Just as funny as I thought it would be. A jobber hitting the only person in the arena that wouldn't fight back. Thanks for making it.

October 14, 1996

NITRO

Memphis, TN

Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko show us clips of last week's Nitro to start, specifically the beatdown on Randy Savage to end last week's show.

Dean Malenko vs. Brad Armstrong: Not gonna lie…when they opened things up with Dean Malenko's music, I had hopes for a more interesting opening matchup than this. They show clips of Armstrong upsetting Malenko on a weekend show…looks to have been a while ago, judging by Nick Patrick's clean-shaven face in the clip. He's our referee again here, but in full facial hair and neck brace.

The two men trade deep armdrags, then trade hammerlocks. Pretty good chain wrestling, as Dean trips Armstrong with a drop toehold and Armstrong transitions back into his own hammerlock. Fans on the hard camera side loudly chant "nWo" and hold nWo signs up. Another nice armdrag/dropkick sequence from Armstrong. Dean throws a standing dropkick, and after a series of moves, locks in a modified octopus. Back suplex by the Iceman. He eats a boot on a corner charge though, and Armstrong hits a nice missile dropkick. Russian legsweep by Brad gets two. Malenko blocks a suplex attempt, goes for a brainbuster, Armstrong escapes, Malenko wraps Armstrong in a 3/4 nelson, into a cradle pin, and gets the three-count. Not bad.



Result: Dean Malenko via pinfall

We have a limo arrival. And a second one. The nWo emerges. Hogan is in regular mustache tonight, with no accompanying black paintbeard.

Here's a clip from this past WCW Saturday Night, where Jim Duggan beat M. Wallstreet via taped fist and then Nick Patrick reversed the decision. Now we get another matchup between these two. **** me gently with a chainsaw.

M. Wallstreet vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan: So I alluded to this previously, but Jim Duggan really does cause delays in getting these writeups done. I start to make progress. Then I see Duggan. Then I say "**** this" and do anything else. Obviously I eventually get back to it, but it's usually days later; it's really rare for me to run into Duggan during this journey and just forge my way straight through without a break. I feel like I have to fully charge my battery just to deal with watching this ******* work a five-minute match against another jobber. At least Scott Norton has the decency to be gifworthy.

Happily, writing that paragraph got me through the first couple of minutes of the match. Wallstreet snapmares Duggan and settles into a rest hold because of course he does. Duggan elbows his way free, then throws a slow-motion shoulderblock that Wallstreet gives a slow-motion delayed sell job to. These guys are so awful. Punch-kick-punch-kick. Reverse chinlock! Should have known that was coming back. Chinlock spot lasts a while until Duggan launches a babyface comeback out of it. Wallstreet stops the comeback with an elbow, but he follows by jumping off the top into Duggan's boot. Hacksaw goes for the fist tape, Wallstreet gets it from him but gets distracted while trying to tape his own fists up, Duggan connects on the patented running clothesline and makes the pin. Get the **** out.



Result: Hacksaw Jim Duggan via pinfall

Hugh Morrus vs. Jim Powers (w/ Teddy Long): WTF, did the whole company go to Japan again this week? What are these matches? Tony Schiavone, with a chuckle, thanks Jerry Lawler for promoting this event and putting all of these people in their seats. No idea what that zinger is about, but we are in Memphis. Nick Patrick is the referee, and he and Teddy Long have some words before the match, in kayfabe connection with the screwy loss Powers took two weeks ago to Eddie Guerrero.

Powers slams Morrus, then hits a cross-body a moment later that gets a one-count. Powers whips him from one corner to the next, then floors him with a clothesline. Morrus takes a breather and actually looks into a camera at ringside and clearly says, "Ain't nothing fake about that." Strange time to say that; looked like a pillow-soft clothesline, really. As Morrus returns to the ring and takes control, Tony Schiavone announces that Ric Flair has an injury that is worse than previously thought, and he isn't here tonight as a result.

Powers executes a sunset flip and Nick Patrick is super slow in going down for a count. Teddy Long jumps up on the apron momentarily and lets him hear it. A minute later Powers hits a powerslam and Patrick is even slower to go down to count, then continues by counting as slowly as possible. He gets significant static from the crowd and from Teddy.



Same song and dance with a slow count a minute later. Patrick plays his neck pain up more and more, acting like he's basically immobile, and then Morrus hits the No Laughing Matter and Patrick is suddenly able to drop down and count normally to three.

Result: Hugh Morrus via pinfall

Teddy Long gets in Patrick's face after the match, and we get the nose-to-nose between them like a baseball manager and umpire. I do enjoy most of this Nick Patrick stuff more than it feels like I should.



Greg Valentine vs. Lex Luger: I was happy to hear Dean Malenko's entrance music to open the show. I haven't been happy with another entrance theme I've heard since. Lex Luger is heavily taped around the ribs, and Valentine does attack them early. This leads to a spot where Luger goes for a suplex and can't summon the strength to complete it. Arn Anderson is shown backstage looking on approvingly as Valentine works Luger's back.

Ted DiBiase and Vincent show up in the back of the crowd. Schiavone says he just got word that Hulk Hogan is demanding to make a live announcement later tonight. The match is a lot of Valentine boringly deconstructing Luger after Luger's early collapse on a suplex attempt. If this one still somehow ends on Luger winning via Torture Rack, I quit. Luger manages a desperate inverted atomic drop, then connects on two running clotheslines/forearms. Valentine gets a boot up on a corner charge, gets caught cheating on the ensuing pin attempt with his feet on the ropes, and as he argues with the official…Luger makes his way to his feet and picks him up in the Torture Rack. Sigh. The whole ****ing story of the match was supposed to be that Lex would have to find another way. Whatever.



Result: Lex Luger via submission

Tony Schiavone grabs an interview at ringside with Nick Patrick. He tells him that WCW has chosen to fine Randy Savage, but not $1,000,000. Instead, they will fine him $500. Patrick is displeased. After he rants for a bit, Schiavone throws it to clips of nWo Saturday Night, where it appears that the nWo held matches in black-and-white in the usual WCW Saturday Night arena. The referee for Kevin Nash's match was under a ski mask, but Schiavone says that it's obviously Patrick. Patrick says, "That can't be me. I'm in a LOT better shape than that guy. That looks a lot like Randy Anderson." He says that he's tired of the accusations, and proceeds to threaten legal action.

During the next ring introductions, we reach the second hour and switch commentary teams. Here are Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay. Tenay says that Eric Bischoff isn't there, but he's gotten word that Bischoff is going to try to get a word with Randy Savage.

Mike Enos is first to the ring. Savage is out to be his opponent, but sure enough, Bischoff picks him off in the aisle to attempt to get an interview. Bischoff corners Savage by trying to get him to talk about Elizabeth. Savage reacts badly, telling him not to go there, but Bischoff has a monitor set up and pleads with Savage to look at what he has on there. "You owe her this much, Randy. You owe her this much." Wat. #1, she's his ex-wife who he has no kids with, he owes her nothing. #2, in kayfabe she cleaned him out financially, again he owes her nothing.



Still, Savage watches. Liz shows up in a pre-taped interview, tearfully apologizing and begging for Savage's forgiveness, saying she still feels the way about him as she did when they got married. By WCW Elizabeth standards this was an objectively good performance on her end, but the source material is ****ing cringeworthy as hell. Savage gets emotional as Bischoff continues to try to force him to comment, but he refuses and walks off, getting in a white limo that drives off. This whole segment was horrendous. I don't remember any of this angle for some reason, probably because my brain treated the whole thing as a traumatic event.



