Monday
Nitro #205
Date: September 13,
1999
Location: Dean Smith
Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolinas
Attendance: 5,571
Commentators: Tony
Schiavone, Bobby Heenan
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
It's the night after
Fall Brawl and again I'm convinced WCW has hit rock bottom. The
Revolution got swept last night and Sting turned heel to win the
World Title, despite the fans sounding pleased with the results.
We're now a month away from Halloween Havoc and it's time to see how
Nitro goes without Bischoff running things behind the scenes. Let's
get to it.
Things are already
looking up on this show as we look back at last week with Hart
challenging Hogan and all the Hogan/Sting/Luger shenanigans.
Nitro Girls.
Quick recap of last
night. That's the best way to do it if you absolutely must.
Recap of Benoit and
Malenko having a good match for a World Title shot tonight until Sid
interfered to give us a good old fashioned bait and switch.
Chris
Benoit vs. Dean Malenko
Rematch with the same
stipulations as last week with Saturn and Douglas at ringside.
Feeling out process to start as they fight over a hammerlock. Benoit
scores with an enziguri but can't hook a dragon suplex. Instead Dean
nails him with an elbow tot he jaw but they both fall out to the
floor. Mostly even match so far. Saturn and Douglas don't let it
turn into a brawl as Tony is talking about Sting, which actually ties
into this match. You can tell Bischoff isn't in his ear this week.
Dean takes over with a
short arm scissors back inside but Benoit powers out and drops Dean
for two. Malenko avoids a dropkick and goes for the leg but Benoit
is right next to the ropes. Benoit misses a charge in the corner but
catches Dean taking way too long to get up top, setting up a top rope
superplex to put both guys down.
A double clothesline
gives us a double cover before we hit a very crisp pinfall reversal
sequence. Benoit starts rolling Germans but Dean counters into a
rollup for two. That's enough for Benoit as he hooks a belly to back
and slits the throat, only to get caught on top for another
superplex, but Benoit hooks Dean's leg on the way down and ties the
legs together into a small package for the pin and the title shot.
Rating:
B+. That
might be high but this is the best match WCW has had probably in
months. It wasn't even ten minutes long but they packed stuff into
this match with both guys getting to look great. There's a great
story in here with Benoit trying to use suplexes and throws while
Dean wanted to break Benoit down by going for body parts but kept
getting in trouble when he went out of his comfort zone, namely
whenever he went to the top. At the end of the day, there is no
substitute for a really good wrestling match and that's exactly what
you got here.
All
four members of the team gets in to hug post match.
Gene
is in the ring and brings back Ric Flair as he returns in the
Carolinas again. They're already about 10,000x better than what we
got last night. I wonder how much of a difference the lack of
Bischoff makes as there's a good chance he booked the PPV before
leaving and this is the first real show without him.
Ric
is back in face mode and sucks up to the crowd, who of course love
him like free beer in a frat house. Flair
alludes to being free (of Bischoff I'd assume) before talk turns to
Sting and Luger. He doesn't
approve of how Sting won the title. I'll let you pause to laugh at
that for a minute. This
brings the two of them out to say it's their time now, meaning it's
time for Flair to go because
they've been held back long enough. Somehow they're onto something
as they've combined for eleven World Titles and Flair has I think
fourteen at this point?
Ric
says they have to to earn their spots, which you would think they did
years ago but Flair has always had some issues with reality. Luger
and Sting deck Flair and put him in their respective submissions,
drawing out Hart and Hogan for the save. Hogan sets up the tag match
for later, which he's doing for Flair. You know, for all those great
moments they've had together earlier
this year.
After
a break, Luger and Sting laugh because Luger doesn't have medical
clearance or any gear. Sting
not mentioning facing Benoit later scares me.
Berlyn's
entourage arrives.
DJ
Ran throws it to Riki Rachman to show us last week's winner in the
Nitro Girls competition and introduce this week's finalists. None of
them are Stacy Keibler so we'll move on.
