Since I host them on imgur they shouldn't die, or at least that's the impression I'm under. Your post frightened me; I thought I was going to go back and find a whole bunch of work significantly ****ed up.

Was going to mention something about the random Lex full fledged face turn that was mentioned on the 95 TLF that you went through in early 96 when he was a tweener. Seems you probably heard that though. I'm only 45ish minutes through it but it's been great so far especially Vince's reaction to Luger showing up on Nitro and Patterson instantly going to his clothes.

Yeah, I think we're probably at similar points in it. I've enjoyed it so far, even though I always want to defend Bob Caudle to them.

Picking up where I left off now and at 46 mins is that convo.

Vince: Patterson *small pause* did you tell him to invade? *pause* Is he invading?

Patterson: Uhhhh no, Vince.

So great.

Speaking of Luger, there was a long stretch of time right around where we are at, where he would get a match on every nitro and always go over. It was very strange because they wouldn't really highlight it on commentary, they would just come back from a commercial and it would be a Luger match against a JTTS. I don't even think he was getting PPV matches, just these Nitro wins every week. It was bizarre.

I'm not sure when he wasn't getting PPV matches. Main event at Uncensored, main event at GAB, main event at Bash at the Beach, #2 match at Hog Wild, main event at Fall Brawl, upper midcard against Arn at Havoc, now being discussed as a favorite for the WW3 battle royal. Only one he didn't have much of a role in was Slamboree, but even there he did wrestle in the curtain-jerker. Granted that a number of those matches were tag team or multi-way, but he was almost always in a primary match.

WWF SURVIVOR SERIES '96

New York, NY



Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and, despite the fact that he's wrestling tonight, Jerry Lawler comprise our announce team for the night. Almost immediately we hear the sounds of "Rule Britannia," as we get ready to kick things off with our tag team elimination match.

Elimination Match - Owen Hart, British Bulldog, & The New Rockers (w/ Clarence Mason) vs. Doug Furnas, Philip LaFon, & The Godwinns (w/ Hillbilly Jim): Furnas and LaFon are the first two to be making their WWF in-ring debut tonight, but not the last. Seeing the tag team division shift from Smoking Gunns vs. Godwinns to Owen & Davey vs. Furnas & LaFon was certainly a step up. LaFon starts things off against Marty Jannetty. A bit of chain wrestling to start until LaFon turns Jannetty inside out with a clothesline. Jannetty tags in Leif Cassidy. LaFon with a couple of leg strikes, but Cassidy leg-drags him and LaFon tags out to Phineas Godwinn. Cassidy and Phineas trade some basic, dull moves until Cassidy tags in Owen. The heels finally get in a groove, isolating Phineas in their corner and taking turns getting their shots in.

Phineas catches Jannetty going up top, crotches him, and goes to follow him up, but Marty knocks him off. Marty's flying elbow misses though, and Phineas is able to tag Henry Godwinn in. Henry hits the Slop Drop on Marty and eliminates him, but Owen Hart is quickly on the spot to level Henry with a spinning wheel kick to eliminate him as well. We're quickly at 3-on-3.



Phineas, agitated with the elimination of his brother, comes in and clears the ring. As Phineas goes to whip Owen off the ropes, Owen reaches back for a blind tag spot that Davey seems blissfully unaware of, so Phineas and Owen just sort of linger there until Davey wakes up and actually accepts the tag. Given how hard they were trying to force that tag spot to happen as planned, it's no surprise that it leads to an elimination, as the blind-tagged Davey comes in and picks Phineas up for his patented running powerslam. 1-2-3, and both Godwinns are gone.

The count is now 3-on-2 with all of the best five workers in the match still standing, and the Bulldog faces off with Doug Furnas. A rope-running sequence culminates in Furnas nearly connecting on a big standing dropkick, but Davey just barely ducks it and runs through, Furnas taking the brunt of the impact of his missed dropkick. I don't actually understand why the fall after missing a dropkick hurts so much more than the fall after connecting on a dropkick. Bulldog stomps away and then tags in Cassidy. Cassidy with a modified suplex, and he goes for a pin, but Furnas throws him off with authority, then gets up and hammers Leif with a hard sidewalk slam. Cassidy flails and keeps Furnas from tagging out, instead returning him to enemy territory. We get a better blind-tag sequence this time, as Owen tags in and then quickly goes to the top to drill an unaware Doug Furnas with a missile dropkick.



Furnas with a surprise small package for two, but Doug gets met with a hard clothesline on his way back to his feet. Fisherman suplex by Owen gets two. Bulldog in with a delayed suplex. Cassidy enters and connects on a gutbuster. He misses on a corner charge though, and Furnas tags out to LaFon. LaFon is quick on the spot to place Cassidy up top and then hit a great-looking reverse gourdbuster off the second rope to eliminate the second half of the New Rockers and square things at two apiece.



Bulldog enters to take LaFon on, but LaFon quickly knocks him down with a spinning heel kick. LaFon then stops short of a backdrop and kicks Bulldog in the face, then rolls through him for a pinning combo that gets two. Bulldog recovers and throws LaFon up, allowing him to fall from up high to the mat. Owen tags in, whips LaFon off the ropes, and does his belly-to-belly on the way back, though not quite as smoothly as Owen would often execute it that spot. Hart connects with an enziguri, but that doesn't get a three-count either. The champs hit a double clothesline on LaFon, then Davey hits a blatant low blow, kicking LaFon in the crotch. Referee Jack Doan only warns him for it, causing a correct temper tantrum by Doug Furnas.

Owen and Davey whip LaFon off the ropes, go for another double clothesline, but LaFon ducks, Furnas trips Owen when he gets to the ropes, and LaFon jumps on Davey's back in a crucifix and transitions into a sunset flip that gets the three-count and eliminates Bulldog. Bulldog angrily throws a chop block and takes out LaFon's leg before leaving. Owen is now in a handicap match, but he tries to capitalize on the damage that Bulldog did to LaFon on his way out. Owen slaps on the Sharpshooter. Furnas tries coming in for the save, which does cause Owen to break the hold. As he tries to resume the offense, he catches LaFon's kick, but LaFon spins into a reverse kick and tags Doug Furnas in.

Great standing dropkick by Furnas gets. Strong overhead belly-to-belly by Furnas gets an even closer near-fall. Finally a release German by Furnas finishes Owen off for the pinfall, and Furnas and LaFon have a successful debut. Strong opening match, with Owen and Davey putting the new guys over nicely. MSG wasn't really reacting much to Furnas and LaFon at the start of the match, but they were certainly into it by the end.



Result: Doug Furnas and Philip LaFon survive
Rating: ***1/2

Kevin Kelly is with Mankind and Paul Bearer in some random dark place in the arena. Bearer shrieks that he's not going in the cage in keeping with the stipulation of tonight's match. Mankind does the usual Mankind promo from there.

