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Episode 39: Spring Stampede 1997
38 Plays3 years ago
Yeehaw! Spring Stampede may have managed to skip the entire WCW Hulkamania era, but now it's back - landing smack in the middle of the nWo angle! Has the time off hurt the series, or can it come roaring back just as strong as in its first showing? One person who certainly benefitted from the two year gap is Diamond Dallas Page, who has gone from a barely-mentioned opening match performer to a main eventer in the intervening time. Also: Who will win a (very very eventual) title shot against World Champ Hollywood Hogan? Can Prince Iaukea retain his TV title against Steven Regal? Will the commentators even pay attention to Madusa vs. Akira Hokuto? For all this, plus one of the most infamous promo flubs of all time, let's go to the ring!
Music by Michael Gary Brewer at https://www.instantmusicnow.com/
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Transcript
Introduction and Off-topic Banter
00:00:00
Speaker
Tony explains Scott's actual off oops I went into wrestling offense rather than legal offense
00:00:37
Speaker
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Let's Go to the Ring, where we take a look at the good old days and not so good old days of World Championship Wrestling, series by series. I'm your host, Bob Moore, and I'm joined by a man who showers at least slightly more often than Bunkhouse Buck, Alec Bridget. I want to say it's a compliment, but I'm not 100% sure. I'm like 97% sure. I did say more often. That's true, yes.
Spring Stampede 1997 Overview
00:01:05
Speaker
Tonight, we are taking a look at Spring Stampede 1997. These men do solemnly swear to kick, fight, punch, stomp, and flatten anybody who gets in their way. What a weird list that is. We get a specific move, a generalization, a specific move, a specific move, and in effect, rather than a move.
00:01:26
Speaker
Well, there's a nerdy cue match, so maybe they can use an actual steamroller in this. That's entirely possible, yeah. It's the 90s. I guess maybe fight and flatten cover things like suplexes, power bombs, and other things you would expect to see on a wrestling show. I mean, if Vader was on the show, I believe flatten, personally. But he's not, definitely. That is true.
00:01:46
Speaker
Notably, the men on the poster for this event are the then-current Four Horsemen, Rick Flair, R.N. Anderson, Mongo McMichael, and Chris Benoit. But Rick Flair and R.N. Anderson don't have matches tonight, so they've broken their oath to fight, haven't they? A little bit, yeah. I guess maybe nobody got in their way, so they didn't have to. Huh? Yeah, that's true. I said claws, I guess. Or maybe it was in the parking lot, they beat some guy up when he took their space. I mean, it's Rick Flair, so that's very possible, yes.
00:02:17
Speaker
They couldn't identify the man other than he was blonde-neeled woo all the time. Could be anyone, police say. Spring Stampede 1997 was held on April 6, 1997 at the Tupelo Coliseum in Tupelo, Mississippi, in front of a sold-out crowd of 8,356 fans, of which 7,428 paid.
00:02:41
Speaker
The Tupelo Coliseum, now the Bancorp South Arena, because apparently sports complex names must now always be incredibly boring, is listed as holding up to 10,000 people, but about 8,000 for sports events, so that sold out seems pretty legit.
Changes in WCW and Event Atmosphere
00:02:58
Speaker
Okay, it could be. Spring Stampede 1997 also earned 145,000 pay-per-view buys, about 25,000 more than last year.
00:03:08
Speaker
That is on the lower end of WCW's 1997 numbers. In fact, the only WCW show that got a lower number in 97 was NWO sold out in January, which at 120,000, still got at least three times as many buys as it deserved. Yeah, way, way more than that, yes.
00:03:27
Speaker
Having taken a couple of years off, Spring Stampede returns to a drastically changed company, having entirely skipped the WCW Hulkamania era and landed Plop in the middle of the NWO angle. How much is that going to affect the atmosphere of the show itself? To find out, let's go to the ring.
00:03:51
Speaker
Your WCW Spring stampede. The streets will be clear when Diamond Dallas Page calls out Randy Savage.
A Western-themed Presentation
00:03:58
Speaker
Don't forget to bring your little bimbo legs. What'd you say? Other villains of the NWO will take you to the mat with the Steiner brothers.
00:04:07
Speaker
It's going to be the Steiner Brothers be friends. The Deuces says there'll be a new sheriff in town when she takes out Akira Hokuto from WCW Women's World Title. Prince IOK will attempt to brand Lord Steven a loser in a TV title match. Then all the gold is up for grabs with champion Dean Malenko. I'm giving you an opportunity. As a standoff with horseman Crispin Long. Show up.
00:04:31
Speaker
for the WCW US title. And in the final showdown, the four-corner match will have Lex Luger, the giant and Harlem Heat gunnin' for a chance at bringing home the WCW World title from Hollywood Hogan. The Rumblin' is WCW Spring Stampede. You are lookin' live! That's too long!
00:04:56
Speaker
It's clear early on that this show is going to be just as good or even better on theme than last year, as the opening video package features some nice cowboy movie-style music and footage of an old west town with the logo of the show done as a wooden sign surrounded by barbed wire.
00:05:12
Speaker
There's even a dust cloud that would be kicked up by a stampede, and the announcer, of course, makes a ton of Western puns and tries his best at a Texan accent. He definitely does, yes. It was interesting him trying to pronounce Akira Hokuto in a Texan accent, right? I did notice that, yeah. That poor guy, like, I'm trying to do a weird void and they're gonna be Prince Iakea and Akira Hokuto. Where's Steve Smith when I need him? Yes, exactly.
00:05:39
Speaker
It's really interesting to see that in the midst of supposedly the more serious NWO era, WCW is honestly putting on one of its most fun-loving presentations yet. Yeah, it's true.
Main Event and other Matches Analysis
00:05:50
Speaker
That carries forward to the awesome stage set. Oh, yeah. Which features giant bull horns, cactuses, wagon wheels, a covered wagon, and a complete Old West building set that even fires off fireworks in a pattern that makes it look like a gunfight's going on.
00:06:08
Speaker
It is amazing. One of the best sets that WCW has ever done. And the designers clearly put a lot of love into that stage design. So kudos to them. The only downside for me is I'm always worried when there's pyro because there's so much there. I'm just waiting from the sets tonight on fire. Yes, yes.
00:06:27
Speaker
A truly massive amount of fireworks go off from the rafters and ring as host Tony Schiavone welcomes us to the show alongside co-host the American dream dusty roads and Bobby the brain. Heenan. Yes, we are in the Tony Bobby dusty era or in gold, recommentary at least. Yes. No, what happens in the show? It's a shame that since we skipped 96, I probably only get one show with this trio, this series though. Oh yeah, that's true.
00:06:54
Speaker
Their desk is wonderful. Oh, yeah. Wood colors, a wooden sign with the same spring stampede logo emblazoned on it. It's just a good Western look that really fits the show theme. It's a shame the commentators didn't get dressed up in that style, too, though Hienan is at least wearing a bolo tie. Yeah, it's weird that he's the one that committed to it, not dusty. Yeah, you'd think that I imagine the cowboy hat would have made the headset really awkward. Oh, yeah.
00:07:19
Speaker
Tony goes over the Four Corners tag match. That's gonna be Booker T, Stevie Ray, Lex Luger, and the Giant. And they're fighting for the right to face world champ Hollywood Hogan.
00:07:29
Speaker
And he mentions our actual main event tonight, Diamond Dallas Page versus the Macho Man Randy Savage and no disqualification match. So that is a big change in the intervening couple of years since the last show in this series. DDP went from the opening match in 94, where he wasn't even featured in the intro video, to the main event and focus of the show in 1997. That's an incredible thing, isn't it? Like we skipped two years and suddenly the dude's main event material.
00:07:58
Speaker
Yeah. This is his big test show to prove he can be. Yeah. This is DDP's first ever shot at the main event, which is amazing. Cause his battle bowl match wasn't the main event. That's true.
00:08:12
Speaker
Tony also mentions the World Tag Title match, but he notes that there's been a few changes. The NWO's Scott Hall is not here, and the WSW Championship Committee has said that his partner, Kevin Nash, must defend the tag titles himself against the Steiner brothers.
00:08:28
Speaker
Tony says that Nash has said he'll do it, but he has demands that must be met. But he's not coming out to explain those demands, so Lee Marshall has been sent to the back to try to talk to him. Dusty says, one good man can't beat two good men, so this might be the crack in the NWO's armor. Hienan says the NWO is going to have to put up or shut up, and Nash will not be able to beat both Steiners. Tony says, it's time to go to the ring. So close. Just taunting you.
00:08:58
Speaker
So our first match is Altimo Dragon labeled ultimate dragon versus Ray Mysterio Jr. The referee for this one is Mark Curtis and Mike Tenay is joining the commentary team for this one.
00:09:11
Speaker
Rey Mysterio would challenge Prince Iikea unsuccessfully for the TV title at a recent show. Meanwhile, Ultimate Dragon is now out of the Cruiserweight ranks due to stuff that happened, so he's going for that title.
Highlights: Ultimo Dragon vs. Rey Mysterio
00:09:24
Speaker
Interestingly, there's a pre-tape bit on one of the go-home nitros where Sonny Ono in a backstage video taunts on Mysterio for challenging Dragon, even though Ono is not connected to Dragon here in the show at all.
00:09:36
Speaker
Even in the video package, it's not the two of them together. It's just owner of the backstage doing that, so it's connect there in the story for sure. Interesting. Ultimo Dragon wears bright blue today. That really pops. Tony calls him Ultimate Dragon, then experimentally corrects to Ultimo, but no one seems to bite, so he goes back to Ultimate. Yeah. The guys worked for the company for like three quarters of a year at this point. They should know his name. Yeah.
00:10:03
Speaker
What's funny is on a later show, I watched part of the Clash that happens in August for another reason, and they made a video package where he actually explained his name. Like he has to really explain to the audience and hopefully get the commentators explaining that he's Ultimo Dragon because he's the final student of Bruce Lee. So he's the last dragon. Yes. Mysterio comes out in black and white with a half black, half white vest. Oh, he's joined the NWO.
00:10:30
Speaker
No, no, not really. But it is kind of funny that WCW didn't restrict that color scheme from use outside of the NWO angle. Yeah. Since it like starts having intense meaning when you see someone come out in black and white, you'd think they'd say, don't come out in black and white. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. Makes perfect sense. Yeah.
00:10:47
Speaker
Dusty talks about this being spring stampede where you used to gather all the horses together and the young Colts got a chance to run with the big studs. Used to there's only been one show before and it didn't really have a theme of new wrestlers fighting established ones at all of all the matches on there. Maybe Austin versus Muda. Yeah. That's the only one I can think of.
00:11:09
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, Flair and Ricky Steamboat were both on the first arcade, so they're definitely not. Yeah. Yeah, versus old at this point. And yeah, Bunkhouse Buck was new when he was fighting Dustin Rhodes, but it's not like Dustin Rhodes had been around for a decade. Right, he wasn't fighting Dusty Rhodes yet. Right, yeah. Not yet, anyways. Maybe Dusty thinks of that as Dustin just carrying on his legacy, so he thought that qualified. Yeah, sure, why not? Today correctly uses Ultimo.
00:11:38
Speaker
Dragon and Mysterio begin some really excellent mat wrestling, and Tanay says neither wants to be the first to make a big mistake, and that's why they aren't going high flying yet. Dragon sends Mysterio neck first to the ropes, as Tanay says Dragon, Mysterio, and Dean Malenko are the cream of the cruiserweight crop. Definitely agree with that. Oh yeah, for sure.
00:11:59
Speaker
Dragon snap mare and roll up for two and he lands sharp kicks before a slam for one, broken for a hold, then a leg scissors and short arm scissors for two and two again. The crowd is very behind Mysterio. Dragon tries using the ropes but gets caught forcing the break. Awesome Dragon crucifix backbreaker and he power bombs Mysterio, lifts him back up and dumps him neck first on the ropes. Wow.
00:12:28
Speaker
Dusty calls him Delta Dragon because Dusty is Dusty. Sure, why not? Sleep or Hold by Dragon has the commentators ask where Sunny Ono is. Tony thinks all his focus is on the upcoming women's title match, but Dusty's still surprised because Dragon brought, quote, Sunny Ono Bono his success. Dragon cuts off a Mysterio comeback with a running Liger Bomb. Dragon tombstone Piledriver for two, but he pulls Mysterio up.
00:12:58
Speaker
Mysterio spinning wheel kick, but Dragon recovers faster and he makes him pay with vicious kicks to Hienan's delight. Dragon suplex and more holds, including an elevated surfboard into a pin where it's actually a bit unclear who's down for two. The commentators even, I think, mentioned, oh, Dragon might've been the one that was getting counted out there because both his shoulders looked down too. They did, yeah.
00:13:22
Speaker
They go outside, but Mysterio reverses a barricade whip and runs back in to try and take a few moments to recover. But Dragon's right back for another sleeper, and Mysterio escapes and grabs his own sleeper to a massive roar from the crowd. Oh yeah. I don't think a sleeper hold has gotten cheers that big since Roddy Piper was in the height of his popularity. That was amazing to hear. They definitely have built and built and built to Mysterio making a comeback here. Yeah.
00:13:47
Speaker
Dragon back suplex, but Mysterio backflips over him and spinwheel kicks him out through the ropes. Mysterio fakes a dive, kicking a ringside camera by accident. You can hear a thunk. And then springboards off the top rope to flip down onto Dragon once he thinks he's dodged. Awesome.
00:14:07
Speaker
As they go back inside, Tony announces that Lee Marshall has reached Kevin Nash's locker room, so we go to split screen. Couldn't we have time this for the sleeper holds earlier, or, you know, after the match? Nah, no time for that. Marshall knocks, but he gets six instead, who mumbles something inaudible and slams the door. Dusty theorizes, he said, I'm slamming the door in your face.
