Souled Out and Ted answers...NO WAY. Hollywood then claims how he used the dumb Giant for months and what a moron he was. This brings out the pissed angry Giant who scares the crap outta Hogan.

WCW Security hold him back as the B-Team comes out to be between them. All the while Hogan mocks Giant for being a coward and to get in there. Then suddenly we see him throw off everyone in security and hit the ring as the show ends !


The Bad - Its pretty clear that the Savage/Sting angle was done possibly at the last minute and it threw off everything else timing wise in the show. Jericho/Wright happened right after and seemed like such a rushed affair , its like the segment cut into that and they had to race through it to a conclusion.

Another bad aspect was the NWO raiding the announce booth was getting old at this stage and we had seen it for months. The jokes were fine , but for a couple months we would see them run off the announce team and it had lost its luster.

NWO Souled Out as a PPV had no real advertising of matches. In fact beyond Giant/Hogan for the WCW World title , Syxx/Eddie Guerrero for the US Title and Jericho/Chono ...did anyone know what the rest of the PPV was ? It was this lack of real advertising the card that seemed to doom this unique PPV shot from Bischoff.


OVERALL : **** Outta 5. With a very cool angle to kick off the show with the return of Randy Savage after 3 months and his joining Sting , this Nitro had some fun matches . Jericho/Wright should have went longer sadly but we did get Malenko/Dragon and the wildest brawl for a Nitro as we saw Sullivan/Benoit. The end angle was to sell the NWO Souled Out PPV clash of Hogan/Giant ahead.

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WCW Monday Night Nitro - January 27th , 1997



Your Hosts - Tony Shiavone , Larry Zbyszko , Mike Teney & Bobby Heenan

WCW's same intro opens the show as usual with Hogan in red & yellow. Its amazing its been 7 months and they haven't changed the opening yet. Anyhow Eric Bischoff welcomes us to NWO Monday Nitro as he's joined by Hall & Nash. Both men clown around with some NWO signs as Bischoff claims they have some business they have to take care of. Bischoff claims that the Outsiders were treated badly by the WCW officials. We get a replay of how the Outsiders lost to the Steiner's at Souled Out when Nick Patrick was knocked out and Randy Anderson came down to make the count.

This awards the Steiner's the WCW World tag team titles as Bischoff demands Randy Anderson come down to the announce booth. Bischoff starts to dress him down for being at NWO Souled Out and what he did. That a WCW promoter gave him a ticket to be there and Bischoff claims he violated company policy by being there accepting the gift of the ticket. Then we see Bischoff fire Anderson for firing him even though he has family problems as Hall laughs at him. For being a loser and jabroni.

Bischoff demands the Steiner's come out next as he's angry. Scott Hall & Kevin Nash claim they are the real WCW World tag team titles. Bischoff tells em he fired Randy Anderson for getting involved in a match he wasn't supposed to. WCW Security stand before them as Bischoff proclaims he is the highest ranking official in WCW and he wants the belts awarded back to Hall & Nash. The Steiner's instead throw em on the ground to break the belts. Bischoff demands they go to the ring and wrestle or they get fired.

The Faces of Fear come out to face a very pissed off Steiner Brothers now. The Outsiders gloat about being on top as Bischoff claims the Outsiders will defend their WCW World tag team titles tonight on Nitro. In ring Rick catches Meng in the air and gives a big over head power slam to him. Scotty works through Barbarian in quick fashion knocking him outta the ring. Seconds pass and the Steiner's are caught when Scotty and Rick do a signature pose in ring , distracting them from Meng & Barbarian.

Scotty catches Barbarian in a belly to belly overhead slam , showing off his power. He makes the tag to Rick , as Barbarian tags in Meng. In a nice double team tag spot , Meng catches Rick and tries to sunset flip him , Barbarian catches him and power bombs him to finish it off ! Watching with the fans is the Harlem Heat and Sister Sherri. Faces of Fear continues to work over Rick with nice tags. Hall & Nash mock Scott Steiner and his layoff the last 4-5 months with his back injury.

Meng & Barbarian do the double head butt off the 2nd ropes , as Scotty has to make the save on his brother. The FoF keep the beating on Rick and we see Barbarian set up Rick for a belly to belly off the top rope as Rick blocks it. The reversal Rick tries doesn't work and instead he falls right on top of Barbarian off the top rope sloppy. He avoid a big kick to the face and delivers a back drop suplex , making the hot tag to his brother finally. Scotty then elevates Meng into a sunset flip , then delivers a double arm power bomb to him !

The match soon breaks down as all 4 men are brawling. At the end outside Rick brawls with Barbarian , while in ring Meng tries a suplex. Scotty reverses outta it , and delivers a belly to belly overhead suplex for the win ! Nice bit of power moves from Scott Steiner. Who was moving slower of course but he still could deliver some power.

When we return from commercial we see that Tony and Larry are now the announce team as usual. Shiavone claims that things started off as we saw with Steiner's being screwed outta the titles and Anderson being fired. WCW is unable to show video spots since its an NWO PPV and will instead show still images. Syxx vs Eddie Guerrero had a solid ladder match and Syxx lost the match for the US Title. We see DDP again try to be recruited by NWO members as he took out Scott Norton with a diamond cutter.

Out comes Road Block who last appeared weeks ago. He carries a road barrier sign over his shoulder to symbolize a blocked road. Out comes The Giant with no music as he's not in a good mood. As he too was screwed outta the WCW World title. Road Block tries to jump Giant since that was a smart idea I guess. Giant however catches him with a clothesline and its a big man vs a much bigger man battle. Road tries a body slam twice and fails as he eats a suplex himself ! Giant then seconds later delivers an epic drop kick to Road Block (I **** you not...Wright delivers a drop kick) and the poor guy goes crashing through a table outside the ring !

Giant comes right after him , intent on destruction as he signals the choke slam. Its over just as quick once he delivers it. He wants a mic now. He proclaims the fire breathing Giant is still alive and tells Hogan , what doesn't kill him....just pisses him off more ! He dares Hogan to have the balls to come out and face him later since he knows he's there.

Up next is Eddie Guerrero vs Jeff Jarrett. Guerrero is finally having the US Title and its a nice thing he actually gets to keep something he won (since he had Battle Bowl ring taken before). Jarrett of course starts the match with his trademark Flair shuffle strut. Eddie however comes back with some reversals and more , taking the guy down. Jarrett takes control soon enough and then seconds later tries to monkey flip Eddie outta the corner , instead he lands on his feet. This is going great as Jeff tries to elevate Eddie into the air and eats a drop kick instead !

The tide turns again so quick as Jarrett catches him with a swinging neck breaker off the ropes. Then they go through some reversals and Eddie nearly gets a pin from a small cradle. Jeff takes control again to try and slow this pace as he chokes him in the 2nd rope. Seconds later Guerrero delivers a cross body and they both get up hitting the ropes again. Both men collide by accident head to head. Seconds later in a spot Jeff tries catching Eddie off the ropes with a tilt the world back breaker , but the fast Guerrero reverses it into a head scissor take over.

Seconds later Guerrero catches Jeff with an atomic drop into a European uppercut. Jeff eventually catches Eddie when he doesn't make the pin after a brain buster. Super plex off the top turnbuckle follows as we see Debra pulling Steve McMichael down the ramp. She demands Mongo lay out Eddie , but as he slugs Jeff in the corner turnbuckle Eddie is told to move away. He listens as Mongo lays out Jeff Jarrett with the briefcase. This match is ended by DQ. Which sucks because it was good.

Shiavone proclaims that for weeks they have fought to get the footage from December 29th at Starrcade where Roddy Piper defeated Hollywood Hogan. We see Piper lock the sleeper in as Hogan slowly gets his arm raised once....twice and then the footage breaks. Someone is in the video production truck and its learned seconds later its Bischoff who ran into the production truck and did that. Bischoff then dresses down Shiavone proclaiming they don't EVER.....DON'T YOU EVER do anything like that again.

After a NWO Souled out commercial , we get promotion for WCW Saturday Night. Coming to the ring is a man named....Billy Pearl ? Ok in reading he is called Brian Walsh and actually was a jobber for years for the WWF and now WCW. Pearl will be facing Ultimo Dragon in this one on one match. Pearl starts strong with a test of power into Dragon bridging and outta it. Then he delivers a nice drop kick to him. Dragon is a former WCW Cruiserweight champion. Things go fast as both men go through some reversals and Ultimo delivers his furry of kicks and then a side kick to the face !

Dragon seconds later tries a cartwheel , hand spring elbow into the corner but Pearl moves. Billy then slams him and tries a high risk off the top turnbuckle and gets caught with a drop kick by him. Then we see Ultimo deliver a moonsault off the top turnbuckle onto him. To end this quick match Dragon hooks the double chicken wing into a back suplex for the pinfall win.

At the top of the ramp we see Gene Okerlund welcome the 4 Horsemen come out. Its debated if all 4 will show up , but tonight they do all appear. Gene claims he thought weeks ago that the Horsemen would crumble. But things have seemingly turned around. Flair is happy and proclaims ...where is Dan Gamble right now. Then we see Flair compliment Benoit for picking the perfect woman to be beside. He compliments her and kisses her hand for getting the best pure man going. Then we go see Flair tell Debra Gayle , she has to do what Mongo insists because they have to coexist as the Horsemen !

AA gets on the mic and mocks Jarrett for being from Tennessee and they may not know English well , but he's not a Horsemen as Mongo showed. Then he brags Benoit up for what he did to Sullivan as he tore him up at Clash of Champions , claiming it was classic 80's Horsemen style. They are back wheeling and rocking now. Mongo brags up what he did and tells Debra its how its gonna be. Chris gets on the mic and proclaims to Sullivan , I have beaten you mentally , physically and now spiritually. Its over ...I have taken everything I have wanted to take and last weeks beating with a chair was to symbolize it. Benoit claims he will go down to ring alone tonight as he doesn't need back up...since he's all MAN. Nancy ends this with telling Gene she is a very happy...woman right now.

End of Part #1

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Coming to the ring is Ron Powers who is making his WCW Nitro debut. Powers had been competing since 1986 (and would retire in 2004) so he was making his debut here against Lex Luger. We see Luger bounce Powers off the ropes with a shoulder block as we see that Ron is a cowboy type as he is wearing cowboy boots. Then things get physical as Lex shoves him and eats a sucker punch. This doesn't last long as seconds later he catches Powers from behind with a nice clothesline. Then its the running forearm and signals for the torture rack...finish. Long enough for a piss break folks.

In ring we see Gene Okerlund in ring to interview Luger who he brags up for standing up for WCW. Lex jokes that the NWO has a BIG problem as he's about 7'1 , 400 pounds and he isn't a nice guy. Luger then brings up he's not been a good guy at times , but he's for WCW . That he will support the Giant as he claims if he needs someone behind him he won't mind that big size 21 shoe kicking in a door.

Hour 2 begins with Heenan and Teney at the announce booth. Shiavone brings up what happened with the Outsiders getting the belts back. Where the fireworks went off , its clouded the arena with fog in a sense. Then we get a replay of Bischoff firing Randy Anderson and demanding the WCW World tag team titles back.

After this airs the Amazing French Canadians come out in a tag team match. Jacques Rougeau demands that the bunch of hillbillies listen to them sing the national anthem as horrible as usual. Coming out to face them is the Horsemen team of Arn Anderson and Mongo. Before things even begin the AFC jump Arn Anderson with a double team and throw him outside ! Robert Parker stomps on Anderson as well as Mongo tries to get back in ring. The two men start double teaming AA and Rougeau body slams Oullet onto Anderson. Then they seconds later deliver a double clothesline to him !

Another double team move have the Canadians throw him into the air and throat drop him across the top rope. Seconds later a comical collision happens as AA backs into Oullet's head (he doesn't clearly) and its his biggest offensive move the match. He crawls and makes the hot tag to Mongo. Its there Jacques tries to be nice as Mongo plays to the crowd with the 4 fingers and finally delivers his best move...a clothesline.

McMichael delivers a spear type move onto Oullet and he seems puzzled what to do next a few seconds as he's still raw as hell out there. A back drop to Oullet and then he walks around the ring a few seconds waiting on a spot. Then he picks up Rougeau in a guerrilla press slam and lets Oullet catch and sit him down , and delivers a double clothesline. McMichael delivers a double knocker knockle and comically we see Parker try to get involved with the flag. The referee turns as he gets slide the briefcase he uses to nail Rougeau for the win . Post celebration Heenan proclaims how good Mongo is getting. I'm like...are we watching the same thing here ?

After a 1-800 Road Report , the Outsiders come out with Syxx. Nash and Hall showcase the belts they carry and mug playfully for the camera down the aisle. Coming to face them is a new team called The Extreme which features Devon Storm and Ace Darling. This is Darling's WCW Nitro debut as he was just 21 at the time of this (he still competes). Darling is famous for training Mike Quackenbush. Storm was a couple of years away from his most successful gimmick ..."Crowbar".

