He is only in like the 1st inning of the monday night wars though.

What you are citing as a problem didn't really become a problem until their angles got stale and WWE stepped their game up.

In the 80s WCW/NWA had much better in ring workers in the main event than WWF and WWF won the 80s wrestling war anyway. The company with the better booking at the main event level won both wrestling wars.

^ It's pretty much this. My assumption is that WWF ends up closing the gap in my personal quality rankings to a similar extent as they end up doing in the actual TV ratings.

Most of the 39-7 count at this point is non-nWo stuff, and also most of it is before WCW's amazing cruiserweight scene came together (that's basically just happening at this point in the thread). Up and down the card, WCW was doing a lot more compelling stuff, not just in the ring but also in their storylines.

I'm sure I won't still be beating the drum for WCW as I get further into the thread, because my recollection (backed by the turn in business) is that WWF became the way better product. But if WWF hadn't adjusted, things were going to get dark.

Thanks for the words pB.

RAW CHAMPIONSHIP FRIDAY

Wheeling, WV

Incidentally, the name "Raw Championship Friday" is a much better title for a special episode than "Thursday Raw Thursday," which is coming up in 1997.

We open on a video package hyping up tonight's WWF Title match between Shawn Michaels and Goldust.

Kevin Kelly and Jim Ross are our announce team for the evening.

Intercontinental Title Tournament First Round - Hunter Hearst-Helmsley vs. Sid: The crowd is bonkers for Sid as usual. Before this kicks off, they show clips of an angle that has been starting on weekends, where Mr. Perfect has been coming out and stealing away the women that accompany HHH to the ring. Sid executes some basic power offense. Jim Ross: "Well, nothing too fancy from Psycho Sid. He's not going to redefine the fireman's carry. He's just going to beat you with intensity and with power." I always loved JR's way of conveying to the audience that someone was a ****ty worker. Sid drops his head too soon on an apparent backdrop attempt, and HHH stops short and throws a swinging neckbreaker.

Helmsley executes a couple of knee drops, and gets a two-count. Gets up and punches Sid, but Sid starts no-selling, punches back, and throws a sloppy one-handed chokeslam. Mr. Perfect saunters out to ringside. Sid powerbombs HHH and goes over decisively.



Result: Sid via pinfall

Perfect heads over and convinces HHH's valet to leave with him.



We get another update on Ahmed Johnson. Vince was clearly very high on Ahmed, since even during an injured period he wouldn't stop putting him over.

As Stone Cold Steve Austin heads to the ring for the next match, Jim Ross says, "Right here tonight, I am going to break the biggest story of my broadcasting career. Certainly the biggest story of the year in the WWF." Oh boy. If you don't yet know what he's referring to, the correct reaction isn't excitement; it's abject horror.

Brian Pillman comes to ringside and joins on commentary for the next match. He says that he has big news about Bret Hart's return to the WWF. Pillman talks about how he originally trained and broke into wrestling after working in the Hart Family Dungeon in Calgary. Says he has a close personal tie to Bret. Pillman promises that, at Mind Games, he'll have Bret Hart there to answer all the questions the audience might have.

Intercontinental Title Tournament First Round - Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Marc Mero (w/ Sable): Austin and Mero trade pinning combos, Mero unsuccessfully attempts another roll-up but is undeterred and follows with a dropkick. Austin takes a breather. Upon return, Mero and Austin continue with some technically-sound but not terribly interesting back and forth. Mero gets a near-fall on a backslide, and Raw goes to commercial.

Stun gun by Austin after the break. Two. Mero with a corner whip and a clothesline to follow. Corner mount, repeated punches, Austin is able to drop down and escape but he's still on his heels as Mero continues the attack. Backdrop. Top rope axhandle. Running knee gets two. As Mero attempts to re-enter with a shoulderblock, Austin blatantly shoves referee Mike Chioda into the way of the Mero's shoulder instead. Chioda calls for the bell. Austin hits a Stunner, but the match is over. Howard Finkel announces that Mero is the winner by DQ. These Mero vs. Austin bouts just weren't that great. I know that other people review them more favorably than I do, but I really don't need to see these guys wrestle again.



Result: Marc Mero via DQ

Austin and Mero keep brawling after the bell until a gaggle of officials comes out to separate them. Hopefully that wasn't to set up another match. At least it was clear here in the booking that they were protecting Austin while also eliminating him from the tournament.

We hear the patriotic sounds of John Philip Sousa as Mark Henry comes to the ring for an interview with Jerry Lawler. Lawler: "He represented the United States of America in the Olympics. Before we get started here, speaking of the Olympics, I want to ask you something: you know I wrestled Jake "The Snake" Roberts at SummerSlam. And you know what Jake the Snake at SummerSlam had in common with the Olympics? They both got bombed!" Good grief. Mark Henry says he doesn't like Lawler very much. Lawler says he wants to challenge him to a wrestling match. Henry is ready to throw down right there. Lawler says, "I'm not challenging you to a street fight. You didn't join the World Streetfighting Federation. You joined the World WRESTLING Federation." Lawler would be fired for that kind of insolence today. Henry says that he just signed with the company and hasn't really trained to be a wrestler yet. Lawler calls him a coward. Henry angrily grabs him by the collar and accepts the challenge. Pretty effective segment IMO. Henry was fairly natural at most of this (admittedly basic) mic work.



Mankind (w/ Paul Bearer) vs. Alex "The Pug" Porteau: Porteau gets a jobber entrance. I wish he would have gotten a full entrance since he had overtaken that wonderful WWF Steiners theme. Jim Ross, getting back to his "biggest announcement ever" from earlier, uses this jobber match to state that he has very reliable sources telling him that Diesel and Razor Ramon are on their way back to the World Wrestling Federation. Let's just ignore that he ever said that. Actually, a better Easter egg from this match comes next, as Ross says, "You know, Alex Porteau is a great young amateur athlete, but certainly pales in comparison to a young man we met yesterday at the WWF offices, Olympic gold medal winner Kurt Angle from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was in Stamford, Connecticut yesterday meeting with World Wrestling Federation officials." JR's "big scoop" paled in comparison to his casual throw-away comment later in the same short segment. Mankind goes over with a Mandible Claw.



Result: Mankind via submission

We see footage from a Special Olympics event from this past weekend, where Sid attempted to win tug-of-war against an elephant. He lost, of course. They continued adding teammates for Sid until he won. From the same live show later that night, Rowdy Roddy Piper made a surprise appearance that they show footage of. That might have been the last time Piper appeared on WWF TV until after the Monday Night Wars.

Back to the regular show, Mr. Bob Backlund is in the ring, promising to bring back the man who is "going to win the WWWF (sic) Champion (sic) in the near future." Backlund says that he also wants to introduce the man who will train this person…The Iron Sheik. Jim Ross: "I thought The Iron Sheik was in a home somewhere!" He notes the history between the two men, of Sheik beating Backlund for the WWF Title back in the early 80s. Sheik rambles incoherently. Ross: "This segment should have been closed captioned." The segment just sort of cuts off into commercial as Sheik continues rambling.



As Goldust makes his entrance, we get a PIP promo from Undertaker, threatening Goldust. ****. There's still at least one more Taker vs. Goldust match. Shoot me in the face. Kevin Kelly says it's being called a "Final Curtain match" at the next PPV, so at least that's pretty definitive blow-off language.



WWF Title - Shawn Michaels (c) (w/ Jose Lothario) vs. Goldust (w/ Marlena): At the start of the match, they show that Michaels is on the cover of the newest Playgirl magazine. Michaels attempts to start quickly with an axhandle off the top, but gets slugged on the way down. He reverses a corner whip though, and follows with a corner whip, a series of punches, he flips backward and throws a hip-toss as Goldust charges at him. Still, Goldust does his baseball slide into an uppercut from his back, then follows with a hard clothesline that HBK sells violently.



Goldust hangs Michaels throat-first along the top rope. Corner whip sends Michaels clipping to the floor. Jim Ross compares Michaels to Emmitt Smith. My first thought is, "What, he's decidedly unspectacular and just amasses volume stats? That doesn't seem right." But Ross explains his comparison by saying that they both play hurt. Goldust takes the fight outside and drops Michaels along the steel guardrail. Ross says that he's being informed that Mankind is somewhere watching this match, and hasn't left the arena. How does it add value to a match to announce something like that? Basically you're announcing a run-in? Goldust suplexes the champ back inside and gets a two-count. Commercial.

Goldust seems to have kept control throughout the break, and he drives a knee into Shawn's gut. We get footage from backstage of Mankind saying he has a surprise for Michaels. Jim Ross doubles down on his earlier words about Razor Ramon and Diesel returning to the WWF. Man, **** off. This from the company that mocked "Scheme Gene." Michaels and Goldust clothesline each other simultaneously. Both slowly answer the 10-count. Michaels ducks a clothesline and hits a flying clothesline of his own. Kip-up. Bodyslam. Heads to the top, cross-body from there, Goldust rolls through, and we get a semi-believable near-fall…and then suddenly we're transitioned into a promo for the upcoming PPV. I guess they went to commercial basically in the middle of an effective near-fall. The promo for Michaels vs. Mankind was actually pretty cool, even if horribly-placed from a timing standpoint.

Back to the match, Michaels hits a top rope elbow, and then he goes to the corner to tune up the band. Marlena gets up on the apron and distracts Michaels. Goldust takes advantage, slamming Shawn into the corner and then setting up for a Curtain Call. Picks him up overhead, Michaels escapes behind, runs to the opposite corner, pump-fakes on a cross-body from the second rope, then heads up one rung to the top rope. Moonsault from the top, 1-2-3. Pretty good match, especially by 1996 Goldust standards.



Result: Shawn Michaels via pinfall

Mankind hits the ring and revives Goldust, the two are going to attack Michaels simultaneously but Michaels slips out of the ring to safety as Mankind, Goldust, and now Paul Bearer stare him down from the ring as the show signs off.

Overall: It was alright. Liked the main event, the other stuff wasn't great but also wasn't painful. The start of the "Razor and Diesel are coming back" angle was the real low point. I'm not usually in the business of spoiling stuff before it actually happens in the chronology of my writeups, but Kevin Nash and Scott Hall were not leaving WCW.

Next writeup will get us back into Raw/Nitro competing on Monday nights again.

By the way, I always imagine a feeling of letdown from almost everyone who reads the thread when they see a writeup and then realize that it's WWF-only.

Don't worry; I most certainly feel the same way.

The bolded part is what I actually wanted to point out. Of course the NWO angle is working without having a main event caliber guy with world class in ring talent in the fraction, but it would be way more sustainable, if they had someone (in this hypothesis HBK) that is able to work world class matches, when it`s about time to get into the ring.

The NWO is cool and badass, but they just can`t deliver in the ring, which may could be one of the reasons for drying out the angle rather soon. It was red hot in 1996, but it got watered down so much with the other NWO stables, too many guys in the fraction and bad booking all over the place. My argument was that having HBK in there (working till the end of 1998 or something) could have been a major game changer (long term) because they could build the entire angle around his in ring qualities and hide Hogan (&Nash) as much as possible.

.. The initial angle would not be much different, if HBK came over instead of Hall or Nash. But the 2nd wave and 3rd wave of NWO booking would have been much easier. Splitting the group into two different groups and having HBK vs Hogan is very easy in that scenario and the entire angle might have been much more sustainable.

Thanks for the responses. It wasn`t a real criticism when I remarked that Nitro is in a super commanding lead, I just wanted to show that it`s somewhat weird that the WWF outperforms the WCW match quality wise in the main event, but just can`t beat Nitro. If Nitro had good matches in the main event they would have it all ..