JJ
Dillon is on the phone with a doctor in Florida and finds out that
Luger has been cleared for three weeks. My what convenient timing
for him to finally look into that.
Stills
of Benoit vs. Sid from last night. The faster we move on from this
the better a lot of people will be.
Erik
Watts vs. Disco Inferno
Someone
explain to me why WCW keeps Watts on the payroll. They must owe Bill
a favor of some kind. Erik
“Let me show you my dropkick” Watts hammers away to start but
gets armdragged and hiptossed, setting up dance time. He
stomps Watts down in the corner but misses a charge, allowing Watts
to powerslam him into the corner. Think the Oklahoma Stampede minus
the followup powerslam.
Watts
stays on the ribs but Disco counters a Russian legsweep into one of
his own, even though it's pretty much the same move either way. The
middle rope elbow misses though and DEAR GOODNESS TURN DOWN THE CROWD
NOISE! The fans suddenly go from silent to losing their minds in the
span of half a second as we go split screen to show Sid. Disco hits
the Last Dance for the pin a second later.
Rating:
D-. That powerslam wasn't bad
but the audio going nuts was the most entertaining part of the match.
Disco really deserves
something better than this. Even a low level tag team or something
like that would be nice for him. Instead he's stuck in these lame
matches and about to get powerbombed in half by Sid.
Of
course that's exactly what happens, plus Sid rambling on about not
putting up with trash like this, or with Goldberg for that matter.
Charles Robinson was holding
the signs as Sid is now at 82-0 and got to wear the US Title.
Somehow, it kind of suits
him.
Silver
King vs. Norman Smiley
Norman
shoves him around to start but takes a quick enziguri (a popular move
tonight) and a quick flip splash. King
sends Norman outside and teases a dive which looks so horrible that
Smiley doesn't even bother to move. Back in and Smiley busts out the
Big Wiggle but has to hit a wheelbarrow slam, followed by the
spinning slam. Not that any
of it matters though as Sid comes in for the no contest.
Chokeslams
and double pins make Sid 84-0.
We
recap the horrid Berlyn vs. Duggan match from Sunday.
Steve
Regal/Dave Taylor vs. Barry Windham/Kendall Windham
Regal
runs over Kendall with ease to start and takes him to the mat for a
well needed wrestling lesson. A
front facelock has Kendall in trouble and Regal goes behind him to
throw Kendall around a bit. Off to Barry and the gut of doom before
Taylor comes in for a European uppercut. The
Windhams take Taylor into the corner for a double teaming with the
Windhams moving at top speed. Well top speed for them at least,
which is slow motion for most other teams.
Taylor
finally rolls away, somehow countering the Windham's lightning quick
offense to make the tag to Regal. Steve comes in with those pretty
lame left hands of his and a Regal Cutter to Barry as everything
breaks down. Taylor hooks Barry in a leg lock but Kendall makes the
quick save. The referee goes after Taylor, allowing Hennig to hit
Regal with the cowbell to give Barry the pin.
Rating:
D. The Windhams need to get
away from my screen as soon as possible. They're not interesting,
they're not good in the ring, they're not really in shape and they're
not losing like they should be. The Brits are a decent heel team and
could actually have a nice match if given the chance, but here they
are jobbing to the Windhams, who still aren't over after losing the
titles a day earlier.
Back
from a break with Jerry Flynn in the ring but Goldberg is shown
coming to the ring with security while wearing street clothes.
Goldberg comes down to the
ring and passes Prince Iaukea, who seems to be Flynn's scheduled
opponent. THANK YOU BILL! Goldberg
isn't pleased with Sid's comments earlier and would like to challenge
him to a match. That's the cleaned up version of course. We cut to
Sid in the back where again his audio is so low that I can't hear a
thing he says. He picks up a bag and leaves as Goldberg is still in
the ring. Flynn complains and I think you can guess what happens.
Stills
of the Tag Team Title match last night.
Harlem
Heat vs. First Family
So
we had Malenko and Douglas lose last night for a non-title match?
