Monday Nitro – December 15, 1997

Date: December 15, 1997

Location: Independence
Arena, Charlotte, North Carolina

Attendance: 9,320

Commentators: Mike
Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re really getting
close to Starrcade now with just two more Nitros to go before the
biggest show in the company’s history. The majority of the big
matches are set for the show now so we’re just finalizing things now
before the pay per view. I’m not sure if we’re going to hear the
rest of the card before then but it could go either way. Let’s get
to it.

Apparently Bret Hart is
here tonight. Cool. It’s also a three hour show. Not cool.

Here’s the NWO and they
immediately look under the ring for Sting. Vincent looks into the
rafters with binoculars in a bit that shouldn’t be as funny as it is.
With the inspection out of the way, Bischoff introduces Chono who
presumably talks trash in Japanese. Hennig says this is NWO country
and he’s the best thing the NWO has ever produced. Hogan calls Sting
a coward and says Sting will never come face him one on one. They
were a bit more concise tonight.

As soon as the bell
rings Vincent walks into a spinebuster followed by a splash in the
corner. The Flock arrives. A belly to back suplex puts Vincent down
and the Boss Man Slam (now called Traylor Trash) ends this in a
hurry.

Traylor wants to know
where the NWO is. Based on what happened on Saturday Night,
apparently they’re in a six man tag against him and the Steiners.
Makes enough sense.

We see Flair’s comments
from last week about how he’s the real best there is, was and ever
will be.

Video on Nash vs. Giant
for Starrcade.

The Nitro Girls dance
at the announce table.

Disco is defending.
Nagata starts firing off some kicks as Larry goes onto a BIG rant
about how this town was built on the backs of various legends like
Flair, Rhodes, Magnum and himself. The idea of grouping Larry with
those men is hilarious. Anyway Disco pounds away but Sonny Onoo’s
distraction lets Nagata suplex him down for two. A rolling Liger
Kick puts Disco down and some shots to the throat have Disco in a lot
of trouble.

Nagata gets two off a
forearm to the face but walks into an atomic drop. A knee lift gets
two for Disco as does a gordbuster. Sonny tries to interfere but
gets caught in a Chartbuster (Stunner), followed by a Stun Gun and
Chartbuster to Nagata to complete the Steve Austin Special and retain
Disco’s title.

Rating: C.
Not bad here as Disco’s on and off push continues. For a guy who was
nothing but a comedy character when he started out, he had some
serious success over the years. The match was nothing to see here
but Disco looked confident and like someone who belonged a bit higher
up on the card.

Eddie is on commentary
again here. Dean stares him down during the entrances as Tony thinks
that’s a challenge. Malenko takes Finlay down by the arm but gets
caught in a quick headlock. A slam gets two on Dean and it’s off to
a nerve hold. Dean fights up as Eddie calls Dean a very boring
person. That’s the understatement of the century. Dean snapmares
him down and puts on a chinlock with a knee in the back.

We hear about a tag
match Eddie and Dean were in a few weeks back with Eddie ranting
about how the people wanted to see the Frog Splash and not the Texas
Cloverleaf. Finlay fights back with some forearms to the face but
Dean whips him into the barricade. Back in and Dean can’t powerbomb
him as Finlay kicks him in the forehead. Eddie: “Dean looked like
his wife told him they were going to have twins.”

Finlay hits the rolling
fireman’s carry senton for two but Dean comes back with a rolling
cradle for two. Eddie leaves the broadcast booth, thereby taking
away the most entertaining part of the match. Guerrero heads to
ringside and distracts Dean out of the tiger bomb. Finlay tombstones
Dean down for the pin.

Rating: C.
Decent match here with hilarious commentary from Eddie. As far as I
can tell the Cruiserweight Title match isn’t set yet for the PPV but
you can tell it’s coming. Either way it’s a very entertaining feud
and the match is bound to be a fun one. Finlay continues to be that
kind of veteran you can put in this spot and get a decent match out
of him, which is very valuable.

Video on the NWO
beating up Roddy Piper, who hasn’t been around in months.

La Parka is in yellow
for some reason here. Juvy and Psychosis start things off with
Guerrera hitting a top rope rana to take over early. A standing
version does the same but La Parka kicks him in the back of the head
to slow Juvy down. Apparently this is under Lucha Rules, meaning
going to the floor is the same as a tag. Psychosis hits a guillotine
legdrop followed by a belly to belly for two on Guerrera. La Parka
powerbombs him down for two more as we’re actually getting the tag
formula out of this.

