Lurker > Chronic1000

Match Seven: Kevin Sullivan w/ Jimmy Hart vs. Chris Benoit w/ Woman in a falls count anywhere match

Sullivan doesn’t want to start this in the ring, so they quickly fight back to the bathroom - again. For those keeping points, this is the fourth time Benoit/Sullivan have fought in a bathroom. Benoit and Sullivan use various items, including a trashcan and a paper towel dispenser against each other. The referee Randy Anderson even gets knocked down in the urinals, much to Dusty Rhodes giddiness. They eventually fight back to the ring where Sullivan is beating up on Benoit. Woman grabs a chair, smacks Sullivan on the back with it and gives Benoit the win.

Winner by pinfall: Chris Benoit

Benoit uses the wooden chair and crushes it over Sullivan’s skull.

This was slightly shorter than their Great American Bash Falls Count Anywhere match, but just as fun. **¾

Match Eight: Steiner Brothers vs. The Amazing French Canadians w/Col. Rob Parker

Hall and Nash appear on the tron (hey, a tron!) and threaten the Steiner Brothers, but don’t make on their threat.

The AFC put up a valiant effort against the Steiner Bros, but fall victim to a an assisted super DDT.

Winners by pinfall: Steiner Brothers

**¼ for a pretty average tag team match.

Main Event: Scott Hall w/Nash and Syxx vs. Lex Luger

Surprisingly, the referee here is Mark Curtis.

Scott Hall taunts Luger to start this match, and even throws his toothpick at him.

Hall (with help from Nash and Syxx) are able to keep the bigger Luger down for the majority of this contest, but things begin to around when Luger uses the ringpost to low blow Scott Hall. He then hits an atomic drop and three inverted atomic drops, to boot. Nash and Syxx try to interfere, but Luger takes them both out! Luger has Hall in the Torture Rack, and Nash is in! Luger holds him off, but Syxx is in and all three men are able to keep Luger down, causing a DQ.

Winner by DQ: Lex Luger

*½

The Steiners are out now, and all six men duke it out for several minutes as the show goes off the air.

There were several good matches on display here, and it built up pretty nicely to Souled Out. This is pretty much what you expect from the ‘big show on free TV.’ Overall, I’d give this 7/10.

TV Rating: 3.5

Other Clash Notes:

1. Tony Schiavone wished a happy birthday to a ‘long time fan and supporter of WCW, Brian Hildebrand, turning 35 today.” For those that may be unaware, Brian Hildebrand was referee Mark Curtis. That was rather unusual for them to acknowledge his birthday. Speaking of Mark Curtis, he’s turning to be one of my favorite referees in WCW. His mannerisms and the way he acts in the ring are a definite funny sight to see in otherwise poor matches.

2. As I have stated, expect the nWo Souled Out watchfest on Tuesday night.

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WCW Clash of the Champions XXXIV
Airdate: January 21st, 1997
Arena/Location: Wisconsin Center Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Commentators: Dusty Rhodes, Tony Schiavone, and Bobby Heenan

Tony welcomes us to this edition of Clash of the Champions, and starts off by talking about the Kevin Sullivan/Chris Benoit feud. Dusty Rhodes talks about how we’re going to be seeing a ‘domestic dispute’ on ’the Mothership.’ Wrong show, Dream. Heenan says he wants to see how sharp and ready Scott Steiner is after coming back from injury, before we go to our first match.

Match One: Dean Malenko vs. Ultimo Dragon© w/ Sonny Onoo for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship

Mike Tenay shows up to call this match.

A loud USA chant starts off this championship contest. Ultimo Dragon works over Malenko’s leg in the early going. Malenko returns the favor by working over Dragon’s leg for several minutes, using everything from a single leg crab, atomic drops, and several submissions I didn’t really know the name of. Malenko then throws Dragon out, and uses the guardrail as a tag team partner against Ultimo Dragon’s leg. Back in the ring, and Dean applies the figure four on Ultimo Dragon, at least it appears that way. Dragon grabs Malenko’s leg and holds it up, preventing Dean from locking the hold on. Both men fighting for it, and Dean is wins out. He applies the figure four on Dragon for a few seconds, before he’s back up and hit’s a running clothesline in the corner on Dragon. Dragon is able to counter a second one until a jumping wheel kick. Dragon up on the top rope,, but Dean is able to counter that into a superplex! Dean goes for a pin, but only gets a two. Malenko tries to hit a powerbomb, but Dragon reverses into a pinning combination of his own, but that also gets a two count.

Malenko is dropkicked out of the ring, Dragon goes for a hurricanrana, but Malenko dodges. Dragon sends Malenko into the guardrail, Malenko slowly gets up, and Dragon hit’s a senton on Dean and now both men are down. Onoo yells at Dragon to get up as they both slowly do. They both make it in at the nine count. Dragon with a beautiful moonsault and only gets a two! Dragon sets Malenko up for a top rope hurricanrana, but Dragon gets another two! Malenko back up now, hit’s a butterfly suplex into a powerbomb! Onoo tries to interfere, but Dean knocks him off the apron. Malenko goes for the Texas Cloverleaf and.. Dragon taps!

Winner and NEW WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Dean Malenko

The crowd erupts as Dean is now a three time Cruiserweight champion.

The match got roughly eighteen minutes (with one commercial break early on) and I must say I was psyched up for the entire match. Very good contest and I would say better than their Starrcade match. ****½

Match Two: Mike Enos vs. Scotty Riggs

Thankfully we get no entrance music for neither guy. Riggs in control early on, and never lets up. Riggs wins in two minutes after a forearm shot.

Winner by pinfall: Scotty Riggs

SQUASH

After a commercial break, we go to Mean Gene as he introduces the Four Horsemen (minus Flair.) Benoit says that the Horsemen will be in control for 1997. Arn tells Benoit to finish his work, while Mongo (who gets some nice heat) tells Benoit that someone famous from Green Bay said winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing. Mean Gene takes it to the ring for more action.

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Bumpage.

Seeing as how I'm not doing the Souled Out watchfest till probably Tuesday (or Thursday) I guess I can wait another day to write up the CotC XXXIV review. Which is good, as I've got a few minor things I need to do today.

Update(?) maybe tomorrow.

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I edit my reviews of Nitro/other programming in GameFAQs, and reading it in this extremely small box is highly frustrating to me.

To keep this vaguely wrestling related, here is an old picture of Tony Schiavone that I found extremely funny:



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Bumpage.

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Match Nine: Booker T w/Sister Sherri vs. Scott Hall

Nick Patrick again is the ref here.

Booker T is able to hold his own against Hall, but things turn around for him as Hall is able to hit the Outsider’s Edge on Booker T for the win.

Winner by pinfall: Scott Hall

I’d like to see these two go at it for maybe ten-fifteen minutes. Unfortunately this got four minutes. *¼

Main Event: Stevie Ray w/Sister Sherri vs. Lex Luger

Luger wins this one with a torture rack after four minutes. Shocker.

Winner by submission: Lex Luger

½*

Hollywood Hulk Hogan comes out now. Hogan does his normal shtick as he rips his shirt off and flexes for the crowd. Hogan then rambles on for a few minutes and talks about how he’s going to destroy Giant at Souled Out. Huge Hogan Sucks chant from the crowd, as well. Giant runs out and tries to attack Hogan, but security stops him. As soon as he gets out of their hands and into the ring, Nitro ends.

Lots of squashes. The ratio I think was about even, but the longest match was like seven minutes long. That’s not good. Admittedly, there were more storylines pushed, and Clash at the Champions (which is next in my watchthrough) will have more competitive matches, so I guess I can understand why this wasn’t like that. Still, they could’ve showcased some other talent. 4.5/10

TV Rating: 3.7

Other Nitro Notes:
1. Tony Schiavone Hyperbolic Meter: This gadget hit once with this phrase Tony uttered :”I feel this rivalry (Benoit/Sullivan) is the most bitter in the history of our sport.”

2. As I stated several times, I’m watching Clash of the Champions XXXIV next, instead of Souled Out. After that though, I should have Souled Out watchfest next Tuesday.

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Back from the break, we go to footage from WCW Saturday Night where we see footage of Eric Bischoff talking about being on top of WCW and nWo, then talks about various WCW wrestlers that the New World Order has ‘destroyed.’ He then talks about Savage, and how he wanted Liz (who has been there with Bischoff) and Eric’s hair. I’m sure.

Match Four: Ultimo Dragon w/Sonny Onoo vs. Dean Malenko

ECW chant breaks out as these athletes start things off. Good back and forth match between the two cruiserweights. Ultimo goes for the kill after a top rope hurricanrana, but Malenko kicks out. Malenko tries to make Dragon submit with a submission hold, but Dragon makes it to the ropes. Dragon counters a suplex into a rollup for the win.

Winner by pinfall: Ultimo Dragon

*¾ for a decent match that only got five minutes. These two will go at it at Clash of the Champions.

Hour Two Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, and Bobby Heenan

We go to the announce booth where the three amigos talk about the Savage/Sting confrontation at the start of the show. Tony (who’s wearing a Hockey Jersey) shows video of what happened earlier in the night.

Match Five: Lord Steven Regal© vs. Jacques Rougeau w/Col. Rob Parker for the WCW World Television Championship

Jacques tries to sing the Canadian National Anthem, much to the dismay of anyone with ears.

Another two minute thriller that sees Col Rob Parker hit his own man with a weapon causing a DQ.

Winner, and STILL WCW World Television Champion: Lord Steven Regal

After a break, we go to Lee Marshall who is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin shilling Nitro from there next week.

Match Six: Kevin Sullivan w/Jimmy Hart vs. Chris Benoit w/Woman

Benoit attacks Sullivan before the match even technically starts, and they go through the crowd and are now fighting in the bathroom. That’s never happened before <_<. They fight in the bathroom for a few seconds, and try to get out. The cameraguy is having a hard time as the crowd isn’t letting up. Jeez. We change camera angles and Sullivan is throwing Benoit down the steps. Benoit and Sullivan throw cups of beer and drinks at each other. They go in the ring and.. The match is just starting.
They fight it out in the ring for a few seconds. Woman finally shows up and distracts the ref, while Jimmy Hart grabs the ring bell and gives it to Sullivan. Benoit goes for the diving headbutt, hit’s the ring bell, and Sullivan wins.

Winner by pinfall: Kevin Sullivan

Technically I don’t think the match itself lasted that long, but I’m counting the entire fight and I’ll go with **¼ here. Pretty much the same thing as what they did last time, but it’s rough regardless.

After a break, most of the New World Order comes out and hijacks the announce booth. Dibiase, Nash, and Bischoff are have headsets now.

Match Seven: Carl Ouellet w/Col. Rob Parker vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan

Another three minute match with Duggan winning after the Steiners come out and attack Jacques Rougeau.

Winner by pinfall: Jim Duggan

½*

After a break, we get footage of what’s been going on between the New World Order/DDP.

Match Eight: Squire Dave Taylor vs. Masahiro Chono

We’ve got Nick Patrick as the referee. Oh goodie. Squire Dave Taylor is wearing a weird.. Hunting outfit or something. Weird.

Taylor gets some minor offense in, but it’s apparent he’s not winning this won. Chono wins in about three minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Masahiro Chono

¾*

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WCW Nitro
Airdate: January 20th, 1997
Arena/Location: United Center in Chicago, Illinois
Hour One Commentators: Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko

Tony and Larry welcome us to Monday Nitro. As we get a few shots of the crowd, Randy Savage jumps the guardrail and is in the ring! He throws achair in the ring and starts talking. He says that he’s been black balled, and wants to talk to someone with stroke. He then tells Eric Bischoff to kiss his ass. He folds the chair out and sits there. They try to go the first match (Chavo vs. Maxx) but after a few minutes, Savage beats up Chavo and throws him out of the ring. Maxx comes out, but has the same end result. The ref tries to talk sense into him, but he gets thrown out of the ring as well. Doug Dillenger and Alex Wright are both knocked away as well. The Amazing French Canadians, Steiners, and a few others are out now watching Savage from ringside as he wields the chair. After a few seconds of them watching what’s going on, Sting descends from the rafters near the announce booth!