Style over substance .. in the WCW main event, imo.

Until I go back through it, I can't really speak nearly as well to where the primary blame for WCW's downfall goes. But ****ty main events do frequently do better business than great technical main events, so it's hard for me to imagine that match quality at the top was a big culprit in the downfall.

It's a little bit difficult for me to imagine a little guy like Shawn Michaels being in Scott Hall's or especially Kevin Nash's place in this angle. I really think the impact was greater because they had two big monsters kick things off. Michaels could bring all of the douchey personality to the table that Kevin Nash could, but he simply couldn't be the physically intimidating force that Nash was.

In 94-95 WCW actually had a backstage struggle largely between Hogan and Flair that was related to this. Flair was the booker for a time, and his philosophy was that wrestlers should go for great matches as we would usually define them with star ratings. He likes to say on his podcast "If you tear the house down, nobody remembers whether you win or lose".

Hogan obviously had different views on whether winning or losing mattered given his politics. He and his buddies thought characters drew and workrate mattered very little, and wanted to go with the type of booking used on him in the 80s (when he was still face).

Flair basically believed in substance, Hogan in style as proB is defining it.

Really neither one of them were exactly right, both because each of the views have an element of truth, and because what really drew big in the 90s ended up being these anti-authority angles with a new kind of larger than life character more than anything.

September 9, 1996

RAW

Wheeling, WV

We get a video montage to open, then head to the ring for some action. It's Kevin Kelly on play-by-play again tonight, with Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler on color. Beyond this first match tonight, we're going to see the debut of Barry Windham, The Stalker. We're also going to hear from Shawn Michaels and Jose Lothario, and see The Undertaker take on Salvatore Sincere.



Intercontinental Title Tournament First Round - Faarooq (w/ Sunny) vs. Savio Vega: Faarooq and Savio get in each other's faces right away, Savio acting angry as Jim Ross notes that Savio and Ahmed are great friends. Faarooq gets pushed out of a standing side headlock and throws a shoulderblock. He catches Savio in an attempted cross-body and just flings him aside. Savio tries firing back, punching Faarooq into the corner, and then getting his boots up after Faarooq reverses an Irish whip and charges in after him. Spinning heel kick by Savio. Tries to follow a moment later with a Thesz press, but Faarooq counters into a spinebuster.

After a commercial break, Faarooq has cinched in a reverse chinlock that Savio eventually manages to escape. Vega with a sunset flip, Faarooq stops and punches downward, gets nothing but mat, and Vega hits a spinning wheel kick. Two-count. Faarooq is up faster than Savio after that sequence, kicking and headbutting him and then going back to the reverse chinlock. Faarooq with a corner whip, empty corner charge, deep armdrag by Savio. Faarooq grabs him by the belt and drags him face-first into the bottom turnbuckle. Ross: "Savio may be a little bit quicker than Faarooq, and if he is, Savio should use it right here or he's gonna end up looking like Tupac Shakur before this one's all over with." Lawler: "Tupac Shakur? He's got more shots lately than Jake Roberts at happy hour!" Err, really? I checked the timeline. Two nights before this, Tupac had been shot in an incident that proved to be fatal. He didn't die until four days later, but that's still a facepalm-worthy sequence by JR and the King.

Small package by Savio gets two. Faarooq back on offense quickly, again getting up first and kicking Savio in the gut. Goes for a second rope headbutt, but Vega rolls out of the way. Both slow to get up, but this time Savio gets his feet faster, and connects hard on a front kick. Tries to follow with a backdrop, but drops his head too early and gets kicked in the face and set back down on the mat for his trouble. A minute later Savio again drops his head too early on a backdrop attempt, and Faarooq hits a headbutt and the Dominator to score the pin and advance in the tournament. This wasn't a terrible match, but it was pretty slow-moving and fairly boring.



Result: Faarooq via pinfall

We are shown the tournament bracket, where we have a final four of Owen Hart, Marc Mero, Sid, and Faarooq.

Sid, who will be Faarooq's next tourney opponent, comes down to the ring and gets in Faarooq's face. Officials pour in to keep the two men apart for now.

We see pre-taped messages from various wrestlers - Savio Vega, Bob Backlund, Sid, Steve Austin, Mark Henry, Clarence Mason, Goldust and Marlena, Jerry Lawler, the Godwinns, and Owen Hart - delivering messages to Ahmed Johnson. Some "get well soon," some mocking…you can guess which ones did which.

We get that same Mankind vs. Shawn video package that they showed on Raw Championship Friday. As eerie music plays underneath, the voice-over guy says, "Behold, the face of fear, the mind of madness," as clips of Mankind are shown. "Behold the horror that may soon be champion." Video turns to a concerned Shawn Michaels. Voice-over guy continues, "Pray that this man can stop the insanity. … Pray for him if he doesn't." Mankind creepily says "have a nice day" as the promo ends. Pretty effective little build piece for the upcoming PPV main event.



Carlos Cabrera introduces Shawn Michaels and Jose Lothario for an interview. Can't say I remembered Cabrera ever getting any sort of feature time on the main show like this aside from being shown at the Spanish announce table. He asks Michaels if he's ready for Mankind. First Shawn says that he wants to address Camp Cornette. He says he has dismantled the whole group aside from Jim Cornette himself. He continues that since he doesn't hit women, he's going to have Jose Lothario go after Cornette. Lothario threatens Cornette, first in broken English and then in Spanish. Shawn turns the promo to Mankind and tells him, "Mankind, do not hunt what you cannot kill."

TL Hopper vs. The Stalker: The Stalker is Barry Windham in a camouflage tanktop and camouflage face paint. There's nothing much more to it. This had zero chance of getting over. Kevin Kelly brings us a PIP interview with Brian Pillman, who is with Owen Hart backstage. Pillman thanks Owen and his family for helping him get the big scoop of an interview with Bret Hart. Owen says no, he should thank Pillman, because without Pillman he and his brother would not have gotten back together. Yes, he repeats, Owen and Bret are finally back together again. Owen continues on, saying that Bret is going to make an announcement that will shock the WWF.



Back to the match, Jim Ross says that he doesn't believe what Owen just said. Lawler brings up Jim Ross's scoop about Razor Ramon and Diesel coming back to the company. Ross says that he is publicly apologizing for announcing that scoop too early, saying that he has caused a snag in the negotiations, but follows by saying that he still stands by his story. All of this peripheral stuff has distracted entirely from The Stalker's debut match, not that it matters too much. Stalker does mount Hopper up on the top rope, connects on a superplex, and gets the three-count.

Result: The Stalker via pinfall

More footage of Mr. Perfect stealing valets from Hunter Hearst-Helmsley, including an additional instance this past weekend.

We get a replay of most of the Jerry Lawler/Mark Henry segment from Friday night, setting up Lawler vs. Henry for the upcoming PPV.

Freddy Joe Floyd vs. Crush (w/ Clarence Mason): This rendition of Crush was just the least interesting thing imaginable. Clarence Mason joins the commentary table for the match as Crush executes a press slam. Crush throws a legdrop and then pulls Floyd up after a two-count. Floyd hits a surprise cross-body, but on two Crush does the powerful kickout where he throws his opponent off. Front kick by Crush. Heart punch, pin, 1-2-3.



Result: Crush via pinfall

Now we get a replay of the Backlund/Sheik segment from this past Friday. Seriously?

As Salvatore Sincere enters for the next match, Jim Ross says that he'll be talking about the Razor/Diesel thing during the match.

The Undertaker vs. Salvatore Sincere: Salvatore Sincere's gimmick is that he was an insincere person who called himself sincere. Also he was Italian. These midcard gimmicks seem like they were all invented in about two minutes each. Taker comes out angrily, not wearing an overcoat or hat or anything, and he just immediately stalks into the ring and throws a hard punch to get things going. He controls most of the early offense, but misses on an elbow drop attempt, and Sincere temporarily takes over, punching and kicking and shoulder-blocking the dead man. Whips Taker into the corner; Taker takes the Hart chest-first bump, then staggers back into a clothesline by Sincere.

Russian legsweep by Sincere, transitions neatly into a cover for two. Standard PIP promo by Goldust, which probably provides as much action as the first five minutes of his upcoming match with Undertaker will. Lawler tries to prompt JR to discuss Diesel and Razor. After commercial, JR says that he stands by his sources in this story, and that there were negotiations this past weekend and that negotiations at least with Diesel are ongoing. Powerslam by Sincere leaves Taker laid out, but we get the sit-up and the babyface comeback. Flying clothesline, chokeslam, tombstone, pinfall.



Result: Undertaker via pinfall

Kevin Kelly says that we'll get our two semifinal IC Title Tournament matches next week on Raw, and as Undertaker celebrates in the ring we go off the air.

Overall: Utterly pointless. Unless you want to count the commentary angle of Jim Ross talking up the returns of Razor and Diesel, the only part of this show that mattered at all was the tournament match between Faarooq and Savio, and that wasn't very entertaining. I guess there was the Pillman/Owen stuff too, but still, this episode could have been pre-empted and you would lose almost nothing from WWF canon.

NITRO

Columbus, GA

Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko welcome us to the show with a recap of The Giant turning on WCW and joining the nWo on last week's show. Larry quickly works "New World Odor" into the equation. Both agree that nWo is now at the advantage. Tony mentions that we still don't know who the nWo's fourth is for War Games, because Giant already has a singles match at Fall Brawl against Randy Savage.

Pat Tanaka vs. Super Calo: Hey, it looks like they let Pat Tanaka take his El Gato mask off. So when it comes to Super Calo, all I remember is that he was botchy as hell. I can't even remember any of his specific botches, but for 20 years I've had him tucked away deep in my memory bank as "sloppy as hell…fought Rey Mysterio at Fall Brawl…I don't remember anything else." Tanaka with a corner whip, Calo leaps to the top and jumps back with a cross-body. Up top again, and a shoulderblock off the top. Running clothesline. Tanaka tries to take a rest, but Calo follows him to the floor with a somersault plancha that 80% misses. They show outside the arena that kids in nWo shirts have boxes, maybe to hand shirts out or something.



Calo reverses an Irish whip, drops down as Tanaka runs past, jumps up for a hurracanrana but gets countered into a beauty of a powerbomb by Tanaka. Tanaka sets him up on the top rope, follows, applies a waistlock, seems like he's going for maybe a tombstone or something from the ropes, but Calo sort of falls on top, and that gets the three. I had to go back and rewatch the last spot to even see what particularly happened. That match did not dispel my memories of what Calo's work was like, and frankly it's not great booking to have Calo win in such a fluky way to help set up a cruiserweight title match when this was his first exposure on Nitro, but it was a pretty entertaining match anyway.

Result: Super Calo via pinfall

Tony says "Let's go to Mean Gene…in the locker room area!" I breathed a sigh of relief after the second part. After the first part I was horrified that we were going to see Juventud Part 2. Gene is with Rick Steiner. Gene brings up last week's DQ in the Steiners vs. Sting/Luger match. Rick insistently says, "I had him, Gene!" Bear in mind, that lock-up that led into the very minor ref bump for the DQ was literally the first contact of the match. But apparently those two are going to face off later. Luger enters the area, Rick tells him he can beat him, Lex just calmly gives a reaction akin to "LOL no," and Rick looks flummoxed as Lex walks off.