00:14:30
Speaker
Meanwhile, Mysterio hits a springboard front flip into the ring for two and we're back to full screen as he hits a guillotine leg drop for two. Rapid counter sequence in the corner and dragon drop kicks Mysterio into the ring post and out to the floor. Dragon drop kicks through the ropes, skins the cat, and hits a crossbody to Mysterio on the floor. Mysterio flips over a dragon suplex back in. A regular suplex that is done by Ultimo Dragon, not a dragon suplex. Yes.
00:15:00
Speaker
But Dragon counters a springboard moonsault with a dropkick in mid-air. Wow. Giant swing by Dragon, but Dusty notes that he's ended up a Wobblin himself.
00:15:11
Speaker
Mysterio counters a charge with a cartwheel leap Hurakurana for 2, but Dragon reverses for 2, then flips over a back body drop and hits an Enzagiri for 2, as Tanay name drops Enoki. Hard close line into a Dragon Super Hurakurana for 2, but then a fast counter sequence ends with Mysterio countering a Dragon Dragon Suplex, that's awkward to say, with a roll up for 2, reversed by Dragon for 2.
00:15:36
Speaker
Mysterio ducks a dragon spin wheel kick and hits a springboard hurricanrana for the three count and the win. Dragon looks shocked and Mysterio quickly rolls out and collapses by the barricade where Curtis comes to raise his hand. Mysterio walks around ringside getting congratulations from the fans as we get replays of the super hurricanrana and Mysterio's winning springboard rana and Tony says goodbye to Mike Tenet. Thoughts on this one?
00:16:04
Speaker
That was a really strong match to the point you made before. They really build up to Mysterio's comeback here. I think long-term it works, but if you're viewing the match in real time, they definitely draw that intro bit out where he's getting beat up all the time. So it's not really a negative because there is payoff to it. It's not like going back to Stryker 97 where it's Sting being beat up on this one-sided thing and it doesn't really ever get
00:16:29
Speaker
the proper, you know, response there. Right. But yeah, just going on early on, you really don't quite get the match you're used to, which is definitely a bad thing. It's a different kind of match. It's definitely a really good match as far as the action goes. It's nice and varied. They make sure to have my start hitting strikes and counters and everything. It's thankfully what you'd expect from Aristurio and Ultimo Dragon. It's not at this point, which is definitely good to start a show with something this strong.
00:16:58
Speaker
Yeah, no surprise here given the participants, but this was one heck of an opening match. I really liked that while they could have easily just started with their flipping and flying and already had something great. Instead, they started with some nice mat work and counter wrestling to show that they were both more than just acrobatics. Yeah, I can see that. Yeah. From there, there's loads of creative and intricate acrobatic moves and hard hits that made this one an engaging watch.
00:17:22
Speaker
I do agree with you though. It feels like they maybe spent a little too long with Mysterio taking Dragons offense for the first half of the match. It never seems to lose the crowd though and indeed they roar every time Mysterio even hints at a comeback. So it clearly was working the way these guys intended. I just felt like maybe like you it went on a little bit long there. Right.
00:17:41
Speaker
I really enjoyed the match story, highlighted quite well by the commentators. Dragon wanted to truly prove himself better than Mysterio, so he actually bypasses some of his chances to win to try to break Mysterio's spirits. Yeah. Which gives Mysterio the chance he needs to turn things around. An exceptional and very well-performed opener with two of WCW's best. There's nothing involving Mysterio and Dragon, sadly, on the next show. We did the, already done the show that follows this. Yes.
00:18:11
Speaker
And we have Materia vs. Yuji Yasuya Roka, who sadly only makes the one appearance on pay-per-view, which is kind of weird, but... That was a pretty good one, though, as I recall. Yeah. That was neat. There is more involvement in Dragon, but that involves Laramatch, so I'm saving that. Okay. Tony throws backstage to Lee Marshall again, and he goes to knock on Nash's door again.
00:18:32
Speaker
Doug Dellinger and security are around as well. Six answers the door, and Marshall asks for Nash, saying he was promised a statement. But suddenly, the Steiners arrive, trying to push past security. Scott Steiner bellows at Nash as he shows up. Nash asks if it's an ambush, and Marshall says it's not, it's his chance to air his demands. Nash says he's got no problem taking on both Steiners, but he wants Nick Patrick as referee.
00:19:01
Speaker
He tells the security team to hold Scott back, then spits on him. So in a rage, Scott tries to push forward and gets maced by Doug Dellinger. Yeah. Dellinger is no longer messing around. You will comply. Yeah. Yes. Scott screams for Rick as cops slap on handcuffs and hold Rick back so we can't interfere.
00:19:23
Speaker
I haven't gotten the full story in this, but basically, Scott Hall just kind of hasn't been around. Like, not even just not booked in the shows. He's just kind of an AWOL, unfortunately, which has been mentioned on TV on the night shows going forward. They ask about why he's not there. So it's not like they're trying to ignore his absence.
00:19:41
Speaker
Unfortunately, I guess they may thought he would be back by this show so they could sort of move on normally, but unfortunately he's not.
Tension between Kevin Nash and Steiner Brothers
00:19:47
Speaker
So they sort of come up with this elaborate way to change the story around the last minute. Yeah, yeah. A little bait and switch, but forced by Hall.
00:19:55
Speaker
Yeah. So obviously this is there to just resolve the Scott Hall situation and get the revised match plan going. Like you said, I think it's a decent enough way to do it. You get Nash manipulating the signers into doing something stupid. I do think he's maybe a bit too obvious about it. The cops and security guys should clearly recognize what he did and arrest him as well as Scott, both escalating the situation. Sure. But for getting to the match that they feel like they have to do now, this works.
00:20:22
Speaker
The only thing that's muddled a bit with that is, so Doug Jellinger is there as like officially WCW security, but then there's like the arena security is there and there's actual cops. So there's like three different levels of security here in this tiny hallway. And the thing ultimately handed the pawns Scott bumping or they never really like punches one, but making some sort of physical contact with a cop there in midst of like 20 people in like a tiny hallway.
00:20:51
Speaker
Yes. I can understand three layers of security though when you're dealing with the Steiner's. Yes. The future is definitely useful. It was kind of awesome to see Dellinger not taking any crap and just outright macing a guy too. When does he ever do that? Yeah. Normally just brings out a bunch of jobbers to get beaten up by whoever's he's trying to stop or kind of wards people off via official looking gestures. Yeah. So where's his hand? Don't go there. Come on.
00:21:18
Speaker
Just think of all the situations that could have been resolved by Doug Dellinger in a can of mace. I did actually think of something. Oh, okay. Faking ahead, seeing this, Bret Hart could obviously hire Doug Dellinger for the night. So when a visiting man goes to yell and ring the bell, he gets his faithful in mace. So no screwed job for you. Going back a bit, we have the famous NWO backstage assault with Boris Deere being thrown by a lawn dart.
00:21:45
Speaker
Figured Doug coming out with the mace, just taking Nash out maybe. Yeah, that would really put a brace on that I would say. At least do haul. I mean, he might not have been able to reach Nash with the mace. True, true. I mean, so tall. Yes. Going outside the wheel of wrestling, we have an event that happens a little bit after this involving Mike Tyson and the vendor Holyfield. Oh, right. Tyson starts making eyes, you know, got to take care of him, Doug.
00:22:09
Speaker
And lastly, I have him interfering before Link is assassinated. He just sort of pops out and just maces Donald's booth and he goes into the booth. Thanks, Doug. I think some of those are perhaps more reasonable than others, but... Yeah, sure. I mean, I don't know his actual age. He could have been there.
00:22:36
Speaker
We go right to our second match, which is Medusa versus Akira Hokuto with Sunny Ono for Hokuto's WCW women's heavyweight championship. The referee for this one is Mickey J.
Medusa vs. Akira Hokuto and Other Matches
00:22:49
Speaker
And Lee Marshall is joining the commentary team for this one, having thankfully escaped being maced himself. As you may recall, about a year or so earlier, Medusa left the WWF when they weren't in the women's division.
00:23:03
Speaker
So eventually, WWE decided to, you know, make one again, having a big tournament involving none-too-Japanese wrestlers, two of which were both Te Akira Hokuto, one in a mask and one as herself, because they couldn't fill eight people, apparently. And of course, they didn't give the title to Narusa, which I'm sure she loved when they told her that one. She's like, oh, I don't get the title after, you know, I threw this other title in the trash for you and all that. And they were probably like, well, you have a history of throwing titles at trash cans.
00:23:29
Speaker
Like, you told me to. Yeah, at your request, you in fact pay me more money to do so. You allegedly paid me an extra, like, five, six figures, I think, for that. You know what? For that amount of money, I'll show up and throw a title belt in the trash anytime someone wants. Yeah, yeah.
00:23:45
Speaker
So following that Akira Okuto was mostly absent from Nitro and the shows. Obviously she's busy in Japan where she works there. So the story they've been trying to build up in recent times is that she's refusing to come back to American event the title.
00:24:00
Speaker
which theoretically would build up to a cross-emotional show where Medusa goes through in Japan, but no, that'd be too interesting. So instead, they just set this title match up on this show. So naturally, bearing in mind that she won't come from the title in American, it's a big deal that she's gonna fight Medusa, she defends the title in the natural right before this.
00:24:20
Speaker
Like I get I'm on I right I get you one and you need to like remind me what she is for the match but The whole point is she wouldn't have the towel. Oh, yeah, sure. I'll fight this random lady. You could just have it be a non-title match Yeah, exactly. This is our I Love Medusa's theme music. It's a very like cool electric guitar and kind of a blues and country style. Oh, yeah Yeah, it really is quite fitting
00:24:46
Speaker
She comes out in her traditional America-themed outfit. It looks good, but I do think she needs to extend the full flag design all the way around the shorts instead of just having any kind of bikini pattern atop the flat red shorts. Yeah, a flag thong is a little weird. Yeah. Akira Hokuto comes out accompanied by Sunny Ono. Hokuto wears her awesome elaborate kimono and poses for a selfie with Ono.
00:25:10
Speaker
Ono has a cool Akira Hokuto t-shirt under his usual suit coat and a more subtle way of dressing up for his client like Jimmy Hart does. Hokuto's actual wrestling gear is a really nice blue, white, and gold combo. It looks kind of like a superhero warrior queen. Yeah, I can see that. The commentators discuss Scott Steiner getting maced, and I believe this is where Dusty mentions that at some point he was maced himself. He does mention that, yes. He does, yeah.
00:25:37
Speaker
Marshall doubts that Steiner can compete later tonight. Hienan wonders why the Steiners even went to the dressing room since things were already going in their favor. Tony pretty much agrees that they caused their own problem, but notes that he understands the Steiners being unable to control their emotions given everything that's happened to them in the past few months. Also, I'd note due to being the Steiners. Yeah, yeah.
00:26:00
Speaker
Hokuto lands kicks and flings Medusa around by her hair, stops a punch combo with a chop and chokes Medusa repeatedly, including an impressive elevated choke in the center of the ring as the commentary team totally ignores the match and continues arguing whether Scott Steiner will be able to compete. Guys, match going on. Right.
00:26:24
Speaker
Tony refocuses everyone, as Hokuto interestingly pulls the back of Medusa's neck against the top rope, rather than choking her against it. Kind of a neat twist there. Then slams her for one, as Medusa fluidly slips free and bridges out. Her flag vest comes undone, so after a couple leaping hair takedowns for two, she gets annoyed with it and throws it out. Don't worry, she's still decent.
00:26:51
Speaker
Hokuto up top, but Medusa hits a cool handstand Frankensteiner. Tony confesses that he didn't even notice that Sonny Ono had entered along with Hokuto. And Marshall brings up Hog Wild last year, where Ono represented Bull Nakano. That would be Hokuto's teammate from collision in Korea.
00:27:10
Speaker
Hokuto bites Medusa, then stands on her leg, earning a lecture from Jay, so Ono punches and chokes Medusa. Marshall gets in a great line, wondering if we'll ever get to see Medusa in a singles match.
00:27:23
Speaker
Now, I will say there's one thing about that. I'm not, I'm sure it's the botch or not. He mentions a bunch of incidents that have happened and he mentions her being attacked by Luna Vishon. It's possible he's referring to Luna's debut where she attacks Medusa while she's doing an interview. But it's not a match. It's not a match, yes. Okay.
00:27:44
Speaker
So I'm wondering if he read or read a head in the story a bit. It's entirely possible. Entirely possible. Yeah. Cause he says it and then like no one responds and he just stops talking. Maybe he realizes that's something you're supposed to do. Oops.
00:27:59
Speaker
Hoka to a torture rack, but Medusa rolls her up for two. Medusa's second rope drop kick says Marshall references her dumping the WWF women's title in the garbage back when she first showed up in WCW, and says that she considers the WCW women's title her destiny. Medusa German suplex bridge for two and nine tenths, and the bell actually mistakenly rings.
00:28:21
Speaker
Ono to the apron, but Bandusa jumpkicks him. Jay is distracted yelling at Ono, and Hokuto tries a roll-up, but Bandusa back elbows her and tries a powerbomb. But Luna Vashon suddenly slips in and kicks her knee, allowing Hokuto to roll through and pin her as Jay turns to deliver the three count for the win.
00:28:42
Speaker
Hokuto does a quick celebratory dance as she flees the ring, grabs her belt, and runs up the ramp with Sunny Ono to get away from the angry Medusa. We get replays of a second rope Medusa drop kick, the jump kick that knocked Ono down, the finish, and Hokuto holding up her belt as she retreated from ringside, during which some jerk in the crowd actually reached out to fondle her breast. Oh yeah, I saw that. Seriously? I'm hoping that that was somehow accidental, but it looked really intentional.
00:29:13
Speaker
Thoughts on this one? It was a good match, but obviously the problem they have is that they're given no time to work with here. It's like five minutes. Yeah. So they've got to squeeze in all their stuff and they really, this is duo that I'm sure if we can see more of them from Japan or other places.