Sting walks to the ring. The group of wrestlers part as Sting walks by. Sting enters the ring, and holds the bat to Savage’s throat! Sting pushes Savage with the bat several times, then gives the bat to Savage and turns around. Savage, who looks like hew as about to explode, doesn’t hit Sting with the bat, and instead throws it back at Sting (who grabs it despite facing away from Savage - that was a cool visual.) Savage and Sting leave the ring together as we go to a break.

We get footage of Masahiro Chono joining the New World Order a month ago and his match against Chris Jericho. We are informed that there will be a return match between Chono and Jericho at Souled Out.

Match One: Alex Wright vs. Chris Jericho

A quick match that the crowd started chanting boring at thirty seconds in. Jericho wins it by countering Wright’s potential german suplex into a forward roll pin.

Winner by pinfall: Chris Jericho

SQUASH

Match Two: Bogus Sting vs. Scotty Riggs (SCOTTY RIGGS!)

Have I ever said I hated that American Males song? I do. Like, really hate it.

‘Sting’ and Riggs fight it out for a few minutes, but Marcus Bagwell (now known as Buff) comes out. He runs down to the ring to attack Riggs, but Riggs escapes. Most of the nWo secondary members are out now.

Winner by DQ: Scotty Riggs

The New World Order members threaten the ring announcer David Penzer and he now announces

Winner by countout: ‘Sting’

N/R regardless.

After a break we go to Ric Flair who’s talking with Rob Probert of the Chicago Blackhawks. He cuts a promo on Hogan and saying next time they’re in Chicago, he’ll be sorry. Okay then.

Match Three: Four Horsemen (Mongo and Arn) w/Woman vs. Eddie Guerrero and Jeff Jarrett

Mongo gets a decent pop from his ‘hometown’ crowd.
Arn and Mongo are in control for the entirety of this (brief) contest. Eddie Guerrero runs off when Syxx shows up, and Arn has Jarrett in a boston crab when Debra throws in her sash… and the match is over. Wtf?

Winner by… sash throw?: Jeff Jarrett and Eddie Guerrero

N/R again.

Mean Gene introduces us to Ric Flair (and the Horsemen.) Flair says that he looks around the group, and he realizes the Horsemen haven’t been the unit they’ve been in the past. He tells Benoit and Mongo to be men first, then worry about the women. Arn says that being a Horsemen is the greatest thing you can ever be. Mongo gets on the mic, and says he’s proud to be a Horsemen. Debra (who gets massive heat) says she’s knows what it’s like to be a winner. Benoit says that Mongo’s a winner in football, Debra in beauty pageants, while the other four are winners in pro wrestling. They talk for a few seconds then go to break.

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I still hate this squished up stupidity.

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Well, the group started off in WCW first a few years after the Apocalypse idea, only with Saturn and Douglas in and not with Guerrero and Jericho. Then three of those guys jumped to WWF to try it again.

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Match Four: Diamond Dallas Page vs. Mark Starr

Bischoff says that DDP is definitely nWo now.

Mark Starr fights valiantly (yeah right,) but DDP wins with a.. Er.. Bulldog?

Winner by pinfall: Diamond Dallas Page

SQUASH

DDP is celebrating in the ring as Kevin Nash and Scott Hall make their way out. Hall has an nWo shirt as they enter the ring. DDP puts on the New World Order shirt and celebrates with the two before he hits a Diamond Cutter on Hall! Nash turns around, sees what happens, charges at DDP, and DDP throws him over the top rope! Nash hit’s a table and falls off of it. The crowd popped huge for DDP as he celebrates in the crowd. Bischoff and Dibiase are upset at what happen and leave the announce booth as the show goes to break.

THE FOLLOWING ANNOUNCEMENT HAS BEEN PAID FOR BY THE NEW WORLD ORDER

We get a new video (that isn’t a commercial for their shirts) where Nash and Hall talk about their match against the Steiners at Souled Out. Nash and Hall say they will destroy the Brothers, that they know where Scott Steiner is hurting and that Rick can be distracted by kibbles and bits. They say they will win.

THE PRECEDING ANNOUNCEMENT HAS BEEN PAID FOR BY THE WCW FOR THE NEW WORLD ORDER

Match Five: Dean Malenko vs. Eddie Guerrero

Tony and Larry are back in on the booth as this match starts up. He announces to us that Hogan not only HAS to defend his title at Souled Out, but Giant and Hogan will fight on Nitro tonight. Hmm.

Huge Eddie chant as this match starts up. Back and forth match to start but Eddie takes control as he works over Dean’s legs during the early going. Malenko comes back and starts working over Guerrero’s torso. Syxx is out again with a ladder watching the match. Malenko and Eddie try to get the pin on the other, but neither man can stay down. After Eddie hit’s a brainbuster, he turns to Syxx and.. The tape screws up. After a second, we come back and Malenko apparently won.

Winner by pinfall: Dean Malenko

The replay shows Malenko winning this one with a powerbomb on a distracted Guerrero. Regardless, this was a fine TV matchup that is nicely pushing the Guerrero/Syxx match at Souled Out. I just hope the payoff is as good as the build is thus far. ***¼

Hour Two Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, and Bobby Heenan

The three men talk about the Hogan/Giant match, then show us the opening seconds of Nitro with Giant kicking in the door of the nWo locker room.

Match Six: Super Calo vs. Konnan w/Jimmy Hart

As I stated earlier, it was supposed to be Calo/Duggan, but instead we get this. Whether or not the quality will be better is up for debate.

Weird ending for this match. Konnan hit’s a double powerbomb on Calo, Konnan goes to the top rope, and Calo no sells the move and hit’s a top turnbuckle hurricanrana. Konnan gets back up, hits Calo with a overhead suplex and wins.

Winner by pinfall: Konnan

¾*

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Match Ten: Arn Anderson vs. Rick Steiner w/Scott Steiner

Arn is thrown out of the ring early, and calls for the Horsemen but no one shows up. Yikes. Steiner in control for the majority of the contest. Arn is thrown out again, and he just says screw it and leaves. Well damn.

Winner by countout: Rick Steiner

SQUASH

The Steiners are being interviewed by Mean Gene. Steiners hype up their match at Souled Out. Nice to know.

Main Event: The Giant vs. Hollywood Hulk Hogan w/Ted Dibiase

Hogan is on the mic, and says he doesn’t have to wrestle the Giant, just cause a piece of paper says so. Giant retorts by grabbing Hogan and throwing him in the ring!

Giant beats up on Hogan for a minute… and Nitro goes off. Yeah. Due to the premiere of some Robin Hood show on TNT, they had to cut from the action and instead show that. Here’s the thing though: during the commercial for said show, we go BACK to Giant/Hogan and they are still fighting. Giant is going for a chokeslam, but twice Hogan gets out of it. Finally, the New World Order shows up, and DQ.

Winner by DQ: The Giant

The Giant fights off the entire nWo (save for Hogan) as the show finally ends.

That was a weird way to finish Nitro, but in some weird illogical way, it made sense. Instead of giving up Hogan/Giant on Nitro, they instead only showed parts of it. Factor in the Robin Hood show that was debuting, and they probably wanted to give that a nice rub as well. I can understand doing that, but it ended up looking extremely stupid, considering how many times WCW Nitro has ran over (and WWF/E Raw as well) and they kept going.

Honestly, this entire show didn’t seem to be quite as pleasing as I thought it would be. Yes, some angles were furthered, Giant is looking strong, but there was really one good match all night. Factoring in the weird ending, and I feel dirty giving this anything higher than a 5/10. Too many squashes/short matches, storylines further, but aside from that. Meh.

TV Rating: 3.4

Other Nitro Notes:

1. Random Trivia of the day: In 1996, do you know what a WCW survey by the fans stated who they thought was the most likable wrestler? Eddie Guerrero. This might explain the push for Eddie to the US title, but I think it proves that even in 1996/1997 he was super over with the fans.

2. Another bit of trivia, while I’m still on it: according to some old rumors I’ve read here and there, the entire Benoit/Horsemen breakup was supposed to lead to something bigger, called the Apocalypse. Apparently, the group was supposed to include Benoit, Guerrero, Jericho, and Malenko (or Pillman) and was to be a heel group against the Horsemen. However, the group never came to due to either Pillman not being there to lead it, or Hogan, not wanting another heel stable around. Jakyl, Bidoof, do you guys know the deal with this group?

3. Tony informed us that the ‘gibberish’ Roddy Piper was screaming when he was taken to the ambulances a few Nitros back was apparently Gaelic. Why did he inform us, and why did it happen? I’m not entirely sure.




For those wondering why this Nitro is far longer than the previous ones: It's simple. I'm far too angry with my internet, this stupid GameFAQs update, and every damn thing else to actually edit out any unnecessary crap. So, you get everything I originally wrote for this, instead of the semi-condensed version. God, I hate this update so much..

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Match Seven: Chris Benoit w/Woman vs. Jeff Jarrett

We get a few words from Kevin Sullivan who is standing above a chess set. He says that he wants to fight hit next week? He’s going to fight, he owns the board, then slaps all the pieces off. Checkmate?

It’s apparent that the New Orleans crowd hates Jarrett. Debra, Mongo, and Arn Anderson come out a few seconds after the match begins. This does factor in on the outcome as Mongo holds onto Jarrett’s feet, and is looking to hit him with the briefcase. Debra, who has it, isn’t letting go though. Once McMichael takes it from his wife, he hits Benoit in the back, giving Jarrett the win!

Winner by pinfall: Jeff Jarrett

Mongo is looking for Jarrett as Arn is trying to figure out what is going on. *

Mean Gene at the entranceway with the group (minus Flair.) Benoit gets the mic and says they’re going to resolve it here and now. Benoit says that he was picked to be a Horsemen, while Mongo became a Horsemen due to an unfortunate circumstance. You can say that again. Benoit then turns to Debra, and tells her that she can badmouth the Horsemen and Benoit, but not to do it to Woman. Benoit then calls Woman All Woman. No plastic or silicone. The crowd (or the men, one) liked that one.

Mongo apologizes for hitting Benoit, that they all made mistakes. Mean Gene asks Arn where he is, and Benoit says he wants to know as well. Arn says that Flair didn’t want to get into this personal matter, than this was supposed to be all business. Debra claims that she’d never gossip behind their backs (well on camera isn’t behind their backs..) Mongo says he was man enough to be sorry, and if Benoit can’t accept that, they maybe they should go at it. Arn steps in between them before we eventually go to break.

Match Eight: Billy Kidman vs. Scotty Riggs

Oh god NO! AMERICAN MALES! AMERICAN MALES! AMERICAN MALES! AMERICAN MALES! … I hate that song.

Marcus Bagwell comes out to watch his former partner beat Billy Kidman rather easily after Kidman missed with the Shooting Star Press. Riggs wins with what he calls the Ameri-plex.

Winner by pinfall: Scotty Riggs (HUH, AMERICAN MALES!)

Bagwell says he’s buff, and Riggs is #2.

SQUASH, though I’d knock off a few stars for having to listen to that damn song twice.

The announcing trio hype up Giant/Hogan later tonight, but I’m seriously doubting it will happen.

Lee Marshall is in Chicago, Illinois shilling Nitro from there next week. Joy.

Match Nine: Lex Luger vs. Rick Fuller

Despite the name similarities, Rick Fuller isn’t related to any other Fullers.

Fuller puts up a strong effort against Luger, but can’t escape the Torture Rack.

Winner by submission: Lex Luger

SQUASH

After the win, Giant walks by Luger and goes into the ring. Mean Gene in the ring with Giant now. Giant says it’s not about the nWo or WCW, it’s about Hogan and him. Giant says he’s going to destroy Hogan, and he’s not going to be a bookend. That match is coming up!