After a commercial, Tony welcomes us back and tells us, "You know, yesterday on WCW Pro wrestling on TBS, one of the most eagerly-anticipated debuts ever, the debut of Glacier, Larry." ARE YOU ****ING KIDDING ME??? Over four months of twice-weekly promos of his impending debut, and they finally debut him on their C-show. They show footage from his entrance on WCW Pro, but not his match. I am absolutely gobsmacked.



The Amazing French Canadians vs. The Nasty Boys: AFC are WWF's Quebecers, Jacques Rougeau and Carl Ouellet. Jacques grabs a mic before the match and announces that they're going to sing the national anthem. He and Carl start singing O Canada to pretty big heat, but the Nasty Boys interrupt and attack. During a ref distraction a minute or two in, Jacques hits Jerry Sags with his Canadian flagpole. Sags goes outside, the Canadians look like they hit Ouellet's cannonball over the top to the floor, but instead of watching that move we get Larry Zbyszko trying to chase off those nWo kids handing out signs near ringside.



Ouellet hits the double-team cannonball off the top rope. And a second time. That was their finisher in the WWF, but Brian Knobbs makes the save here. During the ensuing chaos, Knobbs grabs the Canadians' Quebec flag, clobbers Ouellet with it, and Sags makes the pin. The Canadians looked good here. Not too bad of a match, despite the lame finish.

Result: The Nasty Boys via pinfall

Okerlund joins the winners in the ring. He recalls last week, when the Nasties ambushed Harlem Heat in mid-interview last week. Sags slowly makes his way through a terrible promo. Knobbs says that they don't care about the nWo, they're in the WCW and they're coming for the Heat's belts on Sunday.

Hold vs. Hold - Scott Norton vs. Sgt. Craig Pittman (w/ Teddy Long): I don't know if that match description means that this is a regular submission match or what. Hip-toss by Pittman. Jumping shoulderblock to follow. Norton fights right back, executing an armbreaker. Fight spills outside, Pittman flings Norton into the guardrail, Norton kicks Pittman and posts him. Back in the ring, Norton applies his armbreaker, Pittman refuses to give up, Ice Train comes out and says something to Teddy Long that leaves Long saying "what do you mean??", and Train throws a white towel in to end the match. No idea how Ice Train has the authority to submit on Craig Pittman's behalf.



Result: Scott Norton via submission

Train and Norton stare down and exchange some words after the match, Norton leaves, Pittman is mad that the towel got thrown in, but it doesn't come to anything.

Mean Gene is with Lex Luger, Ric Flair, and Arn Anderson backstage. Flair asks where Sting is. Luger doesn't know where he is. Flair is agitated about it. Mongo McMichael enters the shot and yells about how "the rats are already jumping off the ship." Gene lets Chris Benoit talk as well for some reason. Lex gives the sane response: "He's just not here for an interview. He'll be there at War Games."



Arn Anderson: "Let me tell you about my mindset. Forget about the fact that he's not here for the interview. I've called ahead to Winston-Salem to get myself a hospital room, because I figure I just might need it. I EXPECT to get hurt at War Games! So does he, so should you, should Sting." The bit about reserving a hospital room is pretty great. Arn turns his attention to the enemy: "Hogan, you took a baseball bat to me! But I was right up in your face the very next week, so apparently I've got more guts than you've got talent. You tried to put my eyes out with paint. YOU SHOULD HAVE USED BATTERY ACID! That's what I would have done! You lit this fire, now it's gonna burn you all to the ground!" Tremendous stuff from a legendary talker.

We see highlights from DDP's post-match beatdown of Eddie Guerrero at Clash of the Champions, and Chavo Guerrero's attempted (but failed) save. We also see Chavo pinning DDP three weeks ago on Nitro.

Joe Gomez vs. Juventud Guerrera: The announcers say that Juventud is challenging Konnan this Sunday for the Mexican Championship. I don't even know what that is; AAA belt, I suppose. Gomez with a shoulderblock. Juventud with a dropkick. Springboard flip kick by Guerrera to follow, knocking Gomez outside. Gomez tries to re-enter and runs into a low dropkick through the ropes. Juventud attempts to hurracanrana Gomez back into the ring from the apron, but botches. Back elbow by Gomez, who climbs to the top rope before Juvi catches him and tries to climb up to do a move. Gomez shoves him off, jumps off the ropes, Guerrera performs a dropkick on his flying opponent, but just barely connects. Even Tony doesn't pretend that the move connected well. Juventud with a springboard corkscrew splash (or whatever it's supposed to be called) for the 1-2-3. Match was pretty sloppy and actually draws some boos from the crowd.



Result: Juventud Guerrera via pinfall

Mean Gene joins Nick Patrick for an interview, asking him about the disqualification of Lex Luger last week. Patrick says that Luger deliberately struck him. Gene says it was clearly incidental. Patrick wonders why Luger hasn't been suspended for chasing him out of the building last week. Gene: "You know, if you take a look at it, I think they used it in a court trial last year…the preponderance of the evidence is clear. Nick Patrick, you have been involved in way too many controversial decisions for this to just be considered coincidental." Patrick keeps defending himself, and actually threatens to sue Gene if he doesn't knock it off. It's funny; Gene actually seems to get rattled by that as Patrick walks off. They're doing these Nick Patrick interviews too much.



We see footage of the parking lot, where the nWo is putting nWo signs on people's windshields, and Ted DiBiase is talking to some mystery person in the limo.

Rick Steiner vs. Lex Luger: Handshake to start the match. Some basic holds and power stuff back and forth between the two for several minutes until we reach the second hour of the show and get the mid-match commentary change. Luger with a running forearm for two. The two trade punches, and Rick throws a nice overhead belly-to-belly suplex that gets a two-count.



Bischoff says that you hate to see this physical of a match for Lex Luger this close to War Games. That's clearly true, and in the context of this WCW vs. nWo thing (as opposed to regular wrestling booking), it's really nonsensical to have anyone from Team WCW wrestling on this show when the nWo is just chilling. If WCW corporate really wanted to repel this outside group, it just doesn't make sense in kayfabe to book this. Steiner with a clothesline for two. Steiner with a corner whip, Luger bounces out of the corner with a big-time clothesline that turns Rick inside out.



As Luger looks to be capitalizing and maybe heading for a win, Nick Patrick comes running out and yelling for Luger to come attend to something backstage. Luger goes running toward the back, Rick Steiner sticks around and takes the countout victory. Match had picked up pretty well until the non-finish.

Result: Rick Steiner via countout

We get a camera up close on Ted DiBiase outside, and we clearly hear Sting's voice yelling from inside the limo as DiBiase slams the door. Luger gets out there, accuses DiBiase of being with Sting, DiBiase denies, and then someone emerges from the other side of the limo.



Bischoff: "NO! NO! NO!"
Heenan: "Oh we're in bad trouble now."
Bischoff: "STING HAS TURNED!"

Bischoff comments that the crowd has no idea what has just happened here tonight. Luger flings the limo chauffeur aside, and the nWo has scattered, so Luger can't catch up with any of them. The WCW announce team is less than pleased.



To be fair, I wouldn't be too thrilled about my eyes not functioning correctly either. That would have been a fine rendition of someone wearing a Sting costume for Halloween, but in terms of it truly looking like him, it sure shouldn't have fooled most of the viewing population. Bischoff is upset and sends it to a video package of last week, showing The Giant turning on WCW. Feels like a weird thing to show right after that Sting segment just now, though I guess at the same time it feels authentic to what the company had ready in the can and what they would just have to go ahead with if the whole thing was a shoot. This package includes footage not seen last week, when the Faces of Fear and Kevin Sullivan helped Randy Savage to the back after taking the beatdown from the nWo.

Out in the back, Scott Norton, Lex Luger, Rick Steiner, Brian Knobbs, and I think the Amazing French Canadians rifle through another black limo and find some spray-paint, but the nWo seems to be gone for the night. The announcers are in full Owen voice, but they have to move on with the action.

Cruiserweight Title - Rey Mysterio Jr. (c) vs. Billy Kidman: Early on, Kidman goes for a powerbomb and Rey hurracanranas him over the top to the floor. They get stuck in a weird situation where the camera outside is stuck on a really close angle, so we miss a couple of spots. As the action goes back into the ring, Rey goes for a springboard move, but Kidman dropkicks him coming in. Top rope splash by Kidman gets two. Moments later, a springboard somersault splash by Mysterio gets the three-count. These guys were doing great, but unfortunately the match felt like it was only about 90 seconds long.



Result: Rey Mysterio Jr. via pinfall

The Faces of Fear (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. Public Enemy: The two teams start right into some of the same aimless garbage brawling that every Public Enemy match turns into. It doesn't feel like much of a loss when they cut to backstage in mid-match, where Gene Okerlund is standing by with the Four Horsemen and Lex Luger. Arn says that he's sick and in shock. He asks Luger for answers. Luger says he doesn't have any answers. He says he's leaving now because he knows where Sting lives, where he works out, and he'll be able to find him. Flair and Arn finish off an intense promo, and we get returned to the match.

Meng drops Rocco Rock with a knee to the midsection. Corner whip, but a corner charge misses. Both men tag out. Johnny Grunge tries to knock both Barbarian's and Meng's heads together, which has no effect, but Rocco double bulldogs the two of them. The match continues sloppily as the announcers mostly just keep talking about Sting and the nWo. Rocco gets set on a table outside, Barbarian goes all the way to the top, jumps for the table to put Rocco through it and goes through it hard when Rocco moves out of the way. While this match has otherwise been worthless, that was pretty great.



Back inside the ring, PE sets Meng on another table, Rocco to the top rope, and he connects with a moonsault to put Meng through it. Barbarian makes his way back in, Meng is back up as well, and he drives the Asiatic spike into Rocco to gain the submission win. That was…a weird, abrupt ending. Meng went from being put through a table to clearly overpowering his opponent for the win seemingly within the same minute.

Result: Faces of Fear via submission

The Dungeon of Doom gathers in the ring after the match. Including…Konnan? I don't know when he joined the Dungeon, if he did. Jimmy Hart threatens The Giant. Big Bubba calls out Glacier again. Konnan and then Kevin Sullivan close out the segment.

Paid nWo announcement. Ted DiBiase is in for this one. No Giant yet.

John Tenta vs. Randy Savage: Tenta throws a dropkick at Savage. Savage goes outside, picks up a steel chair, clearly hits Tenta with it several times as Randy Anderson watches him (and really makes no pretense that he's somehow not seeing this), and…somehow that's not a DQ. Makes me want to watch the beginning of that Rude-Warrior match from 1989 with Jesse shouting, "WHERE THE HELL IS THE REFEREE? … Oh, so you can shoot someone outside the ring?" In any case, Tenta gets rolled back in, Savage hits the flying elbow, gets back up, hits a second elbow, and Teddy Long suddenly appears at ringside, begging Savage to come with him backstage. Guess that means another countout.



Result: John Tenta via countout

Savage gets to the back as a limo peels out. The Horsemen join him out there. There's again a second limo, they find some spray paint, they try spray-painting WCW on the limo, but it's raining out and doesn't really work. Really, that was our payoff?

The announce team starts to talk about what WCW is up against this coming Sunday at Fall Brawl, but they're interrupted by Arn Anderson. The Horsemen join around as Arn cuts another promo on Hogan and the nWo. Flair picks up a headset and does likewise. The Horsemen exit stage left.



Bischoff laments ever bringing Hogan to WCW, says maybe he hasn't given the Horsemen their due, but that they'll get their chance this Sunday. With that, he signs off.

Overall: Pretty good, I suppose. The Sting stuff just felt silly to me, that nobody questioned whether that was really him or not, but whatever. The wrestling was pretty decent overall, and we were left with quite a bit of intrigue for Sunday since we don't really know who is even on the four-on-four teams for War Games.