00:29:30
Speaker
that maybe they have really good 10, 15 minute matches that are given time to breathe. Unfortunately, they have to basically run this in one and a half times speed. It's kind of a shame because the whole, they're trying to make a point of saying how important this stuff is, but then they talk over half the match like they don't care. And then the match has no time anyways.
00:29:53
Speaker
Yeah, they spend like close to the first half of the match. I think actually discussing the NWO and Scott Steiner storyline, which I will say that's, that's unfortunately just kind of a hallmark of the NWO era at times, not just in these matches, but about random points on any show. They'll just be distracted by something about the NWO angle and not talk about the match at hand. Right. And to be fair, they unfortunately cut into the dragon material match. So it's not like it's just this match happening.
00:30:19
Speaker
but it definitely adds to the sense of these aren't getting valued. Yeah, exactly. It's also disappointing to see a run-in finish on this. I get that it's setting up a match that we have since seen. Yes. On a slam break between Vachon and Medusa. It's also disappointing that the timing's just a bit off, because I think the idea's supposed to be that she kicks the leg and Hokuto can sort of do like a Hurricane Ron or some head scissors to get out of it. Maybe, yeah.
00:30:46
Speaker
But the way it comes off, she basically takes a fairly soft power bomb because of the timing, because maybe she wasn't supposed to do a full power bomb. And sort of to her credit does roll through and doesn't get a pin off it, but it's not the smooth thing that they were going for. Yeah. That doesn't look quite like one smooth motion like you were maybe expecting. Yeah. And I think you're right. I think the timing is just a little bit off maybe. It's certainly not easy to pull off. So I'm not necessarily in a judgmental way, but it was not done properly, unfortunately.
00:31:14
Speaker
Yeah. I thought this was a fun match. I agree it's very short and it's a little bit simple. I do feel like the two could do a lot more than this. And like you said, it didn't help that the commentary team spent a good chunk of the match discussing a totally unrelated storyline. Still, for the time it got, they put on some good solid action and they included some impressive spots that showed off their speed, precision, and flexibility.
00:31:39
Speaker
The ending, it has a lot of various parts and actually does work together quite well. Ono's distraction of Jay and the roll up and then the power bomb starting and Luna charging in. All that actually works together quite well. It's just the, the actual critical moment of the power bomb versus the kick. That seems a little bit off timed, but like you said, it's a complicated spot. Yeah. So it's hard to get everything to go 100% perfect.
00:32:05
Speaker
But I did like the complexity of it, that you get kind of a false finish of Ono's initial distraction and a roll up, but that doesn't turn out to be the real end. And then that gets countered by the actual interference by Vachon. I also wonder if the really close near fall with the kick on the suplex was like a test or see crowd reaction, see what they give it to Medusa. I could see that. I could see that. So while this was quite short and I could have done with much more from them, it still ended up being an interesting and entertaining match.
00:32:34
Speaker
Yeah, it's a good but unfortunately truncated showcase for the two, I think. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you definitely get to see some of what they can do and what's your appetite for more. Yeah. But you just never really get more at any point, unfortunately.
00:32:52
Speaker
As mentioned, Medusa would, of course, wrestle Luna Vichon and Sam Brie, which we saw already. Luna decided to check if she had appendicitis at one point in that really weird, deadly hold. Oh yeah, yeah. Following that, Medusa will once again go for the title of the Green American Bash series. I'm looking forward to covering the future.
00:33:10
Speaker
I should also note that on the Gohom Nitro, they began a tournament for the WCW Women's Cruiserweight Championship, a title even less mentioned and focused on than the WCW Women's now Heavyweight Championship. Yes.
00:33:26
Speaker
Basically, what they did was they had these two random Japanese ladies. I'm sure they're notable in Japan, but as far as the audience watching Nitro 97 goes, it's these two random Japanese ladies wrestling a match. This guy holds up a title saying they're wearing a tournament here. One of them wins. It gets a decent reaction, but there's no buildup at all to it. Just, hey, here's the thing we're doing now. Yeah.
00:33:48
Speaker
The rest of the matches that happened on WCW Saturday night or on main event and the title would only ever be defended in a person called Gaia in Japan, which is one of surprisingly large amount of women only promotions in Japan. Yeah. It's a bigger thing and there than is here for sure. A little factor I discovered as well doing this.
00:34:11
Speaker
I mentioned on the collision Korea show about El Samurai's longevity because he would win a title in 2010 and that show was 1995. I actually was going to beat that. Okay. So the only connective thread between the women's cruiserweight tournament and the women's heavyweight tournament is Mako Satemura. Okay. She was a couple years in her career at that point in Japan. She loses both first round matches in the tournament.
00:34:38
Speaker
She will go on to, she's in wrestling to this day. She is the current NXT UK Women's Champion. Okay. So she's holding a title right now in WWE. Wow. And this is 1997. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. What? 24 years? Yeah. Wow. Okay. More power to her. That's impressive. Yeah, right.
00:35:02
Speaker
Our third match is Lord Stephen Riegel versus the artist currently known as Prince Iakea. For Iakea's WCW World Television Championship, the referee for this one is Mark Curtis.
00:35:18
Speaker
A couple months back, Regal's TV title reign was interrupted by a surprise upset win by IKEA. The story they're going with is that no one thinks he can hold him to the title, but he's managed to do so pretty successfully so far. He's wrestling regular on TV, as you would imagine with the belt, and actually fans on pay-per-view, which is pretty good.
00:35:37
Speaker
They just sort of put it off for a bit, but Regal is now getting his sort of mandated rematch from this. It's notable on the Go Home Nitro. He actually loses the match to Chris Jericho. Oh. Back when he's full Lionheart babyface. Come on, baby. Yes. Vest wearing, you know, rock and roll lyrics going Jericho. Teen movie theme, entrance theme. Yeah, exactly.
00:36:01
Speaker
He wouldn't take that loss well, so he would beat up Jericho, followed by a parade of cruiserweight and cruiserweight-style jobbers that would come out conveniently one by one, like it's a kung fu film, with their turn.
00:36:14
Speaker
Among them, you would see Joe Gomez, his tag partner, the Renegade, who's still around, and a pre-flock Billy Kidman wearing regular wrestling gear, which surprised the hell out of me. It is a rare, rare, rare thing, but definitely something you very occasionally see in the early years.
00:36:35
Speaker
Like he's not wearing a tank top and shorts? I don't get it. What's going on here? Who are you, sir? Yeah, right? It's bizarre. That looks like Billy Kidman and it says Kidman on his tights there, but that can't be Billy Kidman. Is that like a Joe Kidman I'm not aware of? He's dressed like an actual wrestler. What the heck? Yeah, I was very strange.
00:36:56
Speaker
It's a pretty awesome culture clash, seeing Regal come out to Clark's very formal and elegant Prince of Denmark's March in front of an old West town set. I'm not fond of Regal's new robe though. I do like the frills on the front, but the rest of it looks like shiny plastic or something rather than normal cloth. So it kind of clashes to me. It's like, it's supposed to look like a colonial era thing, but instead it looks like a Halloween costume of a colonial era outfit. Yeah, I can kind of see that.
00:37:24
Speaker
Ayakea has a neat drum-heavy piece for his entrance, and does a traditional dance when he enters the ring. Dusty says Ayakea has earned his way to the championship, and that both he and Diamond Dallas Page have the matches of their lives tonight. And Hienan chimes in that Ayakea has more confidence each time he comes out. Dusty says he said that, and Hienan says he was interpreting.
00:37:50
Speaker
Regal argues with a large group of fans at Ringside, as Tony promotes the WSW website, which is apparently the hottest website on the internet. I doubt that. Yes. And also just to hire me, it's wcwwwrestling.com. Yes. What's that second W mean again? Ah, well. I guess they were worried that if they typed it as WC wrestling, someone would think of them as water closet wrestling. Yeah, I guess.
00:38:18
Speaker
Regal cheap shot, but Ayakea knocks him flat and gives a good, determined look. Regal argues with the fans some more, as Tony says that Scott Steiner has been arrested, so the Outsiders vs. Steiners is now Nash vs. Rick Steiner, but it's still for the tag titles.
00:38:35
Speaker
Ayakea side headlock takeover for two, but Regal rolls him over for one. Regal works the arm, but Ayakea escapes and puts on a headlock, keeping it on through several Regal escape attempts until Regal cheap shots in Monorope break. Tony mentions that Dennis Rodman has joined the NWO, but he's still nice enough to promote Rodman's movie Double Team, also starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. That's a classic. It's a classic of sorts.
00:39:04
Speaker
And it got its own sequel, so that's something. Yes, yes it did. That is a thing that happened. Yeah. Rigo beats Ayakea up and does a muscle pose. Tony explains Scott's actual offense was striking a cop. And surprisingly, Hienan defends him, saying that he was just going for Nash and everybody else was just in the way. It was just kind of funny, like Dusty actually criticizes him and Hienan defends him.
00:39:33
Speaker
Yeah, Heenan really is a face as long as it involves you being at the end of the world. He will take any opportunity for that. It's actually a fascinating thing with his commentary that he actually decided this will be a unique thing for a heel commentator to do. I will not defend this one specific group of heels. It's really, really interesting. He still will do some things where he kind of
00:39:58
Speaker
has a cover lead side. So if they're too close to him or something like that, he'll kind of start speaking more favorably of them. Or if it's looking like things are really starting to go their way, then he'll start edging towards it. But otherwise he's just as strongly against NWO as the rest of the announcers, which is really cool with him being a bad guy. Regal throws IKEA through the ropes, but he springboards back in for one. Regal tries to claim IKEA was close to his punching.
00:40:25
Speaker
Hienen says Ayakea, as champ, should hang back and force Riegel to take risk and make mistakes. Tony's actually in agreement, but then Hienen goes full heel by noting he means Ayakea doesn't even have to win the match. Just keep his title by any means necessary. Yeah, yeah, sure. Ayakea wins a test of strength for two, but Riegel blocks a knee drop, kips up, and I pokes him, then claims that it was a legal open hand slap with a very wonderful, innocent expression. It's a European thing, yeah.
00:40:54
Speaker
Regal locks on a full Nelson. The commentators go back to Steiner versus Nash, saying that with Nick Patrick as ref, it's now effectively a two versus one match.
00:41:04
Speaker
Ayakea escapes, slips a bit on a sunset flip attempt, and completes it on the second try. Nice recovery there. Regal punches free and lands vicious strikes, but Ayakea fights back with double chops, and Regal retreats as Ayakea challenges him. Tony says Ayakea's dander is up, and Dusty is tremendously abused by this. It's not quite as good reaction as the dragon screw leg whip, as time hears it, but it's pretty close.
00:41:31
Speaker
Yeah, that's peak dusty reaction, yeah. Riegel calmly dodges an Iikea springboard crossbody and looks insufferably pleased with himself. He does, yeah. Iikea reverses a whip for several strikes, but Riegel hits the brakes on another whip and goes for a roll up, only for Iikea to spin and catch him with a sudden pin for the three count and the win. Surprising ending there that gets pretty big cheers from the crowd. Yeah, yeah.
00:42:00
Speaker
Riegel attacks IKEA after the bell and the trade blows, but Riegel gets IKEA down and puts on the Riegel stretch as Curtis tries to get him to let go. Riegel finally does let go and yells at Curtis, then goes back and puts the hold back on, smashing IKEA with the belt in the process. Dellanjuria, you want to come out with that can of mace? Yeah, I was going to say, you can't establish him as his presence and then ignore him from the show, right? Nope, nope. He's done with that. He got his macing in for the day, I guess. Yeah.
00:42:28
Speaker
Riegel beats up Iikea until he just kind of decides he's done and goes away. Dusty, in the middle of making a point about this being a costly victory for Iikea, gets very distracted as the camera cuts to one of the decorative cactuses around the arena. Quote, while you talk about costly victories, this could be a very costly victory for the prince right here at cactus. Right here in the middle of cactus.
00:42:57
Speaker
Oh, I love Dusty Rhodes. Oh, Mick is in the wrong company now. Yeah, true. We get a replay of the finish and Heenan pronounces Ayakeya as Ayakeyuu. Uh, no. Close enough. Thoughts on this one? I thought it was a pretty solid match. The one thing would be that while it's really technically solid for the most part, it's a bit slower pace is the story.
00:43:21
Speaker
Because obviously there's a good story here, which is that Regal is just trying to wear this guy down. Regal obviously knows how the TV title will work. He knows how much time he has. Yeah. So that kind of plays into that a bit. He doesn't do things he doesn't have to do to try and get the victory. He knows how to work this kind of match.
00:43:37
Speaker
I think this kind of match works really well when it's simple regal and Mysterio, where his big comebacks are really vibrant. So you can get two minutes of a whole working him down and then a Hurricane Rana. I don't think IK's offense is bad. It's just not quite as strong. I think you need for this kind of story to work properly, you get the good crowd reaction consistently. It's also good that it builds up to presumably the rematch between these two with the post-match angle as well.
00:44:07
Speaker
And I'll see the story is nice that after all of his boasting and bragging and showmanship, Regal was beaten by a wrestling move. Yeah. And not like a strike or something. Right. Yeah. He actually gets outwrestled in the end.
00:44:20
Speaker
Yeah, Iikea is only actually like a couple years into his career as a whole and only actually one year into WCW. And you can kind of tell because a lot of this match uses simpler spots than the norm for a Regal match. Sure. But at the same time, it doesn't really work much against it. They keep a pretty good pace, have nice intensity, and make excellent use of the spots that Iikea can do to put on a nice little contest.
00:44:43
Speaker
So it doesn't have the technical artistry of other regal matches, but it still has his really strong character, and he works really well with less experienced talent, giving Aya Kea a chance to look good and prove himself to the fans. And it works quite well as the fans actually do seem quite behind Aya Kea, and she are pretty big for his victory. It's not the Mysterio sleeper hold spot earlier in the night, but that was a unique thing. Yeah, for sure.