Psychosis goes up but
accidentally dropkicks La Parka. That’s not enough for a tag again
though as Psychosis pops up and decks Rey to keep Juvy in trouble.
La Parka misses a splash in the corner and it’s finally hot tag to
Rey, although the announcers would rather talk about Bischoff. Rey
ducks under both guys, allowing Juvy to hit a springboard cross body.
Everything breaks down and the heels are both kicked to the floor,
allowing Rey and Juvy to hit stereo flip dives to take them out.

Back in and Juvy hits
what the Hardys would call Poetry in Motion for two on Psychosis. La
Parka is sent into Psychosis before Rey is launched into a rana for
two on the guy in yellow. Juvy and Psychosis go on top with
Psychosis trying a slam off the top, only to be turned into a kind of
small package off the top for two for Juvy. Guerrera gets crotched
while loading up a Doomsday Device but Rey hits a springboard
hurricanrana to the floor to take out La Parka. The 450 from Juvy is
enough to end Psychosis.

Rating: B.
Take four guys, let them go nuts for seven minutes, listen to the
crowd cheer a lot. It worked for the six man matches and it worked
here in the four man version. Mysterio and Guerrera worked pretty
well together although I don’t remember them teaming up all that much
over the years until a bit at the end of WCW.

Here’s Doug Dillinger
who apparently used to be a Charlotte cop. They bring out Arn
Anderson to a BIG ovation. Anderson calls this place his home and
says that the fans deserve to see Ric Flair, so here’s Naitch. Flair
says that Anderson is about to make him cry but there are more
important things to deal with at the moment. Apparently there was a
fund set up today for fallen Charlotte cops and WCW has donated
$15,000 to it to start. That’s rather cool. Flair presents them with
a check, but now it’s time to talk about Hennig. There goes Flair’s
coat and he wants Hennig tonight, because the NWO can’t beat him in
Charlotte.

JJ comes out to talk
about the stipulations Bischoff wants. Eric shows up and says he
wants punches and kicks to be legal. JJ says that’s fine as long as
submissions count. I know WCW had some weird rules at times but I’m
pretty sure submissions have always counted.

Nitro Girls.

Here’s Hall for a match
but first of all we need the survey. For once, the fans are solidly
WCW.

Jericho grabs a pair of
quick rollups for two each and the Lionsault hits for two more.
Jericho dives into the fallaway slam though and Hall takes over.
Hall counters a hiptoss and hits a BIG chokeslam for no cover. After
doing the Giant imitation it’s the Outsider’s Edge and we’re done
quick.

Heenan comes in on
commentary.

There’s no Mongo so we
cut to the back and McMichael is out cold with Goldberg standing over
him. JJ comes up to yell at him and Goldberg volunteers to go fight
Meng. As he comes to the ring though, Mongo pops up and a brawl
breaks out.

Blast it with the two
Scotts. For the sake of simplicity, Scott Steiner is Scott and Scott
Norton is Norton. The Steiners clear the ring early on so let’s talk
about Bret Hart. Konnan starts with Scott and is gorilla pressed
with ease. A belly to belly sends Konnan into the corner and it’s
off to Rick vs. Norton. Norton charges into a boot in the corner but
comes back with a big clothesline to take Rick down.

Rick nails a Steiner
line of his own and goes up top for a top rope clothesline for two.
He goes up again but pulls a Flair and is slammed down by Norton.
After some interference from Konnan, Norton’s shoulder breaker is
good for two. Off to Konnan who walks into a belly to back suplex as
everything breaks down. Scott comes back in to load up the
Frankensteiner but Vincent runs in for the DQ.

Rating: C-.
Another not great match with another run in ending. For some reason
this doesn’t surprise me in the least anymore and it’s already
getting tiresome. Do we really need to protect Norton and Konnan
from the tag team champions/ Oh wait Vincent already lost tonight so
we can’t have another NWO pinfall loss, because then people would
stop viewing them as a threat. Or something like that I guess.

Stevie was either about
to be injured or already was injured so Booker’s singles push is on
the verge of happening soon. Booker is in regular tights now and not
the traditional Harlem Heat attire. He takes Savage down in a hurry
and cranks on the arm but Savage comes back with right hands in the
corner. Booker knocks him to the floor and then into the front row,
only to throw him back into the ring a few seconds later.