Teney brags up The Extreme and as he does it , Scott Hall jumps him and delivers an epic hip toss on Darling into the air. He then seconds later catches him and delivers his trademark fall away slam. Storm gets tagged and soon yanked in by Hall. Nash is in as he works over Storm with an epic side slam ! Nash tags in Hall as he signals for the Outsider's edge and its OVER. Hall stands over him and makes the NWO sign. Post match Syxx tosses out Storm like he's garbage as he gestures to his pals and Nash & Hall have a fun embrace.

Joe Gomez is out to face an angry Kevin Sullivan who charges to the ring. Gomez tries to put up a fight but Sullivan is in an angry mood. Outside the ring Kevin throws a chair at Gomez. Back in ring we see the double stomp and its over. This was getting beyond silly that Sullivan could beat a man so quick and with such a silly move. Post match even Gomez seems irked at this booking and stands up outside the ring.


End of Part #2

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Hollywood Hogan comes out and we hear the announcer over the speaker proclaim "Biggest Icon in Wrestling". Bischoff is out with Elizabeth , who gets sent to the back. Bischoff asks the crowd if he's too much or what. He wants the crowd to tell Hollywood how much they love him. Bischoff proclaims how much he's learned from Hulk and what a great talent in ring he is and lies over this make believe offense he used. Hollywood proclaims that everyone who gets in the ring with him , aren't in the same league.

He then pokes fun at the stupid Giant and claims that he made the poor man beg. That he goes down on a long list of has beens like Piper , Flair and Savage. Hollywood even promotes his next film Shadow Soldiers and the people will continue to bow at his feet again. As he points to the crowd , we see Sting and Savage together in the crowd. Hogan claims that Savage may have woke up and could be that missing link the NWO needs , brother. Hollywood claims he will be back out to face Giant again tonight and promises a new posing routine for the crowd post match. "I will beat the Giant up , 9 days a week because he's a LOSER brother..."

Heenan brings up the determination and drive that Randy Savage has for years. Bischoff doesn't want him as part of WCW. Jerry Flynn is out next as he will be facing the 3 time WCW Cruiserweight Champion ....Dean Malenko. Dean starts off trying to work on the arm , but Flynn counters with a nice side kick and is in control as he charges the corner. Seconds later Malenko catches him and delivers an under hook suplex onto Flynn !

Once outside the ring Dean decides to focus and remove Flynn's leg and works it over. Soon using a spinning toe hold since he's a former kick boxing champion. Seconds later Malenko moves from the corner and as Jerry holds his mid-section after bouncing off the turnbuckle , he catches Dean with a nice side kick as he comes off , right in the stomach. Flynn seems in control and delivers some body shots with his leg and suddenly Dean catches him and gets him to the ground , rolling him into a Texas cloverleaf submission for the win !

Back from commercial the announce team promote Giant/Hogan and what is ahead. Outta the back comes a telegram for Shiavone to open right now. Its from from the WCW Executive Committee which makes Tony read it aloud to the crowd on a mic. The committee has agreed that Hollywood Hogan must put the WCW World title on the line at Super Brawl coming February 23rd. This title shot will be awarded to ...Roddy "Rowdy" Piper ! This stuns the announce crew as we see Hugh Morrus come out to face Chris Benoit.

Benoit is alone with Woman as we see Chris will face a much bigger man. He starts off hot and just beats , kicks and punches Morrus down in the corner as fans pop huge. Morrus finally stops this offense by catching Benoit's leg and deliver a big clothesline , taking control of the match. He catches Chris and does a huge epic guerrilla press slam on him.

The Crippler fires back and catches Morrus with a big clothesline but his rally is cut off after a pin attempt. Morrus seconds later tries his last laugh moonsault and misses. Suddenly as Chris delivers the diving head butt , outside the ring a black lady jumps over the ring apron and gets into a fight with Woman. Who questions why she's there. In ring as the referee had left , Sullivan blasts Chris with a wooden chair. In ring Morrus delivers the moonsault and he keeps security from messing with the black lady who leaves with him.

Okerlund wants an interview and questions how he knows this woman. Kevin claims he knows her from his past as Jimmy Hart believes this is all trouble , trouble and more trouble with women coming around. The black lady gets on the mic and claims she couldn't stand by any longer for what Nancy did to him. 10 years ago she claims that Kevin made a decision and it was a big mistake choosing her. Sullivan wants to back Jimmy on problems with women in WCW , but she quickly tells Hart to never put her name next to ladies like that. She mocks Nancy for being fat and that Debra is a bleach blond bimbo with legs like a chicken.

She claims that Jimmy is the best manager and fixes his suit , but she can give Kevin what Jimmy can't. And Gene comically claims this is a family show which has her say its comfort as she rubs Sullivan's face as Jimmy tries to pull her away. A repeat shows Kevin smashing the wooden chair across the top of Benoit's head , as he drops like a stone.

WCW advertises the WCW Powerplant , the #1 Facility in the World for pro wrestling. Hollywood comes out and he's not in a happy mood after he learns about his proposed match at Super Brawl. He fires directors for less. Then he demands Piper come out so he can stomp his brains out like he plans to do the Giant. With no music the Giant comes out slowly , his eyes intent on Hogan. Then he runs into the ring as Vincent and Hogan start stomping on him to try and get an early advantage.

They try to get Giant up and he throws both across the ring and he starts the destruction of Hollywood. Beating him around the ring and using his size 23 foot to choke him. The fans chant for Giant to continue as we see Hollywood go to his eyes for an advantage and some short lived offense. It doesn't last long as Giant nails a back breaker. He goes for the pin as Vincent puts Hollywood's leg on the ropes and acts like he did well. The Giant reaches and throws him into the ring and then throws him out like garbage.

As Giant grabs Hogan for the choke slam , Eric Bischoff tries hitting him. To no effect as Giant smiles and decides to take him out 1st. He grabs him as the Outsiders hit the ring to save their boss. Out comes Lex Luger who gets into the ring. He stands there as Outsiders wonder if he's turning NWO. Lex has a WCW shirt on and he slowly stands beside the Giant and gestures for Hall & Nash to come on. The odds even now as the show ends.


The Bad - Not many matches were really good to be honest and 2 that were (Jarrett/Guerrero , Malenko/Flynn) were ended quick. Unlike the last weeks Nitro with good matches and angles , this weeks show dragged along. The biggest problem is the NWO Souled Out show was the typical , give the faces something....well lets jerk it back situation. The opening angle was brilliant heel work by Bischoff firing Randy Anderson , but the effect of demanding the Steiner's hand back the tag titles would have irked fans who had ordered the PPV and suddenly that was wasted.

Steve McMichael was passable in ring if he didn't have to do much. WCW was hellbent on making Mongo look like a star and its clear in watching he was still raw and didn't know what to do next. The idea was to make Mongo look impressive and he was still lost. A comical fact that Heenan was claiming how great he was getting 2-3 times. I doubt Heenan believed what he was told to say and put over here.

Also the promotion of a big main event began and was lost. The actual Hogan/Giant main event was 4-5 minutes and it ends.


OVERALL : *** Outta 5. With really not many good matches , this Nitro drags along after a hot opening angle. Giant/Hogan fails to go off as WCW claims. This Nitro was the debut of Jacqueline (aka Ms.Texas on the indies). A very solid female wrestler , she added a nice element to this program. Beyond her debut , this episode was a by the numbers Nitro as it was starting to promote the big rematch of Hogan/Piper set for Super Brawl.

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WCW Monday Night Nitro - February 3rd , 1997



Your Hosts - Tony Shiavone , Larry Zbyszko , Mike Teney & Bobby Heenan

The NWO music kicks off Monday Nitro as Shiavone welcomes us to the show. The New World Order arrives with Hollywood Hogan , Ted Dibiase and Vincent following. Hogan is in rare form as he struts down the aisle and tells the NWO-Ites he's here. Hogan plays air guitar with the WCW World title and then does some posing before getting on the mic.

Hogan proclaims to the NWO-Ites that they know the NWO is there on a mission from God , brother. He then brags up all his business deals from Hollywood to Germany. Then he claims that people been claiming Piper been dogging him. Angry at WCW next for offering Piper a title shot at WCW World title. One legged Pete , the crippled kid is gonna be there tonight. He's gonna confront Roddy Piper tonight and he demands Piper admit he's the better man ! That he'll even put the WCW World title on the line. That he'll embarrass Piper like last time !

Hogan proclaims he will crucify Piper and as he says at the end , Let the Games Begin ! Then we see Hogan pose down to end the segment as it goes to commercial. Tony and Larry run down what Hogan has said and promised for later tonight. They will get an answer from Piper tonight ! Shiavone runs down the rest of the show but the opening match is Ray Mendoza , Jr. (aka Villano V) . He will be facing Ultimo Dragon in what should be a good match. Dragon still has Sonny Oono with him.

The two start with some nice arm bar flips and reversals. Things are so fast and finally Dragon catches him off the ropes with a hand spring elbow. Then seconds later outside the ring he delivers a suicide dive into Mendoza into the guard rail (after he had ran forward , jumped backwards from the rope as Mendoza looked ready to move..and he then did the dive through the ropes) ! Back in ring we get a nice leap into the air by Dragon and leg drop as he stays on him. Finally Mendoza catches Ultimo with a hard lariat off the ropes to get some control of this match.

In a spot Mendoza goes for a leap frog and doesn't much into the air as Dragon goes to dive under. His legs get caught as Ray thinks quick and acts to pin him with the legs tied up. In a nice spot Dragon catches him seconds later with a head scissor take down ! He follows with an epic frankensteiner , which sets up his double chicken wing back suplex into a pin ! Nice win and short lived match.

The young Billy Kidman is out next as he will be facing Glacier who's entrance isn't as spectacular . The light show isn't as big as he steps into the ring , but he gets a spotlight and snow confetti still. Then he proceeds to do his whole fighting deal. In ring we see Kidman actually shake Glacier's hand before the match as they start to work. Kidman delivers a nice drop kick and seconds later gets tripped up by Glacier's back trip.

Kidman then gets a near fall. Then seconds later Glacier delivers a tilt the world variation where Kidman lands on his front in a slam and follows with a hard lariat to him. Glacier does comical open palm thrusts in the corner in a spot and then eats a back elbow. The crowd totally turns against Glacier as they boo his karate stance posing after knocking Kidman outta the ring. Seconds later Kidman comes off the top and catches Glacier with a head scissor take down which gets a small pop from the crowd.

Kidman tries to do the same move seconds later again and is caught with Glacier's side kick off the top rope. He gets the win and fans don't seem happy. The announcers brag up how he's improved as post match Glacier does his karate style pose down.

A new commercial is aired of the NWO with Syxx styling the NWO denim jacket for $80 bucks. Plus $9.95 S&H to the NWO. What is insane is , this **** was selling MASSIVE folks. Ted compliments Syxx on how good he looks in that denim style jacket with NWO on the back. After Tony promotes WCW Saturday Night , Ice Train comes out for his match. Teddy Long is still his manager. Larry claims he has the physical power and agility. Train is facing La Parka !

Ice Train gets a bit funky and throws La Parka showing off his power , but the skeleton man of WCW fires back..or tries to. He eats a big lariat seconds later after some hip tosses. Parka delivers a spinning heel kick and follows with a drop kick as he finally gets Train down. He delivers a jumping spinning heel kick off the top and follows it seconds later with a suicide splash (with a 360 twist) on the floor.

But the move seems to have taken a lot more from La Parka. Seconds later in ring Ice Train catches him with a boot in the corner and bounces off the ropes and delivers an impact clothesline , making Parka flip in the air ! Parka tries to run to the ropes and come off with body splash on Train seconds later and is caught. He shows his power and dead lifts him and slams him ! Then Train picks him up in a monster suplex and holds him for a few seconds showing his power.

In a surprise move , big Ice Train tries a head scissors lock on La Parka. Backstage we go as the Outsiders hold steel pipes and mock Lex Luger who they laid out ! Mocking him for getting involved. In ring Train delivers a big belly to belly slam and gets a close 2 count. Train delivers a big power slam and uses it to set up his big splash for the pinfall finally ! Teddy Long proclaims that 1997 is the year of the Ice Train !

Gene Okerlund welcomes the 4 Horsemen to Memphis , TN. As they all come out...except Arn Anderson. Benoit is complimented by Okerlund for how the group seemed at odds awhile , but due to his work they have now seemingly unified. Chris claims the Horsemen has had injury issues and more , but there is rewards for going through trials and tribulations. The biggest honor he's achieved is being a Horseman. Woman gets on the mic and is happy with things ...except one thing , Jacquelyn. She best stay away and make do with her leftovers.

Mongo proclaims that he's there for the Crippler and Ric Flair . With his trusty briefcase (really basically his only claim to fame ..and Debra). Then Debra gets on the mic and brags up her beauty and winning a number of pageants. She has an I.Q of 145 and wearing swimsuits. Claiming Pamela Anderson wishes she looked good. She's not one to gossip but Jacquelyn has a big head. She does have a good face...for a radio that is.