Bearer in a Cage - Mankind (w/ Paul Bearer) vs. The Undertaker: Mankind and Bearer enter first, then Undertaker gets lowered from the ceiling sporting a Batman cape. I can still distinctly remember this entrance just because it happened, then my friend got back from the bathroom and we told him what Taker's entrance was, and he earnestly asked, "So could you see a wire, or did he actually fly?" We spent the rest of high school making fun of him for that question. Taker is in new ring attire here, leather from head to toe and some weird black tear under his eye. Thumbs down for this attempt at a new look. Bearer does get in the cage just to escape Undertaker, Taker tries to get at him through the bars, but Mankind attacks him, the cage lifts off the mat with Bearer inside, and we're off. Beyond the fact that Bearer is suspended in a cage, the stipulation here is that Undertaker will get five minutes alone with him if he wins.

The two combatants fight outside the ring and then brawl back into it. Undertaker whips Mankind into one corner and then the next, before actually throwing a drop toehold, a move I don't know I've seen him use. Ross comments to the same effect. Taker stomps on Mankind's Mandible Claw hand, then continues to work it, ramming it into the guardrail and then the steep steps outside the ring. Bodyslam by Taker in the middle of the ring, but an elbow-drop misses. The fight spills back out to the floor, with Mankind actually going into the middle of the crowd and the two fighting among the fans until Undertaker backdrops Foley over the guardrail and back toward the ring area.



Mankind throws a somersault sentan from the apron to the floor. He whips the dead man into the corner, causing Taker to fall to his ass upon impact, and then Mankind sprints in and plants a knee in his face. Mankind's next corner whip results in Taker absorbing the blow and bouncing back out with a hard elbow. Undertaker now bites the Mandible Claw hand to continue that work from earlier, but Mankind is able to fight back with a great rendition of his seated piledriver. Undertaker blocks Mankind's claw attempt, then hits a big boot and tries to lift him into a tombstone, but Mankind applies the Claw on his way up. Undertaker is instinctively able to shake him off and toss him through the ropes to the floor.

As Mankind tries to pull Undertaker out of the ring, Taker extends his legs and kicks Mankind into the guardrail. He goes outside on his own terms, ramming Mankind's head into the steps and then his injured hand into the steps twice. Back to the inside, where Taker does his tightrope walk and the fistdrop from there. Swinging neckbreaker by Mankind. Really nobody maintaining control for more than 20 seconds at a time in this match. Mankind gets caught going up top, and Taker throws a series of uppercuts at him. Mankind knocks him off the ropes and tries to follow through on the originally-planned move, but instead jumps off into a choke. As Undertaker goes for a chokeslam, Mankind reacts by reaching back at Taker and clamping in the Mandible Claw. This one is really on, and Taker starts to fade to the mat.



Referee Mike Chioda drops Undertaker's arm twice, but to no surprise he fights back on the third attempt. He makes it back to his feet, and ends up executing the chokeslam after all, breaking the Mandible Claw in the process. Taker charges, but goes tumbling out over the top rope. Mankind again tries to somersault into him off the apron, but this time the dead man ducks and Foley is left to just hit the mat. They return to the inside, where Taker spends what strength he has for the moment on a back suplex.

Foley is actually first to start to get up, as he produces a foreign object from his tights. He hits Undertaker square in the face with it twice, and Mike Chioda really has to suspend disbelief to pretend not to see it. Mankind continues driving the object into Taker, actually climbing onto his back, but Undertaker quickly takes advantage of Mankind's position and transitions it into a Tombstone to give us a really abrupt ending to the match. Easily the weakest of their matches this year even though they certainly worked hard.



Result: The Undertaker via pinfall
Rating: **

Bearer gets lowered from the ceiling, and Undertaker is going to get his hands on him, but the Executioner shows up and attacks. Undertaker clears him out, but Bearer and his men are able to make a hasty escape. So the stipulation was just another thing that they were advertising without any intention of following through on it.

Sunny comes down to ringside. Usually Vince doesn't drool over her on commentary, but tonight he's in a different mood I guess, as he gives her a lecherous look and asks her to come sit down with him. Lawler seems to have left to go get ready for his match.



Backstage promo with Hunter Hearst-Helmsley, Goldust, Jerry Lawler, and Crush. Lawler says that Mark Henry is apparently faking an injury tonight instead of facing their team.

After the whole heel team and the first three members of the face team have entered for the next match, Marc Mero grabs the microphone from Howard Finkel and introduces Mark Henry's replacement: Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Every time he shows up I sigh at the fact that he's still hanging around. I loved Jake back in the day, but the 1996 run was just sad.

Elimination Match - Hunter Hearst-Helmsley, Crush, Jerry Lawler, and Goldust (w/ Marlena) vs. Marc Mero, The Stalker, Rocky Maivia, and Jake Roberts (w/ Sable): Noticeably, Mr. Perfect is not here. I'm guessing he's gone from the company now. Actually, after I type that, they start talking about how there are "rumors" surrounding HHH and Mr. Perfect, and Sunny suggests that HHH got tired of Mr. Perfect taking all the credit. So yeah, Perfect is gone. Mero backdrops and armdrags Goldust, and the two of them have a pretty boring exchange. Stalker tags in and throws a clothesline, HHH tags in but promptly tags back out when Mero returns to the ring. The tags continue - with no moves between, mind you - and Rocky Maivia enters for his first action. Lawler shoulderblocks Rocky, but Rocky quickly kips up and shows pretty good athleticism in an initial exchange that culminates in him knocking the King out over the top.



HHH comes in and hammers Rocky in the corner with stiff chops and kicks. These two would meet another time or two in their careers. H tags to Goldust, who hangs Rocky out to dry along the top rope. Crush takes his turn by entering and throwing a backbreaker. The heels continue to gang up, but Rocky fights back at Hunter, throwing a series of punches and then a backdrop that enables him to tag out. After that flurry of offense, Jim Ross actually calls him "The Rock." Didn't think that nickname was ever really coined until later. Jake Roberts takes the hot tag, hits all the heels, short clothesline on Helmsley, but Hunter fights his way out of a DDT attempt. Jake gets caught in the wrong corner and beaten down, at which point Lawler tags in to try to pick the bones. King gets planted by a DDT and ends up being the first one out.

This match is really not very good. Every time a new person tags in I go, "Ah, so this isn't a promising combo either." Goldust eliminates the Stalker with a Curtain Call, putting us back at 3-on-3. Goldust with a good-looking diving clothesline that floors Marc Mero a bit later. Hunter tags in and slaps a rest hold on Mero. Seriously, HHH vs. Mero is probably the best combo available in this match, and Helmsley is using it as an opportunity to rest. So that's nice. The heat segment on Mero is lengthy. Hunter dumps him out of the ring, then Jake comes in illegally to have a go at Hunter, causing enough of a distraction that Mero re-enters with his stupid 180 moonsault that connects with HHH and eliminates him.