After an nWo t-shirt ad, Bischoff is back at the announce booth. Heenan correctly yells at him for the timing of distracting him with Elizabeth stuff shortly before Halloween Havoc.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Cheetah Kid: I dunno who Cheetah Kid is. He's masked. I'm just going to assume it's Pat Tanaka. We get a pre-taped PIP promo from Eddie, who thunders away at DDP, calling him a "one-move wrestler" among other things. Guerrero with a headscissor and a dropkick to start this match, but a second dropkick gets sidestepped. Cheetah Kid with a Samoan drop and a failed pin attempt. Powerbomb by the Kid. Eddie tumbles out of the ring diving at Cheetah Kid, then falls victim to a springboard dropkick once he gets back up on the apron.

Eddie catches the Cheetah Kid climbing the ropes, crotches him, and executes a super hurracanrana. One frogsplash later, Eddie gets the quick pinfall.



Result: Eddie Guerrero via pinfall

Big Bubba (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. Jeff Jarrett: Jarrett gets a big face pop for his entrance in Memphis. Those two cities are far, far from interchangeable, but okay. Bischoff gives a wink and a nod to WWF's Jesse James angle: "Tremendous wrestler, excellent expertise, a lot of charisma, very electrifying athlete…I understand though, he can't sing a lick." After some playing to the crowd by both men, Bubba takes the early control with a shoulderblock and a few more power moves. Jarrett turns the tide with an eye gouge and then hammers away. Jimmy Hart tries to run interference, Jarrett chases him down, and Hart runs Jarrett into an ambush from Bubba outside the ring.

Bubba holds onto a chinlock for a while and then continues to slowly work him over, actually getting a believable near-fall after a hard punch in the face. Rare commentary credit to Bischoff for making me think that might somehow become a three-count.



Bubba misses on an attempted cross-body in the corner. Jarrett with a flurry of offense leading into a figure-four attempt, but Jimmy Hart runs distraction and allows Bubba to regain a brief advantage. We get a brief ref bump when Bubba hits Mark Curtis on his punch wind-up, Jimmy feeds Bubba the megaphone, but as Bubba gathers it Jarrett dropkicks him and causes the megaphone to hit him in the face. 1-2-3, and Jarrett prevails in front of a friendly home crowd.

Result: Jeff Jarrett via pinfall

Tony Schiavone grabs an interview with Jarrett. He notes that with Ric Flair out of action with an injury, Flair is unable to face The Giant at Halloween Havoc (no, I didn't know that was a scheduled match either). Schiavone says that Jarrett volunteered to step up in Flair's place, and has been granted the match opposite Giant at the PPV.

Harlem Heat (w/ Col. Parker & Sister Sherri) vs. The Faces of Fear (w/ Jimmy Hart): Non-title affair. As Meng attacks early, the crowd rises, and at the top of the aisle we see Chris Benoit, Mongo Michael, and Debra emerge. They're content to stay up there and watch for now. Booker misses terribly on a mafia kick, but knocks Meng down with a Harlem side kick. Stevie Ray gets the tag in and alternates between boring, sloppy, and boring/sloppy. In any case he and his brother are able to isolate Barbarian for a while. Meng finally creates an opening for a comeback when he just strolls down the apron and crotches Booker T, who was setting up for a top rope move. Barbarian follows him up and connects with the belly-to-belly superplex. Impressive-looking spot, but you can basically isolate two fans in the audience actually reacting to it.



Tag to Meng, who executes a sit-out powerbomb. Stevie makes the save at 2, but Booker is now the isolated wrestler. And…here comes the nWo. Scott Hall and Kevin Nash make their way through the crowd, but all four WCW wrestlers actually leave the ring and unite to stare them down. Hall and Nash back away, doing the cool guy "oooh we're so scared" childishness as they retreat.

Result: No Contest

After the break, Bischoff says that "if Randy Savage ever wrestles again," Hogan is in trouble. Wait, what? He walks off emotionally tonight and we're supposed to think that he's on the verge of retirement?

Anyway, Bischoff's string of nonsense is interrupted as the nWo comes out, Hogan at the lead, and Miss Elizabeth being forcibly taken out there with them. Hogan starts cutting a rambling promo on Macho Man. He calls Elizabeth "the best actress in the world," causing her to get mad enough to try to slap him, but she catches his hand and the nWo pulls her away. In mid-promo the Nasty Boys come out wearing nWo gear. Hogan tells them that he loves them more than his own family. Brian Knobbs has a contract in hand, and cheerfully mentions that there must be a mistake because there was supposed to be more money. Hogan points out that he hasn't signed the contract, and says, "You guys shouldn't have these shirts on if I haven't signed this." Then the nWo attacks them over it. I'm sure glad we spent so much time on this Nasty Boys nonsense for three months.



Hogan finishes cutting his promo on Savage, continuing to say over and over that Elizabeth is with him. The nWo comes and takes over the announce desk until their mics get cut. The show ends on them replaying some of that cringeworthy Savage/Liz stuff from earlier.

Overall: Absolute crap. Almost every single match was pointless filler, and the only mild enjoyment I got was some of Malenko-Armstrong as well as Nick Patrick's trolling of Teddy Long. That was way more than negated by all of the other garbage matches and the completely embarrassing emotional Savage/Liz stuff. Really bad episode. Knowing that Raw has Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels, I think we can already pencil it in as having the better show tonight.

RAW

Hershey, PA

We open on a quick hype video for tonight's Shawn Michaels vs. Steve Austin.

After the credits, we hear the start of Vader's music, as Kevin Kelly and Jim Ross welcome us to the show. Kelly mentions that we have Vince McMahon returning to the announce table next Monday night.

Vader (w/ Jim Cornette) vs. Phineas Godwinn (w/ Hillbilly Jim): Vader jumps Phineas before the bell. In the backdrop of this match, Jim Ross rants about how ridiculous it is that Vince and his huge ego are going to be back behind the announce table next week, and he and Kevin Kelly are being bumped out. He says that he doesn't work for Kevin Dunn, and that he's going to show up no matter what Dunn tells him.

As Vader is squashing Godwinn without resistance, Sid walks out to ringside and runs distraction. This enables Phineas to land a running clothesline, a back suplex, and he actually clears the ring with a clothesline over the top. Back inside, Phineas bodyslams him. Goes for the Slop Drop, Vader blocks, and we're into our ending sequence. Vader drops Phineas with a shoulderblock, sets him up in the corner, Vaderbomb, pinfall.



Result: Vader via pinfall

Jim Ross brings Mr. Perfect to the ring for an interview. He's scheduled to make his in-ring return on next week's live Raw. Pretty solid promo by Perfect to hype his return. As a big-time Mr. Perfect mark I was all kinds of stoked about this at the time, but this crowd doesn't really care too much.



Jerry Lawler comes out to wrestle the next match. He carries a mic to the ring and is cutting a promo, but the announcers talk over it. JR: "Can you imagine, this Sunday on PPV, I'm going to have to be sitting ringside with that man, a frustrated nightclub comedian who hasn't analyzed a wrestling hold in 20 years, and a guy - namely Vince McMahon - who doesn't even KNOW the names of the holds! I'm gonna have to carry the whole darn broadcast." As much of a bust as the Razor/Diesel 2.0 stuff was, hearing Ross rant like this is pretty fun.

Lawler goes on and on with alcoholic jokes about Jake until Jake's music finally hits for him to enter. He's slow to show up, as the announcers wonder where he is, but eventually he pulls the curtain back and staggers through holding a bottle of liquor. This ****ing angle.



Ross says the match shouldn't go on. Gorilla Monsoon shows up to check on Jake, but with Lawler unable to see him, Jake suddenly sobers up and indicates to Monsoon that he's just pretending to be drunk. Such an odd thing, since he actually was off the wagon here and would actually stagger out drunk for real in that casino indy show years later.

Jerry Lawler vs. Jake Roberts: Jake immediately plants Lawler with a DDT and ships the match in about five seconds.

Result: Jake Roberts via pinfall

Roberts pours liquor on Lawler after the match and then puts the snake on him as well.

We're onto the next edition of Jesse James as "the real Double J." Basically nothing new on this one.