Flair gets on the mic ...and Meeeeeeaaaaaan Gene whoooo. AA is kicked back in a king-size bed relaxing. That now the Horsemen are united. Flair proclaims to the devil (Sullivan) she wore me out (Nancy). That she broke his arm and Benoit took over since he's the better man ! Then he mocks Jacquelyn for being with a man named shorty while the Nature Boy walks around. WHOOOO !!

The next match is Steiner Brothers vs Harlem Heat. The Steiner's should be WCW World tag team champions as Shiavone claims. Last week is shown where the Steiner's were forced to give up the titles. Watching at ringside is the Public Enemy and the Faces of Fear. We see Scott and Stevie Ray have a few words. Scotty and Booker start this match as we see em test each other power wise. Scotty gets caught and we see a small version of the spinnerooni and a back kick to Scott , catching him.

This advantage doesn't last long as Scotty catches Booker off the ropes and holds him up with a big guerrilla press slam. Then as Stevie Ray jumps in , he eats a Steiner line from Rick. The Heat have to rebound outside the ring. Stevie wants Rick and as he tags in , Stevie catches him and pounds the head gear off him. This doesn't last long either as Rick catches him and power slams him over massively !

Seconds later Booker T helps his brother with a kick to the back of Rick and he eats a nice big boot from Stevie. This allows the heels to get in control as fans bark for Rick to cheer him on. Then off the ropes Booker goes for a leap frog and is caught , dropping him in a slam over his head ! After the hot tag , Scotty goes on a roll and double arm suplex to Stevie. Then suddenly the match breaks down completely , as the Public Enemy and Faces of Fear hit the ring. All 4 tag teams go at it then in ring the Heat & Steiner's stop !

Outside the ring we see the Faces of Fear brawl with the Public Enemy. While in ring the Steiners and Heat wanna wrestle and get a winner. But the referee has thrown the match out. We go to commercial and return with hour #2.

The fans start a huge Weasel chant for Heenan . After the run down with Piper possibly getting a World title shot, Heenan questions what the people of WCW are thinking as they'd rather wage war with each other than NWO who are using pipes. We get a clip of Hollywood making his challenge to Piper and where the Outsiders laid out Luger.

Mike Enos is out to start this 2nd hour. He will be facing Dean Malenko in what should be a solid match. Enos mocks Malenko to start after catching him with a roll up. But soon Dean starts schooling the bigger Enos with some take downs. This ticks off Mike who delivers a kick and big side headlock type submission hold on Dean. Seconds later Dean is caught in a leap frog and carried around awhile before being slammed. Malenko rallies back and locks in an arm bar submission to take him down.Dean keeps working the arm over and drapes it over the top rope and kicks it. Just keeping his focus on his arm.

End of Part #1

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Just keeping his focus on his arm. Enos finally seems to rally back with a boot to the face in the corner when Dean charges. Then we see Mike catch Dean with a power slam as the crowd stands. Walking through the crowd is Syxx. Who decides to come over and steal the Cruiserweight title. Since he stole the US Title months ago. Malenko has no clue as he wrestles Enos , and signals for the Texas cloverleaf. Instead Mike powers outta it and blocks it. Enos tries for a suplex and Dean reverses it into a small cradle for the win. Dean walks over to see about his belt as Mark Curtis informs him what happened.

Gene Okerlund interviews the smaller Dungeon of Doom with Miss Jacquelyn , Kevin Sullivan , Konan and Jimmy Hart. Sullivan claims that the Horsemen seemed to be crumbling but he didn't realize his personal life was gonna crumble apart. That Jacquelyn was there to help pick up the pieces. Jimmy Hart claims women in pro wrestling are nothing but trouble and he believes Jacquelyn has ulterior motives for being here. He will find out. Konan gets on the mic and claims Sullivan has a fine woman (Mexican word). He wants to take care of Benoit tonight and wants Sullivan's blessing for it. Jacquelyn mocks Debra for being plastic while she's all woman and Nancy is jealous she took Kevin away (uhh what ?).

Sullivan gets on the mic to finish this and mocks Flair for claiming that Nancy may have broke his arm. But that is how it goes with him , all he gets is old and broken down. She tells Nancy if she gets involved in her business , she will beat her like no ones business to send this segment. She has a leather strap for some reason.

The music hits for Diamond Dallas Page as he comes out. Comically WCW can't use "Self High Five" as the theme since well....its basically a rip off of Smells Like Teen Spirit. WWE Network basically came up with this WWF version dub. Page is applauded for standing up for WCW and in this match he will face the Renegade. Who starts impressively with an arm drag take down.

Page plays a tweener role here and catches Renegade with a kick to the gut outta nowhere. In a nice spot the Renegade delivers a jumping hand spring elbow into the corner. Seconds later he catches the Renegade on the top turnbuckle. He locks on the diamond cutter , delivering it from the top turnbuckle. Teney claims Page calls that the diamond death cutter as DDP celebrates the win. The Outsiders come out with the pipes and seem to be daring DDP to come down as Page stays in ring and debates the situation.

In the crowd we see Sting watching this and in another part of the arena is Randy Savage. Page goes and gets a steel chair in case he's gotta fight his way through this as its debated if he's gonna have to fight his way through all 4. Sting disappears and then we see the Outsiders wave good-bye and they leave. Finally we see Savage leave after watching.

Super Calo is out for this singles match. He is facing Alex Wright , Das Wunderkid in what should be a good match. Wright and Calo try each other out and go through arm bars n reversals. Then both men miss drop kicks on each other and finally Wright catches Calo with a high side kick to take control. In a blown spot , Calo tries to run into the corner and climb up quickly from the 2nd to the top , falling down. Seconds later Calo repeats the spot and runs up the turnbuckles and does his flying body splash.

Wright later catches Calo with a spinning heel kick and then delivers a belly to belly slam into a pin attempt. Minutes later Calo catches Alex outside the ring with a flying epic body splash off the top turnbuckle to the floor. This advantage doesn't last long as Wright rallies. In a spot the long legged Wright does a nice head scissor take down , twice to Calo. Seconds later he does his suicide dive over the top rope onto the floor on Calo !

Seconds later back in ring Calo catches Wright on the top turnbuckle and delivers a huge super plex ! The pin fall is slow to come and he gets a 2 count. Then he screws up seconds later , he has Wright down but instead of a pin attempt he goes for a somersault off the top turnbuckle...missing ! Wright delivers a missile drop kick off the top turnbuckle seconds later and gets the win ! Pretty damn solid match.

After the commercial Konan is out to face Chris Benoit. The match begins quick as Konan takes early advantage and kicks n stomps the Crippler. He then delivers the rolling clothesline spot. Konan then yells to the crowd and plays to them a lot. He delivers a nice drop kick to Benoit's chest in the corner. He then locks in a submission type hold , this is wild as Chris has had no offense.

But the taunting from Hart and Konan has pissed off the Crippler who fires back in anger. The fans popping as he throws Konan on the top turnbuckle and he delivers an epic super plex to Konan ! Seconds later Konan delivers the Konan power drop (a modified double under hook power bomb type suplex) . Chris reverses seconds later from a move and delivers a release German suplex , dropping Konan on his neck ! Out comes Miss Jacquelyn with the strap to get in Woman's face. Benoit meanwhile seems ready to finish off Konan as Jimmy Hart gets involved and eats a punch from Chris.

Benoit can see what is happening and comes out , taking the strap from Jacquelyn. Chris tells her to leave as Miss Jacquelyn tries to find something under the ring as Jimmy Hart has to get her to leave. Konan has to physically restrain her and drag her back up the apron.

Then after the commercial we see that Mongo will be filling in for Lex Luger in his match against Jeff Jarrett. Debra doesn't wanna see this match happen as we see him ready to go one on one. Jeff wants to strut for the home town fans and he makes Mongo strut. He does and then seconds later gets caught from behind. Jarrett now has to carry Mongo and sell for him , as Mongo catches Jeff as he tries a flying body splash off the ropes. He eats a power slam.

Mongo delivers another slow slam and misses an elbow drop. Jeff rallies back and delivers a nice lariat clothesline onto him. Awhile later Jeff delivers a nice drop kick , knocking Mongo over the top rope. Debra ends up keeping Mongo outside so he can't beat Jarrett. She ends up smiling and grinning like she accomplished a big feat. She saved us from Mongo wrestling anymore.

The ad for Super Brawl VII airs as this mad scientist claims the NWO has dismantled WCW. But come Super Brawl , WCW will destroy the NWO brick by brick ! Back in ring Okerlund introduces Roddy Piper as Roddy has his young son with him. Said son is now a pro wrestler ...named Colt Toombs (Piper's real last name). Amazing how quick time passes eh folks.

Piper claims his name is Roddy Piper aka Rubix Cube to start his promo. Then compliments the town for being the home of Elvis and he'll never be an Elvis Presley. But Hogan will never be a Roddy Piper ! Roddy wants to address the situation about WCW World title and questions why he'd wanna wrestle Hogan again since he beat the guy. Would the Packers face the Patriots again for another shot at Super Bowl ? Roddy seems ready to decline the title shot and claims he is ready to move on and raise his kids. But the NWO music hits.

Hollywood , Bischoff , Vincent and Ted Dibiase come out. Roddy pleads with Hogan by using his real name to not do anything in front of his small kid. Then we see Hogan mock into Piper. That he's never been a World Champion and a coward. Hollywood claims that Piper knew this was a risk bringing his child into the ring like this. Then we see Bischoff mock Piper by wanting him to claim that Hollywood Hogan beat him like a drum at Starrcade . Then we see Hogan push for more , wanting Piper to claim at airports and Christmas that the Icon of wrestling is Hollywood. Piper agrees to do this slowly.

Hogan continues to mock Piper for being lower than a coward and hiding behind a kid. Then Hogan brushes his hair. The wheels are turning as Piper pops as he apologizes to his son and hands him to security. Then he removes his jacket as Hogan & Bischoff celebrate. The crowd knows its on as Piper throws both into each other as tail kicking begins as Shiavone claims. He uses the belt to try and blind Hogan !

Bischoff tries to get back in ring with a chair as Piper finishes and grabs for the WCW World title. He then chases them off as he accepts the match at Super Brawl VII. Using the tagline ....San Francisco , watch my fists go !" He holds up the WCW World title and his son in the other side. The show ends with that nice image.


The Bad - Too many matches ending with DQ's and silly non-finishes. Nitro had 2 matches end in a silly DQ style (Benoit/Konan , Steiner's/Heat) and one with a count out. One of the matches was getting really good with Konan/Benoit and Its sad we never got a longer match.

This Nitro had some clunker moments like the announce team proclaiming how far Steve McMichael and Glacier had progressed and in watching , they really hadn't done much. Mongo was doing simple power moves and seemingly lost in seconds before his big spots to do. Glacier while a better in ring worker , his karate style posing post move set was irking fans.


OVERALL : ***1/2 outta 5. While not a terrible Nitro , the main build of this show was about whether Roddy Piper would accept a PPV match with Hogan at Super Brawl. Beyond that , nothing much else happens beyond the sub-plots of Horsemen/Dungeon of Doom and Outsiders/DDP/Sting/Savage. This show will be known more the debut of a very young Colt Toombs.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

WCW Monday Night Nitro - February 10th , 1997



Your Hosts - Tony Shiavone , Larry Zbyszko , Mike Teney & Bobby Heenan

Tony Shiavone welcomes us to the Jacksonville , Florida location for this WCW Nitro and hottest show in pro wrestling. Fans were wrapped around the building to get tickets. The show show starts off quick with Dean Malenko coming out sans title. Since last week Syxx stole the title. On the mic Malenko tells Syxx to pay attention and show up possibly. So he can teach him the wrestling lesson of a lifetime tonight and any night he wants. Eddie Guerrero comes out as US Champion and will face Dean.

The fans are hot for Eddie as the two start testing each other out with some arm bars and reversals. Eddie at one point gets Dean on the ground in a reversal and tries a quick slide over pin attempt. Things are going so fast from full nelsons to standing switch , to bouncing the ropes and into a reversal from a head scissor take over from both men...its insane. Then Malenko catches the quick Guerrero outta the corner with an epic power slam ! WOW.

Eddie counters seconds back later with a tilt the world back breaker ! Shiavone plugs this is where the Big Boys play and its clear it is at this stage. Eddie locks a long headlock on and Dean picks him up and back suplexes him. Dean then seconds later tries a weird submission/pin attempt but Eddie is able to kick outta it. Then we see Eddie caught off the ropes as he tries a roll up attempt but Malenko uses his power to reverse into an epic release German suplex ! He gets a near 2 count as out comes Syxx to ruin this great match.

Then we see Syxx try and steal the US Title. Eddie catches him as he chases after him and is counted out. Both Malenko and Guerrero have respect for each other as we see that Syxx wants no part of the Iceman. Post match we see a hand slap of respect for each other. Dean's disgusted but we see how the 2 men respect each other.

