Monday Nitro #214
Date: November 15, 1999
Location:
Barton Coliseum, Little Rock, Arkansas
Attendance: 10,435
Commentators: Tony
Schiavone, Bobby Heenan
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
It's the go home show
for Mayhem so tonight we get the tournament down to the final four.
The big question this week though is what genre of direct to video
movie are we getting? Last week it was thriller with Kimberly vs.
David Flair, mixed in with the comedy of Kevin Nash as the Grand
Wizard. Heaven help me but let's get to it.
Opening sequence.
There's a cage over the
ring. Of course there is.
Norman Smiley vs.
Jimmy Hart
Hardcore,
meaning Smiley comes out in football pads and Jimmy in.....a suit of
armor. Well that's kind of Genius of him. Jimmy brings in some
weapons and actually doesn't die at first because Norman can't see
through his helmet. The weapons shots have no effect on Hart so
Norman just takes him down by the legs. Hart comes back with some
powder to the face and Norman has to take the helmet off to cry.
The fans loudly chant
NORMAN, but I'm sure that's just because of the weapons and not the
effort or comedic skills he's displaying right? Jimmy gets in some
weapons shots but Norman gets up, drawing out Knobbs with a chair to
the head. Brian loads up a table but Jimmy misses a dive through it,
giving Norman the easy pin.
Rating:
D+.
This is one of those matches where the guys tried and were having
fun, but they firmly hit the roof of what they were capable of doing.
It doesn't help that this is to set up the epic showdown between
Knobbs and Smiley, when it seems like there's something entertaining
in having Hart as a hardcore guy if you keep him in the armor.
Knobbs
beats Smiley down post match.
Here are the tournament
brackets.
Bret Hart
Kidman
Total Package
Sting
Chris Benoit
Scott Hall
Buff Bagwell
Jeff Jarrett
If
Curt Hennig can beat Goldberg tonight, he gets a new contract. And
what stops the Powers That Be from saying he's fired from that one if
he loses?
Kimberly talks to Terry
Taylor. Why is she in the building after last week?
Tonight,
Nash is dressed like Sid, complete with some pretty good prosthetic
makeup. Well at least he isn't Slick.
AC
Jazz is out of the Nitro Girls so Fyre and Tygress jump Spice. Next.
Here
are the Outsiders with Nash as Sid, with a chin that is far bigger
than the real version. Keeping in mind that Sid is from Arkansas,
the fans aren't thrilled with this. Nash says he rules the world
about five times but stops to remind us that he's stupid. Cue Sid,
who has had enough of these two. We get the famous line of “you
are only half of the man that I am, and I have half the brains that
you do” which has Hall nearly doubled over in laughter. Sid is
already in a match tonight, but he wants to get Nash out of
retirement on top of that. Nash says no so Sid calls him a shell of
his former self and Nash says......nothing.
Tonight,
Booker has to face Creative Control, officially named Gerald and
Patrick. Why having the Harris Twins have the same names as the
Stooges is supposed to be funny isn't clear but I'm sure Russo gets a
chuckle out of it. Booker says Midnight will strike.
Kimberly tries to see
the Powers That Be but the Twins stop her.
Post break, Kimberly is
in the Powers' office and Russo puts her in a match with Asya.
There's going to be a special referee.
Nash comes into Russo's
office.
Booker T. vs.
Creative Control
Before
he can get to the ring, Booker is stopped by Chavo for an Amway
pitch. After that comedy spot goes nowhere, Booker goes after we'll
say Patrick but gets whipped into Gerald's boot. Tony stops talking
about the match to say the Powers That Be have rescinded Nash's
retirement stipulation. Tony: “It was a lame angle anyway.”
Every show I watch, I understand Cornette's rantings and ravings just
a bit more.
The
Twins start double teaming him and take it outside where Booker can
only fight one at a time. Back in and Booker manages a dropkick to
put both guys down, setting up the ax kick and a missile dropkick for
two with Gerald making a save. The H Bomb gets the pin on Booker a
few seconds later.