Back in and Booker
spends too much time posing but manages to slam Savage down. An
elbow misses but Booker spins up and hits the Harlem side kick.
Savage rolls to the floor as this is one sided so far. Booker misses
a splash onto the barricade and momentum shifts in a hurry. After
dropping Booker chest first onto the barricade, Savage throws him
back inside for two.

A fan tries to get in
but Savage drills him in the head. Booker spins kicks him down and
Savage accidentally bumps the referee. The ax kick hits Savage but
Liz breaks up the missile dropkick, allowing Savage to knock Booker
to the floor. A chair shot to Booker’s head allows the big elbow to
end Mr. T.

Rating: C+.
This was a good solid rub for the single Booker as he beat up Savage
for a good four minutes out there. Savage winning was fine though as
Booker was nowhere near ready to be a real threat to him yet. Liz
getting involved was always strange to see given how meek she was
back in the WWF. This is on Best of Nitro Volume 2 I believe.

Again this was supposed
to be Raven but it’s another substitution. Benoit goes to look for
Raven but gets jumped by Riggs instead. Back inside and Benoit gets
up an elbow before firing off those hard chops. Benoit’s eyes look
awesome here. Chris drapes him stomach first across the top rope
before headbutting him down on the mat. As in Riggs is on the mat
and Benoit leans down to headbutt him.

A chop sends Riggs to
the floor again but he gets in a shot on Benoit to take over. The
fans are firmly behind Benoit as he gets his knees up to block a
Riggs splash back inside. A front suplex puts Riggs down and there’s
the Swan Dive into the Crossface for the submission. He snapped that
hold on very fast and it looked sweet.

Rating: C+.
This story is growing on me and the match that would result would be
amazing. This feud should have elevated Benoit WAY up the ladder but
of course he would be back down in the middle of the card after it
was done because of various factors we’ll get to later. Good
performance from Benoit here.

Post match Benoit yells
at the Flock before diving on them, only to get beaten down and put
in the Rings of Saturn.

Here’s JJ again to talk
to Bischoff, this time about who is referee. They go back and forth
between WCW referees and NWO guys with Dillon eventually agreeing to
it being an NWO guy as long as he gets to pick which one. Cue Bret
Hart who says he’d be honored to be referee, so Bischoff says $7.5
million. Hart says he knows what it’s like to be screwed by a
referee before turning around to show a Hart Foundation jacket and
leaving. To clarify, about a month after the Montreal Screwjob, the
hottest name in wrestling is going to be a referee in a match between
Eric Bischoff and Larry Zbyszko. Let that sink in for a minute.

Post break Gene calls
out Lex Luger but gets Bagwell instead. Bagwell says Luger can’t
beat him so here’s Luger, saying that he was in the production truck
asking for a match with Bagwell. Buff gives about five excuses but
after a slap we’re ready to go.

Luger runs Buff over to
start and backdrops him down. A few clotheslines put Bagwell down
again before Lex stomps away. Back up and Lex misses a charge into
the corner so Bagwell can stomp away a bit as well. Luger easily
fights back and hits his usual clotheslines and powerslam, but here
are Norton and Vincent…..not for the DQ. Luger fights them off and
clotheslines Bagwell to the floor and that’s the DQ. Oh they’re
trying to trick us with the DQ’s now. Match was nothing.

Before Flair comes out
Hennig challenges anyone in the audience to come fight him. He goes
on and on for a bit about how he’s the US Champion and all that jazz
while insulting Flair. After a break here’s Ric for the fight….and
here’s Hall for the DQ maybe ten seconds later. So much for that
idea.

Flair manages to fight
off the NWO for a bit but Hennig takes him down and puts him in the
Figure Four. DDP, Luger and the Steiners come out and the NWO
eventually runs off. Page challenges Hennig as Flair limps around.
That leg injury was the reason he wasn’t on Starrcade, which is a
questionable decision to say the least if it’s not a legit injury.

The Steiners and Luger
take Flair to the back as more fans try to run in but are quickly
dispatched. The rest of the NWO comes out so Page bails through the
crowd. Hogan and company get in the ring and call out the Stinger.
The lights flicker and Sting shows up on the WCW sign at the
entrance. He hops down and walks to the ring as we go off the air.

Overall Rating: B-.
Pretty good show overall but I’m really dreading the move to three
hours. They’re already having trouble filling in three hours and
that’s what we’re going to get all the time, PLUS two hours of
Thunder every week? It’s almost like that’s way too much material
for one company to produce. Good thing this happened before and no
other company on top of the business would try something that stupid
again right? Good show this week but it felt long.

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