Coming to the ring is DDP as he carries the same chair from last week ? He has street clothes on and wants to talk. Page claims he has a big ole bulls eye on his forehead. But he knows this is stupid possibly so he decides to make a statement. As he sits in the chair he claims he's tired of running , so if its gonna happen ...let it happen right now. Sting and Savage appear as they come to the ring as fans explode.

Both men are wearing b & w attire as Sting throws Savage the baseball bat. Both men pace around the steel chair , playing a guessing game with him as they each tap the chair. Finally things look ready to explode as Savage n Sting shove him around. Then we see Sting act to hit Page as he takes cover. Then Sting tosses him the bat and turns his back. Randy looks uneasy doing this but he turns his back to see where he stands. Page just holds the bat and at the end Sting leaves 1st. Randy yanks the bat away and follows.

Page stood his ground and slowly leaves himself , questioning what just happened there. After the commercial Bobby Eaton heads to the ring for action. He will be facing Konan who is becoming more gangsta rapper. Konan starts off attacking Eaton quick and follows with a drop kick in the corner. Beautiful Bobby fires back with some punches. But the rally is short lived as Konan rolls up with a clothesline from behind. In a quick sloppy style spot since the 2 men have never really been in ring , Eaton's caught off the ropes and has to help Konan lock him up , into the brain buster/cradle suplex spot for the quick win.

The announce team brag up the win , but its clear the match was just a quick rushed affair and didn't help either man. Post match we see Konan flash the Dungeon sign. After the commercial last week we see how Luger was laid out by the Outsiders with lead pipes. Luger/Giant will face the Outsiders at Super Brawl for the WCW World tag team titles.

Next match up is Ron Powers (a big dude) facing Lex Luger who has a cast on his left hand , as they are selling that Lex has a forearm injury. Suddenly coming running out is Bischoff who stops Lex on the ramp way. That Bischoff questions his arm injury , but as Lex proclaims that WCW is where the big boys play and they do it in the NFL as well. He's casting up and gonna work hurt ! Eric however claims this isn't the NFL and he's not Paul Tagliabue. So unless Lex gets a doctors release , he can't wrestle. Then we see Bischoff claim that unless he gets a doctors release , he won't wrestle tonight or at Super Brawl.

Bischoff uses his power and tells Luger he is the boss and he hates having to do these decisions. As Bischoff taunts the camera he has no clue the big angry Giant is coming down to the ring behind him. The announcers love this as he turns and is scared shitless. The Giant seems to say he's subbing for Luger against Powers. I mean there isn't even an announcement he's doing it. He is just stepping into the ring as Powers is like....oh ****.

Powers is a big guy and catches Giant in the corner when he misses. It doesn't last long and he is slugged across the ring. Then he catches Powers leg as the poor guy begs off , Giant releases and delivers a monster clothesline ! The Giant pulls his tight down as he holds the hand up...the choke slam hits as fans pop like crazy ! Its over just as quick. Post match he kicks Ron outta the ring as the Giant seems unsure of his popularity as fans bow down to him.

Mike Teney gets in ring with the Giant as he asks about Luger in case he can't go at Super Brawl. He's not a regular man , he's a 7 foot tall , fire breathing dragon. He claims he has a partner and its Lex Luger. He opened the door for him as a man and wants to ask him one question. Luger comes out to answer the door. The question is , with all Hall & Nash has put em through ...and all. Would he do everything to win the gold at Super Brawl would he. Lex says he would. Giant claims that if Lex can't go , he will personally beat Hall & Nash like he owns em and he will win the 2 World tag team belts and hand one to Lex .

Hollywood Hogan advertises his most popular shirt , the Hollywood Rules NWO shirt ! A black limo pulls up as we see the Outsiders with Big Bubba . Hall proclaims that they are the working man's tag team champs. Bubba wants to put down Page at San Francisco at the Super Brawl PPV. Back in ring High Voltage comes to the ring as Rage & Kaos wanna take care of business tonight.

Unfortunately for High Voltage they are facing a very angry determined Steiner Brothers. The Steiner's discuss the path they are on. Scotty psyches his brother up in an interview segment about how they gotta start at the bottom to get at Outsiders and take back the belts again. Rick wants to take em down to the dawg pound and he will make em famous.

Shiavone claims they have a 4 corners tag team match at Super Brawl and the winner moves onto facing Outsiders again. Scotty opens with a huge hip toss that makes the crowd go crazy. In a spot seconds later Rage clips his knee and decides to go high risk and try an ax handle off the top rope. Scotty catches him and shows his power with a belly to belly overhead suplex ! Then he picks up Rage and holds him up like he's paper and drops him to the mat face 1st with a guerrilla press slam.

Harlem Heat , Faces of Fear and Public Enemy watch this match unfold. Rick and Kaos is tagged in to work now. Rick doesn't do much as Scotty is back in as quick as he abuses poor Kaos in the corner , upside down choking the guy ! Finally the young team tries to use a heel tactic and catch Scott with a cheap shot off the ropes. He rebounds just as quick and Rick tags in with a big Steiner line and the fans bark like crazy.

In a spot that shows you just how athletic gifted Rage is , he jumps onto the top rope in a spring board and Rick catches him into a power bomb. Something you'd never imagine a 300+ pound muscle guy to do ! Kaos has to make the save for the pin as Scotty throws him outta the ring. The double team Steiner bulldog off the top rope is delivered and its OVER. Rick yells , we want the belts ...we want the belts into the camera.

As Tony promotes Roddy Piper appearing later , out comes the NWO as we see Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. With them is Syxx , Nick Patrick in sunglasses and Eric Bischoff. Larry claims if they want the show he'll go back to eat some room service and relax. Hall , Bischoff and Nash join the announce booth. Nash claims he looks like Vince Neil and Hall proclaims ..."Do you smell something ? Do you smell it ? Its us...because were THE STUFF."

Randy Anderson is brought out with his wife and kids to likely beg for his job back. After being fired for 2 weeks. Randy tries to not laugh over this segment as he asks for Mr. Bischoff to reconsider and give his job back. Eric seems to discuss things better as he asks for his kids names...Dakota and Montana . The kids are asked to come up close and he tells the children to please tell your daddy he's still fired. Nash quotes some Scrooge lines , please Tiny Tim , god bless us everyone !

END OF PART #1

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Bischoff is being hard and decides to question how bad Randy Anderson wants his job back. Asking the kids and then Randy's wife. To prove to the world he still has a heart and that he cares. All he has to do is face Nick Patrick next week in a match. Randy's wife is like no , don't do this. But Randy is like , hell I wrestled cancer ...I can sure as hell face Nick Patrick. Nash proclaims that Nick's undefeated you idiot and they celebrate this match up next week. Hall & Nash wanna wrestle , and they are a working man's team !

They are fighting champions and will face the toughest team on the Eastern seaboard and its The Extreme ! Devon Storm and Ace Darling. Before they can get down the ramp as Syxx taunts em , Hall & Nash jump em from behind. Bischoff doesn't wanna call solo play by play as he demands Larry join him. He's missing the action on this , and how they took this match on short notice. Hall & Nash do the beat down.

Bischoff proclaims the World tag team champions are such great team and worthy champions. Larry insults the duo as lowlifes who attacked people from behind and nailed Luger with a pipe. In ring the two seem ready to finish off The Extreme and instead both decide to mock Luger & Giant. Nash does a terrible version of the torture rack while Hall does a choke slam. Curtis calls for the match and is forced to make a 3 count on the choke slam finish Hall did. Syxx gets on the mic and wants a word after that tough hard match.

Syxx claims this is another 4* match of the year and how do you prepare for such a tough team like the Extreme ? Nash never removed his sunglasses folks and claims he looked up a Webster's dictionary and looked up goof and idiot , and it had a picture of Giant. Hall claims Nash is also 7 foot tall but unlike Giant , he stopped at the cool phase while Giant went into the dork meter. Then he claims that a couple of clydesdales like him and Luger can't run with no thoroughbreds like him and Nash. Hall makes some horse noises at the end.

Nash apologizes to Luger about his injury as he shouldn't spend so much time warming up backstage. But they are the hottest thing going because they are Toooo sweeeet ! The 2nd hour of Nitro begins with Heenan and Teney , as Shiavone brings up Randy's family spot. Plus the DDP/Sting/Savage spot. The fans chant massively for Weasel for Heenan.

Up to start hour #2 , Steven Regal comes out to put the TV Championship on the line against Rey Mysterio Jr. This should be a solid match. Regal seems to laugh at Mysterio's height and size before the match as he smirks n points. Regal amazingly had been champion 174 days , the most since his 1st reign of 225 yards in 1993-1994.

Regal and Mysterio start off with some arm bars and soon Steven uses his size to get an early advantage. Rey tries an arm bar take down and gets picked up and eats a back break for that attempt. Seconds later he tries a step over arm bar and Rey reverses into a head scissors . Seconds later Mysterio starts uses his speed and spring boards off the top rope into a drop kick on the bigger Regal in a spot.

Steven uses his size and starts to ground him with his physical size and power , concentrating on his head and neck with a big snap mare. Comically Regal gets down and acts to mock Mysterio , acting fake sincere. Steven gets too cocky and has Mysterio's arms locked back behind his head in a submission choke type deal , and Rey ducks down as he collides in the corner , then in a quick spot Rey drop kicks him up and over the top rope to the floor !

Regal catches Rey seconds later and throat drops him over the top rope. Then he mocks and poses with his arm arrogantly before doing the same type of arms behind Rey's head submission attempt. Mysterio reverses out and delivers a flying head scissor take down to the bigger Regal ! He nearly gets a 2 count . Then him and Regal both go through pin attempts and in a victory roll type pin attempt Rey looks ready to win. So close the time keeper actually rings the bell for a second. Shiavone claims the bell did go off. But suddenly in another sunset flip type pin attempt happens and the bell rings .....10 minute time limit has expired. Its the fucked up finish as clearly they wanted to ring the bell earlier , Regal kicked out before they could so they did this.

Post match Regal looks scared as hell he lost his title and celebrates when the referee hands it to him finally. After the commercial and 1-800 Road Report we go to the Dungeon of Doom as the music suddenly changes and then...back to Dungeon as we see Kevin Sullivan with Jacquelyn and Jimmy Hart. Now the music hits again that started for ...Maverick Wild. Wild is actually a career indies wrestler on the North Eastern circuit and still wrestles today. He was 26 when this match happened.

Part #2

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Sullivan of course jumps Wild to start and outside the ring Jacquelyn gets involved and delivers a lariat clothesline on the floor to him. Jimmy Hart has to cheer her on with this. In ring Sullivan works over Maverick and throws him outside to the brutal Jacquelyn who ...stuns EVERYONE by picking Maverick up and body slamming him ! Holy **** folks and she's a short woman doing this. That is some power. Shiavone claims give her the match , she's already won.

Back in ring Sullivan delivers the tree of woe with Jacquelyn scratching his back. Its over once he delivers the double stomp. The most impressive thing in this match was Miss Jacquelyn who did way more than Sullivan. Jimmy Hart makes sure to hold those ropes open for her now. Mike Teney interviews them as Kevin claims this isn't a wrestling interview now. The camera gets on his face close as he claims he was in bed depressed late when the 2nd closest person she knows called him...Paul E. (Paul Heyman). As he tells Paul the deal went south with Nancy.

Paul tells him he's worked too hard , he's bled too much and drove up n down the road to just lose. Heyman wouldn't take any side in this except do your job out there. What would Jim Barnett , his mentor say when he started...DO YOUR JOB. What would his former tag team partner and best friend say (Mark Lewen) DO YOUR JOB. What would King Curtis say ? DO YOUR JOB. Kevin claims that when Benoit asked if she's really that pure when he started. Nancy knew he was no bed of roses when they married 12 years earlier.

Sullivan claims Nancy always bragged she was tough , but its the guy she was with who did all the bad things in life. That she will have to deal with the most important person in his life now and its Jacquelyn at ringside at Super Brawl. Jimmy Hart goes to talk as he wants to call him Taskmaster , but Sullivan tells him...its Kevin. She gets on the mic and will be tied to Nancy at the PPV. Jacquelyn claims she is from a neighborhood like Kevin. She's not from a Committee and she may think she's the toughest , but she beat men and women !

The announcers replay the spot with Piper and his son last week. Where he got so angry , he beat up Hogan and Bischoff. After that segment we get Hugh Morrus vs Alex Wright. A classic strength vs speed type match as Morrus starts quick with slugging the Das Wunderkid down. Wright tries to rally back and Morrus bounces off the corner turnbuckle with a running lariat on him. Seconds later Wright delivers a spin wheel kick and as Morrus takes time off outside , the kid dives off the top turnbuckle with a body splash into the corner !