Mero dropkicks Crush out of the ring, but tries to follow with a pescado and misses, landing hard on the floor. Back on the inside, the announcers are busy showing a replay of Mero's prior moves when he gets walloped with a heart punch by Crush and pinned. It takes a moment for the announcers to acknowledge it. Moments later, Crush hits Jake Roberts with a heart punch as well, and also pins him. Rocky is stuck in a 1-on-2 situation against Goldust and Crush, which is pretty ideal considering that the whole match is entirely a vehicle to put him over.

Goldust comes in illegally, and he and Crush double-team Maivia. Crush sets up for his third heart punch, but accidentally hits Goldust. Rocky quickly connects with a basic cross-body on Crush, which is enough to get a three-count on the unrelated basis that Crush just hit Goldust by accident. Maybe 20 seconds later, Rocky lifts Goldust up and executes a shoulderbreaker to score the pin and win as the sole survivor.



Result: Rocky Maivia wins as sole survivor
Rating: *1/2

Here's a Bret vs. Austin hype video. It's time for the real main event of the evening.

Solid backstage promos by both guys before their respective entrances.

Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin: Full match writeup here.



In short, possibly the match of the year. Absolutely tremendous storytelling, with both guys throwing the kitchen sink at each other and Bret ultimately only prevailing with the semi-lucky win, when he's caught in the Million Dollar Dream and puts up a boot to launch off the ropes and trap Austin underneath him for the pin. These guys really, really paid off the huge build they got.



Result: Bret Hart via pinfall
Rating: ****3/4

Austin, furious about the result, just glares a hole through Bret as he backs away from the ring and watches Bret celebrate. Bret does the victory lap around ringside, accepting congratulations from the fans and also getting an almost identical reaction from Vince as Shawn got after his Mankind match in September. Again here, Vince reaches out, shakes Bret's hand, and says, "Unbelievable."

Sid gives a promo assuring the world that he will leave here as the WWF Champion.

Back to the arena for the next match, and…Captain Lou Albano stumbles out to no music. He shakes Jim Ross's hand, offers Vince a handshake and then pulls his hand back, then joins the Spanish commentary team. WTF.

Even though it got mentioned on Raw that this was forthcoming, and I noted it at the time, I was caught off-guard by the next thing that came over the PA, and it was music to my ears. "WE ARE THE NATION, OF DOMINATION!"



PG-13 come out first with the classic Nation of Domination rap. Next is Clarence Mason, then the new and improved Faarooq. I liked this faction a lot; I think it was an inspired idea, and it ended up bearing a lot of fruit.

After the heels and then the first three faces enter, including the debuting Flash Funk, whose girls are dubbed "the Funkettes," not to be confused with Funkadactyls I guess, Howard Finkel takes center stage and says, "May I introduce to you, the mystery partner…" Then, over the loudspeaker, as I expected to hear Ahmed Johnson's music, I hear, "SUPA-SUPA-SUPAFLY." Wat. The MSG crowd reacts with absolute silence as Jimmy Snuka appears from the back. He was 53 here. What an incredibly random mystery partner.

Faarooq, Razor Ramon 2.0, Diesel 2.0, & Vader (w/ Jim Cornette & Clarence Mason) vs. Savio Vega, Yokozuna, Flash Funk, & Jimmy Snuka: Vader knocks Flash Funk over; Flash kips up and swivels his hips. Vader beats him into the corner and lays in those hard punches. He connects on a short clothesline, but his next clothesline misses, and Flash performs a spinning wheel kick that totally misses, but Vader sells it. Cross-body by Funk to carry both over the top. Nice moonsault from the top rope to the floor.



Back on the inside, Funk seems to go for a hurracanrana, but meets the far more logical result of a Vader powerbomb. Yokozuna comes in illegally and hits a front slam on Vader before referee Mike Chioda forces him out. Vader tags out to Faarooq, and we reset at Faarooq vs. Savio. Spinning wheel kick by Savio, but Faarooq is up quickly with an eye rake to get some separation, and he tags in Razor 2.0. After Savio mounts him in the corner and rains punches, Razor executes a fallaway slam and then tags in Diesel. Flash Funk re-enters to take him on, but Diesel puts him down with a hard clothesline. Diesel tries to follow with a press slam, Flash counters into a sunset flip attempt, but Diesel picks him up in a choke and drops him. Faarooq takes the tag, and after a minute he throws a strong damn spinebuster.



Vader comes in and knocks Funk to the mat, but Funk lands near his corner and tags Savio. Savio works to isolate Diesel in his own corner, and here comes the Superfly. The one thing you can say for Snuka at this age is that he already looked 70 years old back in the 80s, so there was only so much older he could look. Snuka hits a flying forearm and a dropkick on Vader, then actually bodyslams Vader. ****. Did not expect that slam attempt to work out. Razor tags in and Snuka goes running for cover. Vader pulls the top rope down from the apron and causes Savio to fall out to the floor. Faarooq, not the legal man, posts Savio before returning him inside. Diesel hits the Jackknife on Savio to eliminate him.

Snuka, who Vince mentions just got inducted into the Hall of Fame last night, slams Razor and heads up top. Superfly Splash puts away Razor. Diesel comes into the ring with a chair and wallops Snuka in plain view. A whole melee breaks out among all the remaining competitors. The whole match gets called off as a "double disqualification." Seems like you need more than "double" when there were six dudes left, but there we are. Show was perhaps running long, but it seems like you could still go home with a series of quick eliminations. Whatever. This wasn't totally without entertainment value, even if it was all a bit screwy.

Result: "Double" disqualification
Rating: **

Michaels/Sid hype video.

We get the full "follow the wrestlers as they walk toward gorilla" treatment for these championship match entrances. Used sparingly, that's such a great effect. That leaves me more than a bit surprised that they didn't overuse it, and in fact they seem to have forgotten it entirely now.



During the Shawn backstage walk to gorilla, there is noticeable amounts of booing in MSG. As an avowed HBK hater at the time because his 1996 babyface character was ten levels of insufferable, these MSG people were my people. They did like Sid more than I did, but oh well.

WWF Title - Shawn Michaels (c) (w/ Jose Lothario) vs. Sid: Sid throws some opening punches as Jim Ross damns him with faint praise. "He's not fancy, he's not technically skilled, but he is deadly when he is vertical." After a time of Sid just throwing punches, Michaels gets a running start, baseball slides through his legs, and executes a cross-body for an early two. Side headlock takeover by Michaels. Sid tries to headscissor Michaels on the mat, Michaels kips up, and as Sid returns to his feet Michaels slaps him twice. The two get into throwing punches, with Sid getting the better of things.



He goes for a press slam and seems to pause for nearly a full second like he's deciding whether he's truly comfortable with grabbing Michaels by the balls or not. Eventually he follows through and lifts him up, but Michaels gets free from way up high, lands on his feet, whips Sid into the ropes, but Sid stops short and positions for a powerbomb, causing Michaels to scurry to the outside. Upon re-entry, Michaels's attempt at a corner whip is reversed, but he gets a boot up in the face of a charging Sid, then clips the back of Sid's leg as Sid staggers away. The crowd boos loudly after that one, and "let's go Sid" chants start. Michaels wraps Sid up for a figure-four, and from a standing position, before laying back and locking in the hold, you can very clearly see him sneer and say "**** you" to the crowd.