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WCW Nitro
Airdate: January 13th, 1997
Arena/Location: The Superdome in New Orleans, Louisana
Hour One Commentators: Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko

Partway through the opening video, we cut to the backstage area where The Giant kicks the door in on the nWo locker room! He starts screaming at Hogan, calling him coward as security and the nWo members hold him back. They take him out of the locker room as we go to our first match.

Match One: Mr. J.L. vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.

Tony and Larry state that Hogan was trying to get out of his match with the Giant at Souled Out.

Chavo has an early advantage in the opening bout when he dropkicks J.L. between the ropes, and onto the arena floor. A small ECW chant erupts from this. Weird. J.L. comes back for a few minutes and has control over the younger Guerrero using his mix of technical and high flying moves, but this doesn’t last long as Chavo goes to the top rope, hit’s a senton and wins.

Winner by pinfall: Chavo Guerrero Jr.

I must say I was surprised they had these two go at it on Nitro, seeing as how neither has appeared that much (and only as jobbers.) This was a decent opener that really got the crowd going once Chavo won, even if it got about five minutes. *½

We go to Tony and Larry at the announce booth as they talk about Nitro coming from the Superdome, the same place where Super Bowl XXXI was held at. Tony then talks about what the New World Order did at the top of the hour, while Larry talks about how Hogan has been fighting giants for years.

Hacksaw Jim Duggan is out now to be interviewed by Mean Gene, but he’s not carrying Old Glory. Instead carrying the (huge) WCW Flag. Duggan says he’s carrying the purple and gold of WCW cause no one else would stand up for them against the New World Order. He then says (over his own music) that he needs help, and calls out Sting for help, telling Sting to ’be a man.’ I smell a Sting attack.

Before Calo can even come out for his match against Duggan, Sting comes out and hit’s the Scorpion Deathdrop of Duggan! The crowd is pretty damn for Sting with that though as Sting leaves again. Tony and Larry speculate that Sting is now in the New World Order. Then we are told that we’re going to a backup match.

Match Two: Sgt. Craig Pittman vs. Chris Jericho

We are told that Masahiro Chono and Chris Jericho will go at it at Souled Out. Nice.

Pretty much a squash match here as Jericho beats Pittman with a missile dropkick. That was quick.

Winner by pinfall: Chris Jericho

SQUASH

Match Three: High Voltage vs. Harlem Heat w/Sister Sherri

After a minute or two of action, we go to the back where the Giant is again running into the New World Order locker room. Giant is again taken out, and we hear Hogan and Bischoff calling Giant a big dummy. That’s nice.

High Voltage get some minor offense on the more experienced Heat, but Kenny Kaos eats a missile dropkick from Booker T while he was in an electric chair by Ray (heat seeker)! Booker T pins Kaos, and wins it for his team.

Winners by pinfall: Harlem Heat

Another five or six minute match that wasn’t too bad. It’s weird seeing two tag teams actually looking like tag teams again. *¾

After a commercial break, Tony informs us that the WCW Executive Committee are meeting ‘right across the street’ from where WCW Nitro is taking place, about the title match at Souled Out. As they talk about this, the nWo music hit’s the PA as Eric, Ted, and Vincent come out. Instead of hitting the ring, they go to the announce booth and take over. That’s new.

Bischoff and Dibiase show a video package of Sting, and claim that he is ‘their’ man. I wouldn’t put money on that.

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Bumpage.

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Main Event: Meng vs. Lex Luger

Luger, after a few minutes of action, has Meng up in the rack. Meng however hit’s Referee Mark Curtis, knocking him out. Barbarian comes in, Luger takes care of him and has him up in the rack. Mark Curtis is back up and apparently just sees Barbarian submitting and calls for the bell. o_O wtf?

Winner by submission: Lex Luger

Not a good main event match. ¼*

We have the entire nWo out now.. Bischoff, Nash, and Hogan are in the ring. Bischoff claims that Hogan beat up Piper twice in one week, then singlehandedly destroyed the Giant. This leads to the Giant coming out! The New World Order apparently allow Giant in as he stands toe to toe with the entire group. Giant then dismantles the entire group one at a time, culminating with him throwing Nick Patrick out of the ring by his neck!

It is down to Giant, Hogan, and Bischoff in the ring. The crowd goes insane as Giant catches Hogan’s fist and is able to take him down! Bischoff attacks the Giant from behind, as the nWo (who were watching at ringside) jump in as Hogan hit’s the Giant with a chair. The group beats down the Giant. Tony says no one will come out and save the Giant since he turned his back on WCW. Makes sense. Eventually the entire group eaves the Giant be and make their way to the announce booth. Bischoff, Hogan, and Nash all on the headsets and are talking about Souled Out. As they do, the real Sting comes out and is in the ring with the fallen Giant. He starts yelling at the Giant, and leaves the bat in the ring for him before leaving.

Vincent is sent to get the bat. Vincent cautiously checks the Giant to make sure he’s down, but eventually grabs the bat and is laughing at the Giant. He has his foot on the Giant’s torso, and the Giant stirs around! Giant grabs the bat, and chokeslams Vincent! The New World Order now run down to attack the Giant, but no one wants to get in there with a bat welding Giant! The crowd is screaming for Sting as Nitro goes off the air.

The matches ranged from Squash to good, the Giant is seen as a real force to go against the group, as he not only took out most of the group single handedly, the show also ended with him keeping them at bay. Aside from the ending and two decent matches, this was a pretty sub-par Nitro. The crowd was hot though, which was good. I think I’ll be nice and say slightly above average. 5.5/10

TV Rating: 3.0

Other Nitro Notes:

1. Larry Zbyszko sounded like he had a sore throat or something, and I could barely understand anything he said. Wonder why the didn’t left Heenan or someone else call the first hour with Tony?

2. Psicosis started his match off against Rey Mysterio Jr. by throwing him out of the ring, and going for a springboard senton off the apron, but he doesn’t get much in terms of movement and instead lands neck first on the apron. Thankfully it wasn’t that bad as Psicosis got right back up and those two had definitely the MotN.

3. It’s about this time that you can tell that Bobby Heenan and Tony Schiavone REALLY don’t like each other. As soon as the Mysterio/Psicosis match started, they immediately began bickering with one another. Those two barely talk to each other after a huge argument after that match was over..

4. Hollywood Hulk Hogan Stink-o-Meter: Ah yes, the running gag of Hogan calling something stinky every week makes it’s return! This week, the honor goes back to the second person Hogan called stinky on Nitro: The Giant! “… It was really, and it was a lot of fun to punk that Piper then take down that no good, STINKY Giant!”

5. If Bischoff stole the tape of Starrcade the week before, then how come we got several bits of footage of Starrcade throughout the night?

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Tony and Larry are back on the commentary as we go to our next match.

Match Five: Hugh Morrus vs. Jim Powers w/Teddy Long

Morrus comes out to new music despite being in the DoD still.

Hugh Morrus with the early advantage and never lets up as he destroys Jim Powers in two minutes. He wins with his moonsault.

Winner by pinfall: Hugh Morrus

SQUASH

Hour Two Commentators: ‘Iron’ Mike Tenay, Tony ‘Hyperbolic’ Schiavone, and Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan

The trio talk about the Horsemen and what has been going on between the group and Jarrett. We then get a replay of the Jarrett/Arn duke out from Hour one.

Match Six: Psicosis vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

Mike Tenay informs us that Ultimo Dragon lost the J-Crown championship to Jushin Liger in Tokyo the that weekend, but Ultimo Dragon is still WCW Cruiserweight Champion.

Mysterio and Psicosis go back and forth for the majority of the contest, and it seems Psicosis has the win after a guillotine legdrop off the top rope, but only gets a two. Psicosis then hits a nice powerbomb for another two. Psicosis throws Mysterio into the ropes, and looks to be going for a second powerbomb, but Mysterio counters into a pin for another two. This however does lead to the end as Mysterio goes back in the ropes, does a handspring over the ropes, and lures Psicosis in, moves, and Psicosis lands on his back. Mysterio hit’s a springboard hurricanrana for the win!

Winner by pinfall: Rey Mysterio Jr.

Nice nine minute TV matchup between these two talented men. They are another pair that always have great matches against each other. ***¼

Match Seven: Kevin Sullivan w/Jimmy Hart vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.

We get footage of what Sullivan hitting Benoit with a chair from Starrcade 1996.

Sullivan makes short work of the youngest Guerrero, and puts him away after a tree of woe/running knee strike combo.

Winner by pinfall: Kevin Sullivan

SQUASH

We see footage of the week before where the New World Order destroyed Roddy Piper and we see Piper taken to the ambulance. As Piper is screaming incoherently, Heenan chimes in that it sounds like something from the Exorcist. That’s a rather accurate statement.

Match Eight: Alex Wright vs. Eddie Guerrero

We see more footage of Starrcade with the New World Order attacking Eddie Guerrero. We are informed that Syxx and Eddie Guerrero will go for the US Title in a ladder match. Sounds good.

Competitive match between Wright and Guerrero. Guerrero had the match in his favor in the early going, but Wright gains control once Syxx shows up and watches the bout from a ladder. Wright tries several times to but Guerrero away but can’t quite do it. This seems to be his downfall as Guerrero comes back with a superplex followed by the frog splash for the win.

Winner by pinfall: Eddie Guerrero

The second Guerrero wins, he races to the Syxx, but Syxx runs off with no harm to him.

A good technical showcase between these two, but didn’t have the crowd into it. Nice display for Alex Wright though. **¾

We have Lee Marshall shilling Nitro from New Orleans, Louisiana. Nitro will actually be in the Superdome next week.

Match Nine: The Amazing French Canadians w/ Col. Rob Parker vs. Harlem Heat w/Sister Sherri

The AFC seem to be in control for the main part of this match, but a poorly timed hit with the flagpole by Carl to Jacques gave this one to Harlem Heat!

Winners by pinfall: Harlem Heat

Decent five minute tag team match. *½

We get more footage of Starrcade where Sting came out and whispered something to Giant and Luger’s ear before he left with his bat still in the ring.

--
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WCW Nitro
Airdate: December 30th, 1996
Arena/Location: Monroe Civic Center in Monroe, Louisiana
Hour One Commentators: Tony “Hyperbolic” Schiavone and “The Living Legend” Larry Zbyszko

Tony welcomes us to the first Nitro of 1997! Tony promises us an action-packed hour of wrestling’s hottest show, then sends it to our first match.

Match One: Glacier vs. Bobby Eaton

Another quick match for the undefeated Glacier, as he makes short work of the veteran Bobby Eaton, winning with the cryonic kick.

Winner by pinfall: Glacier

SQUASH

We go to Tony and Larry at the announce booth as they show us footage of the Big Bubba/Konnan feud. Yikes. This does lead to the match we’ve all been waiting for (not really.)

Match Two: Big Bubba vs. Konnan w/Jimmy Hart in a Strap Match

Bubba was in control for the majority of this match, but Konnan is able to come back and win it after Bubba pushes Konnan in the final turnbuckle Konnan had to touch.

Winner by tagging: Konnan

Bubba isn’t too happy, and decides to beat up on Konnan after his win.

Strap matches are never a great thing, and this is no exception. *¼

To the back we go where Mean Gene is interviewing Kevin Sullivan. Mean Gene wants to talk about the Benoit/Woman/Sullivan feud and some footage Gene has, but Sullivan wants none of that. Mean Gene tells Sullivan the footage isn’t of Benoit/Nancy, but someone else. Sullivan acts shocked that Gene has footage of whatever it is, then walks off. Instead of showing it, we instead go to commercial.