Freddie Joe Floyd vs. Hunter Hearst-Helmsley: HHH, apparently paranoid about Mr. Perfect, actually handcuffs his valet of the night to the ringpost outside. I've seen very little of Tracy Smothers's work outside of this Freddie Joe Floyd business, but I know that he has a reputation has having been a good worker. You can easily see it in these squashes that he does; I find that he's more effective than any other enhancement talent they had hanging around at this point. Regardless of the handcuffs, Perfect strolls out to ringside as per usual during HHH's matches at this point. He heads over to visit with the blonde as Freddie Joe Floyd gets his token offense in. Perfect uncuffs the woman and leaves with her.

Regardless, HHH hits the Pedigree, and…Floyd kicks out? WTF? They play it off like HHH let him up because he got distracted by the Mr. Perfect situation, but look at that.



Helmsley does head out to confront Perfect, gets clocked by Perfect for his efforts, and then gets counted out.

Result: Freddie Joe Floyd via countout

Steve Austin cuts a promo from backstage on Bret Hart, calling him a coward for not facing him, and vowing to "whip the man's ass who whipped your ass" tonight.

Sunny comes out "The Stripper." The song. She introduces "the newest, hottest, sexiest thing going today in the World Wrestling Federation…me." A big Sunny poster rolls out from the ceiling.



Pre-taped Mankind/Paul Bearer promo from the cemetery, this time in the rain.

Faarooq vs. Alex "The Pug" Porteau: Sunny has joined on commentary, but reiterates that she and Faarooq have had an amicable split. On Faarooq, Jim Ross brings more real talk: "You know, that headgear is embarrassing. Isn't Vince McMahon, in addition to being an egomaniac, a marketing genius? Why would you put that headgear on a three-time All-American from Florida State University?" The Pug does some nice bumping here for Faarooq and makes this a watchable squash. Faarooq wins with the Dominator.



Result: Faarooq via pinfall

We get clips of Ahmed Johnson this past weekend on Livewire, when Faarooq called in and the two trash-talked back and forth. Ahmed came off way better than usual here as a talker. Unfortunately it was most certainly not the start of a new and improved trend for him.

Pre-taped Undertaker promo from the cemetery. The setting of these promos just had me tuning out for the most part, so I admittedly didn't give them much of a chance. Through glazed eyes, they seemed okay.

Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels (w/ Jose Lothario): Well right away I can see that we're not getting a long enough match for this to really be anything great. Jim Cornette, with Vader standing alongside, cuts a promo insisting that Vader is going to be taking the belt from Shawn at Survivor Series. Austin and Michaels engage in some basic chain wrestling. Michaels clings to a side headlock as they go to another PIP promo, this one from Sid. Alright, unfortunately this match is being treated as an afterthought, and we're going to have to wait until at least King of the Ring '97 to see any sort of good action from these two.

Austin ducks a superkick and goes sprawling out of the ring. After some stalling, Austin re-enters and momentarily hits Shawn with a stun gun. He tries to follow with a Stunner, but HBK escapes. After a commercial break, Shawn mounts Austin in the corner, but here comes Vader to make this match a no contest. Completely worthless match, as it turns out.

Result: No Contest

Savio Vega randomly tries for the save and gets turned away, but Sid does come out and chase Vader off. For some reason Razor and Diesel 2.0 are at the top of the aisle. Austin bumps Michaels into Sid for a bit of a collision, and now we have the overused babyface miscommunication leading to conflict.



The two have harsh words and yell back and forth, but Earl Hebner steps in and calms things down. Austin and Vader return, the faces hold the ring and celebrate together, and the show signs off.

Overall: Too bad about the main event being a total disappointment, because the rest of this show was at least an easy watch, and sort of entertaining. I'm very much looking forward to getting us past this coming PPV.

---

Ratings for 10/14/96: Nitro 3.3, Raw 1.8 (Raw's 1.8 is a new lowest rating of the Monday Night Wars)
Ratings Running Score: Nitro 33-17-2

Better Show: Raw is the clearly better show this week simply by not being terrible.
Better Show Running Score: Nitro 42-10

Match of the Night: Dean Malenko vs. Brad Armstrong

This is mostly how I remember Nitro after the nWo really got going. A few good cruiser matches and a whole bunch of the nWo jerking themselves off.

I remember enjoying the nWo less than everyone else did at the time, though I was still fascinated by it, but I assumed after the fact that I was partially letting my weird WWF tribalism get the better of me given how universally the nWo thing is worshiped.

I mean, nothing will possibly change the fact that it was a GOATish angle in terms of impact, but there's obviously a lot of difference between appreciating the impact of Hogan vs. Andre and actually having to watch it.

Hopefully things get better. I'm sure I'll at least push this thread through 1997 even if Nitro continues with its wild inconsistency.

The crowd really loved it when Luger was able to get Valentine up for the Rack there; I'm thinking that the whole story of that match was that Luger has to overcome the injury to do his finisher.

I enjoyed that episode of Nitro overall. Not great but miles ahead of the average Raw today. I want to know who wrote that Jarrett promo because it was surprisingly good, and I recall that he was one of the rare guys his age who wanted his promos scripted word for word.

I suppose that becomes the story at the end of the Luger-Valentine match by the sheer force of them having done it, but it sure seems like far better storytelling to me if he attempts it, is unable to do it, and has to win another way. It not only makes a better and more realistic story in that match, but it also probably makes Luger vs. Anderson look a bit more even heading into Halloween Havoc, since Arn is credible in kayfabe but clearly a notch or two below Lex.

I've definitely been surprised at Jarrett being legit entertaining for these first couple of Nitros. I don't think it kept on this way for long, but we'll see.

WWF IN YOUR HOUSE 11: BURIED ALIVE

Indianapolis, IN



We start on a video hyping the Buried Alive match between Undertaker and Mankind that will main event this show.

Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler, and Jim Ross are our announce team for the night. Ross starts right in with the hostility toward Vince, griping that his mic isn't working properly. Vince gives him his mic. Once Vince gets to a headset, he cheerfully and without a hint of irony says, "Everyone gets to speak their mind here in the World Wrestling Federation!" Good one, Vince.

Vince notes during the next ring intros that Faarooq got injured on the pre-show as a result of an attack from Ahmed Johnson, and won't be able to challenge Marc Mero for the Intercontinental Title tonight as scheduled. Goldust will get the title shot instead. Exciting.

Apparently this next match also features an injury replacement, as Hunter Hearst-Helmsley will step in for Savio Vega and face Steve Austin. Austin cuts a pre-match promo saying that Savio is faking an injury.

Hunter Hearst-Helmsley vs. Steve Austin: The rare heel vs. heel WWF match during this era. This is the debut of Austin's glass-shattering music. As the match sets to get going, Jim Ross's headset starts cutting out, obviously as a gag. He shows his displeasure with McMahon about it. Austin throws an armdrag, flips a double bird at HHH, and the crowd clearly prefers him between the two. There's quite a bit of stalling at the beginning of this match, as both men take turns getting into it with the crowd. Once the stalling plays out, Austin hits a series of quick strikes and takes the fight to Helmsley. His speed is noticeable compared to how he would work later in his career.

Hunter turns the match around after ducking a clothesline and driving a knee into Stone Cold's abdomen, then pounds away in the corner and executes a backdrop. A knee-drop and a back suplex later, we're into a rest hold sequence. Austin fights his way out, HHH tries to slap on a sleeper, Austin continually escapes, HHH finally gets it on but Austin is able to drop down and jack his jaw in an almost-Stunner. SCSA hangs Hunter with a stun gun, drops an elbow, gets a two-count. Austin wastes time jawing at the official and loses the advantage; HHH drops a knee and gets a two-count of his own.