The countdown is on for
those guys. Ray and Morrus stall for a few moments to start before
both guys shove each other around. Knobbs
comes in for a double team attempt but Booker kicks him in the face
to send us to a commercial. Back
with all four fighting outside until it's Morrus slamming Ray
for two inside.
The
Family hits back to back splashes in the corner but try a double
clothesline and get run over for their efforts. At least Stevie is
at the point where he can run at people and stick his arms out. I
mean WCW praises the Clowns for doing it so they
should praise Stevie too right? Booker
comes in to fire some kicks at Knobbs but the Rednecks come back out
to break up the missile dropkick for the DQ.
Rating:
D+. The match wasn't bad and
they're getting the idea of making the hot tag to someone who can
actually use some speed. That
being said, did Douglas and Malenko really just lose to the First
Family to set up a loss to Harlem Heat the next night to continue the
boring rivalry with the Rednecks? That's what we really just did?
The fact that it's not the
Clowns getting this feud is somehow the best news to come out of
this.
Insane
Clown Posse vs. Lenny Lane/Lodi
Oh
this is going to hurt. Vampiro is hurting as well after a bunch of
injuries to his head and eye
after the match last night. Lodi
is wearing an East Carolina University football jersey. Does he want
a job in WWF (Vince went to school there if that made no sense)? A
fan runs into the ring before the match but it turns out to be Tony
Mamaluke, who has been following Lenny and Lodi recently. Heenan:
“Take him out back and hang him.” When did Brain get so harsh?
J.
does some bad looking
hiptosses so Lenny starts prancing a bit. A
gorilla press sends Lenny running on his knees to Lodi. The
camera goes to Vampiro at ringside and thankfully he says there's
something more important going on and points to the ring. Shaggy
hammers on Lodi and Stuns Lane
across the top rope. A
double suplex sends 2 Dope into the ropes as the fans are cheering
for the Clowns. The
brothers hit a knee lift into a legdrop for two on Shaggy but we get
heel (?) miscommunication to allow the tag to J.
Tony
and Heenan keep sucking up to the Clowns and say they deserve a Tag
Team Title shot. My goodness ANYTHING but that. We
get the spot where Lenny and Lodi are knocked into sexual positions
before they plant Shaggy with a double DDT for two. The
brothers load up a suplex/cross body combination but Lodi hits Lenny
by mistake, allowing Shaggy to roll Lenny up for the pin on the
Cruiserweight Champion.
Rating:
F. A Clown just pinned a
champion in what was supposed to set up Shaggy winning the title.
Thankfully the Clowns wouldn't wrestle again in WCW until August so
this didn't go anywhere, but my goodness. They're treated like good
guys, the announcers freak out over hip tosses, and they're pinning a
champion. Just....come on
WCW. Even you should be
better than this.
The
Clowns want Kidman. That
recruiting thing isn't going to be mentioned again is it?
WCW
World Title: Chris Benoit vs. Sting
Before
the match, Benoit talks about Sid tapping out last night and the
whole world saw it, but sometimes the calls don't go your way.
Instead of violins playing Sting to the ring, dogs are barking and
Rick Steiner is here. Oh geez here we go. Rick says this isn't
Benoit's night and for absolutely no adequately explained reason,
this is happening instead of Benoit's World Title shot.
TV
Title: Chris Benoit vs. Rick Steiner
Steiner
hammers away to start and knees Chris in the ribs. He plants Benoit
with a powerslam as this is one sided so far. More beating in the
corner ensues until Rick does that face grab of his. Steiner
shoves the referee before they
head outside with Benoit going into the barricade. Total and
complete squash so far.
A
belly to belly sets up more face ripping, followed by one of the most
painful looking release German suplexes I've ever seen. Benoit
landed right on the back of his head in a huge crash that made me
cringe. It's only good for
two though so Steiner smacks the referee in the face, allowing Benoit
to grab a bad looking rollup for the fast count and the pin for the
title. Steiner clearly
kicked out at about two and a half.