Mean Gene welcomes us back to Nitro as he introduces the Four Horsemen (minus Benoit and Woman) to the entranceway. Arn says he wasn’t there last week because he didn’t want to overstep his boundaries Flair gets on the mic, and says the EXACT same thing he said a few weeks ago about Woman needing a night with Benoit. Debra puts over the Horsemen, then says Jeff is a wonderful guy and needs to be in the Horsemen. Jarrett comes out and starts talking about Horsemen business. Arn informs Jarrett that he’s no Horsemen. Jarrett retorts tha he didn’t come out to talk to the ‘horses rear (Arn)’ which prompts Arn to beat up Jarrett, and we apparently have a match!

Match Three: Arn Anderson w/Horsemen vs. Jeff Jarrett

Arn beats Jarrett down for about a minute or so, but Jarrett turns it around with a swinging neckbreaker and his feet on the ropes to win.

Winner by pinfall: Jeff Jarrett

Flair doesn't look pleased at what happened at the end. Flair tries to push Debra out of the way to attack Jarrett, but Mongo pushes Flair off. Flair and Arn (now back up) are having a confrontation with Jarrett and Debra, while Mongo seems to be split in the middle of all this. Mongo and Flair talk it over, and it appears Flair is won over on Jarrett. Arn however doesn’t want any of this and just leaves!.

Nice story they are building here with a potential split of the Horsemen. SQUASH match though.

Match Four: ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan vs. ‘Lord’ Steven Regal© for the WCW World Television Championship

Kevin Nash, Syxx, and Eric Bischoff make their way to the announce booth and let Tony and Larry leave peacefully. This was supposed to be DDP/Regal, but apparently DDP wasn't there Nash says that DDP has finally came around and will join the New World Order, and says DDP and Hall are having dinner down the coast.

The crowd is hot for Duggan, but the action is anything but. Duggan beats up and destroys Regal for several minutes, and even hits him with a taped fist, but as soon as he goes for the cover, the bell rings.

Time Limit Draw (Regal retains)

Duggan has a WCW flag and waves it around as Nash and Bischoff leave.

Meh match that shouldn’t have went ten minutes. ¾*

--
Currently watching: WCW Monday Nitro.
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Bumpage.

--
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Main Event: Greg Valentine vs. Lex Luger

A quick match with Valentine in control for a good part of it, but Luger wins with the Torture Rack.

Winner by submission: Lex Luger

SQUASH

After the break, bagpipes fill the arena as Roddy Piper comes out! Crowd chanting Piper’s name as he has the mic. Piper announces that the Hogan/Piper match was the last fight. As soon as he states that the New World Order music hits up and Hogan/Bischoff again come out. Hogan isn’t too happy. Huge Roddy chant from the crowd. Hogan says that the only reason he showed mercy is because Piper’s kid told him to. Piper says let’s do it now!

Hall, Nash, and Syxx run out of the back and attack Piper. Dibaise, Norton and Giant out now. After a few minutes, Hogan orders Giant to chokeslam Piper. Giant puts his hand around Piper’s throat, and the rest of the New World Order surrounds the ring as Giant drops Piper. Everyone gets on one side of the ring as Giant stands alone against the group in the ring. Hogan grabs a mic and says that dropping piper was strike two, and then Hogan slaps Giant. Giant, the rational human being he is, grabs Hogan by the throat!

The crowd explodes as Giant has Hogan and the New World Order appear too afraid to do anything! Giant yells at everyone to get out of the ring, which they do. Giant demand a title shot, and Hogan is crying and apologizing to the Giant! Hogan gives Giant the title shot, and the New World Order checks on Hogan, then demands everyone to attack the Giant! Bagwell, Vincent and ‘Sting’ attack the Giant, but all meet a quick end. Unfortunately, everyone gangs up on Giant, as he can’t take them all out. Hogan back in and hit’s the Giant with the belt, and the New World Order colors are ripped off of him. We end this Nitro with Piper being taken to the hospital

Some good matches, a few meh ones, and one or two squashes. The Giant has turned face after only three months in the New World Order, and is the first person to be kicked out of the group due to Hogan’s egotism. This really should be a wakeup call to someone that MAYBE the New World Order is too strong…6.5/10

TV Rating: 3.6. Raw hadn’t been on at all the last four Nitro, and this is their best number they pulled. Guess Monday Night Football was pretty damn good.

Other Nitro Notes:

1. Due to a chance of burnout that might happen if I keep up with the pace I‘m going (and the three hour Nitros coming up soon,) I’ve decided to slow things down a bit and I’m only going to watch Nitro every other day from now on. I’m also debating on whether or not to watch Thunder once 1998 comes around, but right now I think I might watch it.

2. Also, I’d like to point out that while there are only four Nitros between Starrcade and Souled Out, I’m planning on watching Clash of the Champions XXXIV (WCW’s free supershows they had periodically before the monthy PPV) because there are a few decent matches on the upcoming card.

3. The Tony Schiavone Hyperbolic meter: Pretty much every time Tony Schiavone says something is the most ___ ever, I make a note of it. Tonight, the TSHM hits two with these quote. “What Luger accomplished last night, truly the greatest match in his illustrious career.” and “We have just witnessed the biggest pack of lies yet by two men!” (Hogan/Bischoff talking about Piper.)

4. Hilarious in Hindsight moment of the show. “You know I’d run for President with the support I have here, but I sure as heck don’t want to take a cut in pay!” - Hollywood Hulk Hogan, two years before he announced he’d ‘run’ for President.

--
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Match Five: Harlem Heat w/ Sister Sherri vs. Faces of Fear

Col. Rob Parker runs out after a few minutes, and smacks Sister Sherri on the hindquarters with that riding crop. Sherri and Parker duke it out, and the Amazing French Canadians come out, Jacque throws powder in the eyes of Stevie Ray! Meng goes for the cover, but Booker T hits Men with a double axehandle off the top rope, and Stevie Ray gets the win.

Winners by pinfall: Harlem Heat

This was weird. *¼

Mean Gene Okerlund is at the entranceway with Diamond Dallas Page. Okerlund asks DDP what he’s going to do about what happened the night before. DDP uncharacteristically says that he’s pretty thick headed, and that what he’s gonna do is.. The nWo. Hmm. Mean Gene throws us to break.

Hour Two Commentators: “Iron” Mike Tenay, Tony “Hyperbolic” Schiavone, and Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan

The amazing trio talk about the New World Order. After showing footage of the nWo earlier in the day, Tony informs us that Roddy Piper is in the building.

Match Six: Disco Inferno vs. Glacier

Disco Inferno is on the mic. He asks Glacier if he knew he’d been perfecting his own leg hold that last few weeks. Well no, he hasn’t been on Nitro in like three months. He tells Glacier to just go to the back and let Disco dance. He then calls Glacier dumber than Peyton Manning and tries to get some cheap heat. Then the match gets under way.

Inferno gets a surprising amount of offense against the undefeated Glacier. It appears Disco might have the win after a nice spinning neck breaker, but Glacier up with a kip up, and hit’s the sweet chi- Cryonic kick on Inferno for the win!

Winner by pinfall: Glacier

I think this was the longest of Glacier‘s career to this point. Not terrible. *½

We get more stills of Starrcade, most notably the Benoit/Jarrett match. This does lead to the next match.

Match Seven: Chris ’Why do I have two theme songs?’ Benoit w/ Woman vs. Chris Jericho

Another good back and forth contest here as these two men mix a technical and aerial moves to get the crowd going. Benoit wins this one after several minutes with a belly to back superplex.

Winner by pinfall: Chris Benoit

***¼ for another good TV match.

Mean Gene at the entranceway with the Horsemen (minus Arn.) Things escalate into a shouting match between the Woman and Debra. Jeff Jarrett then shows up. He tells Flair that when he came to WCW, Flair called him the man. Woman wants to know where Arn Anderson are. Flair finally gets on he mic and he says that they REALLY want to know where Arn Anderson is on New Year’s Eve… Eve? Flair tries to lighten everyone up and is his typical goofy self. Benoit tells Jarrett he can’t be a Horsemen. This was a pretty crazy promo, but it’s apparent the Horsemen are having trouble.

Match Eight: Mascarita Sagrada/Octagonocito vs. Piratita Morgan/Jerito Estrada

This is.. Well. For someone who doesn’t watch must ‘midget wrestling’ this is just highly entertaining. Uh. Octagonocito (I think?) wins this one for his team after a mini rollup on Jerito Estrada.

Winners by pinfall: Mascarita Sagrada/Octagonocito

Fun little match. Excuse the pun *½

Match Nine: Dean Malenko vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

No intro for these two as the Nitro comes right back to this match.

Another good match in this series between Malenko and Mysterio. Malenko in control for a good part of this match, but Mysterio starts to turn things around with his aerial assault. After many pin attempts, reversals, counters, submissions and everything else in this great TV match, the bell rings and..

No winner via time limit

Good match, but the ten minute time limit that they just randomly start enforcing hurt this contest ***¾

--
Currently watching: WCW Monday Nitro.
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WCW Nitro
Airdate: December 30th, 1996
Arena/Location: Knoxville Civic Coliseum in Knoxville, Tennessee
Hour One Commentators: Tony “Hyperbolic” Schiavone and “The Living Legend” Larry Zbyszko

We start with the entire nWo arriving at the arena. Giant moves through the past everyone to Hogan. He and Hogan argue for a few minutes, and Hogan states that everything is fine in the New World Order so long as the belt is in the group, more specifically in his possession. Ted Dibiase pushes the cameraman away as we get our usual intro.

Tony and Larry welcome us to WCW Nitro as they talk about what we just saw and what happened at Starrcade 1996. They say that after Starrcade and what we just witnessed, the nWo has a crack in the foundation. They then talk about Sting briefly before we go to our opening bout.

Match One: The Amazing French Canadians w/Col. Rob Parker vs. Public Enemy

PE grab the AFC’s Canadian/Quebec flags and attack the AFC with them on the outside of the ring. Grunge puts Rougeau on the table they brought out, and it looks like PE are going for their finishing move, but Rougeau gets out of the way and Johnny Grunge takes most of the damage! Rougeau sends Rock in the ring, and they nail the win.

Winners by pinfall: The Amazing French Canadians

¾*

Match Two: Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger vs. Ultimo Dragon© w/Sonny Onoo for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship

Dragon only has the WCW Cruiserweight Championship.

Both men try to one up each other with some nice aerial maneuvers, but it seems Liger is getting the upper hand with his moves. Things unfortunately sour for Liger when Dragon puts Liger on the top turnbuckle and hits him with the spinning hurricanrana into a cradle pin for the win.

Winner and STILL WCW Crusierweight Champion: Ultimo Dragon

***.

Match Three: Konnan w/Jimmy Hart vs. Big Bubba in a Strap match

Er.. Where’s Big Bubba? After about a minute of them playing this music, Mr. Wallstreet comes out. He informs Konnan that Big Bubba couldn’t make it, but if he were here, he’d beat him up cause he ain’t afraid of Konnan or that strap. Konnan turns around, and Mr. Wallstreet blindsides him!

Match Three: Konnan w/Jimmy Hart vs. Mr. Wallstreet in a Strap Match.

Wallstreet has the upperhand as he has Konnan tied up behind him as he pulls him from one turnbuckle to the other. Unbeknownst to Wallstreet, Konnan is hitting each turnbuckle as well as Wallstreet. Wallstreet throws Konnan into the final turnbuckle which he hits and gets the win!

Winner by.. Tag?: Konnan

¼*

Hogan and Bischoff go to the ring. Bischoff and Hogan appear very happy to be there, despite the loss the night before. Hogan’s revisionist history of the events of Starrcade are apparent as he claims he destroyed Piper. Hogan says we’ll never see Piper again. Tony informs us they’re going to show the tape of the show to prove Hogan was lying.

Match Four: Hugh Morrus vs. Kensuke Sasaki w/Sonny Onoo

Morrus then takes control of this bout against the technically gifted Sasaki. Partway through the conest, Bischoff shows up and says that he’s got the tape, and they won’t be showing what happened at Starrcade. Guess that’s an odd roundabout way to get people to buy the replay.