00:45:08
Speaker
There's a flub or two along the way, but they recover very quickly and they never lose their stride. And I agree. The ending was really nice. It's a creative double counter. They had to go perfectly to work and it does. Yeah. All told, I quite enjoyed this and early IKEA has very clear potential. Yeah.
Ric Flair's Return and Horsemen Dynamics
00:45:26
Speaker
Please ignore Slambry 2000. Yes.
00:45:31
Speaker
On the following night, we would get a match between Steven Riegel and Risterio, which would end in Risterio being beaten up pretty badly by Riegel, who's still enraged by what happened on the night before. And the post-matching against Riegel would also be the prince who would come out to try and help Risterio. Late in the same night, IKEA would still go for his mandatory title defense against Ultimo Dragon. Okay.
00:45:57
Speaker
So despite seemingly that match angle opening the show of being about who's going to challenge next the title, it's the guy that lost the match. I mean, it wasn't officially a Tinder's match, but it's kind of weird that Mysterio doesn't challenge for the title again and the dragon does. It's about what happened. Yeah. Yeah. You'd think that you'd go for the guy with more recent victory, but yeah.
00:46:17
Speaker
So in that match, IKEA comes out with his ribs bandaged up, an idea that I'm sure he learned from someone backstage. And as you can imagine, fighting Ultimo Dragon with banged up ribs is not good and he would lose a TV title to Dragon. Okay. Seemingly, all this buildup with the post-match angle and Regal and IKEA doesn't actually go anywhere. That's unfortunate. Yeah. At least not for the title. Maybe they have follow-up matches non-title, but it's kind of the same that there's not a follow-up story to that.
00:46:45
Speaker
Yeah, especially with them doing quite a bit to establish Iikea here as a good talent. You'd think that they'd kind of push the story a little bit forward and further establish him, but unfortunately they're taking the title off of him even. Yeah, literally the next night. Yeah, yeah. Dragon's a good choice for a TV title holder, obviously, so I had nothing against him on that, but it does feel like Iikea kind of gets interrupted then in his build. Yeah. He's like, look, he can survive all these challenges. Oh, no, he can't now. Yeah.
00:47:16
Speaker
We cut to Mean Jean Okerlund in front of the old West Town set, and he runs through the announce crew for the night and shills the hotline with news of a new clique and a car accident, though he is nice enough to say everyone was okay, so good to know. 1-900-909-9900. He brings out Ric Flair, sadly in boring jacket, denim shirt, and khakis rather than bejeweled robe. Aww. Though it does fit in a little bit better with the western set's colors, I guess. Sure, sure.
00:47:43
Speaker
Amusingly, Gene says Flair is river dancing as he struts around. Nineties. This one is quite a lengthy segment, so I'm just going to recap it rather than play the audio. Next sentence. Okerlund asks Flair about his imminent return. Flair says hello to Tupelo and says two things happened tonight. The horsemen that are functioning, that's Mongo, Jera, and Benoit, walk the aisle horseman style.
00:48:09
Speaker
And two, the Nature Boy has the doctor's orders to return May 1st. He's ready to be back in the game. I should point out that's not something that happens tonight, Flair, but whatever. Yeah. He talks up Steve Mongo-McMichael, Chris Benoit, and Jeff Jarrett, who he calls a bit of a pretty boy. He talks about R.N. Anderson's upcoming surgery and says he knows the Enforcer will be back to walk the aisle again. Gene says he and all the fans wish Anderson the best.
00:48:37
Speaker
He asked Flair about Roddy Piper, and Flair says Piper is the hot rod, and notes that Kevin Green was given permission by the Carolina Panthers to wrestle in WCW. Flair says he and Green have mutual respect. Really? Yeah, what's that based on?
00:48:53
Speaker
And he invited Green to wrestle alongside him, and Green said yes. He says Hogan's the only thing missing. So he challenges Hogan, Hall, Nash, Savage, etc. to a match on the 18th, i.e. Slamboree. He won't guarantee victory, but he'll guarantee a workout. Gene calls Eric Bischoff a little dirtbag. Flair says the last thing that he'll do in this sport is beat up Eric Bischoff with basically all of his limbs bound.
00:49:19
Speaker
Flair has a lot of stuff to cover on this one and maybe some of it could have waited till Nitro. But I do appreciate that even in the midst of making challenges and talking about his future return, he and Gene have time to build up the horsemen that are actually fighting on this show. And even to which Arne Anderson well for an upcoming surgery. Though Arne actually does show up on the show briefly later, this is the period when he was legitimately having some big medical problems including his left arm entirely giving out on a few occasions.
00:49:47
Speaker
it would eventually lead to his retirement a few months after the show as he realized that further impacts would risk paralysis or death. Yeah. He's hoping the surgery would fix the problem. Unfortunately it didn't do enough. Yeah. I think he tells one story. I remember of him like working out, doing fine. And then someone comes up and just says, Hey, Aaron, and slaps him on the back of his arm, just ceases to function. Oh, I heard that story. That's just like, I can see that just being the terrifying moment where you realize I need to be done. Yeah, so they,
00:50:16
Speaker
Otherwise, Flair does a good job building up his return and the slam-bree match that he's gonna have, even if he does get the eventual participants slightly wrong.
00:50:26
Speaker
It's still weird to hear Flair talking about mutual respect with Kevin Green, though. He bribed Kevin Green's friend to betray him less than a year prior. And Green is clearly not over it, considering he's going to fight Mongo for revenge two months after this. He just, I guess, forgot who did the bribing? Or maybe he considers Flair some kind of benevolent trickster god who tests mortals to see if they are worthy. Thus, Flair was just performing his duty, and it was Mongo who was found wanting.
00:50:54
Speaker
If anyone could pass as a Loki, it would be definitely Flair. He could easily do a Loki roll, yeah. Oh, yeah. 100%.
00:51:03
Speaker
Yeah, that was pretty good. I'm always wary of interview segments just to pull up other shows on a pay-review because obviously this point is different because we're watching it much later. But in Act 97, you're paying to watch the show. And I guess you're, you are paying to see Flair, but it seems like kind of a time filler a bit. It's entertaining time filler and it gets storyline across, but I'm always wary of just pure interview segments on pay-per-view because pay-per-view is for the matches.
00:51:29
Speaker
When it's not an interview segment about the match that's happening. Right. That's true. Yeah. Yeah. The caveat there. Yeah. Even then there's a couple of shows where they'll have an interview segment about a match on the same show. I'm like, I feel like you don't need this. This also needs to add something. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like this, this was a perfectly good segment that probably could have just been done on the next Nitro. Yeah. You know, like we said earlier, the women's match got five minutes. Give this five or six minutes to the women's match. Yeah.
00:51:59
Speaker
I love flair and he does a great job here, but it just feels like this doesn't add something to this show.
Public Enemy vs. Horsemen Tag Match
00:52:06
Speaker
Right. Yeah. The following nature, you get a long, very strange bit where Piper is officially invited and accepts the opportunity for a slamboree.
00:52:18
Speaker
It's very strange. They go in like half-shoot sort of joking manner about each other like like we reference like weird road stories that no one knows but them. And then the segment ends I kid you not with
00:52:32
Speaker
Flair, adding a random woman that he said he'd seen her somewhere, who's a big fan of him, comes out wearing one of Roddy Piper's shirts. And I guess she's the final payment for him during the game. I'm like, gee, I'm sure Piper's wife and kids would love to see this segment at home.
00:52:49
Speaker
I mean, he's not known as like a philandering guy. Yeah, yeah. The whole point is he would go back home to like South Dakota where he lived on like a farm with his kids and his wife and lived a very normal life. But it's like, no, I'll just bribe him with the woman I found in town. It's very strange. Maybe the bribe actually is just the shirt. Oh, OK. At least he didn't try doing that with Ricky Steamboat, the guy whose theme music actually said Family Man. Yeah. I'm sure he tried it as a heel at some point, but as a face, no. Yeah, yeah.
00:53:20
Speaker
Our fourth match is The Public Enemy. That's Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge versus Jeff Jarrett and Mongo McMichael of the Horsemen with Deborah McMichael accompanying them. Referee for this one is Mickey J.
00:53:34
Speaker
So this one got kind of a bit of a delay due to how Uncensored's card got rebooked at the last minute. Basically they have been a back and forth thing with these two teams. They keep interfering in terms of matches. There's the whole thing where they fight over the Halibrin briefcase and there's tables, all the stuff you expect between Mongo and his lovely metal, very digged up briefcase. But I guess he only has one of, and put like any other tables.
00:54:01
Speaker
There's actually a bit on one of the nitros where public enemy would actually lose a match to, of all people, high voltage. Holy crap. Really? Due to the interference by them. The worst thing to happen to public enemy until they would go to the same night heat against the acolytes, which ended much worse for them. But yes, it's kind of weird. They start building this story up, then they stopped it for uncensored and then they just started back up again. OK. It still flows pretty well, but it's kind of there's an odd gap there.
00:54:31
Speaker
The crowd does not do much better waving their hands in time than Public Enemy do this time. What's a serious match, Bob? They don't have time to do it right. Of course, Public Enemy have a table with them per usual, which they set up at ringside. The Horsemen come out to the awesome Horsemen guitar theme, and all is right with the world. Even if the Horsemen in this case are Jeff Jarrett and Mongo, accompanied by Queen of the WCW, Deborah.
00:54:58
Speaker
I love that they actually printed it with that. It's not just people calling her. No, there is a legitimate like sash. Yeah. With queen of the WCW on it. And no one realized in the entire production process that that was wrong. Also, so given this match and given the setting, it's in public and we came with the table. Shouldn't the horsemen come out with at least one horse? That would be awesome. I mean, that name would tell they work. Where's two of us? There's one horse. That's how it works. There you go. Yeah.
00:55:28
Speaker
90-90, welcome to Mongo's party, Mongo shouts. I kind of love that man, honestly. Doesn't always make sense, but he's always energetic. Yes. You cannot fault his enthusiasm. That's true. Jared's outfit remains terrible. Yes.
00:55:46
Speaker
As the teams line up, Tony says the NWO is getting stronger, but the Horsemen are working out the kinks to prepare to face them. Dusty tries to sell us on the Dungeon of Doom getting stronger too. Well, yes, but in the same way that negative 296.95 is better than negative 297. Yes. Well, also the Horsemen just faced the NWO last show as well. Yes, prepare to face them better. Yeah.
00:56:13
Speaker
Mongo and Rock start, and Rock shoves Mongo, earning a slap and hard shove back. Rock works a headlock, then lands strikes and chokes, but Mongo reverses a whip, and Jarrett nails Rock from the apron. Grunge in, but Mongo tackles him, then tackles Rock, and Mongo and Jarrett strut in unison. Dusty says they ought to worry about wrestling not strutting, but Hienan and Tony say it actually shows that they're working as a team.
00:56:39
Speaker
Yeah, which I'll allow I mean Mongo and Jared I think to this point have had a little bit of at odds in their angles very much So it is kind of a neat. Hey, we're actually on the same page now spot. Mm-hmm. Yeah Tags to Jarrett and grunge and Jarrett distracts grunge by complaining about hairpoles then slugs him when he's distracted looking at the ref Jarrett face buster then abdominal stretch, but he and in jokes that grunge has too much abdominal for the stretch. No
00:57:08
Speaker
Jared uses Mongo for leverage, then the ropes, but gets caught. And Jay breaks, so Grunge flips Jared down. Jared tries a leapfrog, but Grunge waits and slugs him as he lands. Cute. Yeah, that was a good spot, yeah.
00:57:21
Speaker
Rock slugs Jarrett, and Grunge scoops Jarrett up as Mongo gets in and awkwardly stands there for a moment. Grunge Atomic drops Jarrett into Mongo. Grunge clothesline to Jarrett, and he retreats up the ramp momentarily. Dusty and Hienan nicely chalk Mongo's paws up to an in-character rookie mistake, charging him but not knowing how best to help his partner, rather than an out-of-character timing error. Yeah, I mean, it's a good cover in there. Yeah.
00:57:47
Speaker
Jared, brilliantly, sarcastically counts along with Jay before he finally gets back into the ring at nine. Tags to Rock and Mongo, and Mongo hits big strikes and a sidewalk slam, but slugs Grunge before going for a pin. Grunge charges in, so Mongo only gets two after Jay hustles Grunge back out of the ring.
00:58:09
Speaker
Deborah Taunts Rock, who very audibly calls her a b**** twice. Wow. Geez, man. Beautiful Mongo Tilt-a-Whirl Slam gets two as Grunge saves, and Jarrett knocks Grunge out of the ring. Deborah slaps Grunge. Everyone outside, and we go to... split screen. Not very long, thankfully. No.
00:58:36
Speaker
Mongo sends rock into the side of a covered wagon grunge, shoves Deborah onto the table, but Jarrett saves with the chair, but grunge puts him on the table full screen. So we miss Mongo and rock knocking over some steers. A delighted Heenan references the blazing saddles character, Mongo knocking out a steer. He must've been saving that joke since Mongo first joined WCW. Oh yeah. He sounds so happy. He's saying it's great. Hmm.
00:59:03
Speaker
Back to split screen, and Rock uses a broken horn against Mongo, as Jarrett dodges Grunge's dive so Grunge goes through the table. Full screen again, and everyone's back in. Jarrett cross-bodied to Grunge gets two as Rock saves. Grunge knocks Jarrett outside, and Mongo fights off both public enemy, but they actually block a double noggin knocker. When does that ever happen? It's pretty rare, yeah. Mongo tags Jarrett, who hits his beautiful drop kicks.
00:59:31
Speaker
Grunge tries a powerbomb, but Mongo sneaks in to closeline him down. Jarrett slaps the figure four on Grunge as Jay encourages a cheering Mongo to leave, and Rock sneaks in, and KO's Jarrett with Mongo's Halliburton. Jay turns, sees the unconscious Jarrett in figure four pose, and I guess assumes he passed out in the hold he himself was putting on, so he delivers the three count and the win for Grunge as Mongo's too late to save.