Both guys go down on a double clothesline spot, and the crowd rises to their feet with a big pop as Mr. Perfect emerges from the back to do his usual girl-stealing routine. Helmsley confronts him outside the ring, Austin attacks Helmsley, but then Austin gets in Perfect's face too. Perfect backs him down and then starts to leave, but Austin stalks him down from behind and…throws a glass of water in his face. That's the least Stone Cold thing ever, and in hindsight the fact that Perfect didn't take a bump here was probably a hint that he's not actually wrestling tomorrow night either. Perfect takes umbrage to the water, but calms down and begins leaving with the valet anyway. HHH goes for the Pedigree, sees Perfect leaving with his arm candy, and gives up the hold to go get in his face again.



Austin attacks from behind, attempts a suplex on the floor, HHH blocks and delivers a suplex on the concrete floor himself. Sets up for a Pedigree on the floor, but Austin counters and catapults Helmsley into the post. Steve returns HHH inside, Stone Cold Stunner, and gets the three to an obvious face pop. Solid match.



Result: Steve Austin via pinfall
Rating: **3/4

Video recap of the Smoking Gunns losing the belts and losing Sunny. Dok Hendrix joins the Gunns backstage for an interview, and Billy cuts a promo saying, "Once I beat Owen Hart and the British Bulldog, and once I regain the Tag Team Titles, Sunny will be right back by my side." Bart reminds him that it's "we" and tries to get him to focus on the match.

Tag Team Titles - Owen Hart & The British Bulldog (c) (w/ Clarence Mason) vs. The Smoking Gunns: For WWF it's exceptionally weird to now have two heel vs. heel matches in a row to open a show. Owen and Billy with a couple of back-and-forth mat wrestling exchanges. Owen goes for a hip-toss, Billy blocks, Owen backflips out to set up another move, but Billy demolishes him with a clothesline. Billy goes up top to attempt a move, but Owen hits him in the gut on the way down. Bulldog in, the champs double clothesline Billy and then Owen trips him in a drop toe-hold to set up a Davey Boy legdrop on the back of his head.



Owen and Davey break the wishbone, and now Davey takes over on offense. Kid on the hard camera side is wearing a Sonics jersey. **** you, David Stern. Bulldog comes up empty on a corner charge, Bart takes a cheap shot as Billy distracts referee Jack Doan, and Bart tags in to take over. He misses with a flying bodypress off the top. Davey hits his own flying bodypress for a two-count, then tags in Owen and holds up Bart for the Owen missile dropkick off the top.



Another double clothesline by the champs. Bulldog whips Bart into one corner and then the other. Sunny watches on in a skimpy red dress from the back. Bart gets whipped into the ropes and ends up running into a distracted Billy. As the two Gunns jaw back and forth, Owen schoolboys Bart and nearly gets the three. Billy gets his mind right and goes back to attacking the enemy, taking a cheap shot on Owen from outside and then hanging him along the top rope. Billy tags in, and the Gunns execute a double Russian legsweep. The Gunns work together to isolate Owen from there. They set up for the Sidewinder, Bulldog sneaks into the ring and up behind Bart quietly, and pulls Bart back as Billy comes off the top for the legdrop. Spinning heel kick by Owen, 1-2-3, champs retain. Like with Austin in the first match, the fans clearly preferred Owen and Davey and they pop for the win. Pretty good match.



Result: Owen Hart & The British Bulldog via pinfall
Rating: ***

Jim Ross suddenly gets in the ring and starts ranting about his headset problems on the house mic. He proceeds to take credit for Bret Hart appearing tomorrow night on Raw. He says that Bret Hart told him "he's coming back with a shovel, because he's going to bury some people." Not sure I've ever otherwise heard "bury" get used on WWF TV the way internet smarks use it. Ross angrily flips his mic to Vince at ringside and storms off. I guess it's just Vince and Lawler the rest of the way.



We see clips from the Free For All of dueling promos between Faarooq and Ahmed Johnson. Later in the Free For All, we see Faarooq laid out in the locker room and Ahmed standing over him brandishing a 2x4 as officials back Ahmed down. So Faarooq is injured now, and as mentioned he's out for tonight's scheduled title shot at Marc Mero.

Mr. Perfect's music hits, Jim Ross appears with him at the top of the aisle, and Perfect shakes his hand and heads to the ring. Perfect takes Ross's place on commentary, saying he's out here to watch the Intercontinental Title match.

Intercontinental Title - Marc Mero (c) (w/ Sable) vs. Goldust (w/ Marlena): Mero throws a series of armdrags, a drop toehold, and settles into an armbar. Goldust breaks out, but Mero repeats the same sequence. Goldust powers Mero into a corner and goes to work, then spits on him. A pissed-off Mero connects on a series of punches and a headscissor, knocks Goldust out of the ring and then follows him out with a somersault plancha. Back inside with the slingshot legdrop for two. Mero's fire gets put out when Goldust catches him climbing to the top rope and sort of powerslams him to the mat.

Hard clothesline by Goldust gets two, and now the challenger locks in a reverse chinlock. The Wildman launches a comeback with a flying bodypress that gets two, then gets put down hard by a running clothesline.



After the clothesline Goldust goes over and asks for a mic, then shouts angrily at the crowd. What an odd time for a stalling sequence. Anyway, once he finally gets back to business, Mero back suplexes him. He follows with that silly thing where he climbs the ropes, hops and does a 180, bounces again and moonsaults his opponent. I'll just call that a 180 moonsault for shorthand if it's going to become a signature spot. The 180 moonsault gets a two-count. Goldust manages to ram Mero into the corner and then sets up for the Curtain Call, but Mero escapes and rolls him up legs-first for two. Goldust backdrops him over the top to the floor.



Mr. Perfect gets up and is going to get involved in the match. HHH comes down to confront him. Goldust goes to attack Perfect from behind, but Perfect turns around and nails him. Look at who didn't bump again. Perfect chases HHH off. In the meantime, Mero has gained an advantage, returned Goldust to the ring, slammed him, and he executes the Wild Thing (shooting star press) for the three-count.

Result: Marc Mero via pinfall
Rating: **1/2

Hype video for Sid vs. Vader. They're framing this along the lines of who has the stronger powerbomb, as if Sid is going to powerbomb Vader or something.

#1 Contender Match - Sid vs. Vader (w/ Jim Cornette): Shawn Michaels, the purported Survivor Series opponent of the winner of this match, comes to the ringto do commentary. He makes a stop in the ring and fist-bumps Sid, then provokes Vader. Vader tries clotheslining Shawn but instead hits Sid, to no effect. Sid starts throwing fists and puts the big man down, then executes a big legdrop for an early near-fall. I always liked the elevation Sid got on his legdrops.

Sid goes for a bodyslam and fails, leading Vader to lay into him and pound him across the ring and into the opposite corner with repeated punches. Short clothesline. Avalanche in the corner connects, and leads Sid to slump to the mat and then roll outside. Cornette wallops Sid with his tennis racket during a ref distraction. As Sid slowly re-enters, he actually seems to get the better of some fisticuffs, and throws a surprising sunset flip over the top, but Vader pounds him down. Vader wastes time showboating, and then when he slaps on a side headlock he gets back suplexed.

Sid actually seemed to be moving quickly and working hard here, which was always a very consistent sign that he was going to win the match. Seriously, there is a marked difference in how hard Sid goes when he's winning vs. when he's losing. It's pretty much what you can expect from a guy who was always liable to disappear during a big feud or angle to go play softball. The reason I brought this up is that, after the slingshot sunset flip a moment ago, he actually goes to the top rope and attempts a cross-body here, though Vader does catch him and slam him down.



Splash by Vader gets two. He sets Sid up near the corner and then executes a splash off the second rope. He pulls Sid up on the two-count deliberately. Cornette screams at his man to just pin him, but Vader gets up and goes for the Vaderbomb. You know what happens next. Sid gets his knees up on the Vaderbomb, hits a running clothesline, and bodyslams the big man. He sets up for a powerbomb that he can't possibly do, Cornette distracts him into not following through, a moment later he tries again, but Vader hits him with a low blow to escape it.