---

Ratings for 9/9/96: Nitro 3.7, Raw 2.4
Ratings Running Score: Nitro 28-17-2

Better Show: Call me old-fashioned, but to me "pretty good, pretty intriguging" beats "boring and totally pointless" most of the time. Clearly Nitro, not even remotely close.
Better Show Running Score: Nitro 40-7

Match of the Night: This is kind of an odd choice to try to make, as Nitro had a plethora of matches that I liked, but that all had issues that make them weird candidates for match of the night, like Kidman vs. Rey not getting enough time or like the matches ending in non-finishes. I'll just go with my gut and barely give Lex Luger vs. Rick Steiner the nod over the Pat Tanaka/Super Calo match.

WCW FALL BRAWL '96

Winston-Salem, NC



PPV starts on a video montage that gives us a quick video history of the nWo angle, from the original Scott Hall promo up until this point.

Tony Schiavone, Dusty Rhodes, and Bobby Heenan reprise their usual role as the PPV announce team. After a bit of hype, we head to the ring for our opener.

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.: Chavo ducks a clothesline and knocks DDP into the ropes with a dropkick, then knocks him to the floor with another dropkick and follows with a somersault pescado over the top to the floor. He did that exact sequence against Page a few weeks ago. Guerrero stomps repeatedly at Page, then sends him toward the steel steps. Chavo leaves the shot, gets a leather belt, and whips Page with it. Rolls him inside and then hits a slingshot splash into the ring for two. Cross-body gets another two. Deep armdrag into an armbar, and it's been all Chavo since the opening bell.

Page fights back, working his way out of the armbar with a couple of forearms, but Chavo pulls him back down by the hair and goes straight back into the submission hold. Again DDP fights, and manages to elbow Guerrero down, but his follow-up attempt at a tilt-a-whirl slam gets reversed into another armdrag. Chavo kicks Page, Page again falls into this awkward trapped position between the ropes that is horribly contrived, but I feel better about it as he moves out of the way of Chavo's dropkick attempt and sends him crashing to the floor; looked like it was fully intended as a trap. Page sends Guerrero back into the wrong, then completes an impressive-looking clothesline off the top rope that gets a big face pop from the crowd.



DDP with sort of a double-arm takedown into a pinning combo for two. Slowly works Chavo over, but Chavo manages a surprise small package for two. Page still straight back on offense, imposing his size and strength advantage and getting a near-fall after a slam. Chavo tries to fight back, but Page fells him with a stiff elbow. Page drops his head too early on a backdrop attempt and gets kicked hard in the face. Chavo with a springboard cross-body. To the top rope, and a missile dropkick. Two-count. Chavo with a flying headscissor off the top. One more near-fall. Guerrero whips Diamond Dallas into the corner, Dallas gets a back elbow up as Guerrero charges in after him, attempts a pin with his feet on the ropes, but that doesn't get it done either.

DDP sends Chavo over the top to the adjoining ring, and the action just continues over there. Sidewalk slam by Page gets two. Headscissor by Chavo. Page with a corner whip, gets nothing but turnbuckle on a corner charge, schoolboy by Chavo is another false finish. Tremendous helicopter sit-out powerbomb by Dallas, still no three-count. Attempts a Diamond Cutter, Chavo tries to counter into a backslide, Page re-counters into a successful Diamond Cutter, 1-2-3. Great match.



Result: DDP via pinfall
Rating: ****

We get another damn recap of the nWo angle.

Submission Match - Scott Norton vs. Ice Train (w/ Teddy Long): I can think of no better gimmick match for two big powerhouses than a ****ing submission match. Shoulderblock by Norton. Hip-toss by Ice Train. Big jumping splash by Train, and then a front powerslam. Keeps after it with another splash, but this one misses. DDT by Norton. Back suplex. Short clothesline. The moves themselves are definitely not too bad so far, but the slow, plodding pace in between moves is still making this hard to particularly enjoy. Powerslam by Ice Train, and then a camel clutch that Norton quickly escapes from. Suplex by Ice Train. Corner whip and an avalanche. Whip to the opposite corner, and Norton comes bouncing out with a clothesline. Cross armbar by Norton.



Teddy Long threatens to throw the towel in, but the referee tells him to get down from the apron. Norton eventually just lets the arm go for some reason. Neckbreaker. Train reverses a corner whip, and slams Norton after impact in the corner. Japanese armbar by Train, but he doesn't get it cinched in very well and ends up having to let go. Clothesline and then a back splash by Train. Follows with a regular splash, but Norton gets the knees up. Alabama slam by Norton, and then a Boston crab. Norton lets that go and transitions into an armbar. Teddy Long up on the apron, distracting Norton into releasing the hold. Norton goes straight back to work though, applying an octopus hold. Teddy Long again to the apron. Norton goes to attack Teddy, Ice Train capitalizes and locks in a full nelson. Norton taps out, and that's the match. That's a super weird babyface win for Ice Train, since it was cheap as hell despite getting a decisive tapout at the end.

Result: Ice Train via submission
Rating: *1/4

Mexican Heavyweight Title - Konnan (c) (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. Juventud Guerrera: Alright, Konnan out with Jimmy Hart and "now representing the Dungeon of Doom," he obviously joined that faction on a weekend show at some point. He was also now in the white tanktop and baggy jeans, so we were getting dangerously close to Sing-Along Konnan. Right away he throws a release German here on Juventud that looks great. A moment later, Konnan throws Juvi out over the top to the floor. No idea how that move allows Guerrera any real protection.



Juventud re-enters with a multi-step springboard spin kick. For a Konnan match, this has gotten off to a remarkably entertaining start. Chops and kicks by Juventud send Konnan out to the floor. Suicide dive by Guerrera that he would have clearly overshot if Konnan wasn't there to catch him. Juventud tries to spring off the guardrail for a hurracanrana, but Konnan turns it into a floor powerbomb. Guerrera eventually re-enters the ring, Konnan does his spot where he forward rolls into a clothesline. Then he executes a seated dropkick. Finally we slow it down with an octopus submission hold.

Juventud gets loose, runs the ropes, Konnan sidesteps him and causes him to spill through the middle rope between the two rings. Konnan looks to follow him to the second ring, but Juventud fights his way back with another springboard move that carries them both back into the original ring. Konnan for a breather, then he stands and just waits on Guerrera to hit him with a corkscrew plancha over the top rope, which does connect. Back inside, springboard dropkick to the back by Juventud. Backdrop by Konnan sends Guerrera over to be hung over the top rope of the adjacent ring. Konnan powerbomb from in between the rings back into the original ring.



The Mexican Champion grapevines the leg before transitioning into an STF. Before too long he's back to his feet. Juventud goes for a springboard moonsault, but botches badly, and to his credit Konnan sells it as a miss. Powerbomb by the champ. Targeted dropkick to Juvi's knee. Two straight Germans by Konnan, holding on the first and releasing on the second. Juventud takes a rest for a while outside, then re-enters on target with a springboard dropkick. Legdrop. Tries to powerbomb Konnan from the apron to the floor, but Konnan blocks and knocks Juvi to the floor instead. Back inside, Konnan goes to the top, Guerrera stops him, but as he climbs up Konnan knocks him back to the mat and then Konnan hits a dropkick from the ropes. Juventud with a springboard spin kick that gets two. This has become a bit spotfest-y. Just as I say that though, holy **** at the counter by Konnan, who catches Juventud jumping back into him and slams him backward with maximum impact. Great spot.



Springboard dropkick by Juventud. He's a bit too obsessed with the springboard stuff. Follows with a top rope somersault guillotine legdrop to follow though, which looks nice. 450 splash by Guerrera gets two. Some sort of ****ty-looking spinning splash by Juvi for another two. Alabama slam and a rolling pin by Konnan looks like the final spot, but only gets two as well. Fisherman buster by Konnan is another near-fall. Splash mountain powerbomb off the ropes by Konnan finally gets the three-count. At times this one felt like too much of going from one spot to the next with no story, but this was still far more entertaining than most Konnan matches.

Result: Konnan via pinfall
Rating: ***1/4

Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit: Full writeup here. Cliffs: Chris Benoit controls a majority of the match, Chris Jericho fights valiantly, Chris Benoit wins anyway with a back superplex. Very good match.



Result: Chris Benoit via pinfall
Rating: ***1/2

Cruiserweight Title - Rey Mysterio Jr. (c) vs. Super Calo: Really strong match between these two, which causes me to take back a lot of what I said about Super Calo when I introduced him. He was tremendous here.



Full match writeup. Cliffs: Calo dominates for the first 75% of the match, Rey comes back with some impressive but silly acrobatics, wins with the double springboard hurracanrana.



Result: Rey Mysterio Jr. via pinfall
Rating: ***3/4



Tag Team Titles - Harlem Heat (c) (w/ Sister Sherri & Col. Parker) vs. Nasty Boys: I guess the Nasty Boys turned face at some point, as Jerry Sags is even high-fiving fans during the entrance. Stevie Ray starts off the match for the Heat, so right away we've gotta be pretty psyched. He works Sags over in the corner, whips him to the other one, but Sags bounces out with his own clothesline and gets an early two-count. Sags threatens Sherri outside the ring, causing an early commotion as Booker T mounts a white horse and charges to the front. Things settle down, and the match reboots after a bout of stalling. Nasty Boys double-team Stevie in their corner, then Brian Knobbs clotheslines and gets a one-count.

Booker T makes the tag in and quickly takes control of Knobbs. Knobbs back at him with a running clothesline, tags out, executes a drop toe hold before leaving, and Sags drops a knee on the back of Booker's head. Neckbreaker gets two. Knobbs takes back in and turns Booker inside out with a clothesline. Nasty Boys threaten pit stop on Booker, but Sherri, likely realizing how wrong it would be for the superior member of the Heat to take the humiliation spot, jumps up on the apron and causes a distraction as Stevie runs in and attacks from behind.



Stevie hangs around and becomes the legal man via squatter's rights. He connects on a mafia kick to Knobbs and gets two before Sags breaks it up. Knobbs tries to fight his way back, but Booker puts him down with a stiff-looking running forearm, then baits Sags into the ring before flinging Knobbs outside. Sherri slaps Knobbs, Knobbs gives chase, he and Booker brawl outside. Upon returning inside Booker attempts a pin for some reason. It does not get three. Knobbs remains as the face in peril until he sidesteps an attempted Harlem side kick, then manages to make the hot tag to Sags. Sags takes the fight to both champions, then actually drags Sherri into the ring as well. Great false finish, as Sags and Booker simultaneously trip backward over Sherri and Sags has him rolled up in a schoolboy that looks like a very convincing ending spot. It gets two.



Sags delivers a nice piledriver as Heenan exclaims, "The Nasties are using a hold!" Stevie Ray makes the save on a pin attempt. Sags goes up top, Col. Parker knocks him off, Sags stalks Parker, and Stevie blindsides him super hard around one of the corners. Sags is out as a result of that blindside hit. Tony says that the Heat could win by countout since he's the legal man. Heenan protests that a countout does them no good because the titles can't change hands. Heenan obviously forgot who the champions were. Tony starts to respond, then stops, then Dusty compliments Heenan on a good call and a true point. I wish we got a split-screen live look at Schiavone for the past 15 seconds.