The
gong strikes and Midnight appears to knock out both Twins. This is
after she got laid out by Jarrett last week so the effect isn't all
there.
Post
break, Russo threatens to make Creative Control into bikers again.
They're banished to go find the luchadors and Torrie.
Evan Karagias vs.
Johnny Boone
Yes
referee Johnny Boone who is wrestling in jeans here. Madusa comes
out with Karagias, who gets jumped as the bell rings. Evan easily
shoves him back because he's a referee as Madusa goes to commentary.
They slowly go after each other because Boone, while a trained
wrestler, isn't much above average and that leaves Evan Karagias to
carry things. Boone gets a boot up in the corner so Madusa rams his
face into her cleavage. He's out cold and Evan gets the easy pin.
Keep in mind that Evan is challenging for the Cruiserweight Title
this Sunday and this is his big warmup.
Madusa
kisses Evan post match.
Russo
has a bunch of luchadors in his face and makes them a deal: he's
going to put a $10,000 check inside a pinata and hang it from a pole.
As luck would have it, Juvy is carrying a pinata. They'll all be
given a stick to hit each other with too. You can see the lawsuits
from here.
Dr. Death Steve
Williams and Ed Ferrara as JR show up.
Creative Control keeps
looking for Torrie.
Villano V vs.
Juventud Guerrera vs. El Dandy vs. Silver King vs. Psychosis
It's
a brawl to start and the pinata falls down fifteen seconds in. King
moonsaults onto Dandy as Williams and Ferrara come to ringside.
Ferrara gets on commentary and does his JR impression, listing off
football stats, telling Tony to speak in soundbytes and shouting
PINATA over and over. Juvy gets the pinata (PINATA! PINATA!) but
the match just keeps going with the camera on Ferrara. Guerrera does
the elbow drop and shakes the pinata as candy flies everywhere. Dr.
Death gets in the ring and beats everyone up for the no contest,
after almost everyone had the pinata at one point.
Rating:
F.
Well let's see. It was a bunch of racial stereotypes, the pinata
didn't last twenty seconds, Juvy didn't win for no explained reason,
the sticks didn't go anywhere, it was all about Dr. Death cleaning
house at the end, and they spent the entire match ripping on JR after
ripping on Sid earlier, Grand Wizard last week and Vince the week
before. Pick any two of those reasons and you'll get why this is a
failure.
Dr. Death takes the
check from King as the bell rings roughly 857 times.
Goldberg doesn't care
about anything.
Nash
is back in his usual clothes and says he took some time off when WCW
sucked. Now that Hall is back, things are fun again. Well of course
it is. He barely has to do anything but comedy and gets a huge
check. Pay no attention to the company, and therefore the checks,
dying before his eyes.
Goldberg vs. Curt
Hennig
Goldberg is coming out
of his locker room when Hennig slams the door on his head. Unlike
Flair with the WarGames door, Goldberg no sells it and they brawl in
the back with Goldberg getting the better of it. They fight to the
aisle and the bell rings with Hennig getting knocked to ringside and
looking like he's running scared.
Curt finally gets in
some knees to the head as they go inside. The Robinsdale Crunch sets
up a stepover toehold for well over a minute, with the referee
ignoring Goldberg's shoulders being down the entire time. Goldberg
finally punches him in the face and puts on a leg bar for the
submission, meaning Hennig keeps his job.
Rating:
D.
So Hennig can lose by anything but pin and keep his job. Why would
the Powers That Be want to keep him around if he never wins because
he keeps submitting or getting counted out? This was another of
those mostly hardcore matches which don't make people care because it
doesn't last five minutes and it's part of a story that makes no
sense.
Kimberly
is on the phone with Page when the lights flicker. She panics at the
fear of bad writing but Jim Duggan comes up with a flashlight and
says the fuses in this place are horrible. I hate to admit it, but
this was kind of funny. Ignore the fact that Jim Duggan apparently
has a working knowledge of the fuses in an arena in Little Rock,
Arkansas.