Vader goes for a powerbomb, but can't get Sid up. Sid quickly connects with a chokeslam and makes the pin to punch his ticket to Survivor Series. Vader's chances of recovering his main event status in the WWF clearly died here.



Result: Sid via pinfall
Rating: *1/2

Shawn Michaels enters and congratulates his friend. They shake hands.

After a Survivor Series advertisement, Dok Hendrix is interviewing Sid in the back when Jim Ross busts in telling Dok to stop asking softball questions. JR asks Sid whether he once turned on Michaels and powerbombed him five times, Sid says yes. JR asks Sid if he's willing to do whatever it takes, including breaking Shawn Michaels's back, to win the WWF Title in November. Sid says yes he is.

Another video hype package later, it's time for our main event.

Buried Alive Match - Mankind (w/ Paul Bearer) vs. The Undertaker: Incidentally, in a model of 12 PPVs per year, I appreciate them turning a major non-title match into the main event of a minor PPV. This is the type of thing that should happen a lot with monthly PPVs. The gimmick here is that there is a whole gravesite setup in the arena, and the only way to win is to bury your opponent in it. Taker attacks the moment he hits the ring, and the two go back and forth with some basic brawling to start. Taker bounces out of the corner on a whip, then violently turns Mankind back in toward that same corner and beats him down. Mankind rolls out, tries to pull Taker out with him, but Taker kicks him off hard, and Foley takes one of those gruesome bumps to the back of his head, as that seems to be the impact point as he whips back into the steel guardrail. That really seems like one where the pain and potential long-term damage far outweigh the benefit to the match, awesome though the bump was.



Taker gets up top and executes a diving shoulderblock from the top to the floor. As a point of context, this feud was really the first time Taker ever came close to busting out moves like dives to the floor. Pre-1996, he just moved around slowly and no-sold stuff. The two brawl down the aisle and arrive at the mound of artificial ground built up as a gravesite. Mankind hits him with a shovel. He goes for a suplex, but Taker counters into a small package that causes both to tumble down the little hill together. They head back toward the ring, with periodic uppercuts by Taker on the way there.

The dead man smashes Foley into the steps, then returns him inside. That doesn't last for long, as he simply knocks Mankind outside on the other side. He chokes Mankind with a microphone cord, then dumps him over the guardrail into the crowd. After brawling about 10-15 feet into the crowd, Taker whips Mankind back toward the guardrail, and Mankind goes bumping over it. Taker gets a running start and clears the guardrail, jumping over it with a flying clothesline.



The action returns inside, where Taker attempts to do the tightrope walk, but ends up getting crotched due to the interference of Paul Bearer when he goes to walk the ropes. Mankind takes over and beats UT from one corner to the next. When Taker blocks a corner smash and launches a comeback, Bearer feeds a pen or something to Mankind, who jabs Taker with it a number of times as Vince protests that even in a no DQ match that shouldn't be allowed. Lawler correctly defends it as "ANYTHING goes"…then Taker gets the object and starts using it, prompting Lawler to say, "You're right, this is not fair." Jumping clothesline by Undertaker. Legdrop. Taker goes outside and starts to go after Paul Bearer, unprovoked as far as I can tell. Mankind ends up smashing him in the face with a steel chair. Mankind begins licking the chair. Gotta hand it to him, he was very committed to putting this weirdo character over.



Mankind does the running knee smash into the head of Undertaker, who is sat up against the steps. From there, the fight heads back toward the gravesite. Mankind kicks the dead man into the grave, but when he starts shoveling dirty in, Taker fights his way back out, then flings Mankind off the hill to the floor.



The action returns to the ring. Mankind executes his seated piledriver. He goes for a pin, but referee Earl Hebner just yells at him for being stupid. Bearer slides a chair into the ring, and Mankind double-arm DDTs Taker into it. He wastes time from there, and Undertaker sits up, takes the chair, clobbers Mankind with it, then sets it on his face and drops a leg on it. Foley rolls out to safety, then exposes part of the floor. He's going to piledrive UT into it, but Taker blocks and picks him up over his back, then falls backward into the steps to smash Mankind into them. Taker tosses the stairs inside, and clobbers Mankind with them when he enters. Twice. He executes the Tombstone, then points from the ring to the gravesite. He carries him there on his shoulders, but once they arrive Mankind slaps on the Mandible Claw. Bearer tosses Mankind the urn, but when Mankind goes to use it as a weapon, Taker chokeslams him into the grave.



The burial begins from there; Taker covers him with dirt as Mankind lays there motionless, and that's the end of the match. I didn't really remember this match, and I didn't have high hopes for it, but it was highly entertaining.

Result: Undertaker via burial
Rating: ***3/4

Taker continues to shovel dirt on as officials try to stop him. He pushes a couple of officials off the hill and continues with the burial. As Vince suggests that this is going too far, a large masked man suddenly enters the shot and clobbers Undertaker with a shovel. He beats him down, digs Mankind out, and then they put Taker in the grave and the two of them quickly cover him completely in dirt. Suddenly Goldust, Justin Hawk Bradshaw, Crush, and yes, Triple H, appear with their own shovels and continue burying Undertaker further. It made me way too happy to see HHH in this group.



This sequence goes on forever, as we literally watch dudes shovel dirt for like five minutes. Finally we hear a booming thunder sound, which causes the supplemental diggers to scatter. Mankind, Bearer, and the masked man stick around to finish the job, then watch on as suddenly a lightning bolt hits the grave. Taker's purple glove emerges from the grave, and the show signs off.

Overall: Surprisingly solid show. Granted that little of actual consequence happened, but most of the wrestling was at least watchable, and the main event was surprisingly good. I went in expecting a garbage PPV and was pleasantly surprised. As lame and stupid as some of the Undertaker's supernatural stuff always was, the Taker/Mankind feud was a very strong one from a match standpoint.

Looking forward to the following night's Raw, I remember the two big events there very clearly. If I remember right, this was the first time TSN aired Raw live in Canada.

I've been looking forward to this next Raw for a while too. Feels like maybe it's the start of the company turning a corner, though I'm not sure whether that's true or not. It might take until Bret is a weekly character for things to fully pick up.

I've just finished rereading Mick's 2 books so it's nice to see him crushing itt right now. He considers Mind Games to be his best match and on the short list of 3 best things he ever did in wrestling, and after watching it a few times (here + the touney) lately it's right up there with his RR match for me. But man I hate that ending.

This buried alive match was a lot better than I anticipated as well. I was under the impression all of them sucked, but this was quite good. Love that barrier leaping clothesline by taker.

They should've framed it as the ill fated match from Starrcade 1993. Amazingly this match would've been hugely anticipated in '93 but here, it's just kind of, there.

lol'ed

No idea what happens on the next RAW but you guys are hyping it well so I'm looking forward to the recap.

Good stuff, LKJ

Allow me to lower expectations: it's a momentous Raw, but it's a mixed bag in terms of how good it particularly is.

October 21, 1996

RAW

Fort Wayne, IN

Hype video for tonight's show kicks us off, focusing on the return of Bret Hart and the advertised in-ring return of Mr. Perfect.

After credits, Sid enters as Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler introduce tonight's episode.

Sid vs. Owen Hart (w/ Clarence Mason): My inner Owen mark is displeased that he drew what is likely jobber duty for the night against the WWF's new #1 contender. Sid powers Owen down a couple of times, Owen kips up, and Sid quickly grabs and tosses him over the top anyway.



Owen re-enters with a missile dropkick that floors the big man, then he follows with a clothesline over the top. Bulldog joins the party, as he runs down to the ring and tries to get his licks in. Sid blocks his punch and grabs on for an apparent chokeslam, but Owen runs out and clips Sid's knee from behind. Commercial.