Hugh Morrus looks like he’s going to win this after a moonsault, but Sonny Onoo comes in with the Japanese flag and hits Morrus for the DQ.

Winner by DQ: Hugh Morrus

Morrus no sells the attack and tries to beat up Onoo, but Onoo escapes. ¾*

We get stills of Piper beating Hogan from Starrcade. Tony calls Piper the true ‘icon’ of the sport now. Okay.

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Bumpage, will have a new Nitro up tomorrow.

--
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B8watchesStarrcade1996

It'll still be a few minutes before I start it up, but in case you want to get in early.

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Tonight's the night! WCW STARRCADE 1996! Featuring the biggest match of the decade/century/millennium/ever: Hogan/Piper! Plus, Eddie Guerrero vs. Diamond Dallas Page for the US Heavyweight Title, Ultimo Dragon vs. Dean Malenko for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship, The Outsiders vs. Faces of Fear for the WCW Tag Team Belts!

Also on the card: Lex Luger vs. The Giant, Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Jushin 'Thunder' Liger, and Chris Benoit vs. Jeff Jarrett! ALL IN ONE NIGHT! BE THERE!

[/shilling]

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Woo, Starrcade (finally) tomorrow!

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Bumpage.

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Currently watching: WCW Monday Nitro.
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Bumpage.

--
Currently watching: WCW Monday Nitro.
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After thinking it over, I'm 96% sure that tomorrow at 4:00 in the afternoon won't do. Instead, I'm going to go for an 8:00 CDT time Tuesday.

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So, I'm considering holding the watchfest relatively early, due to the last part of the draft and UFC 129 happening tomorrow. Of course, I could just wait until next Thursday to do it... But if I do it tomorrow, I'll probably start at around 4:00 CDT.

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Bumpage.

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Hey, I'm just glad I have at least one openly admitted reader!

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Currently watching: WCW Monday Nitro.
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Main Event: Rick Steiner w/Scott Steiner vs. Jeff Jarrett

Huge We Want Sting chant coming from the crowd as this match starts up. These two men brawl for a few minutes, but ‘Sting’ shows up and looks to put Jarrett in the Scorpion Deathdrop, but Jarrett reverses it and pins ‘Sting' to win.. WHAT?!

Winner? by.. pinfall Jeff Jarrett

Uh.. Wtf? N/R

Rick and Jeff stare at each other for a minute before putting the boots to the bogus Sting.

After a commercial break, Hulk Hogan again comes out all by himself. Surprisingly. Hogan claims Piper was in the back and claimed Hogan was the icon. Then Piper’s theme music hits as Eric Bischoff comes out dressed up in stereotypical Piper garb and a red and yellow Hulkster shirt. ‘Piper’ says he didn’t deserve to be in the same ring as Hogan at Wrestlemania. ’Piper’ then wants a ref to come down so they can ‘settle the score.’ Nick Patrick comes out, Bischoff lays down, and Hogan ‘pins Piper.’ All of a sudden, we hear a group of bagpipe players and whatnot playing Piper’s theme as Hot Rod is there! He enters the ring, Hogan and Piper exchange blows, and the New World Order is out. Before anything can happen, security hit’s the ring. They are held apart as Nitro ends.

A huge step forward for Nitro. Three ***+ star matches, is a good thing. Several storylines were driven quite well, to boot. The main problem was the main event match with Jarrett and Steiner. Aside from that hiccup, this was a well done Nitro that built up Starrcade near perfectly. 8/10

Other Nitro Notes:

1. You know, I bet anything that there has been a fanfic, EWR/TEW diary, or something wrestling related that tried to link up Glacier as another ‘brother’ to Undertaker.

2. Bobby Heenan was on his A-game this week. Trying to find a good quote of the week to give to Heenan was pretty damn difficult. However, his broadcast partner DID have the…

3. Funny Aneyurism Moment of the week: “The 90s are going to be remembered for one thing, and that’s Starrcade.” Tony Schiavone just doesn’t know how right he is, though not about THIS Starrcade.

4. Seeing as how the NFL draft is tomorrow, I am considering moving the watchfest to another time. What does everyone think to maybe Saturday night? Or later?

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We get footage from a week ago of Sting hitting the Scorpion Deathdrop on Bogus Sting. Then we see Sting entering the ring at the end of the show where Arn, Mongo, and Rey Mysterio attack Sting. Tony now believes Sting is in the New World Order. Okay.

Match Three: Mr. JL vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

Quick and fast pace contest between these two men. JL is in control for the majority of the contest, but Mysterio is able to turn it all around with a simple hurricanrana from the top rope for the win.

Winner by pinfall: Rey Mysterio Jr.

Good high flying TV match. Unfortunately, it only got about eight minutes of time (no commercial, thankfully) so I can’t go higher than say… ***¼

After some highlights of the match, Rey Mysterio walks over to the announce booth. He grabs a mic and says that Sting isn’t New World Order. That what he did to him the week before was a normal reaction. I guess throwing a person off your back who jumped off of it is normal in wrestling. He demands they replay that We need a Hero video from a few weeks back, and I REALLY hope they don’t. Unfortunately they do. After they do, they just go to break. Okay..

Hour Two Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, and Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan

The commentators tell us that the nWo claim Piper is in the building. We then go back to Segment 3 (Tony’s words, not mine) where Hogan verbally buried Piper and put himself over.

Match Four: Glacier vs. Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker

For those unaware, Buddy Lee Parker was the trainer for the WCW Power Plant.

Obviously, another squash match. Glacier wins with a spinning heel kick.

Winner by pinfall: Glacier

SQUASH

Match Five: The Amazing French Canadians w/Col. Rob Parker vs. Public Enemy

The AFC ‘sing’ the Canadian National Anthem. Though it really doesn’t sound like it. PE of course ‘stops’ them by putting their beanies over the AFC’s heads.

Not really a match, as both teams just duke it out for a few minutes.. The match ends with Carl and Jacque are going to hit their finishing move on Rocco Rock, but Grunge stops them. The table seems looks like it breaks when it hits Jacque in the back. PE pick up the table and use it as against those AFC, which causes a DQ.

Winners by DQ: Amazing French Canadians

They try to set up the table, but it’s broken and obviously not going to work. Instead, they just put Carl on the table. Whoops

N/R

Match Six: Big Bubba vs. Konnan w/Jimmy Hart

Nick Patrick happens to be the ref for this match. No neck brace on, either.

It is apparently obvious that Nick Patrick is pro-nWo in this contest. He constantly turns the other way when Bubba does something remotely illegal, but is right on Konnan every time he does anything wrong. This turns out worse for Konnan as he gets DQ for throwing Big Bubba over the top rope.

Winner by DQ: Big Bubba

Konnan looks like he’s going to beat up Patrick, but Big Bubba saves the ref.

*, as this was more to show that Nick Patrick truly was the biased ref here.

We got to Lee Marshall he shills the next Nitro in Knoxville Tn.

Match Seven: Dean Malenko vs. Lord Steven Regal© for the WCW World Television Championship

A rare champion vs. champion match here. Good technical match between these two veterans, with a nice dash of brawling skills thrown in. It seems Dean Malenko has this match won after a brainbuster, but the bell rings before the ref can count the pinfall?

Time Limit Draw - Steven Regal Retains

Good ten minute TV match like I noted before. Unfortunately the ‘ten minute rule’ stops. Shame. *** because of the crap ending.

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WCW Nitro
Airdate: December 23th, 1996
Arena/Location: Macon Coliseum in Macon, Georgia
Hour One Commentators: Larry Zbyszko and Tony Schiavone

Tony and Larry welcome us to Nitro and wish us a happy holidays, before telling us that the semi-final match in the WCW US Heavyweight Title tournament will start up Nitro. Before that however we do get footage of the same match five weeks earlier, that being Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero. On that night, Benoit was the victor. Will the same thing happen again tonight? Let’s find out!

Match One: Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Benoit in a semi final match for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship

Benoit is by himself, surprisingly. The winner will go against Diamond Dallas Page for the WCW US Championship. There are some taped comments from Kevin Sullivan that airs as Guerrero controls this match. He basically tells Benoit that he may have took his queen, but he’s also fallen for a trap of his own. That’s nice. Diamond Dallas Page comes out during the early part of this contest (wearing a Three Stooges T-Shirt - I approve.) He says he just had to check this action live. Can’t blame him there.

Typical match between Guerrero and Benoit, and by that mean another great show. Benoit and Guerrero exchange control of the match throughout this contest, but it’s Guerrero who ends up the victor after a beautiful Frog Splash.

Winner by pinfall: Eddie Guerrero

The crowd is on their feet as Eddie celebrates the win as the announcer are apparently shocked by the turnout of the match.

Another great 10 minutes TV match (plus commercial) between these two men. I think I said before that these two rarely had a match that was less than ***+, and this was no different. ***¾

Mean Gene is at the entranceway as he calls out all Four Horsemen (minus Woman). Arn says that one of the worst thing is walking in on your wife after a hard day’s work with her on the couch with another man. The one thing worse is being that man. Debra said Paramore Twitter Boobs Woman is used goods. Benoit says that he’s tired of them throwing accusations around like they are. Mongo gets on the mic and says that if he talks to Debra like that, then it’s fighting words. Flair, who’s apparently had enough of all this, finally chimes in. He said Woman spent ten years married to the devil, and deserved a weekend with Benoit. They eventually go to a break.

After a commercial break, the nWo hit’s the PA system as Hogan, Dibiase, Elizabeth, and Vincent come out. Hogan like previous weeks has the spotlights on him, as Ted Dibiase tells us to respect Hogan since he’s got something to say. Hogan basically puts himself over like he typically does and says Piper is scared of him. He eventually starts ‘entertaining’ the crowd by doing his typical posedown.

We get a video of Roddy Piper’s newest movie Marked Man. I’m glad WWE doesn’t take time out of their shows to hype up crappy mov- wait. Also, the voice announcers sounds just like Duke Nukem.

Match Two: Tombstone vs. Lex Luger

911? Where the hell did they dig him up from? And why is he using the Hollywood Blonde’s theme? Actually, Tombstone looks like a Undertaker Ripoff. So, in a way this is sort of like Undertaker vs Hul- okay I won’t do that one.

This is pretty much a squash match that Luger wins in three minutes. Yawn

Winner by submission: Lex Luger

Postmatch, the Giant enters the ring. The ref, who could clearly see Giant, doesn’t warn Luger. He just escapes. Luger is able to actually get the Giant up for the rack, before Hall and Nash hit the ring and Luger escapes.

SQUASH

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I don't know what you're talking about <_<.

>_>

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Match Seven: Kevin Sullivan w/Jimmy Hart vs. Arn Anderson

Sullivan, who is none too happy about what just happened, pretty much just brawls with Anderson for several minutes. They brawl around the arena, finally get in the ring, Anderson DDTs the ref, then DDTs Morrus, but Sullivan hits Anderson with a chair, and Konnan wakes the ref up long enough for him to count to three.

Winner by pinfall: Kevin Sullivan

N/R

Match Eight: Rick Steiner w/Scott Steiner vs. Sting

Sting is in the rafters, and the crowd has a huge ‘We Want Sting’ chant going. Sting finally shows up and is coming down to the rin- wait a minute there’s TWO Stings! One, who’s got shorter hair but otherwise is wearing identical attire to normal Sting, enters the ring first. He opens the ropes for the Real Sting, and they stand side by side Paramore Twitter Boobs against the Steiners. They eye each other for a moment, before normal Sting knocks the impostor's bat away. Regular Sting then throws his bat to the Steiners, and is acting chummy to his doppelganger. They turn their backs on the Steiners and.. Normal Sting hit’s a Scorpion Deathdrop on the nWo Sting! Rick throws Normal Sting his bat back, and Sting leaves the ring. Tony thinks Sting isn’t in the nWo now.