Booker does send Sags back in, hits an axe kick, and Sags is right back outside. He gets teamed up on by Stevie and the two managers out there. Sags manages to duck a double clothesline by the Heat and execute a double facebuster. He makes a hot tag to Knobbs. He fights off Booker and Stevie, tries to pin Booker after a splash, but again Stevie is on the spot for a save. Sags rejoins the action, we have four-way brawling, the Nasty Boys clean Stevie out and seem to have Booker pinned, but Col. Parker runs interference on the apron and Sherri slips in the back door with Parker's cane. She clobbers Knobbs, 1-2-3, champs retain. I had super low expectations for this match, and they were reasonably exceeded.



Result: Harlem Heat via pinfall
Rating: **

Mike Tenay interviews Randy Savage backstage. Solid, intense promo from the Macho Man.

Randy Savage vs. The Giant: The Giant starts coming out to Dungeon of Doom music, but it changes to the nWo porno music halfway to the ring. I don't know if that was a flub or what. He breaks into a run before hitting the ring, but Savage repels him and disallows his entrance. Of note, Nick Patrick is the referee for this contest. Savage keeps trying to keep Giant out, but Giant drags him out under the bottom rope. Savage goes for a bodyslam on the floor, but Giant falls on top. Giant presses him overhead and unceremoniously dumps him into the ring over the top from the floor.

Corner whip and a clothesline by the big man. He unloads with basic power moves, which keep Macho down without much effort. Backbreaker. Boston crab. Bearhug. I see that we have a clubhouse favorite for worst match of the night on our hands. Savage eye-rakes his way out of the bearhug, heads up top, gets caught on the way down and slammed. Giant misses on a knee drop, and Savage attempts to capitalize with repeated kicks to the bad leg. Bulldog off the top rope by Savage gets two, as Giant kicks out emphatically. Savage bodyslams him. Wow. That was kind of awesome.



Savage to the top, flying elbow connects. Hulk Hogan appears at ringside and runs distraction. He baits Savage toward the entryway, Nash and Hall ambush Savage there, and Nick Patrick just ignores all of this and occupies himself in the ring with The Giant. The nWo beats Savage down with repeated steel chair shots, they return Savage to the ring, and Giant has an easy pin.



Result: The Giant via pinfall
Rating: *

Pyro goes off from the cage as it lowers from the ceiling, and we're ready for War Games.

Mike Tenay is backstage with Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger, Woman, and Liz. Tenay asks which Horseman has been selected to replace Sting. In mid-promo Sting interrupts, protesting and pleading that it wasn't him on Monday night. Luger: "I looked you right in the face before you cheap-shotted me. And Stinger, I know it was you, I can't believe you, and I don't believe you." Sting yells that if they don't believe him, so be it, and leaves.

Michael Buffer runs down the rules. He says that the nWo has only released three names, and that the fourth is to remain unknown until his entrance. Obviously the three are Hogan/Hall/Nash. Team WCW also has only released three, and it is unknown if there will be a fourth.

War Games - Team nWo (w/ Ted DiBiase) vs. Team WCW: Contrary to the usual, when teams all entered prior to the match and hung out outside until it was somebody's turn to go in, we get Scott Hall and Arn Anderson entering and just starting the match. Makes sense since they were shrouding the participant list in mystery. Hall throws those tremendous Scott Hall punches to kick things off. Arn fights back to a massive crowd pop and puts Hall down. It continues back and forth, with Hall and Anderson trading advantages. As Arn works Hall's left leg, I notice that Nick Patrick is once again on the call for this match. Dusty Rhodes notes that he's never seen a referee inside the War Games cage before.

Pretty good brawling between these two to get this match kicked off. Hall throws a back suplex, we get a one-minute warning, and Arn throws his signature spinebuster as Tony Schiavone passes along word that of course the nWo won the coin toss and will send the next participant in. The clock hits zero, and here's Kevin Nash. Arn tries to fight the Outsiders off, but the numbers advantage overwhelms Arn pretty quickly.



As we hear a 30-second warning, Lex Luger emerges from the back and then just enters the cage without seeming to realize that he wasn't allowed in yet. Obviously they just go with it; he double clotheslines the Outsiders and continues fighting both off as Arn Anderson recovers in the corner. Jumping (steel-plated) forearm on both. Once Kevin Nash successfully gets to Luger, Arn rejoins the action, and we're back to a reasonably full strength 2-on-2 for the remaining time. Hulk Hogan follows Luger's lead by coming out too and entering the cage too early. 3-on-2. Anderson and Luger double-team Hogan in the corner.



The advantage doesn't last. 3 beats 2, so we're back into a heat segment as the fans chant "We Want Flair." Flair emerges and actually waits until the clock hits zero to enter. He holds a ring to himself and baits Hogan in there. Hogan gets the first punches in, but Flair fights back, produces brass knucks from his trunks, and clobbers Hogan with them. Low blows on Hall and Nash, and Team WCW is at a clear advantage. Flair with a figure-four on Hogan as Anderson and Luger work the Outsiders over. The clock ticks away as we wait to see who the fourth member of Team nWo is.



The fans start booing heavily as the announcers resignedly say, "It is Sting." Faux Sting emerges from the back, as still nobody really questions who this is. He sheds his jacket and enters. The announcers wonder if they have a fourth person coming out themselves to even things up. As the clock hits zero, real Sting comes racing out there and enters. He attacks real Sting, hits him with a facebuster, gets his licks in on every nWo member, Stinger Splashes on each.



He lays the whole faction out, then backs into the vacant ring, angrily yelling, "Is that good enough for you??" Then he tells them to shove it and leaves.

WCW is obviously left at a 4-3 disadvantage now. Hogan executes a back suplex on Luger, fake Sting locks in a Scorpion Deathlock as Hogan puts a facelock on Luger simultaneously. Nick Patrick calls the match off, and the nWo wins. Pretty meh edition of War Games.



Result: Team nWo by submission
Rating: *1/2

The nWo continues the beatdown after the match. Luger crawls away screaming for Sting as Schiavone laments the fact that they didn't trust him. The fight continues in the aisle, as Flair and Anderson try to come to Luger's rescue. Randy Savage shows up as well, taking the fight to Hogan and running him into the ring. Hogan begs off and buys time as The Giant comes in from behind and attacks. He executes a chokeslam as the nWo stands over him. Miss Elizabeth actually runs to the ring at this point and pleads with Hogan to stop. She drapes herself over him in hopes that the nWo will lay off. Hogan spray-paints the back of Elizabeth's dress.



Loud "Hogan sucks" chant as Hogan picks up a mic. He calls Liz and Randy "two pieces of trash," then actually spits on her. This whole scene is kind of uncomfortable, though I can't easily articulate why I'm drawing a difference between this and the Jake Roberts/Liz stuff from back in the day. They get an opening and spray-paint Savage as well. Giant comes to a corner and talks into the camera in a close-up. Hogan channels his sixth sense that the Giant might be getting some attention, so he comes and joins the shot.



Giant chokeslams Savage. Referee Randy Anderson tries to stand cover for Elizabeth in the corner, but Nash throws Anderson off, he and The Giant corner her, and the camera returns to the announce table where Schiavone pleads for someone to get her out of there. The announce team laments how the night went until the nWo interrupts and chases them off. They throw on headsets and act obnoxious. Savage and Liz get helped to the back. Roll credits.

Overall: Really an excellent event overall. Lots of good/great matches on the undercard, nWo story advancement was good…I would call it the third-best show of the year in either company, behind only Great American Bash and Bash at the Beach.

September 16, 1996

NITRO

Asheville, NC

Tony Schiavone introduces Larry Zbyszko, then cuts to the chase and tells us that the nWo won War Games last night. They go through stills from the main event last night, as well as the post-match beatdown on Randy Savage and the spray-painting of Miss Elizabeth. Off to the ring we go.

Cruiserweight Title - Rey Mysterio Jr. (c) vs. Juventud Guerrera: Tony keeps QQing about his failure to trust Sting before last night's main event as we get started. Mysterio immediately locks Juventud into some sort of unfamiliar submission where he holds Juvi up behind his back and stretches him. Juvi counters into a DDT. Pin gets two. Fallaway slam does likewise. Rey gets a hold of his left leg and starts working it over, jumping on it a couple of times. Juventud back up, and hits a back elbow after whipping Rey into the ropes. Spinning wheel kick by Rey. No clear advantage so far.

Hard chops by Juvi put Rey on the mat. A pretty hot crowd likes Rey and boos Juvi accordingly. Guerrera attempts a springboard maneuver, but jumps into a midair dropkick by Rey. As they're headed for commercial, Rey executes a hurracanrana to the floor.

Back from break, Juventud is in control, which Tony said was the case throughout the break. The challenger connects flush on a dropkick. Springboard spinning wheel kick by Guerrera sends Rey to the outside. Baseball slide. Asai moonsault.



Both are slow to get up after that move, but Guerrera gets to his feet first. Rolls Rey in, springboard somersault splash into the ring falls short and only partially connects. Really that's been the story of most of Juventud's spots in this match; he's just not quite on his game tonight. He pounds the mat in frustration after that one. Sets the champ up on the ropes, chops the **** out of him, and Rey stumbles off the ropes and crawls across the ring. Again Juvi sets him up, and connects nicely on a super hurracanrana. Tony Schiavone ****ing talks through the ensuing pin attempt, killing any believability of a near-fall, and reports on an nWo celebration outside the arena. Just terrible, Tony. Terrible. They cut away from the match entirely to show a bunch of tools wearing nWo t-shirts and chanting "nWo" outside.

They cut back just in time to catch a spot where Guerrera goes for a powerbomb from up on the ropes, Rey does a great mid-air counter into a hurracanrana, and gets the three-count. Really a very nice ending spot even if it was absolutely a redux of the final spot of Rey's match against Psicosis, but WCW crapped on the end of this match by taking the attention off of the climax of it for absolutely no reason. It wasn't going to be a classic given the number of early botches, but it had potential for a believable near-fall and a great finish that would have propped it up nicely, and the presentation killed it.



Result: Rey Mysterio Jr. via pinfall

Mike Tenay is on interview duty again tonight, and is with Chris Benoit, Mongo McMichael, and Debra backstage. Apparently Benoit and Mongo are set to face Sting and Lex Luger tonight. This segment follows the usual pattern of Mongo cutting a bad promo and then Benoit cutting a way worse one. It's unspeakable how awful Benoit was on the stick at this point.

Schiavone: "Ever since Glacier made his debut last Sunday on WCW Pro on TBS…" I stopped paying attention. His debut happening on WCW Pro is so many levels of absurd. They send it to a video package of him practicing martial arts while he does a voiceover where he cuts a generic babyface promo in the background about working hard, etc. So all mystery about this guy has been destroyed; looking forward to his Nitro debut.

Ice Train (w/ Teddy Long) vs. Diamond Dallas Page: Ice Train gets a full entrance and DDP gets a jobber entrance. Seems legit. Train powers his way to the advantage on two straight lock-ups to start. Shoulderblock as well. Page isn't quite bumping like Shawn Michaels facing Hulk Hogan, but that example at least came to mind as Page sold Train's offense here. He comes back though, hitting a flying clothesline off the top and then continuing to stomp away. Swinging neckbreaker gets two, but we get the power kickout. Train catches Page's kick, but Page short clotheslines through hard anyway.