After break, Owen is still in control, and posts Sid's leg. Then he runs distraction and Davey does the same thing. Owen keeps fixating on the same limb, but his momentum gets stopped when Sid catches his cross-body attempt and slams him. He limps and misses on a legdrop though, and the focused leg attack continues by Owen, with a leg whip and then a grapevine of sorts. Tries to lock on the Sharpshooter, but Sid powers out. Sid is attempting to sell this whole thing, but he's really really terrible at it, and his limping all looks extremely fake. He chokeslams Owen and then sets up for the powerbomb, but Davey runs in for the blatant DQ.

Result: Sid via DQ

Shawn Michaels to the rescue. Sid clears out Owen, HBK clears out Davey. Sid shakes his hand, but explains that he doesn't need the help. Michaels says okay, fist-bumps Sid, and leaves without incident.

We see a recap in stills of last night's buried alive match between Undertaker and Mankind. They name the masked Mankind/Bearer ally from last night "The Executioner." That's an over-the-hill Terry Gordy, by the way. I'm pretty sure his involvement with the WWF is over by the turn of the year.

Jim Ross joins the commentary team before the next match.

The Smoking Gunns vs. The Godwinns (w/ Hillbilly Jim): Bart Gunn and Phineas Godwinn kick things off, with Bart elbowing his way out of a hammerlock and slamming Phineas as the show goes to commercial. After returning from break, Billy pulls the top rope down from the apron and causes Phineas to spill outside as he was running toward it. The Gunns attempt a double-team where Billy launches off of Bart into the corner, but it misses, enabling the hot tag from Phineas to Henry. Back elbow by Henry, powerslam, save by Billy. Phineas clears Billy out, the Godwinns both whip Bart into the ropes, he runs into Billy (who was attempting to climb back in), Slop Drop by Henry, 1-2-3. The Gunns squabble a bit after the match, but with no major result.



Result: The Godwinns via pinfall

We get Hall of Fame announcements for Pat Patterson, Jimmy Snuka, and Vince McMahon Sr. Apparently they did HoF inductions on Survivor Series weekend at this point, and held it in a Marriott.

Back at the arena, Mr. Perfect is warming up when Hunter Hearst-Helmsley suddenly pushes a cart into his leg. As a young fan who was jacked to see Perfect's return to the ring after an absence of over three years, my heart dropped. I immediately realized that I'd been taken for a ride by the WWF bait-and-switch machine. Jackasses.



(Note: I realized as I saw this on this occasion that I was maybe reading too much into Perfect's non-bumps at the PPV, since he sort of took one here.)

After the break, Jim Ross brings out Bret Hart. Amazingly, WWF fulfilled their advertising in this case and he actually shows up.



Ross asks Bret what's next for him. Bret says that "a certain rival wrestling organization" made him a great offer and had nothing but nice things to say about his dealings with them. He said that suddenly he had a dilemma about where he should wrestle if he does decide to keep wrestling. Vince mumbles "I can't believe this is happening" and then the camera shows him glaring kind of intently through Bret.



Bret says he's done a lot of soul-searching, but says that he owes all of his success to his WWF fans. Wrestlers are shown watching this promo in the back, including Steve Austin, Brian Pillman, and our first Raw glimpse of Rocky Maivia.



Bret says, "I won't be going anywhere. I'll be with the WWF forever." A relieved Vince claps his hands. Bret says that, with regard to why he left, he wants to be clear that Shawn Michaels beat him fair and square and that he has no excuse for it. He says, "I regard Shawn Michaels as my opponent, not my enemy…but Shawn Michaels, there's something about you that just really bugs me." He calls Shawn a great champion, but says that Shawn will never be as tough as him or as smart as him. Bret continues, "I think Richard Nixon said it best: 'You learn from defeat, and you come back and you beat 'em the next time.'" Leave it to the most paranoid and jaded wrestler to find his inspiration in Richard Nixon.

Bret says that he will accept the challenge of "the best wrestler in the WWF today," and says that he will face Stone Cold Steve Austin at Survivor Series. Brian Pillman gets all giddy about this announcement backstage, and Austin turns around with a mind toward backhanding him.



Bret refers to MSG as "holy ground," and says, "We'll see who kicks whose ass." Bret transitions into a story of his young nephew falling seriously ill and unfortunately passing away, and that the biggest reason he's coming back is to fulfill his promise he made to his nephew to come out of retirement for him. Unfortunately that's a true story. In closing, Bret says, "I can't dance, and I probably don't pose too well for girlie books, but I'm the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be, and I'm back." Strong segment.

Hunter Hearst-Helmsley heads to the ring for his match against Mr. Perfect, which is still being advertised to be minutes away. After a Karate Fighters promo, Perfect comes out with Marc Mero and Sable, with Gorilla Monsoon trailing behind. Perfect is hobbled. Jim Ross comes in and asks what's going on. Monsoon says that, based on what the doctor told him, he's not allowing Mr. Perfect to wrestle tonight. Perfect says that Marc Mero has offered to wrestle in his place. HHH says he has no obligation to wrestle Mero, and will only do it if Mero agrees to put his title on the line. Mero agrees to it, and we're going to have a title match next.

Intercontinental Title - Marc Mero (c) (w/ Sable & Mr. Perfect) vs. Hunter Hearst-Helmsley: After a break, the match has already started. Mero throws a couple of armdrags and locks in an armbar. Once back to their feet, Mero dropkicks Hunter out of the ring, then threatens a somersault plancha before Helmsley pulls Sable into the way. The Wildman rolls out and gets some right hands in, returns the action to the middle, and executes a backslide that gets two. HHH ducks a clothesline and performs a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker.

Suplex by Helmsley. Knee-drop. Whip and a knee-lift. Hunter showboats, Mero takes him down with a double-leg, then catapults him into the corner and rolls him up for two. Hard clothesline by Hunter puts him down as the show goes to break. After returning from break, Mero hits a partially-botched slingshot legdrop, then follows with a corner whip and a Samoan drop. He heads up top for the Wild Thing, but HHH blatantly shoves referee Tim White into the ropes, and Mero gets crotched. Seems like an obvious DQ, but no. HHH climbs the ropes and goes for a superplex, Mero knocks him off and connects on a 180 moonsault for a near-fall.

Tim White gets bumped, so we don't have a referee. HHH picks up a chair. Sable tries to grab it away, Perfect grabs it away from both, then he waffles Mero with it. Once the impromptu match was set up, this was super duper obvious. Pedigree by HHH, and we have a new Intercontinental Champion.



Result: "…and NEW World Wrestling Federation Intercontinental Champion," HHH via pinfall

Perfect hugs HHH and celebrates with him as Vince registers his rage about the whole thing. This was Hunter's first of many title wins. He actually briefly graduated from the harp music to actually using Mr. Perfect's music as an entrance theme, but Perfect wasn't long for the company after this, and I think that HHH entering to Perfect's music may have only ever happened once on Superstars.

Overall: Well, as you can tell I regard the false advertising on Perfect's return to be a real cheap shot, but the plot twist does at least follow logically as a long-term setup by Helmsley. The show did feel big, and the Bret interview was really well-done, so it was at least a decent show and I would call it good if you could get past the whole "openly swindling their own loyal fans" aspect.

NITRO

Mankato, MN

Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko welcome us to Minnesota for this, the go-home show for Halloween Havoc. We get the recap of the embarrassing Liz/Randy Savage stuff from last week, with Liz telling him that she was still in love with him and Savage getting emotional and leaving. Tony trusts Elizabeth; Larry doesn't.

Bobby Eaton vs. Chris Jericho: Bobby appears to have reclaimed his American citizenship, as he's back in his old look. As Jericho enters, Syxx and Fake Sting hang up an nWo banner near one of the tunnel entrances in the crowd. Not much of interest to start this match. Eaton semi-botches a powerslam spot. Jericho hits a spinning wheel kick, then follows with a springboard dropkick off the turnbuckle. Eaton hangs Jericho along the top rope on his way back in, then re-enters and connects with a back elbow to get two. Nick Patrick is our referee here, hamming up the discomfort of a neck injury.