After Sid is in the hold for a bit, he turns the move over and Shawn grabs for the rope break. Shawn keeps working that leg though, dropping down on it repeatedly. He goes for another figure-four, but Sid boots him off and causes him to ram shoulder-first into the post. Sid steadies himself on the ropes and kicks Michaels in the ribs. Jim Ross comments on how mixed the crowd is here. That's an awfully generous description for HBK purposes. Sid reverses a whip into the ropes, but Michaels hits him with a targeted dropkick to the bad knee of Sid, then slams the bad knee on the mat. The crowd is booing the hell out of almost anything Michaels does here, and he keeps getting visibly pissed at it. Sid clotheslines him over the top to the floor and gets raucous cheers.

Sid follows Michaels to the floor and whips him toward the ring, causing Michaels to take the back bump there. Then Sid presses Shawn and drops him along the guardrail. He rolls the champ back in, but is very slow to follow him in with a pin attempt, so it doesn't work. Backdrop by the big man. Sid continues with the punches and kicks, now having the match in pretty good control. He whips Michaels into the corner, Michaels does the flippy bump where he goes out over the corner, but he lands on the apron, and then when Sid approaches he reaches back and then drops down, hanging Sid across the top rope. He goes up top himself and attempts a cross-body, but Sid catches and converts it into a backbreaker. 1, 2, nope.

Shawn bumps hard in one corner and then the next for Sid. Right hands from the big man, but Michaels fights back with rights of his own, waking the crowd up. And when I say "waking them up," I mean that boos start to rain in again. Bodyslam by Shawn. He goes up to the second rope, then blatantly jumps into Sid's boot, pretending that he meant to throw an axhandle at a lying opponent. Sid locks in…something like the Million Dollar Dream? Weird. He doesn't know any other holds, but he knows that one? He nearly puts Michaels out, as Michaels fades to the mat and gets held down for two separate two-counts. Michaels gets back to his feet, Sid sets up a chokeslam, Michaels eye-gouges his way free, then goes for a superkick that Sid catches. One-armed chokeslam by Sid.



Sid goes for the powerbomb, but Michaels counters into a small package for a near-fall. Powerslam by Sid gets two. Flying forearm by Michaels. He nips up, but then Sid immediately obliterates him with a clothesline for another near-fall. Sid backs up as if to get a running start, then gets an idea and suddenly rips the camera away from a ringside cameraman. He brings the camera into the ring. Jose Lothario gets up on the apron, and Sid hammers him with the camera, knocking him to the floor. Sid turns back around into a superkick by Shawn. Shawn doesn't immediately follow with a pin, and instead sees that Lothario is clutching his chest down on the floor. Shawn goes and attends to him, and while he does, Sid goes out and grabs him, flinging him back into the ring.

Shawn gets whipped into the corner, jumps up on the second buckle, jumps backward into the ring with a cross-body, but catches the referee instead of Sid. During the ref bump, Shawn goes back to attend to Lothario again, and Sid cracks him in the back with the videocamera. Jim Ross speculates that Lothario might be having a heart attack as Sid dumps Michaels inside one more time. Powerbomb, cover, Earl Hebner slowly crawls over…1, 2, 3. Possibly the worst character in the company drops the World Title to the worst worker in the company. Pick your poison, I suppose.



Result: "…and NEW World Wrestling Federation Champion," Sid via pinfall
Rating: ***

Overall: Great show. Possible match of the year between Bret and Austin, strong opening match, strong main event. Even some of the stuff that wasn't that good, like the Rocky Maivia match, was at least something of a cool time capsule of Rocky before he was actually any good. I'm definitely going to stop thinking that his stuff for the rest of the "Rocky Maivia" character is anything but crap, but the debut is still probably worth something given that he ascended to all-time greatness. I also appreciate the introduction of the Nation of Domination. In general, this whole effort felt like what I've referenced after the past few recaps, that maybe WWF has begun to find its path and is officially on the comeback in a big way.

Tony on DDP rejecting the NWO because he was insulted he was number eight. "a bruised ego will get you nothing.". What? So Tony's encouraging DDP to defect from WCW?

Great five minute match with Rey and Ciclope. A perfect suicide dive by Rey, instead of being like Ambrose and Bryan just pushing the opponent away. That splat when Rey hit the floor from the sunsetflip powerbomb on the floor was also pretty sick. This match actually got ***1/2 from Meltzer and I'd be hardpressed to disagree. Juvi vs. Miguel got ***1/4. Omg that ****ing thud. Concussion city. Juvi up in 14 seconds for the next spot.

Good battle for the bottom for the most hilariously bad face build between Rocky and Roddy. Roddy was already a household name at this point and established as a star from multiple past endeavors, but I give him extra negative points because he probably came up with most of this stuff himself. This is why we can't have unscripted promos and wrestler freedom today.

Lol, I was curious to see your reaction after the Raw writeup, didn't want to spoil it for you.

I'm actually kind of stunned at how much I've forgotten, though getting caught off-guard by stuff does make it more fun.

Thats the first time ive seen that bret/austin match. Was awesome

I just went back and rewatched it, even better than I remembered. One of the things I'd forgotten was how JR was just on fire doing colour beside Vince, no one could've done a better job putting this match over than he did.

The thing that surprises me the most is how much support austin had with the crowd at this time. I know WM was the turn, but I didn't know he was already getting support this far out - esp vs bret. I mean I know it was still a pro-Bret crowd, but Austin still got support as well.

A crowd that openly crapped on Shawn Michaels to a surprising extent isn't going to unanimously boo Steve Austin. Smark crowds weren't such a common thing then, but this was the 1996 version of one.

I'm actually watching it again. I miss good announcing. JR was the GOAT. I miss long term storylines. They are already starting talking about how neither had ever submit. I wonder why Austin could never quite recapture the heel stuff this well down the line. I suppose once you reach a certain point of popularity there's just nothing you can really do? Watching Austin be so great technically is awesome too for someone that started in the AE when he was more of a brawler.

This is so good, and again thanks for doing this so I get introduced to these matches.

got MSG going nuts to trading punches <3

and the "cover, kickout, frustrated cover attempt again 2-3 times" sequence is one I really like

I thought Austin did tremendous heel work in his later run. I don't know that I put its failure on him from a performance standpoint much at all. The fact that it was his idea to turn means that he made a bad business decision, but he played it to the hilt IMO. I mean, I enjoyed his heel run myself, but at the same time I'm totally unsurprised and unsympathetic about how hard it failed. It wasn't the right time, if there was ever going to be a right time again.