Belly-to-belly by Ice Train. Page actually gets up faster despite being on the receiving end, and tries to attack, but Train no-sells and ends up executing a front powerslam. Then a regular powerslam. Two. Splash for another two. They go backstage to show the random guys in nWo t-shirts picketing the WCW concession stand, and…the bell rings. Yes, the match actually ****ing ended during that pointless cut-away. They come back with Nick Patrick holding a towel and Teddy Long arguing with him, and DDP being declared the victor. They eventually get around to showing us a replay, where Train got DDP in a full nelson, Teddy Long got up on the apron, DDP desperately grabbed for a towel around Teddy's neck and threw it into the ring, and that was what led to the declaration of a submission by the guy who actually had the hold on. Incredibly stupid, and even dumber that they didn't even bother showing this ending live.



Result: DDP via submission

They come back from commercial, and just unceremoniously open on a shot of this guy in the audience.



Schiavone identifies him as formerly being the 1-2-3 Kid, but has no earthly idea why he would be at Nitro. Really?

Mexican Title - Konnan (c) (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. Super Calo: Alright, performing well against Rey Mysterio Jr. is one thing, but if Calo can show well against ****ing Konnan, we'll really have something. Konnan throws a hard clothesline, bungles his forward roll clothesline to follow, roll-up by Calo gets two. Armdrag by the challenger, who gets a running start for a suicide dive and actually does a mid-air somersault through the middle ropes. Very nice.



Calo rolls his man back in, heads to the top, but wastes too much time. Konnan catches up to him up there, then executes something close to a butterfly suplex off the top. Kind of a sideways surfboard by Konnan. Lets it go and hits a sit-out powerbomb for one. Konnan sets up for a tombstone, but Calo headscissors his way out of it, sending Konnan outside. Kick through the ropes to back Konnan into the guardrail. Springboard cross-body off the middle rope by Calo to the floor. Sends Konnan back inside, but a pin only gets two.

Nice targeted dropkick by Konnan at Calo's knee. Reverse DDT. Two-count. Clothesline turns Calo inside out. Submission hold by Konnan stretches Calo's right shoulder out. The champion releases and executes a bodyslam. Up to the top rope, Calo gets up in time to greet him, hits a reverse hurracanrana, but it brings Konnan down on top of him. Konnan gets sent back outside, and Calo repeats a couple of spots from last night, hitting the slingshot splash to the floor as well as a missile dropkick from the top turnbuckle to the floor. Back inside, Calo misses on an attempted corner charge and falls on the back of his neck. Fisherman buster by Konnan gets two. Konnan with an Alabama Slam and a roll through that gets another two. Splash Mountain finally puts it away. Good match IMO.



Result: Konnan via pinfall

Mike Tenay heads over to Sean Waltman and asks him why he's here. Waltman, probably hammered, slurs his way through an interview. He does a concern troll act where he pretends not to know who won War Games last night and asks Tenay for the result, then feigns disappointment when Tenay tells him the nWo won.

Hugh Morrus vs. Brad Armstrong: I see that WCW Saturday Night has invaded Monday Nitro. Shoulderblock by Hugh Morrus sends Armstrong sprawling to the outside. Armstrong springs a comeback with an armdrag and a couple of dropkicks. Morrus regains control with a corner whip and a splash in the corner, but tries to duplicate the sequence and comes up empty. He clotheslines Armstrong, but Armstrong surprises with a small package for two. Morrus drops Armstrong and connects on his No Laughing Matter top rope moonsault, but does that stupid **** where he stalls for a long time, then lays back across his opponent in a way that announces to the whole audience that he's getting rolled up for the upset. And that's what happens. Blah.



Result: Brad Armstrong via pinfall

They count down to the end of the hour and send it over to Eric Bischoff and Bobby Heenan for broadcast hour #2.

After a commercial, Tenay calls Randy Savage out to the top of the aisle for an interview. Tenay takes us through stills of all that happened last night. Savage cuts a standard Savage promo.



The nWo is outside the arena drinking out of red Solo cups and gloating.

Randy Savage vs. Scott Norton: Savage got first entrance after his promo, and he jumps Norton in the aisle during his subsequent entrance. After some fighting outside, Savage enters, fights Norton off the apron, but eventually we get the action fully inside. Samoan drop by Norton gets two. Backbreaker. Sloppy powerbomb gets another two. Short clothesline. This is every single Savage match now. He gets the **** beaten out of him and he sells it. There's no variation; he basically just works very little offense in any of his matches. To be fair, it's probably the correct line in this particular match as a preventative measure against Norton randomly burying his entire arsenal.

Norton powerslam for another two-count. Savage gets an opening when Norton misses on a corner charge, mounts in the corner for a 10-punch, but Norton isn't going to stand still for a puny 10-punch…he executes an inverted atomic drop and gets back on offense. Savage does connect on a clothesline though, then sends the big man into the guardrail a couple of times. Savage slams him on the padded floor, or as Eric Bischoff calls it, "the concrete." Back in the ring, Norton connects on a weak-looking DDT. Hits a shoulderbreaker, and Savage rolls outside selling a shoulder injury. As Norton attempts to follow up, Savage still manages to post him, then clobbers Norton three times squarely in the head with a steel chair. Yes, it took until the third one for Norton to really sell it as a crushing blow. Finally we get a bell, and this time Savage's weapon use is going to draw a DQ.



Result: Scott Norton via DQ

After the match is over, Savage sort of attacks Nick Patrick on the way out, and revs up the crowd on his way down the aisle.

After some announce table banter, it's time for the moment that we've all been waiting for, at least since that random episode of WCW Pro…

Glacier vs. Big Bubba (w/ Jimmy Hart): Glacier has an extensive entrance, complete with lasers, blue lights, and I guess fake snow pouring in. It appears that we're getting the full Sin Cara treatment here, as the two men are going to wrestle in the darkness with blue lighting. Glacier trips Bubba, sidesteps him when he charges, and Glacier does a bunch of martial arts posturing without much impact. Bubba fights back, executing a sidewalk slam and then mocking Glacier with martial arts stances. Glacier pops back up, connects on a couple of chops, some kicks, a legsweep, and a spinning crescent kick that gets a quick three. I remember my reaction at the time being, "Maybe he could be cool, but I'm not sold yet." As it turns out, I would never be sold. This wasn't a bad debut, but it wasn't overwhelming either, and he didn't have a ton of crowd reaction.



Result: Glacier via pinfall

Sting comes out to the ring. Some noticeable booing rains in, but there's more cheering than booing. He gets on the mic and says he wants to explain what happened last week. He got off a plane and turned on Nitro, and watched everyone trash-talking him and doubting him. He says that he's given Lex Luger the benefit of the doubt about a thousand times in the past year. He says he's given his blood, sweat, and tears for WCW. Says he'll stand by the fans who stood by him, but that as far as the people who doubted him go, they can stick it. "From now on, I consider myself a free agent. But that doesn’t mean you won't see the Stinger. From time to time, I'm going to pop in when you least expect it."



The announce team all go "WTF, what does that even mean." Bischoff: "It looks like we've got a problem with Sting." He adds during the next entrances that things are really unraveling for WCW. Chris Jericho and Marcus Bagwell enter, then Ric Flair's music plays, but nobody comes out. Flair, Arn, and Woman can't convince Miss Elizabeth to go out to the ring with them. Eventually they have to give up and go to the ring.



As this next match is about to start, Sean Waltman stands up on his chair near ringside and presses a button on some box-like object. A bunch of nWo fliers fall from the ceiling onto the crowd and into the ring. The announcers acknowledge that Waltman is obviously the sixth member of the nWo.

Chris Jericho & Marcus Bagwell vs. Ric Flair & Arn Anderson (w/ Woman): Jericho with a missile dropkick on Arn early in the match. Drop-down/leapfrog/spinning wheel kick to follow. Arn takes a breather. Eric Bischoff talks about how, because of nWo's win last night, he has to give them their own TV show, with details to come. Flair chops Bagwell in a corner, but Bagwell stops selling and lays in repeated punches, followed by a backdrop. And another. Flair begs off and gets Bagwell to pause, then pulls him through to the outside. Bagwell brawls a bit with Arn outside, goes back in with a sunset flip on Flair that Arn breaks up…this match is very messy and disjointed so far.

Small package by Bagwell gets two. Clotheslines Flair out over the top. Flair throws a tantrum on the floor about all of the nWo signs laying around. Arn becomes the legal man by osmosis and throws that beautiful Arn spinebuster on Jericho.



Mike Tenay questions why Bischoff would have agreed to the nWo's demands last night for the TV show and other stuff, but Bischoff said that it was a hold-up and that they threatened to walk out on the PPV main event if he didn't cave. Flair tags in and drops a knee on Jericho. The two Horsemen work Jericho over at length. We get another cut-away outside the arena, as the nWo welcome Waltman to the group. Bunch of taunting about the Sting rouse from last week. Jericho manages a hot tag to Bagwell, Bagwell with the usual offensive outburst, has each of the Horsemen pinned during the sequence, but in both cases Nick Patrick is distracted. Eventually Arn plants him with a DDT, Flair slaps on the figure-four, and Bagwell gets pinned while in the hold. Considering the talent present, this was nothing.



Result: Ric Flair & Arn Anderson via pinfall

The main event is scheduled to be Chris Benoit & Mongo McMichael vs. Sting & Lex Luger. Benoit and Mongo enter, led by Debra. She picks up one of the pieces of paper with nWo on it on her way to the ring and legitimately struggles to tear it in half properly. Debra was unbelievably bad. Lex Luger's music plays, and he enters. As the show goes to commercial, Bischoff says that he's getting word that there is no Sting. Back from the break, Luger is just going to fight a handicap match.

Lex Luger vs. Chris Benoit & Steve McMichael (w/ Debra): Luger fights valiantly against both guys, but keeps falling victim to the numbers disadvantage and can't ever keep an advantage going. Eric Bischoff names a whole laundry list of great WCW stars (and Scott Norton) who aren't going to be at Nitro next week, instead doing something in Tokyo, and talked about how there isn't going to be much of a defense against the nWo. Luger knocks Mongo off the apron and then gets Benoit up in the Torture Rack. Come on, really? At least Benoit doesn't submit, as Flair and Arn come running into the ring to cause a disqualification instead. Given that Sting abandoned Luger, this seems like a spot to obviously allow the two guys to overcome him in a match. Garbage booking.

Result: Lex Luger via DQ



The Horsemen beat down Luger. Bischoff receives word that Waltman is to be referred to as "Syxx." They cut away to a limo outside, where the nWo are hanging out and acting obnoxious. Bischoff insists that the show just sign off instead of sticking with this, so it does.

Overall: Didn't love this episode. Konnan vs. Super Calo was a good midcard match, but the nWo stuff was just sort of obnoxious filler, and most of the matches on the card didn't deliver.

RAW

Wheeling, WV

Video package features the four remaining IC Title Tournament contenders, devoting a few lines to each one. Tonight we will get Owen Hart vs. Marc Mero and Sid vs. Faarooq in the tournament semifinals. They also say that Gorilla Monsoon will have the official word on the return of Razor Ramon and Diesel tonight, and they further mention that they will give further word on Bret Hart tonight. They tease it with footage of him saying, "My commitment to the WWF has ended right here in South Africa."

After the opening credits, Jake Roberts enters for the first match, and furiously chases Jerry Lawler out of there. That leaves us with an announce team of Kevin Kelly and Jim Ross. Actually Lawler comes back once the heels emerge from the back and create some cover for him, so we have a three-man booth tonight.

Jake "The Snake" Roberts vs. The Sultan (w/ Bob Backlund & The Iron Sheik): I didn't realize that Jake Roberts was still around at this point, but certainly he's jobbing here. This is The Sultan's Raw debut (under this gimmick).