N/R

After the break is over, the Hogan, Bischoff, Vincent, Elizabeth, Dibiase, and Giant show up. Hogan has all the spotlights on him now. Hogan is copying what Piper did the week before. Hogan says he ‘started’ in Pensacola and it is LIKE his hometown. Hogan says Piper had to remind Charlotte that he started there. Hogan claims he can beat both Flair and Piper at the same time. Well, he beat seven guys up with Macho Man once <_<. Hogan keeps calling out Piper, when Dibiase whispers something into Hogan’s ear, and Hogan ‘informs’ us that Piper ran away when Hogan entered. Hogan then proceeds to do his poses and whatnot as the nWo music plays and we go to another break.

Main Event: The Outsiders vs. The Faces of Fear w/Jimmy Hart

Hardly a match, as about one minute in, Big Bubba comes running out, and turns on the Dungeon of Doom to join the New World Order!

No Contest:

The Dungeon of Doom comes out to help their comrades, before the nWo shows up to back their guys up. Then WCW guys comes out to attack the New World Order. Norton is coming out and hits Ice Train, seemingly joining the nWo as well!The entire lockeroom empties, until STING shows up. Sting enters the ring and everyone stops fighting to see what he does. Arn grabs Sting, and Sting attacks him. Mongo then attacks Sting, and Sting drops him. Rey Mysterio Jr. jumps on the back of Sting, and Sting hits him, before leaving the ring again. The group of wrestlers start duking it out as the show ends.

One good match, several relatively weak ones, but several storylines were furthered. Sting attacked one now guy, and basically defended himself against three WCW workers. The side he is on is still unclear, however. The New World Order apparently adds three new members to it’s mix as well. Things with the nWo is about to get rough very soon with the amount of members they have. Unfortunately, it seems only one or two matches were hyped at Starrcade all evening. I guess we’ll get more for that PPV on the next Nitro. 6/10

TV Rating:

Other Nitro Notes:

1.Okay, I admit that I didn‘t even knew Dave Sammartino competed in WCW, much less in the Cruiserweight division. Honestly, the way he looked, he appears to be on steroids.

2. To keep a tally, this is the lineup of the nWo as of this show:

Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Hulk Hogan, Ted Dibiase, The Giant, nWo Sting, Vincent, Syxx, Miss Elizabeth, Kyle Petty, Eric Bischoff, Nick Patrick, Buff Bagwell, Michael Wallstreet Masahiro Chono, Big Bubba, and Scott Norton

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After a break, we get a video of what Piper did the week before. More specifically, calling out Hogan, refusing the Horsemen’s help against Hogan, and calling Hogan out at the end of the show with Bischoff coming out and Piper attacking him and the nWo surrounding the ring. Bischoff claims that the nWo entered the ring and destroyed Piper and Kevin Greene, but somehow didn’t show it.

Ric Flair and the Horsemen (minus Benoit and Woman) show up. Ted notes that if he’s a thirteen time world champ, he must’ve lost it thirteen times as well. Where have I heard that joke before..? Arn hypes up a match against Sullivan later tonight. Flair says Benoit and Woman are having a good time in Germany. Debra against downs ‘Nancy’. Mongo tells Arn to rip out Sullivan’s throat, fight fire with fire. Flair says Piper will defeat Hogan or something at Starrcade. Flair’s voice kinda goes out while he’s talking.

Match Four: Dave Sammartino(?!) vs. Dean Malenko© for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship

Ted notes that Sammartino is a 2nd gen wrestler, and Bischoff tells Ted not to call Bruno the living legend, unless he wants Zbyszko out there to fight him. I’m sure a grand total of five people got that joke.

Neither man has an advantage in the early going of this contest. Malenko has Sammartino down, bridges him in a pin gets a two coun- wait. Match is over?

Winner, and STILL WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Dean Malenko

Dean seems rather unhappy about that as he walks off without the belt before the ref catches up to him and gives it to him. Sammartino shrugs his shoulders as we go to break.

Very weird ending. Seems like this was either a botch, Dean was pissed at Dave and changed the ending, or something happened. Regardless, N/R

After the break, Bischoff claims he’s tired of announcing, and calls out Mike, Tony, and Bobby. I guess they’re going to be the announcers for hour two.

Hour Two Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, and Bobby ’The Brain’ Heenan

Tony goes over Masahiro Chono joining the nWo earlier in the evening.

Good news everyone! We’re about to see a wrestler perform who’s first name is Jerry, and his last name rhymes with Win. Wanna guess who it is? Any takers? Come on. It’s easy.

Match Five: Jerry Flynn vs. Ice Train w/Teddy Long

I really shouldn’t done that. Flynn is sorta like Lynn, in that their names are similar. \

This is pretty much another squash, as the larger Ice Train destroys the slightly smaller Flynn and wins with an ankle lock. Hope Angle doesn’t start suing him.

Winner by submission: Ice Train

½*

As Ice Train is celebrating in the ring, Syxx introduces Hall and Nash. Syxx does his best Mean Gene impression as he interviews Nash and Hall. Hall says that they want to go against the Faces of Fear tonight. They’ll be waiting for an answer later on.

We get another video about Sting. It’s thankfully a bit better than the last one as it shows him attacking WCW workers and people wondering what his mind is on.

Match Six: Bobby Eaton vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

Bobby Eaton is able to control the majority of this bout against the smaller Mysterio, but Mysterio is able to turn it around very quickly with a hurricanrana on Eaton from the top turnbuckle and wins.

Winner by pinfall: Rey Mysterio Jr.

*½

We go to Lee Marshall who is in Macon, Georgia shilling Nitro from there.

We get a ‘new’ video of Benoit and Woman talking and being sweet with each other. They insult Sullivan for a few seconds, before the video is over. I see a lot of great things going for that couple in the future.

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WCW Nitro
Airdate: December 16th, 1996
Arena/Location: Pensacola Civic Center Pensacola in, Florida
Hour One Commentators: Larry Zbyszko and Tony Schiavone

We kick off Nitro with Tony and Larry at the announce position this week.. Instead of them talking about the show, the New World Order interrupts them. The members are Eric Bischoff, Ted Dibiase, and Vincent. They make their way to the announce booth. They tell them to leave, and while Tony leaves almost immediately, Larry is a bit more hesitant to go. Ted and Vincent stare him down, and he finally relents.

Remainder of Hour One? Commentators: Eric Bischoff and Ted Dibiase

Eric and Ted welcome us to nWo Nitro. Eric immediately gets into it about Roddy Piper, showing video from the previous Nitro, but not showing Piper attacking Bischoff. Ted says that Piper was scared and attacked an announcer - a non-wrestler. Bischoff informs us Hogan is there, before throwing it to the first match.

Match One: Psicosis vs. Lord Steven Regal© for the WCW World Television Title

Bischoff and Ted inform us that the Stinger is for sure nWo now. I’m assuming they’re referring to nWo Sting. They also state that the nWo has a big surprise as an international star joined their ranks. Hmm.

Great back and forth action between these two men. The mat-based Regal works over Psicosis’s left arm during the course of the match, but Psicosis is able to use his aerial assault to keep Regal’s devastating Regal Stretch at bay in this championship contest. Regal decides to move toward a more smashmouth and brawling technique to simply knock around the smaller challenger. Unfortunately for Regal however, this fails to keep Psicosis down long enough to beat him. Fortunately for Regal however, Psicosis goes for the high impact moves one too many times, and Regal successfully is able to down Psicosis after countering a potential hurricanrana, then applies his stretch to retain.

Winner, and STILL WCW TV Champion: Steven Regal

Regal celebrates the win as we go to a break.

A great TV match that got close to eleven minutes of airtime, plus a commercial break early on. This is the kind of match I was expecting from Psicosis/Malenko from the PPV. ***½

We get a video of the Sting/Rick Steiner feud that has been going on, specifically Sting costing Rick Steiner his match against Big Bubba from a few weeks back. Bischoff again refers to Sting as theirs.

Match Two: Big Bubba vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.

Pretty much a squash match here. Chavo got some decent offense in against the much larger Bubba, but ultimately lost to what appeared to be a Black Hole Slam.

Winner by pinfall: Big Bubba

¾*. Chavo as I said got some nice offense in, but this was a squash that got just a bit longer than three minutes.

After the break, Sonny Onoo comes out with Masahiro Chono to be interviewed by Mean Gene. Bischoff and Dibiase seem to find something hilarious. Sonny Onoo says that Chono has yet to sign with NJPW, and he shows off the shirt. Chono, who was wearing a rather large coat, unzips it and unveils.. A New World Order shirt! Chono says something in Japanese, and Sonny Onoo fails to translate it for us. Chono picks up Onoo, tries to rip his shirt off, then just throws him to the side as he makes his way to the ring.

Match Three: Masahiro Chono vs. Chris Jericho

Chono dominates Jericho for a few minutes, Jericho gets his foot stuck in the ropes, and the ref has no choice but to call a DQ when Chono doesn’t stop beating up Jericho.

Winner by DQ: Chris Jericho

I’m sure if these two were given twenty minutes and no breaks, this would easily be a ****+ star classic, but unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be tonight. *½

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Will have an update later today, just want to start the show on a new page <_<.

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Ah geez, I remember that Sullivan promo. I think Sullivan knocked the board over and went 'I'm not gonna play chess, I'm gonna kick your ass'

If he does, he hasn't yet. That sounds like something pretty outthere he'd do.

When does The Flock begin?

I'm assuming (and I might be wrong here) that it doesn't begin to formulate until mid-to-late 1997. So, I'm still some time away from that.

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Mean Gene is at the entranceway talking to Anderson, Mongo, and Debra. Anderson notes Benoit is in Germany, while the rest of the Horsemen are at the arena.. Except Woman. Arn says love is in the air, and it stinks. Debra gets on the mic and calls Nancy a tramp, then says she’s that she wore the crown and sash of Mrs. Illinois to prove she was the most beautiful woman and intelligent. Mongo can’t argue with his wife. He tells Arn not to get caught up in a soap opera. Arn tells Benoit to come home, and he has a bone to pick with Woman.

After the break, we get are weekly road report with Lee Marshall. Lee is in Pensacola Florida shilling Nitro there for next week.

Main Event: Diamond Dallas Page vs. Jeff Jarrett in a WCW United States semifinal match.

Since Arn and Luger had a double countout, this match determines who goes to Starrcade in the US Title match.

Good back and forth contest between these two men. Neither however can quite put the other away. After about ten minutes of fighting, Hall and Nash make their way down to ringside. Jarrett throws DDP out of the ring, and Nash distracts the ref as Hall gets into the ring and hits Jarrett with the Outsider’s Edge. DDP is able to run into the ring, and get the three.

Winner by pinfall: Diamond Dallas Page

DDP apparently doesn’t now what happened as he celebrates the win.

**½

Mean Gene in the ring with DDP. Gene tells DDP the Outsiders interfered, and yet he isn’t in the nWo. DDP says he doesn’t need them cause he’s got the hottest finisher in the sport. He notes he was rated most improved wrestler by PWI. He says he’ll win it again. He did, but for another organization. He tells them to leave DDP alone. He then says that no one wants the US title more than DDP.

We’re supposed to have Rick Steiner in a match, but Piper instead comes out. He doesn’t look none too happy. He grabs a chair from ringside, props it up in the ring, and calls out Hogan. The New World Order music hits up and Eric Bischoff is out instead. Bischoff tells Piper that he is Piper’s friend, and that he’s trying to protect him. He then tries to exit the ring.. And Piper hits him from behind! Piper has the steel chair ready to attack, when the nWo runs out. They surround the ring, but no one is charging in. Kevin Greene (of all people) runs to the ring to help out Piper, and they hold off the nWo as Nitro goes off the air.

