Monday Nitro #111
Date: October 27, 1997
Location: Cox Arena,
San Diego, California
Attendance: 6,281
Commentators: Mike
Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
We're past Halloween
Havoc now where Piper beat Hogan in one of the more confusing cage
matches you'll ever seen. At that point though I think they knew
everyone was going to buy Starrcade so why bother putting in the
effort at the other PPVs? Other than that, Hennig retained the US
Title over Flair and Rey Mysterio won the Cruiserweight Title in
arguably the best match WCW ever produced. I'm guessing nothing
tonight is going to top it. Let's get to it.
Apparently this show is
three hours, which I believe is a forerunner to the three hour
broadcasts which are coming soon.
Here are Hogan and
Bischoff to open the show. Eric brags about how Hogan is still world
champion and says that Hogan will be champion for as long as he
wants. Hogan says that he's tired of the word icon being thrown
around so freely so let's just call Hogan God. He challenges anyone
in WCW or in the crowd to come fight him right now. That's not a
bright thing to say after a fan climbed into the cage last night.
Bischoff says this
network will soon be named Hogan Network Television and plugs Assault
on Devil's Island tomorrow night. We get a clip from the movie which
looks like a bad TV movie. I actually watched it once and it
certainly lived up to what it looked like in the trailer. It says a
lot that Hogan keeps getting these movie roles when he is such an
abysmal actor.
Cruiserweight Title:
Rey Mysterio vs. Dean Malenko
Rey won the title last
night. Dean immediately takes it to the mat as is his nature but Rey
counters into a hammerlock. Back up and the champion hooks an
armdrag to send Malenko right back down. Rey tries a test of
strength for some reason and does as well as you would expect him to.
Raven and the Flock are here as they are every week. A rollup gets
two each but Dean charges into a boot in the corner to stagger him.
Rey goes up, only to have Malenko catch him with his awesome top rope
gutbuster for a very close two. A standing rana is countered into
the Texas Cloverleaf but Rey rolls through into a cradle to retain.
Rating: C+.
This was your usual solid match between these two and that gutbuster
is awesome as usual. Rey getting another win after the excellent
match last night was a good move and having it be over one of the
best in the division like Malenko worked well. These two always had
solid chemistry together.
Here's more about lucha
libre from Mike Tenay. This time we hear about the merchandise in
Mexico before transitioning into wrestling families. El Hijo del
Santo talks about how devastating his father's death was. I wish
would could get stuff like this today instead of the same gags and
segments over and over again.
Glacier vs. La Parka
La Parka takes over to
start and hits a few fast right hands but Glacier comes back with a
few kicks of his own. The masked dude is knocked to the floor and
Glacier hits a cross body to take him down again. Back in and La
Parka hits a kick and a piledriver of all things, but instead of
covering it's DANCE TIME. Another kick sends Glacier to the floor
and there's a nice corkscrew plancha to take him out again. La Parka
loads up a chair but takes too long going up, allowing Glacier to
crotch him. Glacier launches him into the chair before heading back
in for the Cryonic Kick for the pin. Nothing match but a nice dive
by Parka.
Here's DDP with
something to say. Actually it's Gene with something to say as he
talks about all of the injuries that Page had coming into his loss to
Savage last night. Page knows it was Hogan as Sting last night
(shocker there) and says Savage knows that one on one, Page is the
better man. If Hogan has an open challenge for tonight, DDP will
take him up on it. Ok then.
After a break here's
Larry Z with something to say. He's glad of what he did last night
when he reversed the decision of Hall vs. Luger and has a piece of
paper which apparently is a one way ticket to Larryland. After some
more insults here are Hall and Syxx with Scott saying that Larry has
shown he can't do anything in the ring. Scott things Larry couldn't
even beat Bischoff and we get a clip of Eric beating up Larry from a
few weeks ago. Hall still won't agree to fight Zbyszko and that's
about it.
Lex Luger vs. Stevie
Ray
Feeling out process to
start with Luger grabbing a headlock to control. They trade shoulder
blocks but neither guy moves. A clothesline puts Ray down but Stevie
comes right back with a shoulder of his own to put Luger down. Lex
comes back with a few slams but misses that big elbow of his. The
move we would call the World's Strongest Slam gets two for Ray and
it's off to a bearhug. Luger counters into a quickly broken bearhug
of his own but the clotheslines he uses work a bit better. The Rack
is blocked though and a bicycle kick puts Luger down. Lex comes back
with a powerslam and the Rack for the win.
Rating: C.
