Monday Nitro #116
Date: December 1, 1997
Location: Knoxville Civic Auditorium, Knoxville, Tennessee
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko
Date: December 1, 1997
Location: Knoxville Civic Auditorium, Knoxville, Tennessee
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
We’re
less than a month away from Starrcade and Hogan is running out of time.
Last week the NWO got to beat up another Sting mannequin because they
have nothing else to do anymore. As for tonight we’ve got DDP vs. Hennig
again which will likely set up the US Title match for the PPV. Let’s
get to it.
As
the announcers talk about Larry checkmating Bischoff in the game of
human chess, here’s Bischoff to open the show. He says that there’s no
long term deal to fight Larry because that was a one night only deal.
However, if Nitro is put on the line, maybe we can work something out.
Since this is before WCW lost its mind though, Larry doesn’t have that
power.
Rey Mysterio vs. Juventud Guerrera
Eddie
Guerrero comes out to join the commentary booth. Feeling out process to
start with both guys trying to gain wrist control. We get a pretty
slick test of strength sequence with Rey flipping Guerrera all over the
place and both guys bridging up at a two count. Rey tries a rana but
gets dropped throat first onto the top rope to take over. Off to a leg
lock by Juvi before he dropkicks the knee out.
Mysterio
comes back with an enziguri as Eddie is really calm and collected on
commentary here. Juvy crotches him on the top rope and ranas him out of
the corner for two. Rey tries a German but Juvy backflips out and hits
the Juvy Driver for two. Guerrera misses a charge in the corner and gets
caught in an electric chair drop for two. West Coast Pop gets the pin
for Rey a few seconds later.
Rating: B.
Lack of knee selling from Rey aside, this was a very solid match. As is
often the case, the best idea you can have is to let two talented guys
have five minutes to show off for the crowd. Good, solid match here with
both guys getting to show off their numerous skills, which is something
WCW was excellent at when they let it happen.
Wrath vs. Hugh Morrus
Feeling
out process to start with both guys trying to show off the power.
Morrus takes over for a bit but Vandenberg trips him up, allowing Wrath
to knock Hugh to the floor. Wrath hits a sweet flip dive off the apron
to take Morrus down and we go back inside. A top rope clothesline gets
two for Wrath as we see Mortis wrap a chain around his boot. I think you
can see the rest of this coming: Wrath holds Morrus for a kick with
said boot but gets blasted in the head himself, allowing Hugh to hit No
Laughing Matter (moonsault) for the fast pin.
Here
are Hogan and Bischoff to say they hate Sting and fans that wear Sting
masks. Hollywood yells at an old lady and the old lady yells at him,
sending Hogan back. Somehow this takes five minutes.
Yuji Nagata vs. Prince Iaukea
Oh
joy. Prince takes him to the mat by the wrist but has to escape a
bodyscissors and it’s a standoff. Off to a headlock on Yuji which
transitions into a chinlock, only to have Nagata pick him up and drop
Prince backwards. Prince is thrown to the floor for some kicks by Sonny
Onoo before going back in for a rake of the eyes from Nagata. The
announcers are ignoring this as they likely should. Nagata throws on a
leg lock for a bit before Prince fights up, only to be dropped in a
belly to back suplex for two. Yuji loads up a superplex but gets shoved
off, allowing a high cross body to get the pin for the Prince.
Rating: D+.
I actually stayed awake for that. The match was fine but as always with
these two it’s really difficult to get any interest going for them.
Prince is somehow even less interesting than Nagata as his entire
character is that he’s from I think Samoa. That’s the entirety of his
persona and when he’s just ok in the ring, that’s really not much to go
on.
Nitro Girls.
Faces of Fear vs. Harlem Heat
Barbie
and Stevie start things off with Ray pounding him down into the corner.
A suplex puts Barbarian down and it’s off to Booker for the two count
for some reason. It’s off to Meng for some clubberin on Booker in the
corner, only to be caught by the side kick and the ax kick for no cover.
Barbarian kicks Booker into the corner for a tag off to Ray and another
brawl breaks out with both guys going down. Jimmy Hart and Jacqueline
get into it a little bit as it’s hot tag to Booker. He cleans house with
a bunch of kicks as everything breaks down. Meng puts the Death Grip on
Stevie but Booker rolls up Barbarian for the fast pin.
Rating: D+.
Not bad here and the ending was a nice surprise. These are two teams
who fought so many times that it got boring watching them over and over
again. Booker would be on the verge of splitting off into his singles
career due to Stevie injuring his ankle so this was one of the last
matches for the team for a long time.
Post
match Meng still has the hold on so Booker gets a wooden chair. Meng
sees him coming and shoves his hand through the chair to put the Grip on
Booker. Nice visual there.
It’s
hour #2 so here are the Outsiders with something to say. During their
entrances, Tony talks about how awesome Sting masks are and since there
are so many of them, clearly these are WCW fans and not NWO fans. Hall
does the survey and Nash talks about paying the price for challenging
the NWO. Big Kev says that if you’re WCW, you’re Lee Harvey Osweld (his
word not mine) and the NWO is Jack Ruby with a bullet to your stomach.
Scott Hall vs. Disco Inferno
During
Disco’s entrance we see the old lady from the Hogan entrance for some
reason. Hall shoves him down to start and messes with Disco’s hair.
Disco comes back with some hard right hands in the corner but Hall
shrugs him off before hitting some of the loudest chops you’ll ever here
to take over. Tony brings up the Sting masks for the third time in ten
minutes as Hall hits a chokeslam for no cover. Nash gets in a
clothesline as Hall does his Giant Frankenstein bit. Back in and the
fallaway slam sets up the Outsider’s Edge for the easy pin. Total
squash.