Creative
Control tells the Filthy Animals that they're fired if they don't
produce Torrie. The Animals heed the threat and go find her. Wait
why isn't she with them in the first place?
Chavo Guerrero sells
Duggan some fuses.
Vampiro/Misfits
vs. Berlyn/The Wall
The
Misfits almost have to be better than the Clowns. The Bodyguard is
officially the Wall, which is more punny delight. Three are three
Misfits and one is named Jerry Only. Berlyn goes after Vampiro to
start and sends him flying with a belly to belly. He misses a
dropkick though and it's off to the Misfits vs. the Wall. The trio
is chokeslammed with ease but Vampiro comes in and kicks the Wall in
the face.
The
fans are way behind Vampiro here but Berlyn kicks him down, setting
up a missile dropkick/suplex combo but the Germans argue over the
pin. Wall steps aside so Vampiro can hit a quick Nail in the Coffin
but Berlyn counters a top rope hurricanrana into a powerbomb. This
time it's Wall breaking up the pin but Vampiro breaks it up, only to
eat a chokeslam for the pin.
Rating:
D+.
Most of that is because Wall hit some good looking chokeslams and the
Misfits were little more than cannon fodder. This might have been
the most logical match of the Russo Era so far with Berlyn getting
annoyed at Wall for taking the glory, even though Berlyn is a waste
of a roster spot at this point. Wall looks like someone they could
push as someone interesting, meaning he's doomed from here.
Berlyn whips Vampiro
post match.
Torrie has been brought
to the Powers' office and Russo throws her a referee bikini, because
“it's all about the ratings.” Why did he have one of those
handy?
TV Title: Rick
Steiner vs. Sid Vicious
Rick
is defending even though he didn't bring the belt with him. We
continue a running theme tonight with the guys brawling in the aisle
but this time Sid is sent over the barricade and into the crowd.
Steiner slams him down on the concrete but Sid fights back, only to
put on something like a chinlock near the stage. That goes nowhere
so Rick is dragged up to the stage for a low blow, setting up a
powerbomb through the stage. Sid walks away and they never actually
got into the ring. No match it would seem.
Post
break, Rick is taken out on a stretcher. This goes on for the better
part of ten minutes and Sid rambles about not wanting to do this to
his friend. He's ready for Nash tonight.
Nash
is taping up.
We go to the boiler
room for Jerry Flynn vs. Barbarian in something resembling a match.
Remember when Mankind and Undertaker did this? Or Big Show and
Mankind? Well now it's Jerry Flynn beating up Barbarian, kicking him
up against the wall and I guess knocking him out. Tony brags about
how great this is going to be for the ratings and how it's going to
make people watch the show.
Benoit says Scott Hall
isn't standing in the way of getting to the World Title.
Asya vs. Kimberly
Torrie
is guest referee and wearing a bikini. Well at least they're not
hiding what they're doing anymore. Asya and Torrie get in a lame
catfight until Kimberly jumps on Asya's back with a sleeper. The
Animals come out to cover Torrie up and get her out of there. Cue
David Flair with the crowbar and wearing a referee shirt, sending
Kimberly running off. David and Asya fight with David shrugging off
a low blow but the Revolution comes out to clear the ring. So a
minute long non match had two guest referees (I guess?), and I
believe five people interfering?
Sting
is given some flowers with a card from Luger. Liz and Luger are
shown hoping that he likes them, but Sting doesn't think he can trust
them.
Goldberg has a chilled
beverage.
Kimberly runs from
David.
WCW World Title
Tournament Quarter-Finals: Chris Benoit vs. Scott Hall
Bret
Hart comes out to be in Benoit's corner to counter Nash. So he's
Hogan to Nash's Andre? Hall throws the toothpick at him and finds it
hilarious. That earns him some fluid from Benoit's nose and they
trade some arm holds. Now Hall wants the test of strength, only to
pock Benoit in the eye. That's fine with Chris who trips Hall down
and dropkicks him in the side of the head.