Aside from the Piper stuff, there is one word to describe this Nitro. Boring. Yeah, there was one or two decent matches, but the rest were either squashes or glorified squashes. There were lots of video packages, lots of Mean Gene interviews, and it generally felt like WCW Saturday Night. Admittedly, there were some storylines that went forward, but they could have spiced up Nitro just a bit. Methinks that without Raw to go against, there was no reason to really put forth a great effort. 4.5/10

TV Rating: 3.3 Which is surprising considering they had no other wrestling competition to go against. I guess Football that week must’ve been really good.

Other Nitro Notes:

1. Piper starts the show -

2. Choking Hogan sounds like an obscure sexual position.

3. Piper and Flair both said they were older than Hogan. While Flair is older than Hogan, Piper is actually several months younger than the Hulkster. Hogan was born August 11th 1953, Piper was born April 1954.

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Mean Gene is interviewing Sonny Onoo now. Onoo loses his ‘accent’ briefly before acting like he never did. He eventually drops the fake accent and states that the country is great if he puts on the fake accent. This sounds like a bad Yakov Smirnoff routine. He eventually gets around to stating that Ultimo Dragon will defeat Dean Malenko, who he claims has ‘belt envy.’ He then pulls out an American flag as Nitro goes to break.

After the break, we get a highlight (I use that word loosely here) video of the triangle tag team match at World War 3. This unfortunately leads to..

Match Four: Nasty Boys vs. Faces of Fear w/Jimmy Hart

It’s sad that the best worker in a match is.. Well, hell. None of them are the best. But for the safety of my life. I’ll just go with Meng as the best worker.

Outsiders show up, and do the absolute worse thing possible since they have made their way to WCW: they don’t interfere in this match. These two throws punches for several minutes, use weapons (somehow not causing a DQ) and other crap before it finally ends with Barbarian hitting Knobbs with Hart’s megaphone for the win.

Winners by pinfall: Faces of Fear

Why did Hogan befriend some of the worst workers in the world? -**

As an ‘apology’ for that ‘match’, we get Ric Flair! Flair easily gets one of the biggest pops of the night thus far. Flair says he doesn’t know where Kevin Greene is, but at least he gives him some respect. He then calls out one of his ‘best friends’ Roddy Piper out. Flair tells Piper than he has been against Hogan, and lost to him two years ago and lost the strap to him back then. He says that Charlotte thinks Hogan sucks and they agree. Flair says he wants to see Piper kick Hogan’s ass.

Piper says he’s not here for WCW or nWo, that he’s only doing this for himself to destroy Hogan.

After a commercial break, we hit hour #2 (seems to be a bit late today.)

Hour Two: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, and Bobby Heenan

We go to the announce booth where the announce team is talking about Hogan/Piper.

Match Five: Bobby Eaton vs. Chris Jericho

We get pretape comments from Chris Jericho where he disses referee Nick Patrick. That’s nice to hear.

Another relatively quick contest that sees Jericho win after with a missile dropkick.

Winner by pinfall: Chris Jericho

The announcers hype up Jericho as a future star as we see highlights of the match.

½* for being so short.

We get a video package of the recent Rick Steiner/Sting stuff that has been going on. After the video is over, we go to the entranceway with Mean Gene and the Steiners. Scott is on the mic, and says that handing Rick a bat in a fight is crazy, because Rick is nuts. Scott said that when he did that, he saw a bit of the ‘old’ Sting in the new Sting in his eyes. He said that the Steiners and Luger are WCW. Rick is looking up in the rafters, and says he’s waiting for a message from Sting. Scott says they are waiting for Sting. Not bad.

We get another video package, this time of Lex Luger. It mainly shows him putting various wrestlers in the torture rack.

Match Six: Sgt. Craig Pittman vs. Arn Anderson w/Mongo and Debra.McMichael

We get another pretape, this time of Kevin Sullivan. Sullivan blames everything on Arn Anderson, and says next week they are going to ‘heat up’ Sullivan’s life. Uh..

Pittman is actually able to one up the veteran Anderson. He is even able to get Anderson into the Code Red armbar, but Anderson makes it to the ropes to break the hold. Anderson exit’s the ring to catch his wind, Pittman follows. Debra distracts the ref, and Mongo hits Pittman with the briefcase! He throws him back into the ring and Arn wins after finishing him off with the DDT.

Winner by pinfall: Arn Anderson

*¼

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WCW Nitro
Airdate: December 9th, 1996
Arena/Location: Independance Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina
Hour One Commentators: Larry Zbyszko and Tony Schiavone

We kick off Nitro with ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper! Piper gets a massive reaction from the NC crowd as he comes down to ringside. This may or may not be because he’s wearing a Carolina Panthers shirt. Discussing everything Piper said here would more than likely take up several pages. So, I’ll just throw up a link at the end of this in case you want to see it yourself. For those that don’t want to see the vid, Piper (very) basically says that he won’t take a dive for anyone, and that he wants Hogan. The crowd (mostly pro-WCW) eats up every word he says. He wants Hogan tonight.

Match One: Mike Enos vs. Mr. Wallstreet

Tony notes both men have a ‘great’ win-loss record. Well, great in that the losses far outweigh the wins <_<.

Ted Dibiase comes out a few seconds after the opening bout starts up and is standing at ringside with what appears to be a contract in his hand. Enos looks interested, but Wallstreet hits him from behind with the Stock Market Crash finisher for the win.

Winner by pinfall: Mr. Wallstreet

Wallstreet gets the contract and.. I guess he’s in the nWo now? Okay then.

SQUASH

After a break, we get a video from WCW Saturday Night of Chris Benoit and Woman. Woman tells Sullivan that she is tired of him and through with the way he’s been treating her. Benoit says that Sullivan things he’s the ultimate chessplayer, well his Bishop just took Sullivan’s Queen. Checkmate. Sullivan was in a state of shock of what he just saw on the video.

Match Two: Hugh Morrus vs. The Renegade w/Joe Gomez

How often is it that Hugh Morrus is the best worker in a match? Well, aside from this match >_>.

Another quick one that sees Morrus win it pretty easily with the No Laughing Matter moonsault.

Winner by pinfall: Hugh Morrus

Morrus looks to be going for it again, but Joe Gomez pulls his partner out of the way.

SQUASH

Kevin Sullivan is out and berates Schiavone for showing that video like he did on Nitro. He says next time he’s got something to show, show it to him personally, since he doesn’t care about the ratings game and all that.

We get a video package of that shows the recent actions of Sting. The video has “Holding Out for a Hero” by Bonnie Tyler as the music, and the graphics seem to come from someone’s early attempts at photoshop as well. Trust me, it was pretty bad.

Mean Gene is standing in the entranceway and introduces Kevin Greene, who gets a rather loud pop. Greene says he’s still going to get his revenge on Mongo for turning his back on him. Greene proceeds to tell us that the entire nWo thing is ‘crap’ and if he ever gets his hands on Hogan he’s going to rename him ‘Choking’ Hogan. Okay then.

Match Three: Jimmy Graffiti vs. Dean Malenko© for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship

Graffiti has the worst in ring attire on this side of Shockmaster.

Malenko has control over Graffiti early on, but after a quick timeout things change and now Graffiti is the one in control. How often does that happen >_>. Sonny Onoo shows up and has a camera, but really doesn’t add anything to this match. Graffiti and Malenko fight for several minutes in and out of the ring, before both men try to end it. After several powerbombs, superplexes, and other moves Dean Malenko retains after countering a brainbuster into a rollup.

Winner, and STILL WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Dean Malenko

Decent contest that got roughly ten minutes (plus a commercial break.) Graffiti isn’t as quick and can’t perform the moves like Mysterio or Dragon could, but this one squeezes out a **¾ for me.

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Mean Gene at the entranceway with Mongo, Debra, and Arn Anderson, before Benoit joins them. Arn puts over Luger as a tough guy, before he goes on about Woman not being there. Benoit claims she’s taking care of Horsemen business. Mongo says that egos need to be taken down or else it’d destroy the dynasty of the Horsemen, and Debra says that she’s tired of Nancy (who?). Okerlund asks Benoit why Woman only comes out with him, and he says it’s simply cause they are Horsemen. Alright then.

Match Ten: Rocco Rock w/Johnny Grunge vs. Lex Luger

Another quickie match here. Rocco Rock is able to stay over Luger for a few minutes, but Luger comes back and wins with the Torture Rack.

Winner by submission: Lex Luger

½*

Main Event: Rick Steiner w/Scott Steiner vs. Sting

Sting comes out, throws the bat aside, and turns his back toward Rick. Rick attacks him, but Sting is back up, hit’s the Scorpion Deathdrop on Rick Steiner. Scott Steiner is in the ring to check on his brother, while Sting grabs the bat. He moves toward the Steiners, moves Scott out of the way, and does the same thing he did to Luger a few Nitros back. He eventually gives the bat to Rick, turns around and waits for him to attack. Rick looks like he’s going to, but Scott stops him, and throws the bat on the ground. Sting picks it up and leaves the ring.

No contest?

Sting looks like he’s going to walk through the entranceway, but stops and watches the nWo announce team for several seconds, before leaving through the crowd. The nWo thinks that Sting has truly sided with them, as Nitro goes off the air.

A nice step forward for this Nitro. The overlying storyline with Sting is still a big question. Is he with the nWo as they claim, or is he siding with WCW as he has for most of his career? If he’s with the nWo, why is he ‘testing’ various WCW wrestlers? If he’s with WCW, while does he keep attacking WCW talent and not the New World Order talent? 6/10

TV Rating: 3.4. For the rest of December, WWF Raw didn’t come on.

Other Nitro Notes

1. It’s unusual to hear the nWo guys put over most of the WCW talent that came out. Maybe it was their way of buttering them up to join?

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Hour Two Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, and Bobby Heenan

Match Six: Big Bubba w/Jimmy Hart vs. Jeff Jarrett

Big Bubba uses his size advantage over Jarrett, plus has help from Jimmy Hart at several points. Jarrett, fed up with the interference, decks Hart, gets back in the ring and starts to take advantage of Big Bubba. Hart gets back up, throws his megaphone in the ring for Bubba. Ref tries to take it from Bubba, but Jarrett dropkicks it into Big Bubba’s face and gets the win.

Winner by pinfall: Jeff Jarrett

*

After a quick highlight video of the match, we go back to the ring where Rick and Scott Steiner. Rick Steiner is calling out Sting. Sting shows up in the rafters, and Rick asks him if he wants to go at it one on one in the ring. Sting nods his head, and I guess we got a match later tonight.

We go to the announce booth with the three amigos. They are talking about Sting for a few seconds, before the nWo’s music hits. Bischoff, Hall, Nash, Syxx, and Vincent show up. Instead of going to the ring, they chase off the announcers at the announce booth. Er, I guess they’ll announce for the rest of the show.

Remainder of Hour Two Commentators: Scott Hall, Eric Bischoff, and Kevin Nash

Bischoff claims that he tried to keep Piper out of WCW because of what the nWo and Hogan has done to their enemies. We get footage of Hogan beating up Vader, of the nWo beating up Ric Flair (and putting him on the shelf), and Randy Savage.

Match Seven: ‘Squire’ Dave Taylor vs. Eddie Guerrero in a first round WCW US Title tournament

Hall, Nash, and Bischoff talk about maybe expanding their talent internationally, more specifically Japan, Europe, and Mexico.

Both men go at it for several minutes, but Eddie Guerrero is able to get the upper hand on the veteran Dave Taylor and pick up the win following the Frog Splash.

Winner by pinfall: Eddie Guerrero

Nash, Hall, and Bischoff are all impressed with their win, but they don’t think they could beat the Giant for the title.

*½ Could’ve used more time.

After a break, we have a road update from Lee Marshall, who’s in Charlotte this week. He shills the Nitro that will be from there next week, as well as a Panthers/Niners game.