The two trade punches, then actually punch each other simultaneously for a double knockdown. Jericho rolls out and Eaton follows him. Jericho charges Eaton, Eaton dodges, Jericho elbows the ringpost. He recovers and manages to backdrop Eaton on the concrete. Back inside, Jericho whips the veteran into the ropes, but Eaton bounces off and quickly executes a swinging neckbreaker. Eaton up top, Jericho follows him up, Eaton knocks him off and then hits a knee-drop off the top. Slow cover, slow count, two. Missile dropkick by Jericho, quick cover gets three. It's nice to see a missile dropkick actually ship a match.



Result: Chris Jericho via pinfall

Schiavone grabs an interview with Jericho, and asks him about the nWo guys in the crowd. Apparently we're getting Jericho vs. Syxx at Halloween Havoc. Seemed like Sean Waltman was a noticeably worse worker in WCW than he was in WWF, but I'd still like to think that match could be good.

After a commercial, we get a hype video for another upcoming Halloween Havoc match, Dean Malenko vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. I don't really remember this event, but I'm getting my hopes up for it. As an aside, WCW's hype videos were ****ing awful and never got better. Thankfully it doesn't take anything to get me excited for Mysterio vs. Malenko.

Jimmy Graffiti vs. Dean Malenko: I had to look up who Jimmy Graffiti was, since he did look familiar. This was Jimmy Delray, formerly of the Heavenly Bodies. He doesn't have facial hair here, and he wrestles in jorts. Also he's rocking an oversized shirt that has "WCW" on it multiple times, so I foresee big things for this gimmick. Still, he was a decent hand in the ring, so let's see how this goes. Dueling arm-wringers, Malenko puts Graffiti down twice but Graffiti kips up both times. The two continue to do hold-counterhold for a moment, then separate. Float-over DDT by Graffiti gets two. Sit-out powerbomb gets the same.

Graffiti whips Dean into the ropes, misses on a clothesline but then connects on a superkick. I'm a bit surprised there wasn't an arms race between WCW and WWF where the wrestlers start using the finishers of the other company's stars as transitional moves. Uppercut by Malenko knocks his man to the floor. After some good early chain wrestling, this has become pretty slow and disjointed. Nice crisp belly-to-back suplex by Dean. Jumping side kick. Malenko reverses a corner whip and follows with a short clothesline, then executes a delayed suplex. Dean does a cross-body that carries both out, and it sure looked like Jimmy hit the front of his head pretty damn hard on the apron.



He toughs it out though, enough to do that ****ing "jump feet-first into the guy with a leg finisher" spot. Malenko catches him, applies the Texas Cloverleaf, and let's move onto the next match. Not terrible or anything, but certainly on the low end of Malenko's expected range.

Result: Dean Malenko via submission

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Sgt. Craig Pittman (w/ Teddy Long): With Teddy Long still on the apron, Page rams Pittman into him to start the match, then throws elbows and forearms at Pittman in the corner. Sarge catches a kick attempt, but DDP spins out and hits a clothesline. Pancake gets two, and Pittman throws DDP off violently, causing him to fall on Nick Patrick, who sells it as a terribly painful back injury. Pittman with an armdrag, his finishing cross armbar, and for some reason Teddy Long gets on the apron and distracts.



Schiavone said Page gave up, though this was a pre-tapout era and I don't really know. Once Pittman gives the hold up, DDP immediately hits the Diamond Cutter for the win. That was a super weird ending, where it really was more like Teddy Long deliberately screwed his own man than Nick Patrick actually did anything wrong in kayfabe. Maybe a Teddy heel turn coming up? I don't remember that happening, but I don't tend to remember much of Teddy Long's career. He basically peaked at performing the sub-in three-count for Flair-Steamboat I.

Result: DDP via pinfall

Pittman gets mad at Long and storms off. Long gets mad at Patrick, blaming him, and they jaw a bit. Schiavone grabs an interview with Patrick and asks him if he realizes that DDP had given up. Patrick of course pleads ignorance. Tony says, "Second straight week, nWo Saturday Night, it's very obvious that you're the referee under the mask." Patrick denies and says, "You know what happened to the last announcer who started spreading rumors about me."



After commercial, we get a recap of Flair being beaten down by the nWo backstage a few weeks ago. Then we see a clip of Jeff Jarrett's promo from two weeks ago, where he agreed to step in on Flair's behalf and face The Giant.

Ron Studd vs. Jeff Jarrett: Ric Flair strolls down to the ring after the two wrestlers enter. Studd clears out for him. Flair stands aside and invites Jarrett to do the Flair ripoff strut. He gets booed. Flair has Randy Anderson take his coat off for him and then does his own strut. Jarrett does his again, again gets booed. Flair does his, gets cheered. The Nature Boy goes nose to nose with Jarrett, then shakes his hand and leaves. What a weird interlude.

Studd grabs Jarrett up in a chokehold and drops him. Tries to follow with a suplex, but Jeff blocks and executes his own suplex on the massive Studd.



Figure-four, and the former gigantic mummy/ninja quickly submits.

Result: Jeff Jarrett via submission

Jarrett cuts a promo after the match, calling on WCW to go on the offensive and start taking the fight to the nWo. Flair joins the promo and says he's going to stand in Jarrett's corner at Halloween Havoc, and further vows that he's going to make it back to action and that the Horsemen are going to kick nWo's ass.

We go to the second hour of the show and turn the steering wheel over to Eric Bischoff, Mike Tenay, and Bobby Heenan. Bischoff says that Randy Savage is scheduled for action tonight, but that he hasn't seen him yet in the arena. They send it to the ring.

The gigantic and ridiculous-looking Roadblock enters. Even the announcers react with "WTF is this ****." Gives Bastion Booger a run for his money when it comes to degrading fat guy gimmicks.



Roadblock vs. Lex Luger: Luger's ribs are no longer taped this week. He clotheslines Roadblock over the top, follows the big man to the floor and then posts him. We get a PIP promo from Arn Anderson. Roadblock throws a terrible-looking clothesline. And another one. He seems especially bad, though he did have the flexibility to flip out over the top rope on the clothesline and land on his feet. Luger starts no-selling, then powerslams the big man coming off the ropes. He goes for the Torture Rack, briefly has him up, but drops him. Second try fails as well. He keeps after it, and the third time is a charm. He manages to get the big man up and cause a quick submission. As bad as the ringwork here was, it was short and that last spot is an awesome feat of strength to watch.



Result: Lex Luger via submission

Harlem Heat (w/ Sister Sherri & Col. Parker) vs. The American Males: Nick Patrick is the referee, and strains his shoulder just holding up the Heat's belts for a moment before the match. The announcers don't notice it, but it's a funny bit going on in the background. Nick Patrick sells better than lots of wrestlers.



Stevie Ray vs. Scotty Riggs to start. Stevie throws a front powerslam. The Males try to double-team him, but it doesn't take. Stevie tags Booker, so now the match can actually begin. He promptly takes an over-the-top bump when Marcus Bagwell hip-tosses him over the top rope. Certainly seems like Nick Patrick would call that a DQ, but not in this case. After a dropkick by Bagwell, we go to commercial.

Booker whips Bagwell into a corner, but eats a boot following him in. Bagwell turns him inside out with a clothesline, but he gets stopped when Stevie drives a knee into his back from the apron. Scott Hall and Kevin Nash are out to showboat under the nWo banner that Syxx and Fake Sting put up earlier. Stevie Ray works Bagwell over in the corner, slowly pounding down right right hands. Tag to Booker, who throws a flying forearm. It's been a hot crowd, but they seemed to all drop dead the moment the American Males music hit. They do pop, though, when Bagwell catches Booker hard with a dropkick as Booker flies off the ropes.