Rating:
D-. This
right here is the moment where it was clear WCW did not care about
Chris Benoit. Yes he won the title but he had a total of some right
hands at the beginning and a rollup with a fast count due to
something Steiner did. This was all about Steiner and Benoit got
squashed the entire time after having a great match earlier tonight
because in WCW's eyes, Steiner is more important than Benoit by
definition. On top of that, there's the whole missing World Title
shot. Why stick around if
you're Benoit?
Post
match, Steiner destroys Benoit until Malenko makes the save. Just in
case you needed any more proof that Benoit is just a guy and might as
well have been Prince Iaukea in WCW's eyes.
Video
on the Revolution. You know, those four guys that Steiner and Sid
regularly beat up.
Eddie
Guerrero vs. Perry Saturn
The
Revolution and Filthy Animals are at ringside with
Kidman looking to be in pajamas.
Feeling out process to
start with both guys trading attempts at holds until it's Eddie
grabbing a headlock. Saturn
shoves him off and hits a big T-Bone before putting on a headlock of
his own. Somehow both guys
have already had as much or more offense than Benoit in the previous
match.
Back
up and Guerrero jumps on Saturn's back for a sleeper as Tony takes
way too long to get to a commercial.
We come back with Saturn hitting a hard belly to back suplex but it
seems to just fire Eddie up. Things
speed WAY up with a sweet exchange of sleeper attempts and suplexes,
all of which do little more than make me even angrier at Rick Steiner
and Sid for getting pushed so hard.
Eddie
gets T-Boned off the top but is still able to hot shot Saturn in the
corner. The third T-Bone sends Eddie flying again and makes me think
I'm watching a Taz match. The Death Valley Driver is countered
though and Eddie plants him with a brainbuster. Eddie
has to bail out of the Frog Splash but escapes another DVD attempt,
setting up a solid pinfall reversal sequence. Saturn sits down on a
headscissors attempt and gets a surprise pin.
Rating:
B. Another awesome match here
between two guys who can just get in a ring and go. Therefore,
neither guy is going to get anywhere around here. This show has had
some really good wrestling but also been some of the most frustrating
stuff I've ever seen. Some combination of these guys could be
tearing it up with Harlem Heat for the Tag Team Titles but we're
getting the Windhams and threats of the Clowns because WCW is that
stupid.
The
groups stare each other down and war is imminent. Why
have them fight big names when you can just have them fight each
other right?
Berlyn
vs. Buff Bagwell
So
he'll skip the PPV (while still appearing to likely get a payday) but
he'll fight on TV where more people are watching? Again, WCW is
stupid. The interpreter is
back and goes to the commentary booth to make this even more painful.
She starts speaking German
and the voice is already annoying. Bagwell
stalls to start as Tony actually calls this an anticipated match.
A
nice dropkick puts Bagwell down and the German continues. Some
clotheslines look to set up the Blockbuster but Buff gets crotched on
top. The bodyguard gets
yelled at as this match is already dragging. Berlyn
gets two off a belly to back suplex and we hit the chinlock. The
comeback sets up a top rope clothesline and some basic offense as
Berlyn is knocked down in the corner. A
hot shot sets up a punch from the bodyguard, giving Berlyn the three
count.
Rating:
D-. Gah this was dull and it
barely broke five minutes. It
was a short step better than the Duggan match but it's clear that
Berlyn isn't going anywhere. The German chick got annoying the
second she started talking and it didn't make the match any better.
On top of that, it's clear that they're going for the Shawn/Diesel
formula with the bodyguard becoming the star, but Berlyn is as far
from Shawn Michaels as I am from being Miss Nebraska 1973.
We
get a long video on Sting posing the theory that Sting's entire run
as the crow was just there to set up his heel turn last night. It's
a cool video but this sounds like some nonsense about the moon
landing being staged in a big studio somewhere. It
doesn't help that the video contains dialogue like this: “Perhaps
Sting was driving the Hummer that attacked Kevin Nash. He was seen
getting out of a Hummer a week later, remember?” They
even bring up NWO Sting being part of Sting's grand plan.