The
Outsiders have a breather on the floor as this might be the longest
match we've seen in Russo's Era without any shenanigans. Back in and
they trade chops in the corner with Benoit taking over and getting
two off a snap suplex. Nash can't help it any longer and nails
Benoit in the back of the neck, allowing Scott to nail a clothesline
for two. Scott gets into his routine and the fall away slam is good
for two.
We
hit the sleeper on the Canadian but Chris suplexes out to put both
guys down. Benoit fights up and plants Hall with a backbreaker
before dropkicking him to the floor. Nash goes after Benoit but Hart
makes the save. In the melee, Sid comes in and powerbombs Hall,
setting up the Swan Dive for two. Nash makes another save but Benoit
Crossfaces Hall to go to Mayhem.
Rating:
B-.
Here's the interesting thing about the match and the key to the whole
idea: the fans reacted when Sid came in and laid Hall out. Now why
is this time different from all the other matches ending with
interference? For me it's one simple reason: they allowed the match
to build up before doing the angle. The only thing out of the
ordinary was a single clothesline from Nash, which is minor by
comparison. It's a good match on its own and the angle is far more
acceptable when they have a good build to get there. This is the
Russo style that worked in the WWF because it had the time to work,
though that's not the case in WCW.
Bagwell says Jarrett
isn't going over him.
WCW World Title
Tournament Quarter-Finals: Bret Hart vs. Kidman
Rey
gets in on commentary. Bret takes him down with an elbow to the back
of the head and nails a hard clothesline as this is looking one sided
so far. Kidman slips out of a slam so Bret catapults him over the
top and out to the floor. Back in and a Bodog gets two on Bret but
we've got Outsiders. They hit on the robed Torrie but Eddie goes
over for the save as Rey cheers him on from commentary. Back inside,
Bret counters a hurricanrana into the Sharpshooter.
Rating:
D.
This didn't have time to go anywhere but at least Bret didn't crush
Kidman. It also helped that they kept things moving quick enough and
the interference didn't really change much. Mysteiro was kind of a
jerk but the Animals are the worst face group in the history of
wrestling so it's understandable.
Luger
and Liz get some brownies. We're approaching bad sitcom territory.
Jeff
Jarrett is the chosen one.
WCW World Title
Tournament Quarter-Finals: Jeff Jarrett vs. Buff Bagwell
They fight on the floor
with Buff taking over and heading inside. Bagwell uses his standard
offense including a good dropkick and an atomic drop until Creative
Control comes out for a distraction. It doesn't work immediately
though as Buff nails a powerslam, but the referee stops to tie his
shoe. Creative Control comes in and breaks up the Blockbuster, only
to have Buff nail the other with Jeff's guitar. The referee just
can't stop looking at his shoes though and Jeff nails the Stroke for
the pin from the suddenly alert referee.
Jeff
and the referee hug because we needed an angle on a match that didn't
break 130 seconds. Dustin Rhodes comes out for the save and
celebrates with the loser.
Goldberg
headbutts a Surge machine and gets a free drink.
Liz and Luger put
laxatives in the brownies.
The Revolution is ready
for the House of Pain match, but Saturn wants to talk about Everlast
boxing gear and the music video for Jump Around. Saturn asks Dean to
jump for him and staring abounds. I could get into this new
character.
Duggan intercepts the
brownies and says he deserves something like this.
Eddie
Guerrero/Konnan vs. Perry Saturn/Dean Malenko
This
is a House of Pain match, meaning it's inside a cage and you win by
handcuffing both opponents to the ropes. Saturn superkicks Konnan
before he can get inside, leaving Eddie to get double teamed. Tony
cuts Heenan off and goes on a rant about internet marks thinking they
can do his job. Oh I don't know Tony. I've seen a lot of internet
marks that can sound every bit as stupid as you do.
The Revolution double
teams Guerrero in the corner and pretty easily gets him most of the
way chained up. Konnan comes in with some shots of his own but eats
a spike piledriver. They complete shackling Eddie and Konnan gets
the same just a few seconds later. Total time of a pretty big
gimmick match like this: 2:57.