This was FAR better than I was expecting with Ray actually looking
like a threat to Luger. For a guy who never did a single thing as a
singles wrestler, that was pretty impressive. Luger was never in any
significant danger but at least we were convinced that he was. Nice
little match here.
Raven sits in a tree
and talks about not liking the dark.
Eddie Guerrero vs.
Chris Jericho
We get clips from
Jericho's match last night with Gedo where Jericho landed on his head
in a botch off the top rope. Feeling out process to start but Eddie
goes after Chris' bad shoulder. Jericho comes back with a spinwheel
kick and some chops in the corner, but Eddie gets in a shot to
Jericho's shoulder again to take him down. A dropkick to the back of
Jericho's head keeps him in trouble as does one to the shoulder.
Jericho ducks a right
hand and hits a HUGE release German suplex for two. A butterfly
powerbomb puts Eddie down but the Lionsault misses. Eddie's Frog
Splash is countered by a good old fashioned crotching and a
superplex, but Jericho can barely stand up. Jericho escapes a
powerbomb and suplexes Eddie to the floor. That destroys Jericho's
shoulder and he falls to the mat in pain, allowing Eddie (who landed
on his feet on the floor) to come back in with the Frog Splash for
the pin.
Rating: C+.
This was your usual good match between these two guys with a fine
story about Jericho's shoulder. The ending was a creative one too as
Jericho just couldn't fight all the way through the pain he was in.
Eddie getting another win is a good thing after the loss from last
night against Mysterio.
Chris Benoit vs. Fit
Finlay
These two know each
other very well from other countries. Finlay runs him over to start
but charges into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and some HARD chops.
Finlay tries a headlock but Benoit suplexes him right back down. An
enziguri puts Fit down and they head to the floor for a HARD forearm
by Finlay. Benoit gets dropped face first onto the barricade and
goes shoulder first into the post for good measure. They head back
inside for some stiff kicks to Chris' back.
Off to a chinlock by
Fit before he slams Benoit down. Finlay steps on Benoit's chest to
get to the corner for a Vader Bomb for two. Back to the floor but
one of those hard chops by Finlay hits the post instead of Benoit.
Finlay comes back immediately by sending Benoit into the barricade
before heading back inside. A charge in the corner misses Benoit
though and the Canadian hits a German suplex to set up the Swan Dive
for the pin.
Rating: C+.
Another good match here in a complete different style from the
previous few matches. That's one of the things Nitro did best: they
could show off a bunch of different styles in one show such as a
squash, a lucha libre match and then a stiff brawl like this one.
That's the benefit of the huge roster WCW had at this point and the
international flavor helped a lot as well.
Here's Flair with
something to say. He talks about how close he got to beating Hennig
within an inch of his life last night and if he sees Hennig tonight,
Hennig is a dead man. As for the rest of the show though, Flair gets
Savage and then after that he's getting Liz.
Raven vs. Scotty
Riggs
Richards, Saturn,
Kidman and Sick Boy all jump the railing with Raven. Tenay calls
them the Flock, I believe for the first time. Richards says this has
to be Raven's Rules. Raven says there's no point to them fighting
tonight, because Riggs can join the Flock instead. Riggs wants to
fight and is shoved into the corner almost immediately. Raven offers
him a hand up but Riggs wisely doesn't take it. A suplex puts Riggs
down and we get an ECW chant. Saturn throws in a chair and Riggs
gets caught in a drop toehold, sending him eye first into the chair.
The match is stopped and Raven goes back to his seat in the crowd.
Diamond Dallas Page
vs. Hulk Hogan
Non-title of course and
amazingly this isn't the main event. Page of course has taped ribs
as he always does. Hogan immediately shoves Page into the corner but
Hogan takes him down with a hammerlock. Page is in jeans here.
Hogan slugs him down as Tony plugs Assault on Devil's Island some
more. All Hollywood so far as he clotheslines Page down for two. A
jumping knee to Page's face puts him down again but DDP comes back
with the driving shoulders.
Page tries for the
Cutter but Hogan immediately bails to the floor. Back in and the
discus lariat takes Hogan down and out to the floor again. Hogan
gets back in and slams Page down before dropping some elbows and
choking away. Page is sent to the floor and out into the barricade
before suplexing Page down on the floor. Back in and Diamond grabs a
quick neckbreaker for two but gets caught in an atomic drop for the
same for Hogan.