00:59:57
Speaker
Mongo is displeased. Public Enemy failed to arm wave in sync outside, as Mongo and Deborah argue in the ring over a barely conscious Jarrett. We get replays of the table crash and the Halliburton shot, then the pinfall. Mickey J could have counted to 50 Heenan jokes. Thoughts? I thought it was a pretty fun, chaotic mess of a match.
01:00:20
Speaker
Especially in one-on-one matches, you really have, I think, a sandwich. You have two ingredients and you go together. Hopefully, they're greens that work together, you know, peanut butter and jelly, that kind of thing. In this case, you have a very complicated mix of things. You have public enemies plundering and brawling, which they do quite well. You have Jeff Jarrett's wrestling skill, which is, you know, showing them his dropcakes and his suplexes and such. Those dropkits are absolutely beautiful.
01:00:45
Speaker
On par with Hardcore Hollies, yeah. And then you have Mongos, just sort of sheer enthusiasm and power. Like I said, it's a very odd mix of things that could definitely, I think, not work. But for me, I actually kind of enjoyed it. They kept the fight mostly in and around the ring area, so it's not like other matches where they just fight everywhere and you can't follow it for the entire match, or for, say, 80% of the match, like a lot of these end up being.
01:01:10
Speaker
I think the idea was they wanted to get every one sort of thing into the match. So Jared gets to show his stuff, mom gets to throw people around. You gotta give Public Enemy a brief, you know, outside the rink fight table spot, just to make them happy. Yeah. Together it could be just too much and not work, but I kind of enjoyed it actually.
01:01:28
Speaker
Yeah, I thought this was like the tag version of the previous match. It's fairly simple in design with limited move variety to be careful about the least experienced wrestler in the ring, Mongo. And it also suffers from a couple of minor flubs, but because the wrestlers recover quickly, it doesn't hurt badly by them.
01:01:44
Speaker
Mango does well with what he can do, and you definitely can't fault his enthusiasm or personality. I think that's one reason that I've always kind of liked the guy, even if he never gets that great at the wrestling side of things. He's always clearly trying his best and having a grand time. Jared's experienced hand really helps this, as he's able to throw in some more complexity and some subtle story touches to build a sense of strategy and help build up the General Horseman plot. And the enemy's good brawling style helps give this a good, hard-hitting feel.
01:02:14
Speaker
The ending felt a little bit odd. I would have like grunge to actually roll Jared up or something, but otherwise it was fine. So minor timing issues aside, I agree. I actually really enjoyed this one. They did a good job, like you said, of getting everyone's individual talents or abilities into the match without it feeling like they piled too much
Booker T Promo Incident
01:02:34
Speaker
into it. Yeah.
01:02:37
Speaker
Despite winning this match, Public Enemy would be bumped to a dark match on the next show, St. Marie. Yes. It's surprising. On the flip side, Jared and Mongo would move on to a U.S. title and cross sport match, respectively. We cut to Mean Jean in the locker room. The Public Enemy's theme keeps playing quite loudly over the start of his shilling of the hotline. 1-900-909-9900. He brings in Sister Sherry, Booker T, and Stevie Ray, Harlem Heat.
01:03:08
Speaker
I want at this time to have, come on in if you would, Sister Sherry, Booker T, Stevie Ray the Harlem Heat gentleman, a match that really is turning out to be something else because I guess of the high stakes, the winner of this one getting a shot at Hollywood Hulk Hogan and the WCW Heavyweight Championship of the world, the winner of this four corner match between Lex Luger the Giant, these two men here tonight,
01:03:33
Speaker
Indeed is a big, big match in all of their careers. However, I should point out for the record something different. The way you win this one is with the first pin or the first submission. And sister Sherry, you may be directing traffic. It's conceivable these two men will face each other.
01:03:49
Speaker
We have everything planned out. We have our strategy down to a minute point. It doesn't matter if they're in there together because we have a plan for that too. We have gone over and over and over again. And no matter which one's in there, we're behind the other. Divide and conquer.
01:04:11
Speaker
I thank you very much Booker T. We've seen the intensity of the matches here tonight and I expect the same thing is going to happen in this four-quarter match. Let me tell you something Gino, can you out here talking about a clique? The only clique you need to know about is the Harlem Heat and Sister Sherry. See, because what you dealing with here is the brotherhood. It's non-stop from this point on in WCW. We take what we want and after we take Lex Luger and the Giants, we want the gold sucker. Hulk Hogan, we coming for you sucker.
01:04:39
Speaker
Let's pause for a moment to note that the peacock version, played here, dubs over a grievous error on the part of Booker T. Small, small error, yeah, oversight. In which that line there did not end with sucka. No. But instead, Booker accidentally called Hulk Hogan the N-word. He did, yes. Booker immediately realizes what he's done and jerks back, briefly covering his face, as Gene rapidly redirects to Stevie Ray.
01:05:09
Speaker
Booker has the biggest frown in the world on his face. He does. Trying to stand there looking tough, but clearly embarrassed beyond belief. And Sherry gently pats his head, comforting him while trying mostly successfully not to laugh. Yeah, right. Stevie Ray is actually an impressive rock just standing there, not reacting to the whole thing. And nicely carries on with the interview, which gives Booker something to react to so he can distract himself.
01:05:36
Speaker
I think it's kind of amazing considering how huge a flub it is, how well they just kind of continue on and finish the segment, kind of a show must go on moment. Yeah, yeah. If only they'd shown that kind of restraint from a shockmaster segment. Yes. And everyone started laughing and swearing the background when it happened. Yeah. Knowing this is coming up, we're like, how are we going to handle this segment? Because we can't play the original audio for obvious reasons. Yes.
01:06:05
Speaker
But then we watch the peacock version like, Oh, that makes it easy. We can just play this version. Yes. Yeah. They have nicely given us a version that we can actually play on our show without being thrown off of the various podcasting services.
01:06:17
Speaker
And thankfully for their part, Booker T said Sucka about, what, 10,000 times during his time in WCW? So he had a Bevio clip to use. I'm fairly certain it's literally taken from like three seconds before, because it says Sucka in exactly, exactly the same way. They've done a tremendously good job of actually blending it in, by the way. If you aren't watching the video, you really probably wouldn't detect that that was an overdub. Yeah, that's true. It's not bad.
01:06:46
Speaker
Booker has talked about that sense and says, you know, I was just getting into the promo and getting emotional. And it just, that was how I talked at times, you know, growing up and that just slipped out. He is, was not happy with himself afterwards and is not happy with that promo, understandably. He's taken his stride. It's, it's not really an indictment of him that he said it. It just, yeah, it's understandable. He's kind of in the motion of the thing. It's a big promo for him. It's a big time for him. So.
01:07:16
Speaker
It's understandable what happened. Yeah, yeah.
01:07:19
Speaker
Anyway, on with the rest
01:07:51
Speaker
Lex Luger! Damn! Get ready! Because we coming for the gold. That's Hulk Hogan's gold and you two suckers are in the way. We taking y'all one at a time. Now can you dig it? I thank you very much. I suspect, Sister Sherry, like many of the managerial people that I've known, if your men come up with a victory tonight, I'm assuming there's going to be a little party.
01:08:12
Speaker
There is going to be a great big party at Harlem tonight. We're going to pick our skirts up and we're going to knock our legs all over the place and we're going to celebrate the gold. Gene, it's a lot of knuckleheads out there been looking over the Harlem heat. But after the night, after we get the shot with Hulk Hogan, all the knucklehead suckers can lay the rest because we taking it all. Now can you dig it?
01:08:35
Speaker
All right, Harlem Heat sisters, Sherry, I thank you. By the way, Bobby Heenan, you probably heard about that party. That's something I'm certain that might interest you. Right now, let's get you back inside the arena for more action here at Spring Stampede.
01:08:47
Speaker
infamous absolute disaster aside, the rest of this promo is actually pretty good. And it's impressive how well they managed to carry on with it. I think a lot of people, myself included, see that clip of Booker's faux pas and think that's where the promo ends. But it's not. It goes on and he even has to talk again. If it were me, I would have wanted to go crawl in a hidden alcove somewhere for the rest of the night or the week or my life.
01:09:15
Speaker
But with Gene and Stevie carrying things forward and Sherry helping him calm down and refocus, Booker's able to recover well and even delivers a very strong ending to a segment he himself nearly derailed. Yeah. It's actually pretty amazing.
01:09:28
Speaker
It's definitely funny, funny hearing during Steve Ray's bit where he yells that we want the gold again. He tried to recover from that. Yeah. He starts like making hand motions to demonstrate the moves and going, yeah, and stuff. And I think that genuinely helps him. Like just, he's able to get past what he did and just get himself back in promo mode so that by the time it comes around to him again, he's able to just deliver his ending just great.
01:09:53
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Poor Owen Hart has no one with him when he's doing the infamous, your leg out of your leg. Yeah. That's like his ending line too. So it's like, there's no recovering. There's nothing you could do for that. But yeah, it's a good interview segment. It builds up a match nicely. It has certain variety for the part we just talked about, but yet on its own, that part aside, it's, it's, it is good promo for building a new up. Yeah, absolutely.
Crispin Waugh vs. Dean Malenko and Storylines
01:10:18
Speaker
I am a little bit sad that the original Disaster Piece audio is not available on Peacock for people to listen to, but I get why. You really shouldn't put that up. I am curious about that because Peacock, I guess, is not a thing in the UK and Europe, or at least not fully. I don't know, maybe it's in some regions, not others. Because I hear people that live in the UK talking about watching WWE Network. That's just still active there.
01:10:43
Speaker
So I'm wondering if that change got done by WWE and... And it's everywhere or is it... Yeah, or yeah. Like is the original version still on the WWE Network and Peacock changed it or did they change it before? Yeah, yeah. Interesting question. Can you imagine if they had Hulk Hogan saying that word? That'd be rough. Yeah.
01:11:07
Speaker
Our fifth match is Crispin Waugh with Woman versus the man of a thousand holds, Dean Malenko from Malenko's WSW United States Heavyweight Championship. Referee for this one is Randy Anderson. So new champion Dean Malenko is taking on all comers at this point. He's fought such luminaries as Scottie Riggs on Nitro. All right. Yeah.
01:11:31
Speaker
Next in line is Benoit, who he has a mutual respect with, the story they really pushed through the commentators and the storyline buildup here. Benoit, of course, has an ongoing issue with Kevin Sullivan, which is very cringy, both then and now. Yeah, for different reasons, but yeah. I'll start with noting quickly that Eddie Guerrero is the former champion coming out of here, and he's around, although he's injured, which will play a part in Happens Later.
01:11:59
Speaker
Benoit gets the Horseman theme as well, which is actually a little bit rare. Normally when he's doing singles matches, he gets that kind of weird theme that they gave him. I don't even know how to describe it, but you remember the normal Benoit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it doesn't seem to fit him very well. Yeah. Guess they're building up the solidarity theme with that. Sure. Woman has a awesome sharp angled studded red jacket. Mm-hmm. Looked like 80s music video kind of thing. Yeah, yeah, actually that. To the Eastern kind of thing, yeah.
01:12:30
Speaker
Tony points out a nice touch to the Harlem Heat promo. Harlem Heat, who normally wear the same color outfit, were dressed differently, reflecting that they're both teammates and opponents in their Four Corners match. Good job on that. Milenko comes out with the belt and no other frills, as is entirely proper for the Iceman.
01:12:51
Speaker
The two trade side headlock takeovers, head scissors, and arm drags until Benoit sends Malenko through the ropes to the floor, but Malenko lunges back in before Benoit can take advantage. They get a stare down. Malenko grabs an ankle lock, which Dutsey calls an unkeling situation. Sure, sure. Benoit grabs a cross face, then his own ankle lock, but Malenko is able to wrench harder on his, and Benoit can't hold.
01:13:17
Speaker
Dusty rambles at length about ankle holds and free ankles and hurt ankles until Tony just assures him he thinks he knows what dusty means. Yeah, right. We've only got the building till midnight. He had equips. Yeah, I love that line. So good.
01:13:32
Speaker
Benoit finally escapes and they collide on a charge as Benoit howls in pain. Benoit's right hand has blood on it. It looked like he had a bandage on a finger when he first came out and it seems to have torn away during some part of the counter wrestling. Oh, okay. He's clearly bothered by it for the rest of the match, but he rarely lets it actually impact any of his moves. You just catch him basically wiping it on his, thankfully with a red part of his pants. Yeah, yeah.
01:14:00
Speaker
The commentators worry about Scott Steiner. Hienen doubts that it's the first time that a Steiner has been arrested. Test of strength goes Malenko's way, but he can't get a pin, and Benoit reverses to several holds, then pins for two. Malenko escapes the holds with a back suplex, smashes Benoit to the turnbuckle, and small packages him for two.
01:14:22
Speaker
Benoit chops Malenko so hard that he didn't ask if a shotgun went off. It sounded like it, yeah. He did. That was loud. With his injured hand, by the way, which can't feel great. Malenko returns fire and puts on a cross face, then a camel clutch, bending Benoit far backwards. Malenko slaps on a short arm scissors as the commentators excellently discuss that each is being cautious of where the person they're fighting could win off a single move.
01:14:50
Speaker
Benoit agonizingly lifts Milenko and suplexes him while still in the short-arm scissors. Holy crap. Really impresses by, yeah. Dusty is amazed. Benoit back suplex and short clothesline earn two each. Abdominal stretch by Benoit, but Milenko keeps the arm up on the third try. Excellent shot of the packed coliseum is poorly timed as Milenko counters out right then for one.