Wright stuns Shiavone at how he fights back. Then we see Alex botch a top turnbuckle move as Morrus side steps his drop kick attempt. Seconds later Morris delivers the no laughing matter. After the commercial in ring Mongo/Benoit will face Jarret/Chavo Guerrero Jr. Shiavone claims that Ric Flair will be in Charleston , SC at an arena to sign for fans as tickets go on sale. While in ring Benoit starts off quick with Chavo and seconds later the speed of Guerrero comes in as he's elevated up , delivers a drop kick and then follows with 2 head scissor take downs.

Chavo tries for a pin attempt and stays on Benoit , makes the hot tag into Jarret who works over Chris. Making the Crippler bounce off the turnbuckle with force and does a back suplex on him. Mongo finally distracts Jeff which helps Chris. Mongo makes the hot tag in a spot and holds Jeff up for seconds and does his running power slam after playing to the crowd.

Shiavone claims Mongo is equally insane and smacked himself with a pool cue over his own head a few times and claims he wanted to know if he still had it ? Brain cells ? No...in ring Jarrett rallies and delivers a drop kick to Benoit , allowing him to make the hot tag to Chavo. Who is handling business well. He drop kicks both men , then delivers a moonsault onto Chris. He's inches away from the pin as Mongo breaks it up.

Outside the ring Debra tries to make Jeff not get back in ring. She tries to keep him away from the match by inspecting his suspenders. In ring Mongo tombstone piledrives Chavo for the win as Jarrett is left ouyya the ring. She makes Jeff leave so he can be protected. The rest of the Horsemen arrive as Mongo isn't happy with Debra and her actions. Mike Teney gets in ring to interview them as Arn is in street clothes and called the man who is the voice of reason for the Horsemen.

Sadly at this stage Arn Anderson was in bad shape. He had neck fusion surgery and was trying to recover after years of hard in ring work that took its toll. AA claims that only a goof believes a marriage counselor but he's the most unreasonable man ever. Arn claims that Savage , Sting and everyone is either carrying baseball bats or lead pipes. Sullivan's been recruiting for the Dungeon of Doom. Then he mocks Jeff Jarrett for catching Debra's eye and the last man who did is wearing a flea collar around his neck after 6 months of being laid up hurt due to Mongo.

AA claims that Chris and Nancy destroyed Sullivan's heart and desire. So nothing left except bury the body. Flair gets on the mic and cuts his usual promo complimenting Nancy and Debra. You can learn to like it or not , but its the best thing goin today WHOOOO !! Benoit gets on the mic and claims that Kevin can play all the head games he wants , he will play. He lost the most important thing in his life . Then Mongo gets on the mic and ...decides to mock the town of Jacksonville for being losers in the AFC Championship.

This makes no sense since well...the others are playing faces and getting pops , but its Mongo. Then Steve rips into Debra for her actions. That the man doesn't pay her charge card bills. That he doesn't pay her car payments. So Debra gets on the mic and claims she really thinks Jarrett should be a Horsemen (he should replace Mongo please) . Steve gets on the mic and claims he has a zero chance of beating him at Super Brawl , maybe if the ground opens up and swallows him in an Earthquake maybe. He would deserve to be a Horsemen if that happens.

Debra's big catchphrase is now , you didn't hear this from me as she starts to gossip about Sullivan and Jacquelyn. She claims that they call them the fat hideous couple and he's fat and she's hideous. The Super Brawl mad scientist promo airs at as a vignette.

In ring we see Roddy Piper arrive and on a split screen , Hollywood Hogan is in Hollywood , Ca. Piper claims he didn't come to talk to Hogan on some goofball satellite and wants to fight like Hogan wanted ! The fans are for Piper clearly. Roddy claims he was gonna walk away and retire for good to be around his kids. That he made a promise then you bald headed geek , you made me break my promise.

Piper questions if Hogan and Bischoff had a marriage ceremony in San Francisco yet. He claims that Colt told him , go get him daddy. So as Hogan tries to interject , Roddy claims that gave him a license to go kill him at Super Brawl ! Hollywood claims that Piper did doctored footage that he beat him at Starrcade and lied over it. Then he lied to his son about retirement and more. Pissing Roddy off more in ring. Hollywood claims he couldn't be there since he's busy with multi-million dollar film deals and all. Then he hits Piper by calling him a coward.

Roddy is wound up as he tells Hollywood , people are split on the OJ Simpson verdict. Some say Innocent , some say guilty. But come San Francisco they will all agree he's GUILTY for what he's gonna do to him. This rattles Hollywood who claims he's over the line and illegal. The only difference between him and Rodman will be he can't jump. Piper stands on the entrance ramp in full insane HOT ROD mode.


The Bad - Sadly for Nitro some of the matches that could have been great , ended way too soon. Eaton/Konan could have actually been a damn good match but ended so quick , its like they were racing forward. Also the Regal/Mysterio match should have went longer since it really was solid.

OVERALL : **** Outta 5. Beyond the short matches , the show had a lot of solid in ring matches and work. Also the hot angles was really doing solid as we got DDP's slow elevation up. Nitro was airing unopposed as USA Network was getting tired of the company destroying RAW in the ratings and moved it to Thursday. Nitro was again another solid show as the build to Super Brawl was growing for Piper/Hogan II.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

WCW Monday Night Nitro - February 17th , 1997



[B]Your Hosts - Tony Shiavone , Larry Zbyszko , Mike Teney & Bobby Heenan[/B

Outside the arena the NWO arrives in limos. I believe they need 3 limos to fit all the members of this group. They all celebrate as the walk and suddenly stop and run back. It appears to be Big Bubba who they wonder if he tripped or maybe someone attacked him. Coming down to start the show is Rey Mysterio who removes his fake mask to give away to a kid at ringside. Mysterio vs Super Calo will kick things off.

This should be super fast and it shocks me and starts slow as Calo tries to work on the leg , then works a rest hold. In a nice spot Mysterio reverses out and drop kicks him in the back n neck. Piper is at Alcatraz folks , and we will see him there. In a cool spot Mysterio acts to spring back off the ropes , stops and tries a spring board clothesline , which he's caught by Calo with a drop kick ! Seconds later Msterio nearly gets power bombed to the floor as him and Calo debate what to do in the spot and its a reverse out , with no move.

Then we see Calo spring off the top rope and just missile drop kick the air outta Mysterio as his 2 feet nail him in the chest ...hard. He then seconds later flies over the top rope dropping an elbow to the floor as Calo's legs hit the guard rail. It seems to have taken a lot from Calo as well. Back in ring he works over Rey as we learn the Steiner's were in a car accident. Outside the ring we see Big Bubba on the stretcher being loaded into an ambulance. Wallstreet decides to ride with Bubba in the ambulance. The Outsiders flash NWO-4 Life signs.

Back in ring Calo continues to work over Mysterio. Then he seconds later springs off the top rope backwards in a 460 moonsault type move onto Super Calo as the fans pop for that ! Rey gets a 2 count on the pin attempt. Then seconds later he braces Calo over the middle rope half in ring and drops a big leg drop quick off the 2nd rope. He gets another close pin fall attempt.

Rey seconds later is caught on the top rope as Super Calo performs a leg scissor take down off the top rope ! Super Calo gets a 2 count on a pin attempt. Then seconds later as both men bounce off the ropes , Rey catches Calo with some kinda weird behind the back submission hold , bending him. Mysterio signals to fans he's gonna try his spring board off the top rope (the one he got caught with last time) and instead of a clothesline he goes for the victory roll ! He scores the pin as fans explode ! What a great fun match.

After commercial Hugh Morrus vs Mongo is next. So we go from a great opening match to this ? Mongo claims we will see how Horsemen take care of Dungeon of Doom trash. The fans don't like Mongo as he flashes the 4 fingers. Morrus comically does his 4 finger salute upside down. This starts as Mongo brawls and nails a clothesline and does a 3 point stance move twice. As Shiavone proclaims this as the greatest bit of wrestling since Flair/Steamboat 89. Mongo gets caught missing a leg drop as Morrus takes over.

Hugh Morrus seems to flirt with Debra. She tells the camera that Morrus is crazy , he really is. Morrus sets up for a moonsault but he takes too long as Mongo recovers and carries him on his shoulders , dropping backwards. He plays up the bad knee as Hugh works it over. Debra helps slide in the briefcase as the referee is distracted , Morrus has no clue and climbs up for the no laughing matter moonsault. Steve holds it as Morrus lands on it and Mongo soon rolls over for the pin. He proclaims the knee injury is nothing to a Horsemen , they always come out on top.

We get a replay of what happened weeks earlier when Piper was gonna announce his retirement. That he was gonna give it all up for his little boy. But Hogan's taunting and all made the Rowdy One flip out. In a nice father/son image , Piper puts the WCW World title around Colt as he hold him up.

Dean Malenko comes out as he is still without his WCW Cruiserweight title. Malenko will face Robbie Brookside (making his WCW Nitro debut). Malenko gets on the mic and claims Syxx learned from his dad for 2 years. But come this Sunday at Super Brawl , the lessons will continue as his son will teach him some more. Brookside was an accomplished English wrestler who had toured all over the world , turning pro in 1984. He would wrestle up til 2013 and retire to be a coach at NXT (he was already a talent scout for WWE).

Both men start trying each other out with some reversals and take downs. Malenko starts working over the arm with some knee drops on the shoulder , but Robbie rallies back with an arm bar. Both men soon go back into reversals and more , til Dean catches him in the corner. Seconds later Brookside delivers an under arm suplex onto Dean. Then the 2 men seconds later go through some pin attempts and roll ups. Malenko gets a pop as he delivers a brain buster suplex ! Seconds later we see Malenko work on hooking the legs and finally the Texas cloverleaf for the win.

Post match out comes Syxx who mocks the man of 1,000 holds. Syxx calls him "Mr. Bland Man". Then he claims that the respect and gratitude died when Dean's dad passed away. That he stole the belt because he wanted a shot since he was ducking him for months. Then he has his respect and gratitude right here as Dean hears enough and chases him off backstage.

We get a picture of Alcatraz as Shiavone returns to promote Public Enemy match. Before he can out comes the Outsiders with Syxx. Hall mocks that he thought Larry would be bigger and he claims he's tired of him n Shiavone gossiping like women. Yes there was an automobile accident involving them , Syxx and the Einsteiner's. Nash claims they have a tape of what happened and the accusations made against them don't fit and ya must acquit ! Then Hall throws his toothpick at Larry and things seem to be heating up as Larry wants to go. Hall acts tough and throws off his shirt as fans pop for Larry.

Coming to the ring is the Amazing French Canadians. Jacques Rougeau and Carl Ouellet. They will be facing the Public Enemy who fans pop big for and do the wave. Even very little kids are doing the hand wave as Rocco Rock busts a move on the apron. Jacques wants the rednecks and hillbillies to shut up so they can sing the Canadian national anthem. They then jump the PE but it doesn't work so well. Around the ring watching is the Harlem Heat and Faces of Fear. Outside the ring Colonel Parker stomps on Johnny Grunge as fans chant USA.

Both men work over Grunge and we see Rougeau body slam Ouellet onto him in a tag team spot , then seconds later they throat drop him across the top rope. In a spot Ouellet is shoved by Johnny into his own partner , knocking him off the apron. Then we see Ouellet smart enough to collide backwards with Grunge. He makes the hot tag to Rock but the referee doesn't see it and the heels work over poor Grunge some more.

The AFC try the double team finisher but Johnny moves and finally makes the hot tag. Rocco starts cleaning house as we see the signal for the tag team table move. Grunge throws Ouellet into the steel steps and lays him across the table. But the big guy moves as Rocco stops and sees what happened. Ouellet grabs Grunge as Rougeau has the prod that Parker uses , he misses Grunge and lays his own partner out onto the table , and over comes Rocco Rock to put him through the table ! They throw Ouellet back in as Rock makes the cover for the win.

The PE dance and shake as they pull a young kid outta the crowd to dance with them. Gene Okerlund is with DDP to interview him. Mean Gene questions Page about what happened to Big Bubba Rodgers. Diamond claims innocence and says he just arrived 10 minutes ago and has no clue what happened. He acts sincere and isn't happy about claims he had nothing to do with what happened to Bubba. He came to see Pee Wee Herman vs Nick Patrick tonight. Its pretty funny as Page claims he wouldn't do that to a fellow competitor.

Coming to the ring is Prince Iaukea , who hadn't been on Nitro for a number of weeks. Prince as I detailed weeks/months ago was allowed to use the name from King Iaukea due to liking him. Steven Regal will defend the TV Championship against Prince and is asked at the apron about defending against Rey again. Regal claims he's a fighting champion and has been for 7 months since defeating Luger. Then he mocks Mysterio for his woeful performance. That he should think better of facing his Lordship again. Regal compliments Iaukea for taking the challenge to face him tonight.