Backlund joins on commentary. He declares that The Sultan has everything that it takes to become a future WWF Champion. Kevin Kelly pushes the fact that Backlund and Sheik are long-time enemies, but came together because of how promising The Sultan was. Sultan escapes an early DDT attempt by Jake and slips out of the ring. Sultan stalls, Jake stalls by continually threatening Lawler at ringside. Match leaves little to write about. Jim Ross pushes his ongoing bait-and-switch, promising one of the biggest bombshell announcements ever later.

As Jake is near the corner, Lawler distracts him by throwing something to him in the ring. Sultan capitalizes, hitting Jake with a knee that puts him down and then locking on the camel clutch for the win. This match was nothing.



Result: The Sultan via submission

Brian Pillman and Owen Hart backstage. Same stuff as last week, where Pillman acts excited about his interview with Bret Hart at this Sunday's PPV, and Owen says that he and Bret are finally back together. Steve Austin enters stage right and says he'll be there too "to get his answers."

The Smoking Gunns (w/ Sunny) vs. Bob Holly & Alex Porteau: Lawler mentions that he recently had one of his worst nightmares: that Sunny was his mother, and that he was a bottle baby. Good one, Oedipus. Jim Ross announces that it is his personal guarantee that Razor Ramon and Diesel will be here live, in the ring, next week on Raw. Owen Hart, British Bulldog, and Jim Cornette come out to ringside for this match and take a seat. I didn't realize it, but apparently they're getting a Tag Team Title shot at the Gunns on Sunday.

Alex Porteau with a surprise small package on Billy, but Billy escapes at two and throws a hard clothesline. Beats Porteau into the corner, but comes up empty on a corner charge, and Porteau is able to make the room temperature tag to Holly. Holly brings the fight to the champs, but heads up to the top and ends up falling crotch-first on the turnbuckle after Sunny reaches up and pulls the rope down. Sidewinder by the Gunns appears to end it, but Cornette's guys run distraction, Billy falls victim to the dreaded distraction roll-up, and Bob Holly and Alex Porteau pull the big non-title upset. That match could have happened in 2015.



Result: Holly & Porteau via pinfall

WWF President Gorilla Monsoon appears via satellite and says that he's really curious as to who will be appearing on Raw next week, because Scott Hall and Kevin Nash absolutely will NOT be, as they're currently under contract to another organization. Monsoon apologizes to any fans who feel that they have been hoodwinked or misled. Once these comments are done, Kevin Kelly says that Jim Ross has left the announce table.



King is up in the ring with Jim Cornette and Vader for an interview segment. Cornette says that Vader has been teaching him "how to unleash the beast," and promises that he'll be ready to tear Jose Lothario limb from limb at the PPV. Cornette has a random young jobber named Tony Williams in the ring with him. He calls it a "public workout." Cornette executes an arm-wringer on Williams, but Williams counters and does one of his own. Cornette forces a rope break. Cornette does a side headlock, but Williams counters into a hammerlock. Williams begins to beat on Cornette, and Vader steps in and punches him. Cornette ties Williams in the ropes, punches him a few times, and yells at him. This segment had good comic potential, but didn't really deliver much in the end.



After a commercial, Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross are both back at commentary. JR says that he's hurt by Gorilla's comments, that he's never hoodwinked or misled anyone and has no intention to.

Intercontinental Title Tournament Semifinals - Owen Hart (w/ Jim Cornette) vs. Marc Mero (w/ Sable): Pat Patterson joins in here on commentary, as Kevin Kelly announces that Patterson will referee the tournament finals. He would have been better-qualified to officiate the finals of a fictional tournament, but okay. Apparently said finals will be next week on the live Raw rather than at the PPV.

The two wrestlers trade arm-wringers and flipping escapes. Couple of Japanese armdrags by Mero, who proceeds to start working over Owen's left arm, still sporting a cast on it. Owen escapes an armbar, whips Mero into the ropes, and connects on his signature spinning wheel kick. Stomps Mero's midsection, then executes a butterfly suplex. Two-count. Jim Ross again repeats what he said earlier, that he's friends with Gorilla Monsoon and is hurt to have Monsoon question his integrity. Monsoon appears via satellite again and says, "We're not talking friendship. We're talking business." He restates that he's seen no reason to believe that Hall and Nash are coming back. Ross doubles down on his position as well.

Back to the match, Owen hits a neckbreaker on Mero, then follows with a missile dropkick. Side headlock, but Mero counters into a back suplex. Mero runs the ropes, Owen sidesteps him and clubs him with the cast in the back of the head as Mero spills through the middle rope. As Mero slowly makes his way back in, we go to commercial. After commercial, Mero hits an inverted atomic drop, a backdrop, and a dropkick. Owen goes for a breather and Mero promptly follows him out with his somersault plancha over the top.



The Wildman sends Hart back in, hits the slingshot legdrop, 1-2-nope. The two have a mid-ring collision. Owen, from a position blind to referee Jack Doan, slips off the cast and clocks Mero with it. Owen drops the cast as he gets up to gripe about the count. Mero picks up the cast and uses it as a weapon to get the win. Solid match.

Result: Marc Mero via pinfall



We get clips from a tour show in South Africa, where Bret Hart actually wrestled. Jim Ross wonders aloud if it was Bret's last match, and they send it to comments he taped while there. Bret calls Brian Pillman a liar. Says he never committed to be at the PPV on Sunday. He calls Owen a liar too. Says he hasn't forgotten his fans, but that he has lots of other commitments right now and he's not sure what he's going to do. And that's it. THAT'S what they teased with some other footage saying that his commitment to the WWF had ended? I understand it means that it might have been the final obligation of that contract, but it was another dishonest tease.

I always had it in my mind that both WWF and WCW did dishonest bait-and-switch stuff, and I suppose that's still true, but WWF did it way, way more between the two. I suppose that's another memory being distorted by having been a WWF homer at the time. The side that has the worst of it is always quick to race to the middle ground with "well, everyone does this."

Intercontinental Title Tournament Semifinals - Faarooq (w/ Sunny) vs. Sid: Jim Ross keeps hyping the return of Diesel and Razor next week as Sid enters. Faarooq shoulderblocks Sid to no effect. Sid gets a running start and shoulderblocks Faarooq, also no effect. That's a pretty strong way to put Faarooq's power over, given Sid's size advantage. Faarooq puts Sid down with a powerslam, but Sid pops right back up and lays in a series of punches that culminates in a big boot. Sid slowly works Faarooq over in a corner. Faarooq reverses a whip into the opposite corner, then executes a good-looking back suplex on the big man.



Faarooq drives a forearm into Sid's kidney and attempts a pin for two. Ahmed delivers a pre-taped PIP promo. He's still mad at Faarooq. Faarooq heads up top, jumps at Sid, Sid catches and powerslams him. I had such low expectations for this match that I can't help but enjoy it after these last few spots. Faarooq continues to lay forearms in at Sid's kidneys as the show goes to break.

Back from break, Faarooq hits a flying headbutt from the second rope. He sets him up for the Dominator, does get him overhead, but Sid escapes and falls behind, then executes a chokeslam. Sunny runs referee interference. Faarooq goes and gets a steel chair, hits Sid twice, but surprisingly only gets a two-count on the ensuing pin. Sid sees the nearby chair, picks it up and starts hammering Faarooq with it in plain sight of referee Mike Chioda, and we have a disqualification. Faarooq moves on to face Marc Mero in the tournament finals.



Result: Faarooq via DQ

We get a pre-taped promo from Undertaker, cutting a promo on Goldust in advance of this Sunday's PPV match between the two. I had forgotten that I was going to have to sit through that match.

The announcers hype the rest of the card:
Mark Henry vs. Jerry Lawler
Smoking Gunns vs. Owen/Bulldog
Jim Cornette vs. Jose Lothario
Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind

Well, we know that Michaels vs. Mankind is pretty fantastic. The only other one that shows any promise is that Gunns vs. Owen/Davey tag match.

We get a Mankind/Paul Bearer promo. Mankind speaks in this squeaky high voice that leaves him incomprehensible, so that's nice. And that's the end of the show.

Overall: Not too bad of an episode. It wasn't a standout, but it generally went by quickly and remained fairly interesting outside of a worthless opening match.

---

Ratings for 9/16/96: Nitro 3.7, Raw 2.1
Ratings Running Score: Nitro 29-17-2

Better Show: Fairly close contest this week, which seemingly only happens when Nitro is a dud. I actually think that Raw is the somewhat better show tonight, for a greater consistency of quality for most of the show despite Nitro having the higher high point in that Calo/Konnan match.
Better Show Running Score: Nitro 40-8

Match of the Night: Super Calo vs. Konnan without any real hesitation. Owen Hart vs. Marc Mero a respectable runner-up.

WWF IN YOUR HOUSE 10: MIND GAMES

Philadelphia, PA



We open on the same HBK/Mankind promo they've been running on Raw. They move onto one that hypes Taker/Goldust. C'mon, don't tell me that anyone was actually excited for that match. This second one also has a Michaels/Mankind bit. After showing Mankind as a representative of darkness, they shift the view to Shawn Michaels, as Todd ****ing Pettengill's voice-over says, "In the light, there is hope." It's striking to actually think about who the IRL face and heel were between Shawn Michaels and Mick Foley, compared to their on-screen personas.

Vince McMahon, Mr. Perfect, and Jim Ross are the announce team for tonight. They welcome us to the show, and quickly send it to the ring.

Caribbean Strap Match - Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw (w/ Uncle Zebekiah) vs. Savio Vega: Apparently this match was created on the pre-show. I'll allow it; this could maybe be good, or at least better than most of the advertised card. Savio hits the ring, Bradshaw attacks him. The bell rings, so I guess we're going, but the two guys aren't strapped together yet, as Bradshaw is just using the loose leather strap as a weapon. Referee Harvey Wippleman makes no real effort to get half the strap away from Bradshaw until he has completed about 12 lashes. Finally they're strapped together.

The two hit the floor, and Bradshaw chokes Savio with the strap at the pole. Savio gets loose and drags Bradshaw into the post a couple of times. As he goes to follow up…what the hell?



Sandman suddenly appears and spits beer all over Savio, then crushes a beer can into his head. I had totally forgotten about this. Tommy Dreamer was next to Sandman as well. Vince: "Wait a minute. … There is a local wrestling group here in Philadelphia, and obviously trying to make a name for themselves here at the expense of the World Wrestling Federation. And we will not shoot this ugly incident that's occurring." Sandman and Dreamer get hauled away by security off to the side of the screen. Action is back inside by this point, as Bradshaw attempts to make all four corners but gets cut off by Savio connecting with a back suplex.

Savio whips Bradshaw repeatedly with the strap. He tags three corners, but Bradshaw stops him short of five. Couple of soft clotheslines and then a spinning wheel kick by Vega. Vega goes for three corners, but gets stopped short of the fourth. Bradshaw connects on a Clothesline From Hell, though nobody on the announce team actually calls it that. Bradshaw hits the first corner, Savio hits it behind him. Same deal in the second corner and the third. They head for the fourth, Bradshaw nearly gets there, Vega holds the strap tight, and they do the Sting/Vader ending as Bradshaw accidentally jerks Savio into the fourth corner to lose the match. Lame to finish on that overdone ending, but certainly not a bad match.



Result: Savio Vega via overdone finish (7:09)
Rating: **3/4

Video package to build up Jose Lothario vs. Jim Cornette.

Jim Cornette vs. Jose Lothario: Jim Cornette comes out to Vader's music in black and red spandex, so that's quite a sight.