01:15:18
Speaker
Benoit lands vicious kicks and a neckbreaker for two, as Milenko gets the ropes. So, Benoit hooks the leg on a second attempt for another two. Benoit release snap suplex earns two two counts. Dusty notes woman screaming for Benoit and mispronounces Banshee so badly that he didn't think that he'd accept Banjo.
01:15:51
Speaker
Benoit floats over a Milenko suplex and hits what the announcers variously call a, what was that? I've never seen that, Henan. A face down suplex, Dusty. A reverse face down suplex, Henan. A face down belly down suplex, Dusty. And a reverse front suplex, Tony, trying to get this back to rationality. Yes. I love this team.
01:16:01
Speaker
What fit the theme of the show, I guess? I guess so, yes.
01:16:14
Speaker
Jacqueline suddenly appears and attacks woman. Jimmy Hart appears, skips over the brawl, and steals the US title as Benoit knocks Milenko down and hits his swan dive headbutt for two. Eddie Guerrero appears, arm in sling, and smartly dressed. Coming from a fancy restaurant, Eddie? Mm-hmm, he had a date earlier. He blocks Hart's escape as Doug Dellinger stands nearby, probably wondering if he'll get to mace somebody again. Milenko suplexes Benoit over the ropes to the floor. That did not look like a fun fall to take.
01:16:44
Speaker
No. Malenko throws Benoit back in, but Arran Anderson shows up, attacks Malenko, and throws him in. Kevin Sullivan approaches, with I guess a pool cue it looked like? Kind of, yeah. And Arran stares him down, but then lets him by. Sullivan clocks Benoit in the head from behind, but Malenko charges and decks Sullivan, knocking him onto Por Guerrero.
01:17:08
Speaker
Milenko, exhausted, collapses by Benoit, as Randy Anderson signals for the bell, ruling the match a no contest due to the chaos. Outside, Sullivan restrains Guerrero, and Jimmy Hart tosses the US belt on Guerrero's shoulder, and he, Jacqueline, and Sullivan walk poor Eddie up the ramp, acting like he was part of their team all along, as a confused Guerrero tries to protest, unable to free himself due to his injured arm. The commentators discuss Eddie being set up here, though Dusty seems quite willing to believe he might be in on it anyway.
01:17:37
Speaker
You saw a play out in real time, then. Yeah. Hopefully Dean Malenko has more understanding. Back at the ring, Malenko recovers as Woman checks on Benoit. Malenko comes over and helps wake Benoit up. Benoit shoves him, but Malenko calmly waits for him to realize that the match is over and says, he was not supposed to be here. The commentators ask who the he Malenko mentioned is, but agree that Malenko and Benoit both clearly understand.
01:18:05
Speaker
As Melenko walks off, we get replays of the suplex to the floor, Jacqueline's attack, Sullivan's attack on Benoit, and the dungeon dragging Eddie away. Thoughts on this one? It's a really strong, technically sound clinic of a match, as you would imagine and expect between these two. They work holes really well, the transition holds really well, they do striking really well. I would have always been a fan of Benoit's that we throw out the ropes and just kicks you when you get back.
01:18:33
Speaker
It's an extra motivation rather than just picking at me and kicking my stomach once. Yeah. Like the sudden stop is kind of interesting to see on that one. A lot of times you just do clothes lines there of some kind, but just yeah, just kicking my stomach, just really just stop all the men's time as they're running that way. Yeah.
01:18:50
Speaker
I always get mentioned that Bitwardy flips Malenko over while he's in the hold is amazing just to watch take place. Yeah, in like modern wrestling you see spots like that occasionally where they'll do like a power bomb or something. Yes. But I don't know that I've really seen too many people do the suplex variation off of it. It's really impressive. Pretty uncommon, yeah. Yeah. It's a really good match. And unfortunately, all this nonsense has to happen at the end of it. You have to have all these run-ins, these attacks.
01:19:18
Speaker
Let's be honest, Ben Washington won by DQ, right?
01:19:21
Speaker
Probably and and to be clear on the show itself. It's a little bit unclear I think someone eventually says no contest, but yeah, I think I actually took no contest from like looking it up on a site somewhere Yeah, yeah, officially it's list that but yeah, it definitely isn't no contest because no it wasn't like they're both attacked, right? Yeah Well, actually no, I will correct you aren't Anderson attacks team Malenko. Oh, well, yeah, but the match goes on after that So it so it didn't end right based on when it ends. It should be a DQ win for Benoit, right?
01:19:51
Speaker
I don't mind this stuff necessarily happening on the show. I wish we'd gotten a straight finish, like, have Milenko, you know, do some sort of pin escape thing if he's going to beat Benoit, you know, if you're not having to take the title switch just yet. So have him beat Benoit in some way, and then afterwards have all this stuff happen. Yeah, do it as like, if you want to continue their angle, do a really close Milenko win. Yeah. I think it's appropriate. And then then have all this craziness happen outside. Yeah.
01:20:19
Speaker
Yeah, it's a shame that this match is so good and then all that has to happen. It really, that's the last, the last taste in your mouth, so to speak, is that. Yeah.
01:20:28
Speaker
Other than that, though, I would say, holy crap, what a great match. Yeah. These two somehow managed to mix incredible complex technical holds encounters, brutal strikes, innovative power moves and strength feats and tie it all together with a story that still left you feeling like despite all the brutality, they respected each other rather than hating each other. It was intense in a competitive sense rather than in a deeply personal sense, which was quite a neat feat. Having emotion in a match without making it actually a good guy, bad guy thing. Yeah.
01:20:58
Speaker
but just about proving yourself the victor in pure competition, a ferocity born not of hate, but of desire for greatness. Yeah. Excellently done. I do agree though. I wish it could have had a full ending because it was epic up to those final moments. Yeah. But the no contest finished. I do feel like serves to throw in some intriguing storyline possibilities at least. So even if it isn't my preference for an ending, I can forgive it. The match up to that though, pure brilliance.
01:21:25
Speaker
Yeah, I just, like I said, I wish there was more disconnect between all the shenanigans and nonsense they needed for this overlapping like horseman story where aren't support spin was a horseman, but also with no that he's gotten the kind of self business involved in their business, which is why he lets them buy. Yeah. Because he wants been wanting to take care of his own business. He's not trying to step in the way like that.
01:21:48
Speaker
So there's a lot of neat layers here and attempts at doing the story stuff. It's just, it takes away from the match a little for me as the whole packet because it all lumped together like that. Yeah. You, you can look at it and be like, okay, at least the angles are interesting that they're involving here, but there's still that little, I wish we got the full match first. Exactly.
01:22:08
Speaker
Obviously, coming off of this, we would pivot back to the Benoit Sullivan story.
The Outsiders Controversy
01:22:13
Speaker
They would do it by way of having Benoit fight Meng, as we saw on Slamboree, and they have a return match on the next show. Basically, Meng is the enforcer for Sullivan, so it makes sense that he's eventually making Benoit fight these trials to get to him. And obviously, you mentioned what D. Mike was doing earlier. He's fighting Jeff Jarrett. All right.
01:22:34
Speaker
Our sixth match is Kevin Nash with six Ted DiBiase and referee Nick Patrick versus Rick Steiner for the outsiders, Nash's and halls. WCW world tag team championship. The referee is evil Nick Patrick. It's probably not a good sign when the referee is mentioned in the entrance for one of the competitors. Yeah, maybe maybe just a little bit.
01:23:02
Speaker
So National Hall are the tag champions, having won them in late-night D6. However, the division is how they contested with all these teams that were seeing them both on this show and not on this show, like the two faces of fear, for instance. Twice during the title reign, the outsides would lose their titles at various shows, but would have the titles return to them via technicalities, because Bischoff was technically running things. Which seemed like a conflict of interest that it should have come up way sooner than it did.
01:23:33
Speaker
Following the last time that happened, he was overruled and put in suspension. He's supposedly contesting that in court, which means he's allowed to be on the show somehow, which is kind of weird. You think about it? I guess he's still on our talent. Maybe that's the idea. Yeah. He just has no actual authority.
01:23:50
Speaker
Right. As far as typically with the Steiners and Holland Nash, they would be an attack on Rick Steiner on the previous show, which would affect that pay-per-view match they are evolved in. So it's only fitting now that they reverse things and now Scott Steiner is the one being attacked, albeit via Doug Dillinger, the baddest of all bad sh** apparently.
01:24:15
Speaker
One thing that kind of gets me this is so at Uncensored, this whole thing where the interview won this match and they can challenge for any title. They're not restricted. Right. For one thing, they already have like two of the titles anyways. It's kind of funny they need to have this. So I think they tried to say in commentary that that's why Nick Patrick is still the referee for this. Like they have that much power. But then he also had to request Nick Patrick.
01:24:40
Speaker
Yeah, there's a lot of confusion around that. Yeah. And this angle aside, I just don't know why they didn't just, if they had to rebound with Hall not being there, as mentioned, why not just have Nash and six together? Yeah, I can see that. Which they would actually do later in this year. In fact, they, at one point they had to sub out six for Nash who was injured, I believe. So they, they invoked the NWO version, the free bird rule, let him be co-champion with them. Yeah.
01:25:08
Speaker
But yeah, so now we have this weird situation where we have a singles match for a tag title. Which I guess has kind of paid off, like, I think about a couple years later where we have a tag match where the world title's on the line. Yeah, yeah. It kind of evens out, really. Yeah, yeah. As we start the entrances, Tony nicely sends best wishes to crew member Moses Williams undergoing treatment for kidney stones. Hayden snarks that Moses owes him five bucks. Yeah, that sounds about right.
01:25:39
Speaker
NWO theme count? One. Nash makes his entrance with his half of the tag belts, accompanied by Six, Dibyasi, and match-ref Nick Patrick. Nick Patrick is wearing a sleeveless ref shirt and a single glove, which is a bit of an odd look. A bit, yeah. Everybody gives Wolfpack signs on the way to the ring, and Patrick says something about knocking somebody out. Yeah. Steinerized.
01:26:04
Speaker
Rick Steiner comes out with his awesome bulldog jacket and his less awesome dog collar. Six and Dibiase leave the ring as Rick enters and he runs around as Nash regards him coolly. Nash wins a slugfest with a knee strike and batters Steiner with a big clothesline and big swinging blows as Patrick insincerely admonishes him to get out of the corner. Steiner gets a boot up on a corner charge and Steiner lines Nash down and Patrick looks sympathetic.
01:26:34
Speaker
Belly to belly by Steiner gets zero as Nash is in the ropes. It looked a little bit scary. It seemed like Steiner was going for his overhead one, but realized just in time it wasn't going to work that way with the very tall Nash. Yeah. Yeah, just fine. But you do have this moment. Oh, wait. Something's not quite right about that. No, right. I see that. Yeah. Hienan says that Steiner could belly to belly an L-1011 airliner.
01:26:57
Speaker
Steiner power slam gets two and a half and Tony says the count was slow. It was just a bit. Steiner lands punches and bobs and weaves around Nash's haymakers, but Six pulls down the ropes on a Steiner line and Steiner spills out. Patrick graciously accepts Six's excuses and checks on Nash while Six beats Steiner up. Back in, Nash sidewalk slam gets two.
01:27:23
Speaker
Nash chokes Steiner and Patrick lectures him. So DBIC takes over. Then Nash drops on Steiner's back. Dusty completely fails at making some kind of point about Scott Steiner's absence. And sounds like he's saying that Nick Patrick would not be the ref if Scott was there, which just no, that was clearly already a condition. Yeah.
01:27:48
Speaker
Nash's jackknife powerbomb gets two and nine tenths. Nash and Patrick are both stunned. Nash stands on Rick's head as Rick screams for Scott. Nash tries the jackknife again, but Rick punches him in the balls. Patrick sees that and amusingly waggles his finger at Steiner, but why not just dequeue him, especially if you're favoring Nash? Yeah, that's fair. It is hilarious though. Yeah.
01:28:16
Speaker
You can maybe explain it based on what happens later in the match to some extent but it still feels a little awkward. Steiner up top and he hits a jumping bulldog for two and nine tenths. Tony though says that Nash didn't even kick out and Patrick just pretended that he did.
01:28:32
Speaker
Steiner line, and another, and another, but six spin kick Steiner from the apron and Nash clothesline Steiner heart. Six takes forever taking a turn battle pad off. And Dibiase has to go help. Patrick actually looks uncertain as he sees what's going on.
01:28:54
Speaker
With the turnbuckle pad off, Nash lifts Steiner on his shoulder and drops him face first on the exposed turnbuckle. Patrick checks on Steiner, but Nash picks Steiner up again, and Patrick visibly questions him. Nash does it again, and Patrick and Dibiase both argue with him. I don't care, Nash says. You're with us. I'll tell you when it's enough.
01:29:18
Speaker
He does it again as Dibyasi walks out and Patrick backs off afraid to protest when Nash yells at him. Again, and Nash hits the jackknife powerbomb. Patrick hesitates and six yells at him to count. Patrick counts one, then pauses, but Nash or six, I couldn't tell which, yells at him again and he completes the two and three to give Nash the win.
01:29:44
Speaker
Patrick gets out of the ring and walks up the ramp and Nash and six look angry and confused in the ring. NWO theme count two. The commentators expressed their surprise that Patrick and Dibiase seem to have had enough of the NWO. Tony goes a little too far in suddenly saying that Patrick was trying to call the match down the middle to some extent. No, he was not at all. And Tony himself had pointed that out multiple times. Right.
01:30:12
Speaker
But it's otherwise a pretty good discussion actually. Thoughts on this one? It's definitely a good hard-hitting match in spurts. The problem for me overall is that because they sort of double back because of the whole situation and the storyline, they sort of brush together. There's definitely more of an angle segment than a match segment. I totally agree with that. Yeah.
01:30:34
Speaker
They have a, say, a five-minute actual match, maybe. Fair. And then they do the way too prolonged cutting the ropes bit. They get sports six, can't figure out how to use wire cutters, I guess. Yeah. Whatever the scissors he's using, it just cannot work. And, in deep, he's got to help him. It's a good story they're telling, I think. Nick Patrick is willing to cheat for them. He's willing to let them do a lot of stuff they shouldn't do. But the brutality of it is what throws them off. They're literally trying to end Steiner's career here.