One thing I just wanted to highlight again from the Bret-Austin match:

I almost wonder if the bolded gets lost in the greatness of the sequence. Him climbing the ropes and wailing really aggressively in the middle of this was fantastic.

Just once I would like to see the second or third cover in a row actually get a pinfall. I think the confusion of everyone when it happened would be great entertainment

great writeup as usual LKJ

i always mention this on here but that was one of my favorite ppvs of all time. im obviously biased because i was there but even on rewatch it's awesome to see this super underrated bret/austin match, debut of rock, and shawn losing all on one card. this crowd was also phenomenal, especially for the time period when it was less common for there to be 'smart' fans filling up the stadiums (even msg).

November 18, 1996

RAW

New Haven, CT

We cold open on the glass breaking, and a good chunk of the crowd clearly pops for Steve Austin. The advertised match for tonight was Stone Cold vs. Vader, but they say that Vader is out tonight due to a shoulder injury, and they show the replay of Yokozuna carelessly slamming him down on his shoulder last night. I'll buy it as a legit injury. Instead of Vader, Austin will be facing…Mankind. I'll allow it.

Steve Austin vs. Mankind (w/ Paul Bearer): Halfway to the ring, Austin starts jawing with a fan who has a pro-Hitman sign, and Mankind runs out and blindsides him in the aisle. The brawl is on, as the two throw fists right away. They brawl on the floor as officials desperately try to get control so that we can actually start the match.



Despite the officials' intervention, the brawling continues, with Austin taking a hard stair bump. Finally they get into the ring, at least for a moment, and referee Earl Hebner seizes the moment and signals for the opening bell. They spill back outside, but upon returning, Stone Cold levels Mankind with a running clothesline. Mankind goes to try to get a chair, but Austin kicks him in the gut before he can swing it, then Hebner gets the chair away. Mankind takes a whip into the guardrail, hits hard, and hurtles over it. This continues back and forth, as Mankind temporarily locks on a Mandible Claw, but Austin just delivers a blatant kick to the balls to break it up.



After a commercial break, Austin jumps off the middle rope but gets punched in the gut on the way down. Mankind strangles him with his boot near the apron, then drops a leg on his throat on the apron. Heads out to the floor and drops Stone Cold on the guardrail. Austin, relentless, comes back in fighting, but his attempt to suplex Mankind to the floor fails, and Mankind suplexes him inside instead. As Mankind throws a swinging neckbreaker, Vince McMahon advertises Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart for next week.

Austin goes for a sleeper, but Mankind backs him into the corner to forcibly break it. Probably best to lay off the sleepers for a while, Steve. Austin runs himself into a clothesline as he tries to charge on out of the corner. Mankind for the sit-out piledriver, Austin blocks, Mankind hangs him along the top rope instead. Mankind tries to go up top, but Austin beats the **** out of him on the ropes and then forcibly brings him down into the ring. Action is non-stop here, and nobody has held an advantage for more than 30 seconds at a time.

Outside the ring, Mankind smashes Austin into the stairs. Austin picks up Mankind a few seconds later and drops him on the guardrail. We're back inside now, Austin dropping the elbow off the second rope for a two-count. Austin hammers at Mankind a moment longer, and…we have the lame run-in. Here's the Executioner attacking Austin for the blatant DQ.



Result: Steve Austin via DQ

The Undertaker runs down for the save, clearing out both Mankind and the Executioner. Austin clotheslines Taker out over the top, but Taker lands on his feet and heads back in after him. Austin bails and heads for the back. Meh at all of that as a closing sequence to a good match.

Ahmed Johnson is shown heading to a seat in the crowd.

Here's Sunny, taking the mic and introducing her good friend, the leader of the Nation of Domination, Faarooq. Faarooq comes to the ring wielding a 2x4. Happily, he refrains from saying "HOOOOOOOO!"

Faarooq (w/ Clarence Mason and PG-13) vs. Savio Vega: Savio dodges an early corner charge and throws an armdrag and a dropkick. Corner mount, 10-punch, and it's Savio's show early as he monkey-flips Faarooq. Sunny sits in on commentary, thus diverting the attention from Faarooq to her even though she doesn't have any particular role in the company right now aside from photoshoots. Faarooq blocks a leapfrog and plants Savio with a spinebuster.

Savio chops away at Faarooq, but gets grabbed and smashed into the turnbuckle. Faarooq throws a back suplex that folds Vega over as the show goes to break. Back from commercial, the Nation leader has a camel clutch on, then jumps on Savio's back repeatedly. On about the fourth go, Savio flips over and gets his knees up, crotching Faarooq pretty hard. Vince doesn't seem to actually be paying attention, since he marvels at "what Faarooq just did to Savio." Faarooq does return the favor a moment later when he gets his knees up on a Vega splash attempt.



Savio crotches Faarooq on the top rope, sets up for a superplex, and Faarooq tries to counter, causing them to both slip off the ropes all the way to the floor. That didn't seem like the design. Sunny shrieks as they fall. Both men are okay though, quickly getting back inside. Savio connects on a spinning wheel kick, but on his follow-up Faarooq ducks him and causes him to spill out of the ring. Faarooq runs distraction, PG-13 hits Savio with the 2x4 and returns him inside, and Faarooq makes the winning cover.

Result: Faarooq via pinfall

Ahmed charges in after the match and clears the ring, with the Nation scattering to whatever safe ground they can find. Ahmed picks up a mic and says a few threatening things, then starts chanting, "YOU GOING DOWN. YOU GOING DOWN. YOU GOING DOWN." Despite the fact that this isn't 2016, the crowd was excited to pick up this chant. Ahmed goes chasing after Faarooq as we head to break.

As Jim Ross prepares to interview Sid, Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler discuss what happened in the Sid vs. Shawn Michaels match from last night. Vince says that it's doubtful that Shawn is here tonight, because he went home to attend to Jose Lothario as Lothario recovers from his run-in with Sid the night before. Vince proceeds to give a monologue propping Michaels up, saying (paraphrase), "Not everybody likes him. Yes, he dances, yes, he's kind of a ladies man … but given that he had compassion and went to attend to Lothario after his superkick last night, in my book he's a man's man." Vince was probably agitated by MSG crapping on Shawn so hard last night.

Leif Cassidy & Bob Holly vs. Doug Furnas & Philip LaFon: Incidentally, I don't get why WWF didn't give Furnas and LaFon a team name. It probably didn't help their cause to go without one. Also their entrance music was incredibly generic and dull, which definitely doesn't help. Captain Lou Albano is out and on Spanish commentary again for some reason. LaFon hits a spinning back kick that sends Cassidy spilling to the outside. Holly helps his partner into the ring just so that he can tag in. PIP promo with Owen Hart, Davey Boy, and Clarence Mason from backstage.