Regal brags up his ring shape and he clearly was in solid shape at this stage. Fans start a Regal Sucks chant which seems to effect him. The Prince does a shoulder block take down which stuns his Lordship. But it doesn't last long as Regal gets back on top. Working the young Iaukea over. Regal goes to pick up Iaukea in a suplex and he's such a light wrestler he accidently flips him nearly over. Then he does a weird type of hip toss , arm drag on the Prince off the top rope.

Out comes Rey Mysterio as Regal mocks him as a midget. Then he arrogantly covers the Prince to mock. But he opens himself up to a crucifix pin ! Which stuns EVERYONE as Prince Iaukea wins the TV Championship , ending the reign of Regal's at 181 days. Simply stunning as the Prince is mobbed by Teddy Long , Eddie Guerrero and Public Enemy to celebrate . Poor Regal is incensed and blames Mark Curtis and gets shoved to the canvas for getting in his face ! Shiavone is still stunned at his Lordship's loss.

End of Part 1

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Hour #2 begins as Tony promotes the car wreck the Steiners/Outsiders had and tape that Nash gave him. Then we get a replay of Big Bubba being taken out mysteriously. Out comes Nick Patrick who brags down the ramp how he's gonna make Randy Anderson , his children and friends all cry. Teney brags up the amateur wrestling skills Patrick had (and he was a decent wrestler back in day). Randy Anderson comes down as the fans chant for Randy. Then once Jimmy Jett checks Randy he nods and slips him some brass knucks.

Then Patrick plays to the camera and mocks Randy. Outta nowhere we see Anderson just lay out Patrick to a huge pop. The 3 count happens as Bischoff goes ape **** down the ramp. He fires Jett and as they leave , Bischoff tries to hold up Patrick's hand to boos. Jett outside the ring holds up Anderson's as fans pop. Both men now fired for this act.

After a road report from Lee Marshall we get Road Block coming to the ring. He will be facing Chris Benoit. Which should be a big test for the Crippler as the guy is a much bigger guy. Watching Nitro with his grandson in the front row is....George Steinbrenner ! A lot of Yankees players are also there to watch Nitro. Road Block talks some trash to Benoit as the bigger man shoves him into the corner. Benoit won't back down but he's giving up size and soon eats a monster clothesline.

Road Block brags he's a real man and body slams Chris. Then he gets near Woman and eats a slap for that. He stalks her slowly and makes the mistake of going after Benoit's "Woman". So he dives through the ropes and takes the fight right to him. Chris soon kicks the bigger man down and seconds later delivers the flying head butt to end this match. In the camera he tells Sullivan , its a sign of the times....a sign of the times.

Tony takes us to the video footage as the Outsiders are filmed by Syxx in b&w footage. They claim Lex has a shoddy home . Hall claims that they love them in small towns and big cities. As they pull off to get something to drink , the Steiner's walk outta a gas station. Then they follow behind them so close its clear someone could tell they are behind them. All the while Nash & Hall discuss good driving safety , make sure you use a turn signal...stop at a red light.

The Outsiders then bump the car and start insanely mocking them. This causes Rick to drive the car off the road and flip the car in a scary way. Shiavone claims that thanks to Outsiders they just basically admitted to a criminal act. Then Tony acts like they can't find out if the Steiner's are alive or not. Meanwhile Gene Okerlund waits on the Dungeon of Doom as we see Sullivan , Miss Jacquelyn and Jimmy Hart. Gene describes the San Francisco Street Fight , and how Woman will be strapped to Jacquelyn at ringside.

Jimmy sings Miss Jacquelyn's praises now and claims she's 2 legit 2 quit. 1st it was him vs Benoit. Then it became him vs Nancy. Now its him and Jacquelyn vs Benoit & Nancy. He then claims that it was her that made him lose connection to where he was by making him move to Daytona. But he's free now and the padlock is off. Then Okerlund claims that people are calling her a home wrecker ? WTF ? Nancy left Kevin in this angle 1st. Kevin goes onto the ring.

There in ring is an unnamed jobber who Kevin jumps just as quick. He has fringes on and soon outside the ring Doc Dean from England gets a lariat and body slam outside the ring from Jacquelyn. Doc Dean finally delivers a sunset flip and gets a near pin attempt. It doesn't last long as Kevin delivers a back suplex and soon dumps him outside the ring again. Doc gets suplexed by Jacquelyn outside the ring.

Back in ring Doc Dean gets hooked in the tree of woe. The double stomp ends this squash match as poor Dean had to take a beating and post match takes more elbow drops from Jacquelyn ! In the camera Sullivan sends a message to Chris. After the commercial we get Konan coming to the ring who speaks Spanish all the way to the ring , he is facing Eddie Guerrero for the US Championship.

Konan starts off fast and delivers a nice guerrilla press slam and tries for it again as Guerrero quickly reverses outta it into a pinfall. Then reverses a tilt the world back breaker on Konan. Seconds later both men go outta the ring and Konan catches Eddie , then slams his face into the steel ring steps. Teney claims that Eddie helped train Konan in his back yard in Mexico. That there is an anger that Eddie never lived life on streets like Konan did.

After a submission hold , Konan delivers a nice drop kick to Eddie's chest as he's on the mat sitting up. Then we see later that Eddie catches Konan off the top rope with a very sloppy drop kick to his stomach. That doesn't last as seconds later Konan elevates Eddie into the air as he charges the corner and he drops face 1st on it and is nailed with a clothesline from behind.

Konan later delivers a nice sit down power bomb into a pin attempt. The fans quickly get behind him as they pop. Shiavone puts over that Prince Iaukea has never done an interview ever on camera and is now TV Champion. Eddie delivers a nice clothesline to Konan and then delivers a European uppercut witha brain buster suplex to follow ! But Konan catches a slow climbing Eddie as he climbs the top rope. Outta the back to ruin the match is the Dungeon of Doom. Barbarian and Meng attack Eddie !

The match ends in DQ as Konan looked close to defeat. Anyhow to save Eddie , out charges Chris Jericho . The young man helps Eddie clear the ring of the Faces of Fear. Its said Jericho will face Guerrero for the US Title at Super Brawl. Both men bump into each other and as a show of respect post match , they share a hand shake and thanks to each other. Eddie puts over giving Chris his shot soon.

Gene Okerlund brings out the 4 Horsemen and we see Arn walking a bit weird. Gene puts over how the group reminds him of the mid 80's . If 2 were barely wrestling and a terrible football player was a member. Flair puts over how great things are and how Chris Benoit is a LOVE MACHINE himself. AA puts over how things are now in WCW. That his boss Mr. Eric Bischoff , never imagined the core of the men he hired in this company. Standing up for WCW. One of his men went down earlier , Larry Zbyszko stood up for himself , Jimmy Jett showed what type of man he is and his friends with Randy Anderson if he needs help , he has a spare $100,000 laying around. Dungeon of Doom , the Horsemen ain't going anywhere.

Mongo gets on the mic and cuts a heel promo proclaiming how they'd beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at football. He brags up his win against Morrus and then asks Debra what her mindset as this Sunday he'll face Jarrett. She puts it over like she wants him healthy in case he becomes a member of the 4 Horsemen. Anyhow at the end she delivers her catchphrase , "I ain't one to gossip , so ya didn't hear this from me..." and begins to discuss how Jacquelyn waddles to the ring in pumps.

Benoit gets on the mic and rips Sullivan for saying this is his yard and house. Chris will do what he's done all the way , he will kick the door in and take what he wants as always. Then he goes on to say that Sullivan is gonna confront a demon all right and that he will fight for what he wants (looks at Nancy). This is beyond getting a 3 count anymore. They want Benoit to end this promo as he gets even more gritty , you can't break my bones , you can't break my will ...and you won't break my soul Sullivan ! You never owned Nancy and he best prepare himself.


END OF PART 2

[SUPERECWFAN1]

The Giant comes to the ring quick and slides in will be facing ....Johnny Swinger. Yes folks the famous Johnny Swinger of ECW fame actually worked for WCW for a year. He had been part of WCW syndicated shows awhile before his Nitro debut here. Also the masked mystery wrestler Top Gun (aka Fidel Sierra). Sierra was more famous for being the next masked Cuban Assassin. He got permission to use the mask.

Anyhow Swinger jumps Giant to start this handicap match. And that advantage doesn't last long as he choke slams him quick. Then he gets Top Gun and plants him with a choke slam. Teney , "Top Gun just became a pop gun with that..." Post match we see Giant step outta the ring as he spray paints "Hall" on Top Gun and "Nash" on Swinger. In ring Okerlund and Luger join him.

Lex is brimming so happy , in his hands is his medical clearance. He has looked far and wide. Then we see Bischoff try and play power games as he forbids Luger from taking part in the match. That he gave him a deadline for last week. Lex calls him a pathetic little creature and that he will pay eventually. Anyhow Lex proclaims he will be at the PPV and nothing Bischoff does will stop him. Eric taunts them as both men take off after him , as he runs for the hills.

After the commercial Shiavone shows us a tape of Roddy Piper LIVE FROM ALCATRAZ ! The guy is seemingly in a cell and waking up all insane. Then he claims I bet Taz has never done something like this . WTF ? Did he just refer to ECW's Taz ? Then Piper brings up how hard he's worked all his life ? How to have a family and how he was homeless at 13. Roddy rants insane over how he wants to ruin Mr. Spandex (Hogan) life. That Hulk's whole life is fake , how the train n say your prayers was a myth ! That Hulk don't have it here (hits his chest).

Piper brings up how he worked for years with a bad hip , no cartilage in it. Then Roddy proclaims LETS GET MEAN N EXTREME. Roddy proclaims he's gonna stay there 7 days and 7 nights. He wants to DESTROY Hulk Hogan ! You picked the wrong man , you played with the wrong man ! Lets take a walk on the wildside and at the end he does his version of Hogan's signature "Whatcha gonna do" deal.

Up next is Chris Jericho facing Jeff Jarrett as the heel sneaks attack the young lion. During his beat down on Jericho , Debra comes out to show her alliance is with Jarrett still. She claims her man will win this as Shiavone is baffled at her reasoning for siding with a man who is battling her husband. Jericho finally delivers a nice back suplex. Jericho moves quick and tries a side roll up pin attempt. Seconds later Jarrett catches Jericho with a back slide pin attempt. He gets a 2 and then a clothesline.

The match is racing along as Jericho rallies back and delivers a nice power bomb and decides not to go for the pin. Mongo comes out to argue with Debra as this happens. Then we see Debra get on the apron and beg Chris as he attempts a big frog splash to not hurt him. Jarrett moves and then locks on a figure-4. As the referee gets distracted by Debra to get her off the apron , Steve lays out Jarrett with the briefcase. A sore Jericho slowly rolls on top for the win. Debra argues that Mongo wasn't supposed to do that. He doesn't care.

The show seems to head into a 3rd hour as Shiavone claims. Out comes the NWO with Hollywood Hogan and others. Bischoff as Shiavone claims , that he's forcing Elizabeth to come out. Hogan plays air guitar as Bischoff loves everyone. Hogan then goes into an EPIC Hollywood pose down as Bischoff claims that is THE STUFF.

Bischoff claims the rest of the world maybe scared of Roddy Piper and his going insane. But look at Hogan's arms. The NWO-ites know Piper is crazy as Hollywood claims. Then we see Hogan claim Hollywood's such a liar as he lied to his kids and more. But suddenly out comes Sting & Randy Savage. Both men stare at Hogan. Hollywood claims that when he lived in Tampa he was like a GOD to these people.

Sting starts to come down to the ring but Savage speaks to him and convinces Sting to go to the back. Hogan claims that if Piper was here he'd face him. That at Super Brawl he's gonna ride Piper like a dog ! And he shows off posing to end the show quick.


THE BAD - The TV Championship win came outta nowhere and really made no sense. But this was classic Eric Bischoff counter-programming what WWF was doing. Where as they 4 days earlier made Rocky Maivia the IC Champion , Bischoff saw Regal's long TV Championship reign as a way to counter with a young star winning outta nowhere. But the win did nothing for the title or Prince Iaukea. As Shiavone claims Iaukea hadn't even cut a promo on TV , let alone should be winning the championship off a hot Regal.

Regal himself was giving solid in ring matches and seemed to be setting up a good program with Rey Mysterio and that was dashed to do this shocking surprise twist ala WWF. It just never worked well...like the WWF's attempt with Rocky's 1st IC title reign.

The Roddy Piper "Alcatraz" promo was so insanely silly , it defies reality to a point. Alcatraz is no longer a jail and a tourist deal now. In fact at the PPV to hype the match , we see Piper released by a guard. How this guard is patrolling Alcatraz amazes me since again...the place is a tourist deal.