Match Eight: Arn Anderson vs. Jim Powers w/Teddy Long

The announcers actually put over Arn as a great talent Considering how vocal Arn’s been, that is sort of odd. Speaking of Anderson, Arn’s ‘injured’ ribs are no longer injured. I know a guy who sold injured ribs for like two years. He deserved more than a self high five, too.

Powers gets in more offense than I’d expect from an ‘enhancement talent’ would. Powers unfortunately isn’t able get the job done as Arn hit’s the devastating DDT on Powers for the win.

Winner by pinfall: Arn Anderson

*

Match Nine: Chris Benoit vs. ‘Lord’ Steven Regal in a WCW US Title Match tournament

Loud USA chant from the crowd in the early going of this match. Erm… Right.

Good match, well from what I could make out of it.. 70% of the match was done in a wide angle shot, so it was pretty hard to see who was doing what. The match however ended when Benoit hit a german suplex bridge on Regal.

Winner by pinfall: Chris Benoit

Good match if I had gotten better angles and camerawork. One of the first time the cameramen can be blamed for screwing up a match. Still, **¼

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Currently watching: WCW Monday Nitro.
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WCW Nitro
Airdate: December 2nd, 1996
Arena/Location: Hara Arena in Dayton, Ohio
Hour One Commentators: Larry Zbyszko and Tony Schiavone

Tony and Larry welcome us to Nitro from their spot next to the ring. Before much more can be said, The Steiner Brothers come to ringside and Scott has a mic. Scott says he considered Sting his friend, and that what he did to his brother last week on Nitro won’t happen this week. Ric basically challenges Sting to try something again. They show the footage of what happened last week between Rick and Sting, before we go to our opening contest.

Match One: Glacier vs. Hardbody Harrison

Glacier, who comes out to a different intro than he had several Nitros back, gets a pretty decent reaction from the crowd. Harrison gets a jobber entrance.

Harrison tries to get the upperhand early like he has on various women, but Glacier is able to shrug him off and win this bout in one minute after a spinning heel kick.

Winner by pinfall: Glacier.

SQUASH

Match Two: Renegade and Joe Gomez vs. The Amazing French Canadians w/Col. Rob Parker

Big USA chant going on now after the AFC tries to sing the Canadian National Anthem.

The AFC destroy Gomez for the majority of this short bout, but he gets the hot tag on Renegade, but fails to stop the AFC. The AFC wins this after an assisted senton bomb.

Winners by pinfall: The Amazing French Canadians

¾*

Arn Anderson is being interviewed by Mean Gene by the entrance. Gene asks Arn about Piper, but Arn starts off talking about Hogan. He brings up the fact that he beat Hogan two weeks in a row, and that Hogan is merely human. He says Piper is one of the toughest guys in the ring, and that next week in Charlotte North Carolina, that the Four Horsemen will have Piper’s back, and if the nWo or Hogan wants to get involved, then they’ll see that Charlotte isn’t such a friendly place.

Match Three: Faces of Fear w/Jimmy Hart vs. Robert Gibson and Scotty Riggs

We get video of the nWo attacking the Faces of Fear/Harlem Heat the week before, and we are told it’ll be Faces of Fear vs. Outsiders at Starrcade.

Scotty Riggs does his best Ricky Morton impression for the majority of this match, gets the hot tag on Gibson. Gibson tries to clear house, fails, and Barbarian wins this one with a mafia kick.

Winners by pinfall: Faces of Fear

Riggs runs in with a chair, hits both Meng and Barbarian with a few (weak) chairshots, and they leave.

*¼

After the break, we go to video footage of the Benoit/Sullivan match that happened before the PPV went on the air. It was rather similar to their previous encounter, except that when they went to the bathroom this time, the Dungeon of Doom was laying in wait.

Match Four: ‘Taskmaster’ Kevin Sullivan vs. "Live Wire" Sean Casey

Sean Casey is destroyed by Sullivan in the matter of seconds. Sullivan wins with a double stomp to the chest.

Winner by pinfall: Kevin Sullivan

SQUASH

Mean Gene interviewing Sullivan in the ring. Sullivan cuts a promo against Chris Benoit. Typical Sullivan affair.

Match Five: Billy Kidman vs. Dean Malenko© for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship

Partway through this championship bout, Sonny Onoo comes out with a camera, and is taking pictures.

Dean Malenko with the majority of the offense in this bout, though Kidman does show a few offensive moves here and there. It looks like things will turn to Kidman's favor when Onoo uses the camera to ‘blind’ Malenko, but when Kidman tries to hit the shooting star press, Malenko puts a knee up, and retains with a Texas Cloverleaf.

Winner, and STILL WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Dean Malenko

** for a decent contest.

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Currently watching: WCW Monday Nitro.
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Strange Nitro. Only one match got more than about fifteen minutes, while the rest were basically squashes or too short to be worth anything. I guess they had to rush because of how long the contract signing between Hogan and Piper was. Aside from Bischoff’s ultimatum, this was a relatively poor Nitro. 4/10

TV Rating: 3.1, which is the lowest rating for Nitro since the August 5th edition, when that episode only scored a 3.

Other Nitro Notes:

1. This Nitro marks the start of the mass influx of members into the New World Order. Gone is the ‘outsiders’ image of the group, and now it’s a separate entity taking over. While at this point it’s not that bad, things will get pretty ridiculous very soon.

2. There is one very good thing about Bagwell joining the New World Order: I never have to hear that stupid American Males song ever again!

3. Hillarious in Hindsight moment of the week: Tony and Larry shilling the Diamond Cutter as a move that DDP could hit someone with from anywhere, out of nowhere, and how no one has gotten up from it yet.

4. It’s odd that Tony was at ringside for the first hour, yet moved to the regular announce booth for hour two. Why not just have all the commentators at the one spot the entire time?

5. I should also point out that I'm expecting to have the next WCW PPV Watchfest next Thursday. So, I'm going to be going through these Nitros every day if I can.

--
Currently watching: WCW Monday Nitro.
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Hour Two Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, and Bobby Heenan

After a highlight package, we go the entranceway where Mean Gene is interviewing Rick Steiner. Steiner says that he and his brother have been in Japan wrestling, and that both are 110% WCW. I wouldn’t be speaking for your brother if I were you, Rick. He says that he comes back, and Sting is in the rafters, and that WCW is in a big mess. Gene sends in to commercial as Rick goes back to the lockeroom.

Match Four: Konnan vs. Eddie Guerrero in a first round match in the WCW US Title tournament.

Decent (but another quick) contest here. Konnan actually had Eddie beat in the ring, but pulled his shoulder off the ring. This cost him dearly as Konnan tried to powerbomb Eddie, Eddie reversed it, and got the win himself!

Winner by pinfall: Eddie Guerrero.

This contest only got five minutes of action, and part of that was used to watch the pyro for hour two. ¾*

After a break, we get some photos of three other matches at World War 3. That was nice.

Match Five: Big Bubba w/Jimmy Hart vs. Rick Steiner

Steiner talks into the camera, saying he can’t believe he can’t even trust Sting anymore. This is pretty much a cue though for Sting, as about two minutes into this match, Sting appears, gets into the ring, and hit’s the Scorpion deathdrop on Steiner, giving Bubba the win.

Winner by pinfall: Big Bubba

N/R

After a break, we get a call from Lee Marshall, who is in Dayton Ohio shilling the Nitro from there next week. Marshall actually had a wrestler fall on him during the 60 man battle royal the night before, much to the amusement of me and Bidoof.

Match Six: Psicosis vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

Ultimo Dragon, Sonny Onoo, and the J-Crown belts are at the entranceway to watch this contest.

Psisosis dominates the smaller Mysterio for a few seconds, and looks to be ending it early with a powerbomb off the top rope. As he’s jumps off, Mysterio reverses it into a beautiful hurricanrana and picks up the win.

Winner by pinfall: Rey Mysterio Jr.

SQUASH

We go to the announce booth where they talk about the Piper/Hogan contract signing. This eventually lead to them showing the entirety of the contract signing the night before.

Match Seven: Alex Wright vs. Jeff Jarrett

Another quick contest that Jarrett wins with a figure four leglock.

Winner by submission: Jeff Jarrett

SQUASH

We go to stills of the night before showing World War 3. They show Luger vs. the four nWo members, him eliminating two and Giant eventually winning it.

Main Event: Faces of Fear vs. Harlem Heat w/Sister Sherri

These two teams fight for about four minutes, before the nWo (Nash, Hall, Syxx, Bagwell, Vincent) show up and start to beat down all four men.

No contest through interference

N/R

Giant comes out, chokeslams Meng, and that’s how this episode of Nitro ends.

--
Currently watching: WCW Monday Nitro.
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WCW Nitro
Airdate: November 25th, 1996
Arena/Location: Wicomico Civic Center Salisbury, Maryland
Hour One Commentators: Larry Zbyszko and Tony Schiavone

We start off Nitro with Larry and Tony at ringside. They show photos of Piper and the contract signing from the night before, though Tony tells us we’ll get the footage of the entire event later on in the program. He also informs us that we’ll have a tournament for the WCW United States championship, and the tournament will begin tonight, and will probably end at Starrcade.

Match One: Arn Anderson vs. Lex Luger in a first round WCW US Title tournament match

Arn Anderson, who took a Torture Rack a few weeks ago, is still taped up from it. The crowd is also decidedly pro-Luger.

Partway through this back and forth contest, the Giant is in the crowd with the US Title. He says the title is the most important belt in the world cause he holds it. He puts himself over for a few seconds before he leaves. Anderson throws Luger out on the floor, and is looking to hit a piledriver, but Luger reverses, and puts Anderson up in the rack on the outside. The referee counts to ten and the match is over.

Double Countout

I had to suffer through a thirteen minutes + commercial break Lex Luger match that with no clear winner? Lame. ¾*

After the commercial break, we get a quick synopsis of some of the undercard matches at World War 3.

The nWo music hits and part of the New World Order comes out. The only members not present are Hogan, Dibiase, and Elizabeth. Bischoff has a mic, and brings up how he was powerbombed by Nash at Great American Bash. He states that the next day he woke up and wondered if he wanted to be consumed by the power, or become part of the force. He goes on to say that he, Hall, and Nash got together and decided to join forces. He notes that he’s the highest ranking executive of both groups, and warns the WCW locker room they got 30 days to convert their WCW contracts to nWo ones. After the 30 days are up, you’re either with the nWo, or against them.

Bischoff goes on for a few more seconds, before the American Males (AMERICAN MALES) show up. Scotty Riggs looks confused, as both men enter the ring. Bagwell starts high fiving the nWo guys while Riggs just looks on in confusion. Bagwell tells him something.. Then attacks him from behind! Huge nWo chant going now.

Match Two: Diamond Dallas Page vs. Disco Inferno

DDP and Disco go at it for a few minutes, but Inferno is pretty easy pickings for DDP once he hit’s the Diamond Cutter for the win.

Winner by pinfall: Diamond Dallas Page

*¼ Too short to get anything better.

Mean Gene is in the ring with DDP. Gene wants an answer if DDP is joining the New World Order. Page talks about how the New World Order is trying to build a dynasty. He says and why shouldn’t they be scouting him? He’s got the baddest finish on the planet. Gene gets DDP to admit that he, Hall, Nash, and Bischoff are all good friends, though he dodges the biggest question on whether or not he’s joining the group now.

Match Three: Tony Pena vs. Lord Steven Regal© for the WCW World Television Championship

From what I can find, Tony Pena is actually Villano IV without a mask. It’s also worth noting that Antonio Pena was the name of the promoter of AAA. Schiavone notes that Regal is the only man left in WCW with a heavyweight championship. Glad to see he’s been well used the last few months.

This was a relatively quick affair between these two. Regal able to dominate the smaller Pena for the contest, before eventually locking the Regal Stretch on him for the win.

Winner, and STILL WCW World Television Champion: Steven Regal

* for that match.

--
Currently watching: WCW Monday Nitro.
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