LaFon with sort of a spinning heel kick on Cassidy, but Cassidy comes back with a clothesline and tags out as Raw goes to break. LaFon is still stuck fighting out of the opposite corner upon the show's return, and he gets hit by a Bob Holly dropkick. Holly misses on an elbow, LaFon makes the hot tag to Furnas, Furnas with his signature dropkick for a two-count. Hurracanrana to follow, and Cassidy has to make the save. Cassidy gets tagged in and quickly clobbered for his trouble. Furnas tags LaFon, Cassidy with a German suplex for a near-fall. I'm just realizing that it's a little weird that babyface Bob Holly and heel Leif Cassidy are tagging up here, with neither one seeming like they're even temporarily in a different affiliation. Great t-bone suplex by LaFon ends the match.



Result: Doug Furnas & Philip LaFon via pinfall

Backstage, Jim Ross is talking to Sid in preparation for their upcoming interview. Sid arrogantly pulls Ross's pocket square out of his jacket and shines his new WWF Title belt with it. That doesn't exactly match Sid's current character, but I still liked it.



Interview time in the ring now after the last commercial. Ross asks Sid if he has any remorse about his actions last night. Sid says no, that he has great respect for Jose Lothario but he put his ass on the apron and thus put himself in the game. Sid says he would be happy to give Shawn a rematch, and he'll beat him again. JR mentions Sid's upcoming match with Bret Hart and asks if Sid will be a fighting champion. Sid says yes, of course. WTF else is he going to say? He follows by turning his attention to Bret, and starts botching the hell out of the promo, stuttering several times and then addressing him as "Bretman … Hitman." He does his "I am the master and ruler of the world" bit, pyro goes off, and roll credits.



Overall: Good enough show IMO. Strong Austin vs. Mankind opener, the rest was inoffensive and semi-watchable.

NITRO

Florence, SC



The show cold opens on the above scene, with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash having seemingly laid out High Voltage and the Nasty Boys with steel chairs. We hear nothing from Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko until Nash heads to their table and picks up a mic. "Nice to see you dressed up this week, Larry." I have to say, as annoyed as I get with Kevin Nash most of the time, I would like for this trend of him taking shots at Zbyszko to continue. Zbyszko is the absolute worst at commentary and doesn't take nearly enough crap. Nash continues, clearly referencing Tony corpsing at his shot at Larry last week, and says, "I don't see you laughing this week!" He goes down the obvious Taxi Driver route, "Were you laughing AT me? Am I a clown to you?" He did love his blatantly obvious pop culture references.

Hall and Nash bully Tony for a bit longer before moving on. Hall starts talking **** about the Faces of Fear. Hall: "I've been hearing my whole career how scary the Faces of Fear are. They say, everybody says, that Meng and the Barbarian are the two toughest guys in the business." That's probably a shoot. Hall challenges "those two islanders" to come down so that they can "smack the coconut breath out of them." Nobody emerges, so Hall says that he knows they're here, and they'll go find the Faces of Fear themselves.



The Faces of Fear actually jump the Outsiders when the Outsiders make it to the back. The two teams brawl through the exit of the arena as the show goes to break.

After commercial, Tony and Larry recap what happened before the show, saying there was a dark match between High Voltage and "uhh, some Mexican wrestlers" (I can see that Ciclope was one of them) when the Nasty Boys came in and attacked, then the Outsiders came and cleared everyone out. Tony is all bent out of shape at Larry for not interceding on his behalf when the Outsiders got in his face. Says "I'm not a wrestler, you're a wrestler." Larry isn't having it, just saying, "Look, you're okay, and I'm not Clint Eastwood." Tony tells Larry that he can handle the broadcast, throws down his headset, and leaves Larry to call the show by himself. Mother of God. He gets mad at Larry, so he punishes the viewing audience.

La Parka vs. Juventud Guerrera: Oh FFS, at least get Mike Tenay out here. We can't have Larry attempting to call THIS match alone. This is La Parka's Nitro debut. Spinning back kick by Juventud. Parka blocks a whip attempt, the two trade places where they chop each other down and each kips back up each time. Enter Mike Tenay. Thank God. Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker by La Parka gets two. Juvi backdrops him to the apron, but La Parka pulls him outside with sort of a headscissor, then follows with a suicide dive. Impressive-looking from a bigger man.



Back inside, Parka sets Guerrera on the top rope, chopping him hard before climbing up, but Juventud fights back, crotches La Parka across the top, and Juvi jumps into a smooth hurracanrana that gets two. Nice spot. Back elbow and a springboard moonsault by Guerrera. He goes back into the springboard, but jumps into a La Parka dropkick and again has to fend off a two-count. La Parka dropkicks him to the outside, goes up top, big plancha off the top to the floor.



They re-enter, and Parka plants Juventud with a strong powerbomb. Two again. Parka slaps on an upside-down surfboard, but lets go of Juvi's hands, enabling Juvi to get loose and drop down on him for a surprise pin attempt. Missile dropkick by Guerrera gets two. Parka reverses an Irish whip, but takes a hell of a shoulder bump against the ringpost when Juventud dodges a corner charge. 10 turnbuckle smashes by Juventud, pointless pin attempt, then he sets his larger opponent up on the top rope and connects on a super hurracanrana. La Parka kicks out again. Targeted dropkick by Guerrera as La Parka was seated. Two. These guys are getting a lot of time to showcase.

La Parka catches Juventud on his shoulders, but as he goes to follow with a move, Juventud escapes behind and rams him into the corner. He jumps on La Parka's shoulders, but botches a hurracanrana pretty badly, thankfully only getting a two-count afterward. Bodyslam by La Parka, who comes up empty on an ensuing cannonball off the top. A couple more botches later, the two wrestlers are losing the string a little bit. Float-over DDT by Juvi gets another near-fall. La Parka sets him up top, but Juventud counters into a tornado DDT…oh, again only two. Looked like a worthy ending.

Guerrera sets La Parka up on the ropes once more, goes for a hurracanrana, falls off, crowd reacts like "OMG you botched AGAIN?" but I think it was intentional, and sure enough, La Parka is quickly on the spot with a jumping 180 and then a corkscrew moonsault off the top for the win. Strangely, a somewhat shorter match may have served these guys better, but hindsight is 20/20. Still a good match, and a strong debut for La Parka.



Result: La Parka via pinfall

Here's a video package putting over Ultimo Dragon, talking about the fact that he holds every other cruiserweight title in the world and just wants to win the WCW Cruiserweight Title so that he can have all of them. I assumed they meant he would gun for the title at World War 3 this Sunday, but…it's happening right now.

Cruiserweight Title - Dean Malenko (c) vs. Ultimo Dragon (w/ Sonny Onoo): PIP promo by Rey Mysterio Jr. to start the match, saying he wants a shot at taking his title back from Dean Malenko. Crowd breaks into a "USA" chant early on here. Ultimo grapevines Malenko's left leg, then works it over a bit. The two run the ropes, Dragon trips Dean, then continues the offense with a series of kicks. He whips the champ into the corner and follows him in with the handspring elbow. Malenko returns the favor with a corner whip and a hard clothesline. Move-countermove sequence results in Malenko holding onto a cradle for two, Dragon reverses into his own pinning combo for two, dragon suplex gets another two.