Hollywood goes after
the ribs and hits a BIG running clothesline in the corner. Hogan
hits a suplex for three straight two counts before DDP comes with
with a bunch of punches to send Hogan to the floor. That goes
nowhere so it's back inside for the big boot from Hogan to stop Page
cold. The legdrop misses though but a fake Sting (might be Syxx)
comes out and jumps into the Diamond Cutter as the bell rings for a
DQ.
Rating: C-.
Not the worst match in the world as Hogan actually went almost
fifteen minutes for free on television. It was his usual heel stuff
with really basic moves, but he had the crowd riled up which is what
Hogan was a master at doing. Page hung in there and the run in
finish was the only thing they could do here. Decent match though.
Post match here the NWO
for the big beatdown (including Syxx so he wasn't the fake Sting)
until the real Sting makes the save and beats up everyone. A long
point at Hogan has the champion terrified. Scott Hall stays in the
ring and gets caught in the Death Drop, as does Hennig.
TV Title: Disco
Inferno vs. Goldberg
No match as Alex Wright
jumps Goldberg on the way to the ring. Goldie throws him into the
ring for a Jackhammer before hitting both signature moves on Disco.
Mongo comes out for a brawl to end this. The bell never rang.
Here are a ticked off
Hogan and Bischoff to say that they're tired of Sting and that Page
isn't in Hogan's league. They plug the movie premiere tomorrow night
and say that if Sting wants to come see him in Vegas, they can sign
the contract there. That's a big step.
The Steiners say it's
been a tough year but anyone that wants a title shot can come get it.
Tag Titles: Steiner
Brothers vs. Public Enemy
Scotty and Rocco start
things off with Rocco being press slammed very quickly. The
challengers (Public Enemy if that's not clear) bails until we get
back to Grunge vs. Rick. A powerslam puts Grunge right back on the
floor and starts the stalling process as we take a break. Back with
Rocco knocking Scotty out to the floor for some cheating from Grunge.
Johnny sends him into the steps for good measure as the referee
continues to be clueless. The announcers are about the same as they
spend the whole match talking about the Hogan/Sting contract signing.
Back in and the
challengers elbow Scotty down so that Grunge can chinlock him for a
bit. Scotty tries to fight up but charges into a knee as it's back
to Rocco. A swinging neckbreaker puts Steiner down again but Scott
comes back with a clothesline to both Enemies. The hot tag brings in
Rick and house is cleaned until it's the Steiner Bulldog for the pin
on Rock.
Rating: D+.
Very basic tag match here which didn't work all that well. This
would set up a rematch in a street fight next week for no apparent
reason. This was a clean win for the Steiners, so why should we need
to see this match all over again? Nothing to see here at all and the
match was dull.
US Title: Booker T
vs. Curt Hennig
Main event time and
Curt is of course defending. Booker starts fast with some
clotheslines and a shoulder to knock Hennig down. Curt bails to the
floor but comes back in with a rake to the eyes and some loud chops.
A neckbreaker puts Booker down and we hit an early chinlock. Booker
fights up and they head to the floor with the champion taking over,
only to be rolled up for two back inside. Booker takes over as Liz
comes out for a distraction. While she has the referee, Savage comes
in to deck Booker, drawing in Flair for the DQ. Too short to rate
but nothing of note.
Ric Flair vs. Randy
Savage
This is joined in
progress after a break with Flair pounding away in the crowd. The
referee is knocked down as this is a brawl instead of a match. They
fight against the barricade with Flair in complete control. A low
blow keeps Savage down as they head back to ringside. Savage gets in
a microphone shot to Flair's throat but Flair chops him down. Savage
tries to hide behind Liz so Flair kisses Savage's shield. Smart man.
They finally head
inside with Savage being taken down by an elbow so Flair can dance a
bit. Liz rakes his eyes, allowing Savage to send Flair back to the
floor. Ric is sent into the steps and choked down, allowing Macho to
load up the top rope ax handle, only to crash into the railing. They
head back inside but here's Hennig for the DQ. Yeah after all that
we get a DQ.
Rating: C.
This was a wild brawl but that's all you need sometimes. The idea of
Flair being in such a rage that he couldn't wrestle a match was a
fine idea and Savage just happened to be the victim at this point.
Surprisingly enough, this would be the last time that these two would
fight on Nitro.
Flair is beaten down to
end the show.
Overall Rating: B-.
This show was about advancing stuff after last night. The contract
signing would show where the end of the year was heading and that's
when things get awesome. If nothing else we don't have to hear about
Hogan's movie anymore which is always a good thing. Good show
tonight, but the three hour shows are going to be torture when
they're a regular thing.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com