Rey
comes in and gets laid out by a clothesline from Asya. The
Revolution hangs him upside down from the top of the cage by the
knee, allowing Malenko and Saturn to just destroy Rey's leg. His
next match won't be until May. Well that explains why he didn't help
Eddie earlier.
WCW World Title
Tournament Quarter-Finals: Total Package vs. Sting
The
winner gets Bret on Sunday. Luger (the announcers have forgotten the
whole DON'T CALL HIM LEX LUGER schtick already) hides in the corner
to start as he thought Sting would eat the brownies. Sting kicks him
in the allegedly injured leg and stomps Lex down in the corner to
take over. He takes it to the floor and stays on the leg (Luger:
“HELP ME BOBBY!”) before Lex gets inside to hide in the corner.
An atomic drop does nothing to Sting but a clothesline gives Luger
his first advantage.
Tony starts talking
about how Sting and Luger have been friends for years in this sport
before correcting himself by calling it a business. The Stinger
Splash connects but Luger trips the referee while in the Scorpion.
Liz maces Sting and the Torture Rack goes on, only to have Meng come
out for a Tongan Death Grip (revenge for getting maced last week) to
Luger. Meng puts Sting on top to send him to Mayhem.
Rating:
D-.
I'm getting tired of giving these matches the same grades over and
over but they keep being the same bad, only slightly watchable
matches with some kind of interference and overbooked finishes. This
was in the same category as it wasn't long enough to go anywhere but
the guys know each other well enough to sleepwalk to a few acceptable
moments.
Here are the final
four:
Bret Hart
Sting
Chris Benoit
Jeff Jarrett
Jim Duggan feels the
effects of the brownies.
Kevin Nash vs. Sid
Vicious
Street
fight. As has been the case almost all night, they start brawling in
the aisle with Nash taking it into the crowd and hitting Sid low.
They head back over the barricade and Nash hits the framed elbows in
the corner. A quick clothesline sends Sid to the floor but he hits
Nash low to take over again.
Back in and Sid slams
Nash down and drops a leg for two. A leg between Nash's legs is our
third low blow in four minutes. Sid calls for the powerbomb as the
fans call for Goldberg. Cue Hall to break up the powerbomb and the
Outsiders go after Sid. Goldberg comes out to clean house and the
bell rings for a no contest in a street fight.
Rating:
D-.
So now we can't even get a finish in a match designed to not have a
clean finish? I guess we're setting up some kind of a tag match in
the future, but that hasn't been announced for Mayhem or any other
show. On top of that, it would mean ignoring the months of Sid vs.
Goldberg, which is one of those things in wrestling that always
drives me insane. I'm sure in this WCW though, it's cutting edge TV.
Overall
Rating: D.
Here's the thing: for probably the first time since Russo took over,
this show felt like it had a point. They have most of the big stuff
set for Mayhem and gave you a reason to check out the show. That
alone puts it ahead of almost anything else WCW has done in weeks.
However, that brings us to the problem with the show.
Other than Hall vs.
Benoit, this was one of the worst wrestling shows I've seen in a very
long time. The wrestling ranged from too short to mean anything to
just flat out bad. However, it did have the best match Nitro has
offered in weeks which somehow makes this a better show. I hate to
say it, but this bad show is somehow an improvement.
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
I loved that Network episode of "WWE Countdown" where Sid's promos are among the "biggest blunders" bit. They note the "half the brain" line and more and Sid himself just shrugging it off with one guy nicely summing up "he had a great look, if he'd never talked, he'd have been great."
ReplyDeleteThe "Monday Night War" show really takes it to Russo with the "Pinata on a Pole" bout. Keep in mind, just as he was hired by WCW, he did an interview openly saying Mexican and masked wrestlers would never get over. "I'm not a racist but I'm an American, I don't give a shit about a Mexican guy or masked guy or Japanese guy, I care about the American guys." And people wonder why his run in this company was a disaster.