During the entrance, there is word of something going on backstage. On cut-away, off in the blurry distance, Razor Ramon and Diesel finish off a beatdown of Savio Vega, then escape. We only see their backs, obviously. Jose Lothario comes out to Shawn Michaels's music, rocking a Shawn Michaels jacket. Lothario squashes Cornette in less than a minute, getting all of the offense and winning with an uppercut. No value, even as a comedy match.

Result: Jose Lothario via pinfall (0:56)
Rating: 0*

Brian Pillman comes to the ring, angrily yelling at the crowd on his way down. Pillman insults the city of Philadelphia, calling it a cesspool of drug abuse, battered women, and welfare recipients. He says that he's going to "bring some class to this program," and introduces "the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be, Owen Hart."



Owen, toting the Slammy as usual, joins Pillman in the ring. Owen insists that Bret had promised to be there, and that the only thing he could think of that would keep Bret from fulfilling his promise is that he's scared. Pillman: "Of me, right?" Owen: "No, no, he's not scared of you. He's not even that scared of me. He's a little scared of me. But the reason that he is scared, and that fear is in his eyes, is for no other reason than the 1996 King of the Ring, a man none other than Stone Cold Steve Austin." Pillman brings Austin out.

Pillman asks Austin why he thinks Bret isn't here.
Austin: "The whole world knew that Bret Hart wasn't gonna show up. Stone Cold sure as hell knew that. The bottom line is, when Stone Cold is in the house, Bret Hart is at his house, because he's scared of Stone Cold, and that's the bottom line. As soon as I rolled into the WWF, Bret Hart you packed your bags and took your carcass back to Canada."

Pillman: "Are you trying to say that Bret Hart's a chicken?"

Austin: "Bret Hart doesn't even qualify as being a chicken. He's the slimy substance that runs out of the south end of a chicken. Let me make myself clear: if you put the letter S in front of Hitman, you've got my exact opinion of Bret Hart. Bret, you and me are alike in a lot of ways. You say that you're the excellence of execution. I live it every day of my life. The problem with you is that you always cared what these people thought. Stone Cold never gave a rat's ass about anybody. Bret, if you ever come back, and I hope you do, son, we're gonna get in this same ring, and somebody's gonna get their ass whipped, and Austin 3:16 says it's gonna be your ass. And that's the bottom line, 'cause Stone Cold said so."



With that, we officially kick off the feud that would launch Steve Austin to the moon. I always have loved that segment.

Tag Team Titles - The Smoking Gunns (c) (w/ Sunny) vs. Owen Hart & The British Bulldog: Jim Cornette has seemingly been knocked out of this match by the Jose Lothario match. He's getting first aid in the back, and Clarence Mason is hovering over him. He signs a piece of paper that Mason hands to him. They tease some dissension between the Gunns before the match, as Billy is distracted by Sunny and Bart is showing clear frustration with it. Clarence Mason comes out to ringside as the match begins.

Billy Gunn and Owen Hart with some nice fast-paced action early, armdrags and hip-tosses and cross-bodies and the like. Small package by Owen gets two. Billy tags out. Bart misses on an elbow, Owen tags Bulldog in, and the crowd clearly favors at least Davey in this heel vs. heel match. Bulldog gets two on a roll-up, then executes a nice standing dropkick and tags Owen back in. Vicious-looking chop block by Owen. Awesome.



Hart works that left leg over, hanging it up along the middle rope and kicking at it repeatedly. Tag to Bulldog, and the brothers-in-law do a wishbone. They take turns tagging in and out and fixating on that same leg. Delayed suplex by Davey. Legdrop. Two-count. Owen hits an enziguri. Billy Gunn pulls Bulldog out of the ring and brawls with him on the floor, ramming him into the steps before returning him to the ring. Bart finally tags out here, and the Gunns perform that odd double-team where Billy gets a running start, launches off of Bart's back, and flies in with a fist on the opponent in the corner.

Billy tags back out quickly, and Bart comes back in still selling the leg. Gunns go for the Sidewinder, Billy connects, but Clarence Mason runs distraction on the referee and Owen jumps off the top cast-first on Billy to a big face pop. Bulldog is slow to cover and only gets two. The Gunns take turns working the Bulldog over. Bart puts Davey on his shoulder for a powerslam, Davey escapes behind, knocks Bart into Billy in the corner, Billy gets mad and shoves his own partner (that's probably a tag, but whatever), Davey promptly picks him up into his patented running powerslam, connects, Owen picks Billy off with the spinning wheel kick, Davey gets the 1-2-3 to a big pop. New Tag Team Champions.



Result: Owen Hart & The British Bulldog via pinfall, new Tag Team Champions (10:59)
Rating: **3/4

Sunny is furious, gets into the ring, screams at the Gunns, and fires them. Billy Gunn goes full beta and goes puppy dogging after her, begging for another chance.

Paul Bearer and Mankind do a backstage promo to build the night's main event.

Jerry Lawler vs. Mark Henry: Lawler comes to the ring giving a promo, but Vince and JR talk over the first minute or two of it like idiots. The only worthwhile thing about these 1996 Lawler matches was when he would come to the ring ripping on the crowd. Henry comes to the ring rocking an embarrassing American flag jumpsuit. Oh, he's got an American flag singlet underneath too. Lovely.



King continues his promo, running Henry down. We eventually get started. And by "get started" I mean the bell rings and the two dudes stall a while longer. They were pushing just how inexperienced and how unready Henry was to actually compete as a wrestler here. They do some really basic sequences, switching roles as they counter side headlocks into hammerlocks. Henry does a press slam. He sidesteps a charging Lawler a moment later, and Lawler ends up diving through the ropes and running into the steel guardrail. Upon return, King distracts the referee and then goes into his tights for brass knuckles. He clocks Henry. Once he puts the knucks away he keeps punching, but Henry starts no-selling. He holds Lawler up overhead in a backbreaker, Lawler quickly submits, and this terrible match is over.



Result: Mark Henry via submission (5:13)
Rating: 0*

Of all the random people, Leif Cassidy attacks Henry from behind, but Henry dispatches of him. Marty Jannetty follows as well, and Henry dumps him too. Now it's HHH's turn to attack and be removed from the ring. Geez, I know he was in the middle of that MSG Curtain Call punishment, but HHH just got put on a level with the New Rockers as some throw-away to vaguely enhance Mark Henry.

Vince advertises that the next event will be called "Buried Alive" and will feature a "Buried Alive" match between The Undertaker and Mankind.

We're onto a video package building Undertaker vs. Goldust in a Final Curtain match. I'll take that as my cue to set this project down and pick it up later.

Final Curtain Match - Goldust (w/ Marlena) vs. The Undertaker: Apparently "Final Curtain Match" just means that pinfall is the only available win condition. Taker is second to enter, and slowly saunters toward Goldust at first as if to have a staredown to start, but suddenly turns violent and decks him instead. I like that. He holds up Goldust with both hands in a choke, then drops him. I never know if I can call that a "chokeslam" or not. It seems like not…it's a choke and a slam, but somehow not a chokeslam.

Goldust, from outside the ring, hangs Taker across the top rope. When he returns, Taker is still game to fight, but Goldust hits a swinging neckbreaker. Sit-up no-sell by the dead man. Suplex. Two-count. Undertaker with an arm-wringer, then the top rope tightrope walk followed by him hammering down. He flings Dustin outside the ring, where Marlena surreptitiously brings him a gold bag. Goldust grabs in there as Marlena distracts referee Tim White and The Undertaker, and once Taker turns around he gets a fist full of gold dust in the eyes.



Goldust works him over slowly from there, as Taker struggles to be able to regain his normal sight. This part of the match is absolutely unwatchable death, and is exactly what I came into this match expecting. Undertaker with a back suplex to momentarily halt Goldusts's slow-moving momentum, but Goldust is straight back on the attack after that. Undertaker, cornered, fights back and turns Goldust around in the corner, raining repeated blows on him. Goldust fights back with a powerslam for a two-count. Taker sits up. Flying clothesline. Goldust hits back and tries to scale the ropes, but Taker catches up and chokeslams him from the ropes to the middle of the ring. Tombstone, arms crossed, and this feud has mercifully been blown off.

Result: Undertaker via pinfall (10:23)
Rating: *

Kevin Kelly backstage with Shawn Michaels. Michaels openly admits to being nervous. Says he feels like he can outwrestle anyone, but that he has no idea what the hell Mankind will do. It's a reasonably effective promo in selling that he's rattled about the match, which helps put the match over. He sort of rambles like an idiot, but it works for the situation.

WWF Title - Shawn Michaels (c) (w/ Jose Lothario) vs. Mankind (w/ Paul Bearer): Full match writeup here. This is maybe the match of the year in either WWF or WCW. Great action, great psychology, great bumps, great announcing. Kinda lame to settle for a non-finish, but that's all. The match ended when Michaels had superkicked a steel chair into Mankind and was going for a pin, but Vader ran in.





Result: Shawn Michaels via DQ (26:25)
Rating: ****3/4

After the match, Shawn takes a victory lap around ringside. Jim Ross gives him a pat on the shoulder. Vince McMahon shakes his hand and says, "Unbelievable. Unbelievable." Shawn gets to Mr. Perfect, who stands there stoically and doesn't offer his hand. Shawn keeps moving forward to accept more fan adulation, then looks back at Perfect smiling and clearly signals to him to say, "Let's go, let's you and I put on a show like that." Perfect doesn't give too much of a reaction.



Unfortunately we would never get to see them try to make up for their underperformance at SummerSlam '93. Michaels finishes celebrating while they show replays, and the show goes off the air.

Overall: Good show. I figure a main event that makes an argument for five stars automatically makes a show at least decent in that you're better off watching all of the show than none of it, but the rest of the show had some somewhat entertaining stuff too, including the Pillman/Owen/Austin promo segment and Owen/Davey winning the Tag Team Titles. I would put this in the upper half of shows the WWF had done so far this year.

Cornette is one of the worst dressed men in wrestling history. Although that is probably the point; the manager looks like a dorky jackass so all the fans dislike him and the wrestlers look cool in comparison.

Yeah, I'm basically certain that it was deliberate to have him look goofy as hell. You don't arrive at his color combos for every public appearance for 15+ years by accident.

Whenever I think of the early attitude era I typically think of outstanding nitros and awful WCW PPVs but they had a few good ones this year. I distinctly remember this fall brawl being very good actually.

Reposting from that Fall Brawl, but I really really love this gif. It's symbolic of anyone at any time attempting to get just a moment's attention to themselves while sharing a company with Hogan.

It's like Hogan has a sixth sense for when a camera is pointing at someone that's not him.

Props to LKJ for still pumping out 5 star write ups for these shows, but does anyone else feel like he is a heel since he won't give us Sunny gifs in them?

Also, **** you, Hulk Hogan

I provided a Sunny gif early in that 9/9/96 writeup. These things can't be forced; I have to give jpgs and gifs based on what the product sends my way.

Part of me wishes it would have been Scott Norton instead of Mankind at Hell in a Cell vs. Undertaker just to see if he would have no sold being thrown off/through the cage.

I've been disappointed for at least the past two Gunns matches for that reason.

That was a nice heel promo

It's true though. See, I don't even always include a gif on a Scott Norton match if I don't spot a moment where he goes full Norton. My artistry is constrained to the actual footage that the WWE Network shows me.

By the way, I'm pretty sure this next month of WWF sucks, and it sucks in that painful way where it was a month until Scott Hall showed up on Nitro on the WCW side. Once they start building to Survivor Series I think things finally start to get interesting in the WWF. But for the next month they're building to a garbage PPV headlined by a gimmick match and no Shawn Michaels match.