Malenko holds onto the ropes after an Irish whip, causing the Dragon to come up empty on a dropkick. Dragon still manages to hit a wheel kick a moment later. Fight spills outside, where Ultimo whips Dean into the guardrail. Frenetic pace for this one. Dragon rolls Dean back in and then climbs up top with the apparent intention of moonsaulting back into the ring. Dean climbs the ropes before Dragon can do a move, Dragon back-elbows him off, but the moonsault misses. Malenko cinches in the Texas Cloverleaf, but Sonny Onoo gets up on the apron, causing Dean to relinquish the hold. Dean goes after Sonny, Ultimo tries to charge at Dean, Dean backdrops him over the top to the floor, and Randy Anderson calls for a DQ. A week before a PPV where both are featured in singles matches, I would be fine with this ending if that rule wasn't so lame in general. Still, a good match with both guys going at full speed and executing well.

Result: Ultimo Dragon via DQ

Clips from last week's Amazing French Canadians vs. Harlem Heat match, where Sister Sherri had to be held back from ripping Col. Parker's head off. Those two teams will face off at World War 3, apparently with the stipulation that a Heat win would result in Sherri getting five minutes in the ring with Col. Parker.

Amazing French Canadians (w/ Col. Parker) vs. American Males: Marcus Bagwell comes out toting an American flag for this match. Series of double-team moves by the Males early, clearing the ring and leaving the Canadians to go regroup. After the reset, Riggs monkey-flips Rougeau, then stops short of Rougeau's subsequent monkey-flip attempt and clocks Rougeau in the face. We get more American Males dissension as Bagwell enters the ring and promptly collides with Riggs, then blames Riggs for it. The Canadians isolate Riggs from there. They put him down, then they set up for a double-team where Jacques was going to slam Ouellet down on top of Scotty. Scotty was missing his spot and still sitting up, hilariously leading to Jacques just saying "**** it" and throwing Ouellet onto Scotty's back anyway.



Ouellet with a hard running clothesline on Riggs to follow. Double stun gun by the Canadians. They continue to take liberties in double-teaming, but Ouellet accidentally clocks Rougeau, allowing Riggs to make the hot tag to Bagwell. Dropkick, backdrop, double noggin-knocker by Bagwell. Riggs tries to rejoin the action, accidentally knocks Rougeau into Bagwell, putting Bagwell out effectively enough that Rougeau makes the pin. I can't say I love these angles where teams just suddenly start accidentally hitting each other in every single match for weeks until a split finally happens.

Result: Amazing French Canadians via pinfall

The Males bicker after the match, but it doesn't come to anything. Commercial.

Hugh Morrus vs. Lex Luger: As this match kicks off, we're treated to a PIP promo from Arn Anderson, who talks about the shot he has to get back at Luger in Baltimore this Saturday night. So yeah, again with this Baltimore show, which I guess is just a house show supercard of some sort. If it was televised, I don't remember it, and definitely don't think it's on the WWE Network. Luger suplexes Morrus, whips him and hip-tosses him, and throws a shoulderblock. As you can imagine, these weekly Luger enhancement matches didn't have a ton of variety in them.

Mike Tenay calls Luger one of the favorites to win the WW3 battle royal on Sunday. By the way, he and Zbyszko had this odd exchange earlier that I didn't write about, where Tenay brought up Bobby Heenan's pure troll prediction of Malenko winning that battle royal, then Tenay and Zbyszko treated it as a serious prediction and discussed it for a minute. I guess those two do come off as the type to have zero awareness of sarcasm, Tenay because he's a robot and Larry because he's incredibly ****ing stupid.

Luger dodges a top-rope splash, slaps on the Torture Rack, and…weirdness ensues, where for some reason he drops the hold after a couple of seconds, and referee Randy Anderson says that Morrus submitted. Luger is unaware of the ending for a moment, and is signaling like he's going to put the hold on again for some reason. Then he realizes the bell has rung, and he starts arguing with Anderson about whether or not Morrus actually submitted. This was bizarre; the announcers try to just ignore the whole thing, so I really don't think it was meant to be a controversial ending. As I watch it back, it looks like he didn't have the hold on very well and wanted to give it a second shot to do it better, but also Morrus was totally submitting, so Randy Anderson did nothing wrong.



Result: Lex Luger via submission

As Mean Gene joins Lex for an interview, Sting emerges from the crowd, wielding a baseball bat. Sting sticks the head of the bat in Luger's chest, shoves him back, then hands him the bat and walks off.



Gene asks Luger what he makes of it, but Luger is still confused about how he won his match earlier, so he definitely has nothing to offer about that Sting weirdness. He shakes his head and walks off.

After commercial, Eric Bischoff and Bobby Heenan have taken over on commentary for hour #2. Bischoff says that there are rumors of Roddy Piper being here, but he couldn't confirm them. He does know that Hulk Hogan is here. As he says that, the nWo music hits, and Hulk Hogan, Ted DiBiase, Vincent, and Miss Elizabeth emerge from the back and head toward the announce table. Heenan bails. Hogan gets in Bischoff's face and demands that Bischoff call Hogan a bigger icon than Piper. Bischoff reluctantly says it. Hogan demands that Bischoff say that Piper is scared to death of Hogan. Bischoff offers more resistance, but says it. Hogan also makes him say that Hulk is 100x richer than Piper. Once Bischoff caves to all of that, the nWo leaves.



Here's Gene Okerlund with Diamond Dallas Page. Page says that since Hall and Nash returned to WCW, he did his thing and let them do theirs. Hall and Nash emerge from the shadows to interrupt, along with The Giant and Syxx. The nWo guys talk nonsensically until Nash quotes Stanley Kubrick and says that "something very beautiful" will happen tonight. DDP says that he's a man who stands alone.

Bobby Eaton vs. Jeff Jarrett: Bischoff says that Jarrett is back despite taking a "severe beating" from Sting last week. A "severe beating" being one reverse DDT in the ring. This match is really short, with Eaton getting a bit of token offense in the first minute, but Jarrett very quickly utilizing the figure-four to get the win. Ric Flair comes out to ringside during the figure-four to a big crowd pop, and again cheers Jarrett on.

Result: Jeff Jarrett via submission

Gene joins Jarrett and Flair. Gene asks Jarrett about Sting attacking him last week, with Gene calling it "the biggest shock he's ever seen in his life." Schiavone may have left, but his ghost is still haunting the broadcast. After Jarrett says nothing of any interest while Sting watches on from the rafters, Ric Flair addresses the other Horsemen and says, "Double A, Steve McMichael, and Chris Benoit, listen to the lead Horseman: Jeff Jarrett's in, because the Nature Boy says so." To whatever extent that Jarrett's membership in the Horsemen even counts as actually having happened, the faction became way less interesting the second that he joined.