OVERALL : *** Outta 5. Beyond seeing the end of Regal's last huge run with the TV Championship and Piper's silly Alcatraz promo , this Nitro had some classic storylines. Sullivan/Benoit , Malenko/Syxx and Steiner's/Outsiders. This is the Nitro where the Outsiders ran the Steiner's off the road. Regal's combined 2 long reigns as TV Champion folks is 406 days. In fact of all 4 of his reigns as TV Champion his lordship held the title for a combined 558 days. Pretty wild

[SUPERECWFAN1]

WCW Monday Night Nitro - February 24th , 1997



Your Hosts - Tony Shiavone , Larry Zbyszko , Mike Teney & Bobby Heenan

Tony Shiavone welcomes us to America's #1 professional wrestling program in Sacramento , CA. The action gets started quick as out comes the Public Enemy who shockingly won the tag team triangle match at PPV last night. Pictures shows us what happened as Rocco Rock & Johnny Grunge winning the match. Facing the PE is the Horsemen , Jeff Jarrett & Mongo. Jarrett is now a Horsemen since in pictures we see how Debra ended up helping him defeat her husband. Shiavone claims that there is now 5 Horsemen weirdly.

The 2 Horsemen don't seem to get along as Jeff does his strut. Syxx won the Cruiserweight championship and Giant won the WCW World tag team titles alone. Then we learn that Piper defeated Hogan again but thanks to Macho Man , Randy Savage he lost. Savage in comical fashion has turned NWO. In ring the PE are doing well against Mongo and Jarrett. Grunge delivers a nice swinging neck breaker on him and then does a dance step. Rocco Rock has his head shaved now as he tags in to work over Jeff.

Eventually as Jarrett charges the ropes and Rock moves , Mongo nails him with a clothesline. Then we see Mongo and Jarrett work well as a tag team with a leg drop. Seconds later Jeff puts Rocco's throat over the top rope and delivers a leg drop over it. Then tags into Mongo who delivers 2 big football type shoulder tackles and does a clip. Shiavone proclaims Mongo could be one of the best big men in the business. Clearly Tony was smoking some major **** then.

Seconds later Jeff catches Rocco off the ropes and delivers a major power bomb to him , dropping him good. Grunge makes the pinfall save. Then we see Mongo take the briefcase and then he takes it and lays out Jarrett. Debra isn't happy as the referee doesn't see it and the PE win. In ring AA argues with Mongo over this as Flair arrives with Gene Okerlund. Jarrett meanwhile tries to recover from this in the other corner.

Mongo claims that he did this as a response for what he did last night to him. That he compares this to smacking around a little brother and making em earn their keep. Flair has to step in between this as he claims that he made a promise on Saturday if the kid was fortunate enough to get the win , he'd be in the group. And that this is about being team players. That the Horsemen is about being the symbol of excellence. Arn Anderson cuts a promo saying that the Dungeon is getting strong , the NWO is as well and now Luger/Giant are becoming a force to deal with. Flair's still out hurt and he himself is out. Benoit is in the hospital and the Horsemen are at a weak point.

AA tells Jarrett and Mongo that if the 2 men don't get it , they are the only 2 who are healthy. Mongo agrees to shake Jeff's hand and jokes he may not get along , but he won't let anyone else do it. Jarrett is uneasy but Flair tells him he stood by him this far and he needs to do it. AA grabs his hand and puts to Mongo's , show the world ya belong right now.

Out comes the luchadore Galaxy who is actually Damian 666 (Leonardo Gómez). Gomez would work as both Damian 666 and Galaxy in his run in WCW. The luchadore will be facing Hacksaw Jim Duggen in what is a weird contrast of a matchup folks. Duggen begins with a fury and a big back drop , clotheslines and Hooooooo !! Galaxy has to debate what planet he's on outside as Hacksaw chases after him and throws him off the ring post. Hacksaw then body slams the guy on the floor in a spot.

The fans chant USA for Duggen as Galaxy catches him and tries to slug him...to no effect. Hacksaw soon dumps poor Galaxy outside and throws him back in. We get a comical spot where the luchadore tries a moonsault off runnning to the top turnbuckle and Hacksaw moves. Larry claims that Duggen must be getting smarter , he moved outta the way. To finish the match Duggen tapes up his fist and BAM...its over as he yells Hogan's name ! Hacksaw yells out NWO , COME ON !!

On the ramp Gene Okerlund interviews Duggen who questions Randy Savage's morals as he does Hogan. That both men have sold themselves out after all the work for children. They have black hearts. Then he challenges Hogan to come on and face him. That he didn't do Big Bubba because if he did...Bubba would be hurt worse. If Savage gets in his way , he'll trample him little man. Duggen nearly says he'll beat Hogan's ass but Okerlund stops him from swearing . That if the NWO wants a piece of him , he will kick down the front door and come at em !

After the commercial Shiavone promotes the WCW.Com simulcast which is airing in Japan at this time in Japanese ! Its the 1st time in history. Joe Gomez comes out to face Hugh Morrus. Both start testing each other and then in the corner Morrus slugs n kicks down Gomez ! Then seconds later after Morrus charges the corner , Joe tries a roll up and gets a 1 count. Hugh takes over again and then tries a knee to the mid-section as Gomez comes off the ropes and does a roll up pin attempt again !

In a both it appears Gomez later tries to catch Morrus off the rope with a leg take down , but the two men aren't on the same page and instead he gets knocked over. Seconds later in a spot Joe catches Morrus with a drop kick with his long legs. Then we see later Gomez bounce off the ropes and try to leap frog Morrus and instead is caught and dropped by the big man. Morrus quickly climbs up and delivers the no laughing matter moonsault for the win.

After the NWO denim jacket commercial with Syxx and Ted Dibiase we return to Nitro. We get pics of Benoit/Sullivan which had the women get involved in the strap match. Them double clotheslining both men by accident. Then we see Benoit do a diving splash as he put Jacquelyn and Sullivan through a table. All 3 went to the hospital as a result of this.

La Parka is out next to face Ice Train who slaps almost every kids hand coming down the aisle. On a split screen Teddy Long discusses how Miss Jacquelyn sacrificed herself for Kevin Sullivan and she did way too much. He questions if Kevin would do the same for her. In ring La Parka tries some slaps on Train to no effect. Long warns her , she is making a big mistake being with Sullivan and its not too late to get away. La Parka eats a big power slam from Train and then a big impact shoulder tackle off the ropes.

Parka catches Train off the ropes with a small enziguri .Then seconds later nails a spinning heel kick off the top turnbuckle and gets thrown off as he tries a pin attempt. Train seconds later catches La Parka in a flying body press and power slams him down. Later to get away from Train , Parka does a jawbreaker then 2 more spinning heel kicks on him. Seconds later as Ice Train is outside the ring catching his breath , La Parka delivers a somersault 360 plauncha to the floor on him !

This advantage doesn't last long as Parka eats a hard lariat. Then later as he throws him into the corner , La Parka tries to spring board splash off it and is caught by the power of Train. He eats a power slam and big splash to end this. Post match Long yells about representing the west side playa , whaaaaats uppp.

Coming to the ring in a tag team match is Chris Jericho & Eddie Guerrero. The 2 men are a tag team tonight against the Faces of Fear . We see pics of Jericho/Guerrero which was pretty damn good . As Jericho hit Eddie with everything possible and he came up short. Jericho starts off 1st and starts paying the price quick against the powerful Barbarian. Chris then drop kicks his knee to get an advantage , using speed. A nice tag has Eddie flip over n splash Barbarian ! But the speed crashes as Barbarian catches Eddie and throws him into the air like a line dart to crash down.

Meng seconds later nearly shakes the ring as he power bombs Eddie with such force , the arena shakes. Fans pop huge and then we see Guerrero do a head scissor take down and make the hot tag. Later in the match Barbarian catches Jericho off the ropes with a knee to the back and Meng back suplexes him hard in the ring. In an epic holy **** move , Barbarian does a release belly to belly over head suplex off the top turnbuckle , throwing him halfway across the ring ! He manages to kick out at 2.

Seconds later in a great spot Jericho runs into the camera in the corner , springs off with a nice flying body splash off the top turnbuckle and gets a 2 count on the pin attempt. Later Meng & Barbarian do their double team move as Meng does the back drop on Jericho into Barbarian's arms when he catches him and power bombs him ! Another pin attempt and the 2 seconds later do the double head butt finisher and Eddie makes the save on it.

As the 2 heels beat on Jericho , outta nowhere he catches Meng with a backwards off the 2nd rope moonsault ! Then in a nice spot Jericho is pulled back by Meng , he nails an enziguri which has the big guy bounce off the ropes and try an elbow drop...and miss ! Chris finally makes the hot tag to his partner . Guerrero finally with Jericho's help gets Meng down..twice with a double team drop kick. Barbarian is down after some double team help as Chris sets up for a moonsault off the 2nd rope , outside Meng moves the rope as he falls into the floor ! Then outta nowhere as Eddie sets up for the frog splash , Malenko throws him off the top rope into Barbarian's big boot . Faces of Fear win as Shiavone tells us Malenko blamed Guerrero for costing him the Cruiserweight title to Syxx last night for getting involved.

End of Part 1

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Hour #2 begins as Shiavone is joined with Heenan and Teney. Tony shows us clips of the Horsemen/PE tag team situation earlier. Rey Mysterio comes to face Juventud Guerrera in what should be a good 1 on 1 match. Teney plugs that the talent from Mexico have made WCW's roster better and you have to agree. This match begins fast as Juvie slaps Rey across the chest hard that stuns him. He pays for it seconds later as Rey locks in a behind the back , backbreaker type submission . Guerrera reverses out quick and delivers a hard DDT !

Juventud springs off the top rope into the ring with a nice drop kick. Both men then seconds later go through a test of power and lock hands through a set of fun reversals and flips. Seconds later Juventud catches Rey off the ropes with a forearm smash and tries a pin attempt. Then the tide turns just as quick as both men go through flips and reversals and finally Guerrera catches Mysterio with a moonsault off the top turnbuckle as he goes for another pin attempt.

In an epic spot , Mysterio gets shown doing his head scissor take down in quick fast paced style. Then he does it seconds later outside the ring from a baseball slide into a head scissor take down on the floor. Juvie rebounds back in ring seconds later and delivers a huge power bomb and gets another close pin attempt. Back in ring later , Mysterio catches Guerrera as he tries a springboard into the ring into a power bomb ! Then Rey makes the signal and he springboards in and does the victory roll for the win ! Mysterio tells Syxx that the Cruiserweight belt will be his , he will come after him but he won't catch him !

Coming to the ring is Goldb- I mean Pat Tanaka who is using that classic theme we all know. Very weird to hear it. Prince Iaukea is out to defend the TV Championship. We see pics of Mysterio/Prince who flashed some very nice high risk moves. Out comes Regal who helped Mysterio lose and the Prince wasn't happy and wanted the match to continue. But Rey claimed he won and made him keep the title.

Prince catches Tanaka with some nice arm drags. Seconds later the Prince tries a side kick and we see Tanaka do a dragon screw leg whip. Then seconds later Tanaka is caught doing a weird deal where he turns his head some and gets clotheslined from the corner. In a cool spot seconds later Iaukea tries a leap frog as Tanaka comes off the ropes and catches him with a power bomb. The Prince rallies back with a springboard into a swanton splash. He then seconds later delivers the flying cross body off the top turnbuckle for the win.

Teney promotes that Iaukea is growing in confidence as a 27 year old graduate of WCW's Power Plant. Coming to the ring after commercial is Ultimo Dragon with Sonny Oono . On his way down the aisle , Oono makes Dragon stop and pose for a picture. He then ...takes a selfie with him ! Holy crap....WCW was light years ahead of a friggen trend folks.

Dragon will be facing a very irked Dean Malenko. We get pics of how Syxx won the Cruiserweight title at Super Brawl. The 2 men begin with some reversals and holds to try each other out. They even break clean as respect is there. In a cool spot Dragon reverses out and does a back trip move to make Dean fall on his face. Then we see seconds later Dragon go for a hand shake and the Ice Man just kicks him down and starts beating him down as fans pop for this cold machine Malenko.

Ultimo Dragon pays him back later with his own take down and then we see things get taken to a new level. Malenko slugs him down and then outside throws the stunned Dragon into the guard rail. Like he's sending a message to everyone. Back in ring later he delivers an epic suplex. He gets a close pin and goes back to working Ultimo over.

As Dean tries a chin hold , Ultimo reverses out and does a modified upside/down surfboard with a chin lock. Then we see him do a bridge in a spinning toe hold with a chin lock. Malenko seconds later does a sunset flip and gets another close pin attempt. Then later we see Dean catch Ultimo and deliver a double underhook power bomb into a pin attempt and gets a close 3 count. Outside on the apron seconds later , Malenko is drop kicked to the floor . Once there Dragon delivers a drop kick between the ropes , holding them and skins the cat back inside in a cool move !

He finishes it off with a cross body off the top turnbuckle to the floor on Dean. Back in ring both men go through reversal pin attempts. Then later we see Dragon do a Japanese style side roll up pin attempt. Teney names it but I can't type it. Seconds later Dean catches Ultimo as he does his hand spring elbow into the corner and does a release German suplex ! Suddenly Dean breaks down mentally and starts choking n smashing Dragon's head into the canvas. He's lost it as the anger of Malenko nails Sonny Oono for getting in his way.