01:31:02
Speaker
Yeah, because in Storyline, they had attacked him the month before and supposedly his inner ear was affected. That's why they were dropping him the way they were. Okay. They're certainly aiming to try to drop him on his injured ear rather than just his face. I gotcha. He has some torrent, because as a match, it's fairly short. Again, it's kind of funny, because of the angle bit, it has the same problem that the Badu Sekiroko match has. Right.
01:31:26
Speaker
basically, let's do all this stuff and then all the time we have. But then it gets all that extra time for the story bit, which is good. So yeah, as a match, it's not super great. But the way of getting this longer story told, I think it works well.
01:31:39
Speaker
Yeah, in contrast to the prior match, I think this one in order to get the story across properly had to interrupt the actual match. Yeah, sure. The other one, you probably could have had an actual ending and then told your story just as well. But this one, you really actually had to have the match interrupted by it. Yeah.
01:31:58
Speaker
Yeah, I agree with you. I think it's much more angled than matched, but for what it was, it was quite good. Steiner and Nash landed hard blows and big power moves on each other and gave a strong power centric performance. And Nash's insufferable confidence and constant smirk worked really well paired with the angry Rick Steiner and made it even easier to root for Rick.
01:32:19
Speaker
The NWO dissension angle is pretty good. Patrick actually does a great job subtly expressing discomfort with the turnbuckle tactic from the opening moments that they start working on it. Yeah. You can see like his body language change. Right. Going from, aha, this is fun. I'm with my buddies. Yeah. To, wait, what's going on here? Right. Yeah.
01:32:40
Speaker
I think the only thing in his performance that would maybe be better is in his hesitation at counting the pinfall at the end. I get what they're going for, that he's uncomfortable with letting them win that way, but he also was uncomfortable letting them hurt Rick Steiner more. So I think it actually would have been nice if he did a fast count as a means of expressing sympathy. I was going to say the same thing. Yeah. I do recognize that could be a complex thing to get across properly and not make it look like he's cheating for them. Right.
01:33:04
Speaker
I could see like looking away and discuss and just do a fast count and walk in the rolling out, for instance, yeah. Just because the delay actually makes it worse for Steiner. No, exactly, yeah, because if he doesn't count the pinfall, they're gonna hit him again or else do him again. I did feel like D.B. Asi's objections felt like maybe they came a little bit more out of nowhere than Patrick's. You don't see the discomfort with him, and he actually has to help set up the turnbuckle action. Right, yeah. I kinda wonder if maybe he wasn't supposed to do that, but Six just couldn't get it done. Oh, no, I definitely, yeah, I definitely think that's what happened.
01:33:33
Speaker
Yeah, so I think that's just where reality, unfortunately, interferes with the storyline a little bit that they just can't make it happen. So either Patrick or D.B. Asi has to muddy the waters a little bit and it's better they chose D.B. Asi for that. Yeah, I can see him if he had come off more begrudging with it, like have six and his understanding the real visible anger at himself at this point. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. D.B. Asi to help him and him maybe act uncomfortable with it.
01:33:58
Speaker
And the way it plays out, he just does it just with no qualms or hesitation because they're trying to get the story through. Probably hoping, oh, maybe they won't put the camera at me during it and they'll miss that part. Yeah. Yeah. I get the feeling he's not supposed to be involved in that and therefore it would not feel as weird when he protests later. 100%. Yeah. So overall, not a full match, but at least a really interesting angle with some intriguing possibilities for the NWO story.
01:34:23
Speaker
I still would have liked an actual tag match. I think you could still do the six doing the removal of the turnbuckle pad and all that stuff. If it was an actual tag, I would have had six wrestling match, find a way to take Scott or Rick out so they can do the prolonged beat down part of it. So, and exactly the same way. Yeah, exactly. But yeah, I mean, considering the curve balls that life throughout them in the process on this, I think they did a very, very respectable job with this. Yeah, I can see that.
01:34:52
Speaker
As mentioned earlier, Hollywood seemingly faced no repercussion for no showing a bunch of shows as tag champion, and a pay-per-view, in fact. And he dipped in the six-man tag match set up somewhat on this show, involving Flair, Piper, and Green. Which was a very fun match. It was, yes.
01:35:11
Speaker
These times would segue on the next night's row into a feud with the dungeon of doom, which is still a thing in 1997. Yes. It has, it has no one supernatural in it anymore, but it still exists. It's still happening.
Four Corners Match Setup and Dynamics
01:35:27
Speaker
Uh, so he would formally leave the group, uh, couple of shows later and then would reappear in August as the manager for a face, putting his turn from leaving the group to being a face now. Okay.
01:35:43
Speaker
We cut backstage to Mean Jean Okerlund, who is with Lex Luger and the Giant.
01:35:51
Speaker
Tony, I don't know what to tell you. I do know that I've been standing by here back in the locker room area. We do have a monitor, Lex Luger and the giant myself taking a look and seeing what the NWO is capable of doing. And on the subject of the NWO, the target Hollywood Hulk Hogan, the WCW heavyweight title of the world. These two men are going to be in a four quarters match involving the Harlem Heat Booker T and Stevie Ray. These men are not in a great frame of mind tonight.
01:36:17
Speaker
and i know that diet uh... as a x n w or you certainly have got some definite thoughts on this particular match i have some definite thoughts on this match and i know from the very beginning this is hulk hogan's plan he's trying to put brother against brother and friend against friend but what hulk hogan didn't ever count on and couldn't ever imagine in his life was the fact that lex and i are friends
01:36:42
Speaker
We train together, we eat together, we ride together, we wrestle together and we are a team. And when you're that much of a team, you can understand. You can look each other in the eyes and I know that tonight if I have to wrestle you and you beat me in the ring, then you deserve the title shot against Hulk Hogan. If I beat Lex, then I deserve the title shot. And if Harlem Heat beats Lex or myself,
01:37:11
Speaker
than they deserve a title shot. Right now you've got four athletes who are going to go out there and give everything that they have from the bottom of their shoes to the top of their head. And believe you me, I am not quitting. I am going at this full force. If I'm going to have to tear off both Harlem Heat's heads to do it, I will. It's relentless.
01:37:30
Speaker
Alright, the mantra in professional wrestling, the WCW heavyweight title, Lex Luger. Nobody knows the importance of that title, what it means, both in terms of self-gratification and prestige in the wrestling world.
01:37:43
Speaker
We all know, after watching what NWO has done for the past year, he's been to hell and back again with the NWO. He understands it deep in the pit of his stomach. We've all been made sick by what's gone on. WCW is here to claim what's theirs. This is the shot at Hollywood Hogan. He is the emblem.
01:38:11
Speaker
for the NWO. The Giant knows it, I know it, and Harlem Heat knows it. This is for everything that we stand for as athletes and competitors in world championship wrestling.
01:38:25
Speaker
We're here to put some prestige back in the name, World Championship Wrestling. We're sick and tired of what's been going on, and Giant and myself are a cohesive unit. We're not here to tear each other apart. We're here to accomplish something, and that is the one goal, and that's to get a shot, the chance.
01:38:44
Speaker
at the world title and bring it back home where it belongs. And, Harlem Heat, you've made your feelings very clear last Monday night on Nitro when you attacked the Giant and I. We know what we face when we go out to the ring. The intensity level's gonna be high! And, Mean Gene, we are ready. They are ready indeed, both physically and mentally. Lex Luger and the Giant, a four corners match. First pin, first submission, walks away with a spoil. Cody, back to you.
01:39:14
Speaker
I really liked these promos. They were good. Luger was good, establishing a tone of reverence for the title and for WCW and a desire to restore what had been lost. But man, giant, knocked it out of the park with an honestly eloquent statement on the power of the bonds of friendship and the inability of Hogan to tear him and Luger apart.
01:39:36
Speaker
He does a really, really good job, and I love the largely calm tone that he keeps through most of it. It fits the thoughtful ideas that he's expressing. It also strikes a different kind of tone than the norm for big match promos. Great build to the match here, I thought.
01:39:52
Speaker
Yeah, it was interesting hearing Giant be so sedate but steady in that thing. He manages to be quiet but not boring. Yes. It's an impressive performance and they managed to get across some fairly complex ideas as far as like what they need to accomplish tonight but what it means for WCW, what it means for them personally. Yeah. They both do an excellent job with this and have an interesting tone to it.
01:40:16
Speaker
I would say it's kind of funny looking back at it that Louis is all about the reverence, the world title, and the respect it deserves. When, if you remember last time he was world champion, he was full blown heel. Oh yeah, yeah. He was chancely team to win and everything. But he's not spray painting the title. That's true, yeah. He values the belt, let's put it that way.
01:40:39
Speaker
But yeah, no, I thought he did a good job. It's almost a shame that they didn't reverse the promo, because I think Giantus saw the better than his, because he keeps that slow, steady, serious delivery, and Luger has to go up and down a couple of times. For dramatic effect, it's not comedic, but everything is more than Giantus. I think you can see it maybe as that Luger's giving you the extra intensity push that's leading you into the actual match. Okay.
01:41:07
Speaker
like giants getting across the storyline. So they want him calmer. So the fans really get the chance to think through what he's saying. And then Luger's like, Hey guys, the match is about to start. Get excited now. Yeah, I guess I can kind of see that. So I think the two work together rather well. Yeah.
01:41:24
Speaker
So our seventh match is Booker T versus Stevie Ray, both accompanied by Sister Sherry, versus Lex Luger, versus the Giant in a Four Corners tag match for the Right to Face Hollywood Hogan for the WSW World Heavyweight Championship. Referee for this one is Randy Anderson.
01:41:45
Speaker
So to establish the rules for this match, they're a bit strange. It's contested like a tag match, so two men legal in the ring at all times with two others on the apron able to be tagged in and one fall to a finish. However, either man in the ring can tag either man on the apron rather than being restricted to teams. So Booker might end up against Stevie Ray or Giant might end up against Luger despite them both ostensibly being teams with each other.
01:42:13
Speaker
It's kind of weird rules and there's all sorts of questions that they raise. Like, do Booker and Steve Ray even have to fight each other if they're tagged in against each other, for instance? Or couldn't one guy just let himself be pinned if his buddies against him? Yeah, he could. I always felt these rules were kind of shoddy for single fall matches. The second question at least would be resolved if this was an elimination match. Yeah. But that's not the case in this match. Anyway, on to the actual match.
01:42:40
Speaker
Two different teams would briefly dethrone the outsiders with tag titles, only have them then taken away by Eric Bischoff's legal corporate wrangling. One of those teams would be Lexa and the Giant. Okay. A couple months back that happened.
01:42:54
Speaker
They would use their loss to set up the uncensored match, which unfortunately got the intabuo, have access to challenge the titles again. The other thing that happens, of course, Bischoff was suspended. So now the vague sort of nebulous championship committee, whom you never see, are breaking the rules for everything. They decided to set this match up. And if you're wondering how Harlem Heat, excuse me, how THE Harlem Heat, I say it correctly, qualified for this match.
01:43:23
Speaker
I don't know. There is no like Matt exist as a tag team. Yeah. There's no like match where they fight, you know, like the face, the fear or public enemy or something and go, whichever team wins to get to be in this match. It's just, well, Harlem heat's going to be in this four quarters match. Yeah. Okay. Sure.
01:43:43
Speaker
This is a show where we have a singles match for tag titles and we have a tag team match for a world title shot for a single person. Yes. A little confusing this show. Slightly, slightly confusing, yes. Yeah. Harlem Heat Enter First, accompanied by Sister Cherry. As mentioned earlier, they're dressed differently, Booker and Gold and Stevie Ray and White to highlight that they're not actually teamed with each other tonight.
01:44:11
Speaker
Wait, is that why Booker T said he wanted the gold? He wanted the gold outfit? Could be. Okay. Heenan points out that Shari's got a 2 out of 4 chance of managing the person who challenges for the title, so that's a good position for her to be in. Luger and Giant are out next to Luger's excellent catchy theme as Giant does not have a theme song at all now that he's not in the dungeon or the NWO.
01:44:35
Speaker
Don't get that idea. Yeah, he really should have gotten one at some point. Yeah. I'm sure Jimmy Hart could have found some song to rip off for him. Right? Yeah. Some wonderful pinwheel sparklers go off along the old west side as they walk by. It's good to know that the Pyro guys had some real fun tonight. Yeah.
01:44:54
Speaker
Hienen points out both of them are former champs, and Dusty notes that though this looks like a tag match, it's not about tag wrestling, and getting the golds should mean more to the competitors than cohesiveness in this match. Hienen wishes that Sting was in the match, and the commentators discuss Sting's desire to get back at Hogan more than to get the title. Hienen says Sting likely blames Hogan for turning fans and friends against him.
01:45:19
Speaker
Luger and Booker start, and Booker tells the camera that Stevie's going to take care of the giant. Booker counters early holds with some strikes, and the Luger selling begins. Though Booker is actually nearly as loud in this one. He is, yeah. Luger dodges an arcing kick, presses Booker high, and dumps him to the mat. I swear both of these guys are miked. Booker pokes Luger's eyes and tags Stevie. Luger tags Giant before long.
01:45:47
Speaker
In a bit of a nice touch, Luger actually goes to stand in a different corner than Giant was in. Kind of, again, highlighting there's not actually teams here. Yeah. Stevie Land strikes, but Giant hits a massive, roaring clothesline, and Stevie rolls out. Booker charges, but Giant press drops him. Booker and Stevie argue, and Cherry tells them to stay focused. Luger drums on the turnbuckle to charge up the crowd, but Stevie sneakily tags Luger.
01:46:15
Speaker
Luger and Giant hesitate, but do a quick sequence ending in an attempted Luger Slam, and Giant falls on top for two.