Big Bubba (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. Jim Powers: Man, this show seems to have lost some momentum after a very good first hour. Powers executes a slow-motion cross-body on Bubba for a two-count, but Bubba gets up and hits a slow-motion uppercut to reverse the match momentum. Bubba drops a leg on Powers along the ropes, then does the baseball slide to the floor and the uppercut from there. Enziguri by Bubba, series of punches on the mat, and a reverse chinlock. Bobby Heenan takes a moment to reiterate his prediction of Dean Malenko winning the battle royal this Sunday. Just like last week, Bischoff just ignores him. Bubba catches Powers in his signature sidewalk slam and records the clean pin.



Result: Big Bubba via pinfall

After commercial, as the Horseman music plays, Eric Bischoff all but acknowledges that we all just sat through a Big Bubba match by saying, "Alright, welcome back, we are live, and this should be a matchup to satisfy even the most ardent wrestling critic." Happily, that means we're about to see another Benoit/Guerrero match.

Chris Benoit (w/ Woman) vs. Eddie Guerrero: Eddie enters second and beelines for Benoit, shoving him before the bell. Lightning-quick mat exchange culminates in a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker by Eddie. He follows with a hard chop, Benoit reverses a whip, monkey-flips Eddie, Eddie lands on his feet, Benoit counters his charge and actually temporarily gets the Crippler Crossface on, but Eddie is in the ropes almost instantly. Kevin Sullivan PIP promo. Get this guy off the ****ing screen during a Benoit-Eddie match. European uppercut by Eddie, then another stiff chop. Whip, drop-down, and a jumping back elbow by Eddie, who follows by going to the apron and executing his slingshot splash.

Benoit reverses a corner whip, and Eddie takes the corner sternum-first. Back suplex by the Crippler. He slaps Eddie and yells at him, then picks him up and armdrags him. Benoit with an interesting combo hold, sort of a headlock and an armbar at the same time. Release northern lights suplex by Benoit, who quickly resumes the arm-work with a modified hammerlock. Benoit releases his hold and gets up and drops an elbow with incredible quickness. Abdominal stretch. Hey, I like the abdominal stretch, but let's get moving again here. Benoit goes for the big powerbomb, but elevates Eddie too high, and Eddie escapes into a sunset flip that gets a near-fall. Match goes to commercial. Armdrag by Benoit, who holds Eddie down by both hands in a couple of pin attempts. As he keeps holding the fingerlock, Eddie leans back, springs up, and impressively, in one fluid motion pulls off a great headscissor spot, albeit of limited effect to Benoit, who leapfrogs Eddie and then kicks him in the gut to resume control.



Press slam by Benoit. Two-count. Benoit hangs Eddie stomach-first along the top rope. Eddie blocks a turnbuckle smash and smashes Benoit, but Benoit blocks the follow-up and quickly follows with a superplex. Benoit holds the back of his own head in pain, unable to quickly follow the superplex with a pin. Eventually makes a cover, but no dice. Eddie pulls out another headscissor move that carries both men out over the top. Slugfest on the floor, Eddie actually getting the advantage from it, but Woman steps in the way and provides enough of a distraction to allow Benoit to get a cheap shot in. Both men back in simultaneously, surprise small package by Eddie for a near-fall.

Guerrero with a side suplex. He signals for the frog splash and climbs to the top. Benoit rolls out, Eddie adjusts and somersaults upon landing, charges Benoit, successfully executes a hurracanrana, but Benoit rolls through and holds Eddie down for a pin. Nice finish, and a good match.



Result: Chris Benoit via pinfall

After a break, Eric Bischoff is in the ring to make a statement. He apologizes for what Hulk Hogan made him do earlier. He vows that he's going to keep doing what it takes to get Roddy Piper to sign for a match with Hogan. He says that he's been trying, but it's been tough. Suddenly the sound of bagpipes fills the arena, and Piper emerges in the entryway. Bischoff reacts nervously as Piper heads to the ring. Big reception from this crowd for Roddy. Piper picks up a mic. "I have come here to tell some truth. I have never heard so many lies in my entire life, other than when I was saying them." He goes off on some tangent about his love for North Carolina or something, but eventually gets refocused. He points directly at Bischoff and says, "You're a liar."



"I've come here to talk about jerks and liars." He tries to interrogate Bischoff with questions about his alleged trip to come see him in Portland, with Bischoff reacting really uncomfortably to each question. Piper grabs Bischoff by the collar, plainly says "you piece of ****" without getting censored, but as he says it The Giant runs in and grabs him from behind. A number of other nWo members converge and hold Piper, and the alliance that has been hinted at is made official, as Hogan hugs Bischoff, who hands him a microphone.



Hogan: "Now that everybody realizes who everybody's working for…I mean, my God, this guy here was the foundation of the WCW. Now he works for the nWo." He proceeds to taunt Piper, continuing to call him a coward. He says that it's time to teach Piper some respect, but some local cops step in and break it up and get in the middle. The cops and some WCW officials hold the ring, and hold Piper, while the nWo evacuates. Piper picks up a mic and accepts the standing challenge as Nitro goes off the air.

I always regarded Bischoff as kind of a strange turn, but to their credit you could see breadcrumbs of this turn for a solid couple of months in advance, so I don't think it was a sudden decision. Bischoff being nWo also does a lot to explain why the nWo is able to get away with as much as they're able to, which is probably the best part of having turned him.

Overall: Really strong episode. Lots of good wrestling, interesting story advancement, and they found a way to not end on a ****ing Hogan posedown.

---

Ratings for 11/18/96: Nitro 3.2, Raw 2.4
Ratings Running Score: Nitro 38-17-2

Better Show: Raw was good. Nitro was just better. There haven't been enough of these weeks where both companies put forward a worthy effort, but I hope there's a lot more of them going forward given that WWF really does seem to have turned a corner by now.
Better Show Running Score: Nitro 45-12

Match of the Night: Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Benoit, with a solid runner-up nod to La Parka vs. Juventud Guerrera.

foleys book briefly mentions this match as one where both he and austin decided to tear into each other because both were pretty pissed off about the amount of money marc mero was making compared to them given their recent efforts compared to meros. which i find pretty funny. too bad eddie and benoit had to wrestle to take match of the night.

raw is slowly but surely getting better and better, while this was a strong nitro ep. sure, the nwo now has 5940 members, but the cruiserweights are crushing + this turn made a lot of sense (both to explain how they get away with things like you said, but also to goad piper into a match a bit).

This is exactly what I was referencing when I said that wrestlers are just pushing people backwards nowadays (I didn't realize it was done back in 96 as well). That one that Rey hit on Ciclope should be studied by people wanting to do this over and over again until they don't look awful.

Yeah, I thought of your description of that when I saw that spot. It does fit, but I still enjoyed the spot, I think primarily because it was La Parka's first flying spot of his first Nitro match. The plancha off the top that followed was his best. His flying stuff invariably looks cooler just because of how big he is.