Sting/Lex
Luger vs. Bret Hart/Hulk Hogan
Luger
is in street clothes and it's a brawl to start. Hogan and Sting get
inside with Hulk destroying the champ with all the right hands he can
throw. Bret comes in for
right hands of his own as Luger finally gets on the apron. The
champ comes back with a clothesline and the fans loudly cheer for
him. If you were just watching the match with no commentary or any
idea what happened last night, you would have almost no reason to
believe Sting was a heel.
It's
off to Hogan vs. Luger with Hulk firing off even more right hands but
eating the running forearm to the head. Sting
comes in with a top rope splash for two because heels use high flying
moves. Back to Luger for more choking as we're still waiting on
wrestling to start. Hogan
blocks a ram into the buckle but Sting comes back in for a suplex.
Lex starts going after the
knee as this match needs to just die already.
The
knee goes nowhere as Hogan clotheslines both guys down, setting up
the lukewarm tag to Bret. A
quick Russian suplex gets two on the champ and the middle rope elbow
gets the same. Everything
breaks down as Diamond Dallas Page comes out for no apparent reason,
carrying a ball bat. Hogan knocks it away as Bret has Sting in the
Sharpshooter but Luger picks it up and nails Bret in the face, giving
Sting the pin.
Rating:
F. When
I'm miserable over the fact that there are only two minutes left in a
match, there's something very wrong. This was terribly boring with
no one putting it into even second gear. It doesn't help that the
story makes no sense. All of a sudden Sting is EVIL (despite not
really doing anything evil tonight), Bret and Hogan are Flair fans
and Page is now hanging out with Luger and Sting. Terrible
match here and I have no interest in seeing this go forward.
Overall
Rating: D+. This is a really
hard one to grade. The Revolution matches (save for Benoit vs.
Steiner but that was the booking's fault) were really good and some
of the better TV matches WCW has put on in a very long time.
Unfortunately though there's a HUGE gap between those and the main
event matches, which ranged from horrible to the preferred method of
torture in 14 countries.
This
show was a perfect illustration of how nothing is going to change in
WCW. The young guys can go out there and have great matches that
actually get the fans reacting, but no one is going to break through
into the main event scene. Those guys exist to fight each other and
warm the crowd up so the real stars can have their boring matches
with whatever nonsense stories they're running. It's
like banging your head against a wall and wondering why the door
doesn't move. As usual, the
wrestling can be good in spots but the booking will make you pull
your hair out.
Thunder
was canceled this week due to a hurricane and replaced by a recap
show so I won't be putting it up. Sorry to the four people that
actually read those recaps.
Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:
http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6
Only THIS company could book something like Sting/Luger vs. Hart/Hogan....and have me not even remember it happening.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6Ehj8KOEj8
ReplyDeleteWow, this period between Bischoff and Russo....What's worse than WCW under the control of either man? WCW under the control of NO ONE.
ReplyDelete''We're now a month away from Halloween Havoc''
ReplyDeleteawww yeaahhhh
His review of that show is going to be one of his most epic.
ReplyDeleteActually, the EPIC SHOWDOWN between Lenny and Shaggy 2 Dope is on the next Nitro. I had 100% forgotten about any angle between Tony Mamaluke as Lenny & Lodi's superfan. aka watching Raw during the 30 seconds he was mentioned over several weeks.
ReplyDeleteThis is the second Halloween Havoc in which a Mummy is involved in a title match finish.
ReplyDeleteThat 1995 show is glorious in its own way.
ReplyDeleteAh I see. I looked up to see if J. had any matches left and forgot that Shaggy might do a singles match.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually looking forward to it, just for the insanity.
ReplyDeleteYeah, weird time for the CW Title, it would never be worth anything after Kidman's reign.
ReplyDeleteThis was Bret's first match back from the death of his brother and not only do they not have that matched hyped up for that fact, he even jobs! Amazing wcw
ReplyDeleteI read all of your WCW recaps. This WCW history review has been amazing.
ReplyDeleteMuch appreciated.
ReplyDelete