I know, I give away what types of spots are my favorite based on repeatedly giffing them in various matches. Scotty Riggs gets a…hot…tag. Double dropkick by the Males. Riggs knocks Col. Parker off the apron. Booker T hits a Harlem side kick on Riggs. Stevie quickly covers after that, count gets to maybe three, Riggs kicks out, Patrick thinks about it and then calls the match over. Seems more like an awkward botch than Patrick shenanigans, but on the other hand it did seem like it was supposed to be a pinfall spot. Who knows. Match mostly sucked.

Result: Harlem Heat via pinfall

The Fantastics vs. The Faces of Fear (w/ Jimmy Hart): Definitely didn't know the Fantastics were still a thing by this point. To their credit, they look younger than the Rock 'n Roll Express. Meng hammers Tommy Rogers from the get-go, driving a boot into his throat. He basically no-sells a couple of Rogers dropkicks. Some double-teaming by the Fantastics barely does anything. They're being buried as hard as no-name local jobbers do.

Powerbomb by the Barbarian. Backbreaker. As the camera catches a momentary tight shot of Jimmy Hart, Bischoff riffs, "You see the lips on that guy, Jimmy Hart? They never stop moving. I'd like to see somebody make wax lips. Put a pair right on Jimmy Hart, and shut him up." What on earth. Piledriver by Meng. Double headbutt. Bischoff says that the nWo better be prepared for a surprise tonight, but won't expand on it. The Fantastics do manage to double suplex Barbarian, then connect on double missile dropkick for two. Obviously that was just the token offense though, because Barbarian catches a cross-body attempt, holds Rogers up, and Meng kicks the **** out of Rogers's face, making the pin academic from there.



Result: Faces of Fear via pinfall

Random aside: they really don't use Eddie Guerrero enough on these Nitros lately.

After a commercial, Bischoff indicates that he's excited about something. He's still teasing a surprise. But in the meantime he kicks it to recap coverage of the terrible Liz/Randy stuff from last week. I fast-forward.

J.L. vs. nWo Sting: Most of the nWo, sans Hogan, makes their way down the stairs to watch their factionmate. Fake Sting goes through the Sting signature moves, pounds his chest a few times and "woo"s, then locks on the Scorpion Deathlock. Before a bell ever rings, here comes…



Result: No Contest

Scorpion Death Drop by Sting, the first time we've seen that. Drops a couple of elbows, executes a Stinger splash. The announcers are all freaked out that he's wearing black and white, and Bischoff says that while he had people telling him that Sting was here, he wasn't expecting this, that this wasn't the type of leader he had in mind. It seemed like a weird reaction to me, but I guess they were selling it like another rendition of the nWo backstabbing their own guy (in this case the fake Sting). As he locks on the Scorpion Deathlock, the nWo comes into the ring. He releases the hold.



Ted DiBiase gets a mic and asks for a warm reaction for the real Stinger. Ted offers him a warm welcome, and says they could use a guy like him. Nash takes the mic: "Stinger, if I may quote my most favorite American poet, Jim Morrison: I think it's time you break on through to the other side." Hall points at fake Sting and adds, "We bring this guy out, a fake imposter - and nobody knows about that better than us - cuz we knew it would get to you. WCW tells you to stick it? We want you to know, we're taking over, and with you there's no stopping us." Sting actually has an evil smile on his face as the nWo proposition him.



Sting takes the mic. "That right there is your cheap imitation. You get what you pay for, don't you? The real Sting may or may not be in your price range. But the only thing that's for sure about Sting is that nothing's for sure." He drops the mic and walks off. As Nitro goes to break, Bischoff says, "Whoa whoa WHOA. Savage is here."

After break, Chris Benoit makes his entrance for a purported match with Randy Savage. Savage's music hits, and after significant delay Savage emerges from the back in all black, not dressed to wrestle. Bischoff intercepts him for an interview. First, Bischoff apologizes. "I'm sorry. But I've got something I want you to see…" Mizreally.gif. He shows him an nWo ad. Hulk Hogan is on his movie set, filming The Three Ninjas. In a segment that drags, he continually tries to pressure Liz into filming something convincing Savage that she still loves him. Liz continually resists.

Bischoff asks Savage for his thoughts. Savage just glares through his sunglasses and starts to walk off, but he doubles back. "I've got something to say. It just occurred to me how fragile friendships and relationships can be. You, Eric Bischoff, you and I both know how fragile business can be. Even marriage is fragile. But Hulk Hogan, life is fragile." With that, he walks off, and the show fades to black. Hey, as cringeworthy as some of the Liz stuff is, that last moment is a strong close for a go-home show. I'm a sucker for a good death threat.



Overall: Really good episode. Almost everything was at least watchable, we got the first appearance of black-and-white Sting, and the last moment of the show made me actually somewhat look forward to the main event of Havoc despite knowing better. Also lots of cool little moments like Luger racking that gigantic Roadblock dude. I would gladly take this quality every week.

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Ratings for 10/21/96: Nitro 3.2, Raw 2.6
Ratings Running Score: Nitro 34-17-2

Better Show: Not a snap-decision this week. Raw had the more important episode to where its company was going, but Nitro laid a big seed of the Sting angle to come too. With this being close, it's only right that I throw the decision to WCW due to WWF's scummy bait-and-switch practices.
Better Show Running Score: Nitro 43-10

Match of the Night: Marc Mero vs. HHH

Out of curiosity, did others enjoy the whole Nick Patrick thing like I did? I find him to be a consistently funny part of every episode.

Listening to TLF for The Cade '94. They talk about Stevie Ray sucking. They also say that during a lawsuit it came out that he was making $650k/year .

Yeah, I have to assume that unlike some other opinions I hold, my take on Stevie Ray must be pretty universal. You wouldn't figure him to be such a totally worthless stiff when you saw how hard his brother would go and it seems like they came up together, but Stevie really weighs down every match he's in.

I usually only bother with Lapsed Fans of events I've seen, and I haven't seen Starrcade '94. The concept of Ed Leslie main eventing a company's #1 show has always been enough to keep me from even being morbidly curious about how the show was in general.

Mr. T def. Kevin Sullivan

how can you not be at least morbidly curious about that?

That match result is basically exactly the kind of thing I would expect to see on a PPV where Ed "Main Event" Leslie is challenging for the World Title.

I went the opposite route when I first discovered TLF. I went straight for the events I've never seen like WM 1, 2, 19-23, other rando events.

I tried listening to a recap of the WCW event where a dude (Abdullah the Butcher?) gets electrocuted after the opening match, but I found that without having my own visual in mind I just find the podcast more difficult to follow. I also find it more fun to have my own opinions about the show going in and seeing if they talk about the same little absurdities that stuck out to me.

My eventual goal would be to watch the shows I'm missing and listen to the podcasts afterward, but obviously I watch more than enough wrestling as is with these projects I do.

This is how I approach TLF. I can't get a visual on what they are talking about if I haven't seen it, so I skip those

Nick Patrick was a good heel. He was entertaining but not really relatable, and it was enjoyable to see him lose. Another case where I'd like to know who was responsible for this idea.

I've just been very impressed by how well he plays the part. And I also give some of the credit of the effectiveness to Tony Schiavone, who puts a lot of energy into acting really aggrieved by all of Nick Patrick's antics.

oh mygod the chamber of horrors match is must see lkj
its a Halloween havoc but idk which one
its the opening match

cactus jack
abdullah
sting
steiners
vader
scott hall

its the one where abby gets electrocuted you mentioned

its a total trainwreck and has to be the worst match ever with that much talent

also, recap wise its seemed wwe has been really good the last couple of them while wcw is kind of a mess. hogan doing his hogan thing and a stable that no longer really seems to have any cohesive purpose other than to tease/add new members. the cruiserweights are really carrying it at this point, which is not what i expected so quickly after the nwo formed


raw this episode seemed quite focused, had a couple big payoffs with bret/perfect stuff, and the ppv had a really good main event the one before.