-Eric Bischoff, Steve “Mongo†McMichael, and Bobby “the Brain†Heenan are in the booth and are live from Dayton, Ohio. Bischoff says that when they get footage from last night’s Halloween Havoc pay-per-view they’ll show us the “shocking event†that happened there. What type of responsible company doesn’t have tape on hand from last night’s show? Oh yeah, we are talking about WCW here.
-Opening Contest: Sgt. Craig “Pitbull†Pittman vs. Eddie Guerrero:
Pittman tries to force Guerrero to wrestle an amateur style and gets a belly-to-belly suplex out of a tie up. Pittman tosses Guerrero around again, but Guerrero gets an overhead suplex on a third tie up. Pittman pounds away and applies an armbar, but Guerrero gets in the ropes. Guerrero unloads after the break and gets a dropkick for two. Pittman catches Guerrero with a clothesline off the ropes and lazily works the arm. They botch a school boy sequence and Pittman unloads and works the arm some more. This is getting really repetitive and boring. Guerrero grabs the ropes and then hits an overhead belly-to-belly suplex for two. After leading Guerrero around the ring aimlessly by the arm for about thirty seconds, Pittman decides to do some shoulder blocks but Guerrero eventually trips him up. Guerrero blocks a roll up and gets a reverse body press off the top rope for two. Pittman immediately retaliates with another overhead belly-to-belly suplex, but Guerrero gets his foot on the ropes at two. Pittman delivers a gutwrench powerbomb, but Guerrero gets a victory roll off the ropes to win out of nowhere at 5:32. That finish was like something out WCW Revenge for the Nintendo 64. Grade: D+
-We review how the Shark cost Scott Norton a match against Randy Savage on the second edition of Nitro on September 11th and then recap their brawl in the locker room last week.
-The Shark vs. Scott Norton:
The Shark corners Norton early and unloads. The Shark gets a belly-to-belly suplex and hits an elbow drop for two. Norton dazes the Shark with some clotheslines and a top rope shoulder block and a slam makes the crowd go wild. All of that gets two. Norton unloads and both men clothesline each other for a double KO. Sonny Ono is shown eating with Bobby Heenan, who has left the announce position to venture into the crowd. The fight spills to the floor where both men exchange blows and we get a double count out at 2:47. Really? THE SHARK needed to be protected in this match? Norton and the Shark take each other into the WCW logo near the entrance ramp and then disappear backstage. This match got off to a good start, but after a minute it lost its momentum quickly. Grade: D
-Tony Schiavone, making his first Nitro appearance, says that the footage from Halloween Havoc is coming and he narrates some pictures taken by WCW magazine at the pay-per-view. The pictures recap Ric Flair’s turn on Sting for umpteenth time. “The Nature Boy†Ric Flair, “The Enforcer†Arn Anderson, and “Flyin’†Brian Pillman come out sporting Four Horsemen symbols. They run down Sting, with Flair stating his intellect is the same as the women the Horsemen deal with everyday, and hype the return of the Four Horsemen.
-Sabu vs. The Disco Inferno:
As a Disco Inferno mark this is a small dream match for me. Dayton loves Disco and several parts of the arena are dancing to Disco’s music. Sabu comes out firing with a springboard leg lariat and a slingshot dropkick from the apron for two. However, Disco catches Sabu off the ropes with a facebuster and hiplocks him across the ring. Disco continues his beat down as the crowd chants for Sabu. A weak blind charge eats buckle and Sabu gets a springboard somersault leg drop from the apron for the pin at 2:22. After the match, Sabu whips Disco to the floor, but when he tries to dive onto him for a hurricanrana Disco powerbombs him. Sabu gets up, gets a table, and smashes it in Disco’s face, but when he tries to put him through the table, Disco moves. However, the table is strong and Sabu doesn’t go through it. Intelligently, Disco retreats to the locker room after that. Grade: D+
-Lex Luger & Meng (w/Kevin Sullivan & Jimmy Hart) vs. The American Males:
So instead of showing us the footage BEFORE Luger and Hart come out with the Dungeon of Doom, WCW just lets them come out without a sufficient explanation of last night’s events. Meng starts with Scotty Riggs and maneuvers him into the corner, where he pounds on him as we go to a commercial break.
When we get back, the Males are working Luger’s arm. Riggs nearly forgets to backdrop Luger and gets a one count before Meng gets in the ring. When the referee is distracted by Bagwell, Meng comes in and holds Riggs in place for a Luger clothesline to turn the tide. Riggs get a fluke sunset flip on Luger for two and Luger cuts off any potential rally with a clothesline. Meng gets tagged in, but he misses a somersault splash off the ropes and after flipping around Luger, Riggs gives the momentum swinging tag to Bagwell. Bagwell destroys Luger, but Luger catches him when he tries a body press off the ropes. Hart distracts the referee so Riggs comes in and dropkicks Bagwell’s back to make him fall on top of Luger, but there is no referee to count the pin. All hell breaks loose as Meng comes in, thrust kicks Riggs to the floor, and kicks Bagwell in the head. Luger then racks Bagwell as the referee turns around and calls for the bell at 6:46 shown. Meng always works best in a tag team environment and who doesn’t like seeing the destruction of the American Males? Grade: C-
-Bischoff tells the kids to be careful when they are out trick-or-treating and McMichael shoots silly string all over Heenan. We see the footage from last night’s Halloween Havoc where Jimmy Hart turned on Hogan and the Giant and the Yetti double bear hugged Hogan (and that puts it kindly). Luger also took out Randy Savage when he came down to assist and racked Hogan, which got a pop from the crowd.
-Schiavone interviews The Giant, who is wearing the WCW World title, Kevin Sullivan, Lex Luger, and Jimmy Hart. Hart says the Sullivan represents his past and Luger and the Giant represent his future. Luger calls Hogan and Savage garbage and the Giant says that he’s unbeatable and he’ll defend the WCW title against anyone next week. One problem with this segment: they NEVER explained why the Giant was the champion when he won by a disqualification. No wonder I was confused as a mark when I’d tune into WCW.
Final Report Card: This was a poorly constructed show that must’ve been booked on the fly. We’re forced to wait the entire show to see what happened at Halloween Havoc, when the WWF would just tell us about their pay-per-views in the opening minutes of their broadcast, and then we’re left wondering why the Giant is calling himself the world champion and saying that he’ll defend the title against somebody next week. Who? They couldn’t have someone like Savage come out to defend Hogan’s honor and issue a challenge? That would’ve given us a reason to watch next week’s show instead of being forced to guess what was happening. It’s painfully clear in this show that WCW was doing everything they could to make you guess and then have to tune in to find out. While this makes sense in theory it makes for a very frustrating viewing experience because fans like to know what’s on next week.
Monday Night War Rating: 2.3 (vs. 2.1 for Raw)
Show Grade: D+