Hall and Nash celebrate like they just won the world title post match.
More Nitro Girls.
JJ
Dillon comes out and says that although Zbyszko can’t put Nitro on the
line, JJ himself can. Bischoff comes out and freaks out but the match is
made for Starrcade.
Ultimo Dragon vs. Psychosis
This
is what you call an excuse for the announcers to talk about Bischoff
vs. Zbyszko and ignore the match. Dragon takes over to start by sending
Psychosis into the corner and kicking him in the face for good measure.
They seem to botch something as Dragon is awkwardly knocked to the floor
where Psychosis hits a good looking guillotine legdrop. Back in and
Dragon snaps off a rana before getting rolled up out of a powerbomb
attempt for two. Psychosis goes up but gets crotched, allowing Dragon to
hit a top rope rana and the Dragon Sleeper for the tap out. Short
match.
We see the Nitro Party winner for the week.
Raven says he isn’t fighting tonight and sends Kidman in to face Benoit instead.
Chris Benoit vs. Billy Kidman
Lodi,
who doesn’t have a name yet, comes over the barricade with Kidman.
Benoit seems fine with fighting a replacement and chops Kidman down with
ease before dropping him on his head with a belly to back suplex. A
modified spinebuster sets up a Liontamer but Benoit lets go of it to
yell at Raven. Benoit rips Kidman’s shirt off and chops away in the
corner before stomping him down. While Benoit yells at Raven some more,
Kidman comes back with a springboard dropkick to take over.
Benoit
will have none of that and sends Kidman to the floor for more chops.
Saturn interferes though, allowing Kidman to hit a Shooting Star Press
off the apron to take over again. They head back inside and a slingshot
legdrop gets one for Kidman and a lariat gets the same. Off to a
chinlock but Chris easily counters with another suplex. Kidman blocks a
German but Benoit easily puts him down with the Crossface for the tap
out.
Rating: C+.
Total and complete dominance by Benoit here as this was one of his most
impressive performances to date. He looked like he was on a totally
different level than the Flock which makes the imminent clash with Raven
look all the more awesome. Based on this match alone you can see the
pure potential in Benoit that people raved about for years.
Post
match the Flock invades and the numbers game lets Raven hit the DDT on
Benoit. Saturn puts the Rings of Saturn on Benoit for good measure.
Nitro Girls part 3.
Lex Luger vs. Buff Bagwell
They
lock up to start but since neither guy can get an advantage, let’s have
a posedown. Buff slaps him like an idiot and gets backdropped down for
his efforts. After a gorilla press, Luger clotheslines Buff to the
outside but Bagwell pulls Lex to the floor and rams him back first into
the apron to take over. Back inside we go and Buff hits some basic stuff
before putting on a chinlock.
After
a quick Luger comeback, Buff clotheslines him down again and kicks him
in the injured ribs to keep Luger in trouble. Buff argues with the
referee and chokes Luger on the ropes. More pounding down ensues but
Buff finally charges into some boots in the corner. Luger does his usual
stuff (atomic drop, clothesline, powerslam) and loads up the Rack but
Vincent runs in for the DQ.
Rating: D.
Slow and plodding match here with Buff trying to get a rub off Luger.
That didn’t quite work though as Bagwell’s offense was so basic that he
couldn’t get anything going at all. Luger’s offense on the other hand
has been the same set of stuff for years now yet he’s still very
popular. Wrestling is funny like that sometimes.
Both NWO guys are Racked.
NWO announcement focusing on DDP getting beaten up.
US Title: Curt Hennig vs. Diamond Dallas Page
On
his way to the ring, Hennig, the champion here, takes both a drink and a
piece of paper to the face yet keeps talking trash to the camera the
entire time. That’s some serious talent. This is apparently a rematch
from Saturday Night. Page gets in a quick right hand and a slam to start
which send Hennig bailing to the floor. Back in and Page hits a
shoulder block and a swinging neckbreaker to take Hennig down but the
champion comes back with a shot to the bad ribs of DDP.
Curt
slowly works over the ribs and there’s the Hennig necksnap. We actually
hear Page’s real full name as the referee is bumped off…..wait what did
hit him? Neither guy was anywhere near him but he’s down anyway. He
doesn’t see a cover by Hennig but is back up a few seconds later to look
at a chinlock. The hold stays on for a good while as I guess Anderson
is recovering. They finally get back up for the discus lariat from Page
and here’s the comeback. There’s the Pancake on Hennig and cue Rick Rude
as Page hits the Cutter. Rude pulls out the referee for the DQ and
here’s the NWO.
Rating: C-.
Not great here but since these shows are just killing time until
Starrcade anyway, does it really make a difference? Besides did anyone
believe the NWO wasn’t going to run in to end this match? There would be
yet another match between these two for the title at Starrcade to
finally blow off the feud so this wasn’t much of note.
Post
match the NWO destroys Page with Hogan hitting a Diamond Cutter. They
put a Sting mask on Page and give him another Cutter on the world title.
Hogan talks trash to end the show.
Overall Rating: C-.
Has anything other than the two top matches been announced for
Starrcade? Usually that would be a problem but in this case it’s ok as
the main event is the only thing people were interested in. The Bischoff
vs. Zbyszko match being announced is a big deal as it’s the second
biggest match on the PPV, but after we’ve heard Hall vs. Larry built up
for months, it’s not the match we want to see. Anyway, the rest of this
show wasn’t bad but it doesn’t feel like we’re four weeks away from
Starrcade at all.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com