ReplyDeleteI like when Mene Gene says that we should cut Sid some slack. It's not like he's Dr. Sid or Professor Sid. Then Damion Sandow notes that when a man's first name is "Pyscho", you kinda know what you're gonna get.
ReplyDeleteI didn't care about them either at the time. I did love them trying to book Juvy as "The Juice" though.
ReplyDeleteMy least favourite period for wrestling. Like watching TV on fast-forward with two neckbeards either side of you shouting out the real names of the wrestlers every time you blink.
ReplyDeleteIt's worthless, but the one saving grace in the meeting between THE POWERS THAT BE and the Luchadors is Juvy's amazing facial expressions and "acting". I especially love how he gets defensive whenever his beloved pinata is mentioned.
ReplyDeleteYeah, because making hand over fist on mask merchandise is a stupid idea! Am I right?
ReplyDeleteThe wrestling world would have combusted on itself if there were ever a Dr. Sid persona.
ReplyDeleteGoddamn, there really will never be another one like Sid again. For better or worse.
ReplyDeleteThat new version of "Death of WCW" has these inserts of "Lesson not learned" on how WWE and TNA made the same mistakes as WCW. With Rey unmasking, they put in "Lesson not...no, wait, lesson actually learned," noting the massive millions WWE has made off the sale of Rey masks.
ReplyDelete"The fans loudly chant NORMAN, but I'm sure that's just because of the weapons and not the effort or comedic skills he's displaying right?" I don't even know at whom you're being sarcastic or about what.
ReplyDeleteI remember Norman being one of the most over acts on the roster around this time, but WCW refused to push him probably using that as an excuse. Much like WWE using the "yes" chants are over, Daniel Bryan is not in order not to push Bryan.
ReplyDeleteThat Boone vs. Karageis match sounds like a classic
ReplyDeleteI can understand WCW in 2000 being bad since they had a weak roster to work with, but blows my mind Russo couldn't produce a good show given the level of talents he had to work with in 99.
ReplyDeleteThis was around the point where I stopped watching WCW after years of following it and its predecessor territories (started watching Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling in 1976 and Georgia Championship Wrestling after we got cable in 1979).
ReplyDeleteNorman Smiley was awesome. That is all.
ReplyDeleteAlso Norman had the longest thighs in human history.
ReplyDeleteMocking Russo for thinking that it was all about weapons/shenanigans instead of the talent the wrestlers had.
ReplyDeleteMe too...as dumb as WCW was before, at least you had a chance to see >1 good match per show. Now with Crash TV and Sportz Entertainment in place, that chance was next to nil.
ReplyDeleteIt's like current WWE...at least you can still see a good match somewhere on Raw, SD, etc.
And fear not, he'll have a lot more work to do....the Rock imitation is coming!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI NEED this book!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHe's so psycho, he warped time in his own brain, such that he doesn't know if he's being taped or if "We're live, pal!"
ReplyDeleteThey did this a lot pre-Russo too...they used Standards and Practices (oops, another spoiler for the rest of 1999) as an excuse to stop Scott Steiner from giving edgy promos for a while, and I think even to keep Norman from doing the Big Wiggle. As in, the things that were getting them over.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'll know WWE has gotten as bad when they count sales for Daniel Bryan figures as ones for John Cena.
As nutty as Sid was/is, that incident was always way overblown to me. With all the pre-taped interviews they did, he screwed up one time on a single live TV show and it's some big problem? Yeah it looked bad but it's hardly the worst thing in the history of promos.
ReplyDeleteI personally loved the janitorial duties of hacksaw duggan.
ReplyDeleteyes! that character was fucking aawesome!
ReplyDeleteIf this was on the air today head to head with raw, which one would yaw watch most of the time?
ReplyDeleteHe was awesome. One of my favourite memories of around this time is when Norman had a Hardcore match against Terry Funk. Norman was nowhere to be found, so Funk is looking around backstage for him. He goes into the men's toilets and screams "Are you in here, Smiley?" And then Smiley replies by doing that terrified scream of his from inside one of the toilet stalls.
ReplyDelete