Malenko has went so far over the edge , he chokes Ultimo Dragon as the referee DQ's him as he won't break the 5 count. Gene Okerlund goes to interview Dean as the Iceman paces in anger. Malenko is sick and tired of the lack of respect he's not gotten in WCW. Syxx he's not forgotten about as he has what he wants and he involved his dead father which is a mistake. But he's for another time and they will cross paths. But Eddie got involved and he shouldn't have and he's not afraid of Guerrero.

Coming to the ring is Diamond Dallas Page who last night faced Buff Bagwell. Page won by DQ after nailing the diamond cutter on Bagwell. Page is facing Squire , David Taylor who delivers a nice suplex to Page. The fans chant for DDP as he rallies back. Then the fans stand up as the Outsiders come out. Then we see Page catch Taylor in a fireman's carry he whips around into a diamond cutter as Hall & Nash come on down. The 2 men circle the ring as we see Page stand ready for them.

Nash removes his watch as we see em stand on the apron. Then from the back sneaks Randy Savage , who has a spray can. He then gets blind sided by THE MADNESS who lays him out with the spray can. We see a nice hug from all 3. Then we see a fan jump into the ring to celebrate with the NWO as Hall gives him a few smacks. Savage starts to try and hit him as Nash gets him outta the ring to protect him. Security is seen running around outside to catch said fan.

In ring we see Savage deliver the paint job on Page with N-W-O , branding him. We see THE MADNESS climb the top rope and deliver the elbow from the sky as Nash & Hall point at him. After the commercial the NWO music plays as we see Hall welcome us to NWO Monday Nitro ! Then we see Hall welcome The Madness into the NWO as the newest member. The Outsiders don't give just 1 ICON , we get 2 tonight ! HOLLYWOOD......HOGAN !

Hogan struts to the ring all smiles as the 4 men all do the NWO sign together. Hollywood plays air guitar. Hall interviews Hollywood as he questions his super showing last night. The NWO IS ON A ROLL he brags ! They city of Sacramento loves to party. Hogan claims that from one Icon to another ...he deserves a gift. Its Elizabeth who is smiling to get back with Randy . The 2 embrace as we realize why Savage turned , to be with her. Savage does a SWEET to answer it and Hall claims the NWO-4-LIFE . Sacramento is NWO TERRITORY as the fans pop.

Hugh Morrus advertises WCW Uncensored with him in a mental hospital. After commercial Teney claims that Savage delivered another big elbow drop and DDP was placed in a neck brace. Coming to the ring is Luger & Giant as they are now the WCW World tag team titles. They will be facing Harlem Heat. In a spot its claimed that Nash power bombed the Giant. Then outta the back comes Bischoff who as Shiavone claims , we already know where this is going. He's gonna strip em of the titles.

The NWO get in ring with Luger , Giant and the Heat. Bischoff wants the 2 men to hand the belts over and prepares to use force. He wants em handed over as Lex works a deal. That at Uncensored WCW/NWO put up or shut up. All the belts on the line. If NWO loses , they lose all the belts and vice versa for WCW. Bischoff agrees to get the tag belts back. The NWO proclaim they are packing all the gold now. As things get ready to break down out comes Sting as he stands between them all , facing them both...then he looks at Hogan. Then we see Hulk hug him in an embrace and we see Bischoff celebrate this as Sting joining the NWO. The show ends there.


THE BAD - Hour one began in a weird way as we got a tag team match we really didn't expect of Jarrett/Mongo. The funniest was again the idea that WCW was trying to sell Mongo as this huge improved superstar and he needed carried to know what to do between spots he'd do.

At this point you have to wonder why Duggen wasn't feuding with anyone on the NWO B-Team. He had called them out for weeks , wore WCW colors and tonight issues challenges to Hogan & Savage. Yet no answer.

The Savage heel turn made little damn sense til we realized at the end why he turned heel. It was shown that if he turned he'd be reunited with Elizabeth. Because in pro wrestling you can make a woman your supposed slave and keep her away from a guy. Its pro wrestling folks.


OVERALL : **** Outta 5. The 1st hour wasn't good , but the 2nd hour kicked into drive as we got 2 very damn good matches (Mysterio/Guerrera , Malenko/Dragon) and some decent angles. WCW made a very good deal to start to sell the next PPV , as Uncensored would feature NWO vs WCW in team battle with all the belts on the line. Very good booking and end angle spot with Sting !

[SUPERECWFAN1]

WCW Monday Night Nitro - March 3rd , 1997




Your Hosts - Tony Shiavone , Larry Zbyszko , Mike Teney & Bobby Heenan

Tony Shiavone welcomes us to the hottest 2 hours in pro wrestling. WCW is live at the Omni in Atlanta , GA. Backstage the NWO arrive in a WCW Nitro painted Hummer Limo . Hogan , Dibiase , Syxx , the Outsiders , Michael Wallstreet , Vince , Randy Savage and finally Eric Bischoff. The NWO walk on ahead and don't see another black limo arrive and its Dr. Harvey Schiller and Turner Sports brass walking behind the cocky NWO.

To start Nitro out comes Hugh Morrus and Konan in tag team action. The two men represent the Dungeon of Doom as representing the 4 Horsemen is Jeff Jarrett and Mongo McMichaels. With them is Debra who plays to the hot Atlanta crowd. Morrus and Jarrett will start things. Jeff uses his speed and punches to start against Morrus and delivers a nice atomic drop to him. Then comically Jarrett tries to spring Morrus throat across the rope as Konan moves him way before Jarrett arrives. Hurting himself in the ropes and changing the tide of the match.

Morrus plays to the crowd and does Jarrett's strut after a hard clothesline. Then the heel Dungeon start working over Jeff. Konan is so smooth he does his roll up clothesline as Jeff bounces off the ropes. They keep annoying Mongo as this allows double teams. Then the heels get too cocky as Konan holds Jeff as Morrus tries a backwards cross body. Jarrett low blows Konan as Morrus doesn't realize it and eats the cross body. This allows the HOT TAG to Mongo !

Mongo does 2 body slams as Shiavone proclaims this is the greatest thing ever. Then we see Mongo deliver his football stance tackle to both men as I think Shiavone is gonna have a melt down over it. Outside the ring the Public Enemy show up and try to take the briefcase from Debra. Jeff comes outside as they struggle and by accident as Mongo leans over to yell , he gets walloped with the loaded case. Laying him out as Jarrett is unable to stop the pin fall. The Horsemen are 0-2 since Jarrett became a Horsemen as Shiavone points out.

Out comes Flair and Anderson to see what is going on. To check on the fallen Mongo. Gene Okerlund is in ring to interview the 4 standing there. AA isn't happy and knows Jeff isn't that clumsy and thought this garbage was settled last week. Jarrett tells Anderson to stop instigating the situation and he proved himself last week. Jeff gets in Ric's face as he knows he stood good for him. Flair tells Jarrett that he gave him a position in the chair , stop falling outta it ! Mongo isn't happy as he yells at Steve. Debra is the voice of reason who says everyone is trying to hard and that in 2 weeks they have Public Enemy. She don't wanna represent a loser. Jarrett pledges that they will take care of business then.

DDP comes out after commercial and the fans he points out , rip off their NWO shirts representing Diamond Dallas Page. Page is working against Rick Fuller , who is 6'6 325 , as Page delivers a nice belly to belly suplex against the larger guy. The fans start a DDP chant as Fuller takes over. With a nice leg drop on Page in a spot. The fans chant for Page stuns Larry , and then in a perfect spot , Fuller catches Page's leg. Page spins and delivers a nice clothesline. In the finisher spot , Fuller tries a scoop slam , Page wriggles out and then delivers the diamond cutter for the win ! Fans pop big for that.

Coming to the ring is Okerlund to interview Page. Last week is shown where Randy Savage attacked Page from behind. Joining the NWO in doing the flying elbow on Page. Then to taunt Savage , Page tells him if he's that much of a Savage , snap into this...(makes Diamond sign) BANG.

In ring without an entrance is Juventud Guerrera and Ray Mendoza Jr. (aka Villano IV) as this one starts off quick. Mendoza tries a back suplex and Juvie flips over and lands on his feet. Then seconds later does a head scissor take down. Then delivers a nice baseball slide knocking Mendoza into the guard rail. Juventud goes for a spring board moonsault to the floor , but Mendoza grabs him and his face bounces off the apron as he crumbles to the floor.

To add insult to injury Mendoza suplexes Guerrera on the floor. Juvie tries to rally and is caught running and gets an overhead suplex for his trouble. Nearly getting a pin fall. Juventud seconds later reverses and delivers a neck breaker. Spring board leg drop off that top rope and gets a close 2 count for Guerrera. Seconds later Guerrera tries a frankensteiner like victory roll into a pin attempt.

In a wild spot Guerrera delivers a wild suicide dive that goes through one side of the ropes to the other on Mendoza. In an awkward spot , Guerrera tries a head scissors on Mendoza into the ring and both men seem to botch it moving so quick. In a nice spot both men fight to suplex each other outside the ring on each side . Finally Guerrera crotches Mendoza on the top rope and delivers the 360 splash onto Mendoza to get the win. Nice wild match folks.

At the announce booth comes out Kevin Sullivan , Jimmy Hart and Jacqueline. Jimmy is happy to be at WCW's home town. Jacqueline brags that she can beat any man or woman. She dares Hogan or anyone to come on. Sullivan brags that Benoit will never be the man he once was or will ever be. Then we see that Hart has a special jacket called 2 Legit 2 Quit. I'm sure that reference is like 8 years past its date. After a NWO t-shirt commercial , watching WCW is Hank Aaron and he seems happy.

Mike Enos comes out for this match and surprisingly gets an entrance. Facing him will be the man of 1,000 holds , Dean Malenko. Who isn't in a happy mood since he's a former Cruiserweight Champion. Enos catches Malenko coming in , but the anger of the Ice Man can't be stopped as he takes Enos to the grow and smacks him. Dean is a savage and attacks Enos in the corner. Then he drop kicks the knee , focusing on taking it out during the match. Dropping Enos knee over the top rope. In an angry spot , Malenko lays the knee over the guard rail and hits it to inflict pain.

Finally Enos catches Malenko with a knee to the gut and then a belly to belly suplex. But the knee is hurting so bad he can't stand. So we see Malenko do a spinning toe hold and inflict pain. Enos by luck makes the ropes. Then seconds later in a wild spot , Enos catches Malenko who does a flying cross body off the top rope. He rolls over for the pin attempt. Enos delivers a nice clothesline catching Malenko as he still has problems with his leg from being worked over. Enos tries to body slam Malenko , but Dean rolls him into a small package , using his bad leg to get the win.

Malenko gets on the mic and tells the crowd , that this is a little taste of the new Malenko . That he's coming for Eddie Guerrero and if anyone wants to get in his way , they will get the same treatment. Shiavone promotes WCW Saturday Night and then we go to Okerlund , who we hear the NWO music hit. Out comes Eric Bischoff or as Shiavone claims "Mr. Ego". Bischoff claims he loves everyone and so happy , he's giddy.

Bischoff claims the NWO will be gladly able to put up their belts come Uncensored against WCW. He thinks the crowd owes him a debt of gratitude and how the NWO has helped WCW. He claims the crowd loves him as Okerlund claims , it sure looks that way sarcastically. So out comes Dr. Harvey Schiller who lays down the law. That because he is placed over WCW , doesn't mean he can do ANYTHING he wants. That he can fire referees , take titles from folks at will due to a contract ? Schiller tells him he may have a contract and after Bischoff claims he can , Schiller suspends Bischoff ! Eric can sign no more contracts and can't even answer a telephone.

"I don't even want to know there is a rumor your in the men's room at a WCW event !" Bischoff runs after Schiller to protest this.

After commercial out comes Ultimo Dragon with Sonny Oono. Sonny plays the evil tourist manager and snaps pics with Dragon down the ramp and all. He then hands the camera to a young boy. Eddie Guerrero comes out as US Champion to face Dragon in what should be a good solid match. Both men work through reversals on the mat in a nice spot where there is some respect. Fans start a USA chant as we see both men do a test of power into Dragon bridging at one point.

Seconds later after both men bounce off the ropes , Dragon does a head scissor take down on Guerrero. Then seconds later Guerrero does the same. In a cool spot later Ultimo goes through his kicks and takes down Eddie. Then in a weird dumb spot , Dragon does a cartwheel into a cross body , which Guerrero rolls into the ropes to get the pin fall. Even Guerrero is like , this is the pin ? And that short a match ...really ?

In ring Okerlund tells Eddie that Dean Malenko is blaming him for losing the Cruiserweight Championship. Guerrero claims he has apologized and tried to help Malenko. He's sick and tired of the man blaming him for it all. Dean comes out and says that he won't let Eddie give these folks a snow job and that he's traveled with Guerrero for years. But now he's lost respect for him. Both men argue as they go to commercial.

End of Part #1