01:46:22
Speaker
Since there's no rule requiring a fight, Tony does at least nicely call back to their made the best man win kind of promo as an explanation. Exactly, yeah. Giant and Luger share a look, then tag the heat in against each other. Luger cheekily riles up the crowd to cheer the heat conflict. Really good. At first the crowd's not sure how to react and then Luger starts drumming on the turnbuckle and walking up and down the apron and pumping his vest and the crowd gets cheering big time. Excellent crowd work with Luger on this one. Yeah, he knows the crowd.
01:46:52
Speaker
Tony explicitly says that they could just tag right back out, making clear that there is no rule against that. But the Heat do fight briefly until Booker leapfrog Stevie and the two tap hands and taunt the crowd. I guess it either was an act or they really quickly worked out their aggression. Yeah. Hienan says one should sneak up and knock the other one out now, recounting once firing his own brother. But Booker tags Luger.
01:47:19
Speaker
Surprisingly, Luger sneaks in the kick on the test of strength. A turnbuckle ran, but Tony points out that they've covered the previously exposed turnbuckle back up. I would hope. Yeah. Stevie fights back, and he and Booker work over Luger, but he tags Giant to decimate Booker. Hienan says Giant is young and will get even bigger. Does he think that Giant is a child? Yeah, I'm not sure he understands how that works. He's in his 20s, dude.
01:47:50
Speaker
Giant destroys Booker, buddy dodges an elbow drop, and Stevie trades in without a tag to take over while Giant's down. The heat double team Giant. Heat him proposes bribery instead.
01:48:04
Speaker
A Stevie pump kick and Booker Harlem sidekick can't knock Giant down, so Booker lands rapid kicks to the knee. It was impressive the height that Booker got on the Harlem sidekick where he actually manages to get up to Giant's head with it. Oh yeah, absolutely. Wow. His vertical leap is never disappointing.
01:48:21
Speaker
Giant dodges a Stevie leg drop and big boots him, then tags Luger, who gets 2 off a slam and a set of elbow drops. Stevie pulls Luger to the turnbuckle, and Booker has a go but almost gets racked, but Stevie saves and suplexes Luger for 2 for Booker. Booker knee drop gets 2, as does a Harlem sidekick. Booker and Stevie trade off wearing Luger down, and earn 2 with a Stevie clothesline and a Booker scissor kick.
01:48:47
Speaker
Booker up top, and Stevie launches him at Luger, but Luger dodges. And nicely, goes for the wrong corner because, again, they are not stable in this match. Booker tags Stevie, but Luger tags Giant just in time. Tony notes that Luger needed that, but he might have just cost himself a tag title shot. Oops. Yeah. So close to making a really good point. Yeah, yeah. I understand the confusion with the match rules, though. I mean, that's, it's really, it mixes you up.
01:49:19
Speaker
Giant destroys both Harlem Heat members and sends Booker to the floor, then signals for the choke slam on a Dave Stevie, but pauses, thinking. Slowly, he turns and walks to a confused Luger. Tag me, Giant says. Tag me.
01:49:40
Speaker
Luger holds out his hand and Giant slaps it, tagging Luger in and giving up a world title shot in favor of his friend. Luger, stunned, puts Stevie in the torture rack and Giant stops a returning Booker T as Stevie submits giving Luger the win in the title shot. A grateful Luger gives Giant a big hug and they celebrate, Giant pointing at Luger indicating that he deserves the title shot. Keenan says, that's either friendship or stupidity.
01:50:11
Speaker
Why not both? Yeah. Dusty praises giant selflessness and looks forward to the fight between Luger and Hogan. Tony calls it a defining moment for the giant. Heenan sneaks in a what a dummy as we cut to the next segment. Thoughts on this one?
01:50:29
Speaker
It's tricky one because the rules, as you mentioned, are just so convoluted. It's one of the matches where you want to match his rules to highlight and accent the match. You know, the Q math lets you do spots you can do normally. False scan interval lets you fight at the crowd, et cetera, et cetera.
01:50:48
Speaker
In this case, it's a bit where they definitely wrestle like a tag match, but then at the occasion, I remember the tagging other people in thing and the single pinfall thing. Mm-hmm. They kind of do two obligatory spots of, hey, we got tagged in against each other and then just contested like a regular tag match. Yeah, exactly. Same problem I really have with the triangle match from this Dark Handy 5, I believe. Yeah. Yeah. Also won Luger.
01:51:13
Speaker
It's just, yeah, the match rules kind of got in the way because the matches would start and stop because they'd take people out. Kind of wish they'd either done more or less with the premise, I would say.
01:51:23
Speaker
Cause if you do more with it, you really sort of brace here as this crazy match we're in where no one can win, but there's tagging. Or if you just not done the stipulation, just say it's a tag match or a first pin fall, whoever wins them will get the title shot. Yeah. That's, that's really what I would have suggested. Cause I think the match rules are strange enough that if you dedicated yourself to this more, it would have just made it more confusing and made it a bit of a mess. Yeah. This match would have made more sense if it was actually just four individual wrestlers.
01:51:53
Speaker
you
01:51:53
Speaker
That said, they have plenty of good spots in here. So it's not like it's a really terrible match. It's just they have to work around the rules and you have to sort of wrap your head around how things play out. Yeah, I would say I really actually enjoyed this a lot, but in spite of the gimmick rather than because of the gimmick. Yeah, sure. The four corners rules are just weird as we discussed before. And yeah, the four just pretty much dispensed with them after a perfunctory partners versus each other segment. And then just pretty much run the whole thing like a regular tag match, which was exactly the right choice.
01:52:24
Speaker
In that mode though, they do spectacularly well. Giant and Luger come off as tremendously powerful, but risk being undone by superior Harlem Heat teamwork and a bit of trickery. Nicely, Harlem Heat actually get to overwhelm each of them in turn over the course of the match, making clear their tag dominance even against two former world champions.
01:52:45
Speaker
Giant and Luger really steal the show though with some tremendous acting and crowd interaction over and above their huge strikes and power moves. Luger in particular has the crowd right where he wants them the whole time and gets them to roar at many points. And Giant, what an excellent performance in those final moments. The opportunity to win the slow realization that he didn't want the chance for himself, but for his friend instead. And the selfless steady tag me.
01:53:13
Speaker
Like Tony said, it's a defining character moment for him right there. It really would have worked just as well or better as a straight tag match like you said. Yeah. But I do love how they use the rule that the one who gets the pin gets the title shot. They expertly played that part up for maximum impact and character development and made it a great segment overall. Yeah. I think totally agreement with you. Just make it a tag match, but keep that one rule. Keep that one difference and you're good.
01:53:39
Speaker
They had an uphill battle making the match work with the complications. I thought they did a pretty good job with it. Yeah. The gimmick's not contributing, the gimmick's risking taking away, but they handle it well enough that it doesn't. Yeah. And that's their hand. They can definitely see it being a mess to get through. Yep. So Luger would in fact get his world title match in August. It's a bit of a time gap. No, no rush guys. There's nothing important here. Maybe it was, it's, it's a title match in the next month that starts with an A.
01:54:08
Speaker
Oh, OK. Because he won it in April. So he has to take it in the next day. Yeah. I want to get the David out. Maybe it is addressed throughout. Like Luger will do promos thing. Well, I want my title shot and maybe Hogan will try to avoid it. I mean, unfortunately, more recently, it's Hogan not working the summer. Yeah. Yeah. Probably to do some movie. If I were to guess. Mostly. I don't know for sure. We probably shot one of those Devil's Mountain movies. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Those are around this time, I know.
01:54:38
Speaker
Yeah. As for LMP, they would go from competing for a world tower shot to being in the dark match at Slamboree. Again, public enemy. Wow. That is a very sudden drop. It's a reverse DDP. It is. It's the reverse DDP. It's even worse though. You're not even on the show. DDP at least got to be on Spring to MP 94. We cut to an ad for Slamboree. Hey.
01:55:07
Speaker
I'm Bobby the Brain Heenan, duster of the American Dream. Larry's the Bisco. WCW's got a lot of problems right now. Too many guys selling their soul. How are you gonna stop the NWO? We need a leader. Like a piper. Sting. Next to Luger. I'm a Dallas taker. Slamboree. Go get Hulk Hogan. Too little later, there has to be an ending. It's WCW Slamboree, Sunday, May 18th, live and only on pay-per-view. Call your cable or satellite company to order now.
01:55:38
Speaker
thought this was a great, serious ad for a show for once, as opposed to the kind of comedic bits that they usually used in the past. Zabisco, Rhodes, and Hienan all do a great job with their bits, building up the seriousness of the NWO threat and the need for someone to face them. And this is a slickly produced package that really worked to get me excited to watch Slambree even though I already have. And even though I already know it's not the finale of the NWO angle.
01:56:03
Speaker
That says a lot about how good this was. I particularly liked Zabisco's too many guys selling their souls line his delivery on that was just great. Yeah, he was really good there. Yeah. There is some ironic foreshadowing in Dusty's last line though. He says sooner or later, there has to be an ending. There wasn't an ending when there should have been at Starrcade 97. And that's when the whole thing started to unravel. Yeah, that's true. That's a pretty rare point. Yeah.
01:56:30
Speaker
Yeah, I thought it was good. It works as a general promo for a show. It has nothing to do with the actual show itself other than just, let's fight the interview. Yeah. So it's good on its own, but it doesn't really connect to the theme of it, which, but it's still good. Yeah.
01:56:45
Speaker
The way it does kind of connect is it's kind of like, there's a bit of a theme on Slamberry 97 of WSW trying to coalesce and find a way to win over the NWO. And so you get a little touches of that, but yeah, they don't really end up exploring who's going to be the leader. Right. Right. Yeah.
01:57:03
Speaker
I kind of hope the next show, I know it's not, but the next show's promo one is them again. We're like more Haggard and more Nord that didn't happen already. That would be funny. Come on. We need a leader already. Get on it. Get like three or four in and says, screw it. I'll just do it. Yeah.
01:57:22
Speaker
Our final match is the Macho Man Randy Savage with Miss Elizabeth versus Diamond Dallas Page with Kimberly Page in a no disqualification match.
No DQ Match: DDP vs. Savage
01:57:32
Speaker
Referee for this one is Mark Curtis. DP would famously turn down the NWO on a big nitrous segment where he would pretend to take the shirt and then give a nice diamond cutter to Scott Hall. Yes. And run to the crowd in a great bit. Brilliant, brilliant moment. Yeah. He sort of holds the arm for a second longer just to pull him in for the move, which is nice.
01:57:51
Speaker
This would lead to Uncensored where they would do a semi-shoot promo where Savage annoyed at this. Savage basically becomes the guy who's going after GP. For whatever reason, he's decided I'm willing to take care of this guy. Right. I guess you guys are busy doing other stuff. Or in Hall's case, not being here. Yeah. He calls him out and he, as the shoot part, is by revealing that Kimberly Page is his wife and not just the lady who's a nitro dancer slash former manager. Oh, okay.
01:58:19
Speaker
He gets annoyed at that for bringing about his personal life and everything. They would also get attacked, which would definitely be a motivating factor for him post-sensored. He would challenge Savage to a match and that would initially run away from the situation, but eventually the match would get signed for this show. Due to the volatility of both men, they may have had no DQ match. Okay. End of the duo theme count, three.
01:58:45
Speaker
We cut backstage and Savage walks along the halls with Miss Elizabeth talking about how he's going to murder the bum and he's going to party with 14 or 22 women. Though we asked Liz if there will be a problem with that. She says, nah. Now he knows no DQ doesn't mean he's not. He's still liable for murder, right? Yeah. Yeah. You would think so. I hope he knows that. I hope so too. He proposes slim gyms for everybody and says DDP is going down, but he isn't sure which way it is to the ring.
01:59:14
Speaker
I love that bit. Yeah. Heaton notes Nick Patrick standing in the background still displeased at one point. Oh, yeah. Savage and Liz arrive at the actual entrance ramp and walk on down to the ring with Savage slapping hands with the fans like he's a face. Heaton points out Savage seems to be taking this lightly and not preparing properly for a fighter like Paige. I appreciate Savage's great entrance work, but man, the NWO theme played for a long time on this one. Yeah, I did.
01:59:44
Speaker
We cut backstage to mean Jean, who is with DDP. Tony flubs the line a little at first starting to say he's throwing to DDP rather than to Jean for correcting and Jane jokes. It's close enough. Yeah, right. This is the biggest night for DDP. Let's go with that.
02:00:06
Speaker
That's close enough, Tony. Yes, DDP is with me. Diamond out of stage. Come on in. No disqualification. The macho man Randy Savage with Liz in his corner. And tonight, there's no tomorrow. Tonight, it's going to be you with Kimberly in your corner for all of the spoils. You know, Gino, sometimes in life, a man's got to stand up for what really matters or else you're just passing through.
02:00:31
Speaker
Savage, you stepped into my real world, and you found out what really matters to me. By doing it, when you did it, you stepped over the line. So tonight, you're mine. All right, Kimberly, the wife, you're going to be in your husband's corner tonight. And you know what this is all about if anybody does.
02:00:50
Speaker
Yeah, Gene, everybody's been talking about how this is the most important match in Paige's life and that the odds are stacked against him. Well, all I've been hearing at home is about how he's going to get Randy Savage for what he did to me. Now, normally, I like him to keep a positive attitude about everything. But rage is a powerful emotion. And in this case, I think I'm just going to let it ride.
02:01:20
Speaker
Oh, I like that. His rage is going to even the odds. Diamond Dallas Page and Kimberly with her input, her take out at all. Right now, let's get you back to David Penzer. No, but beg your pardon. Back to you, Tony. Nicely, after giving Tony a jab for a little flub, Gene Flubs himself throwing to Dave Penzer instead of Tony. Penzer isn't even doing the intros for this one. It's going to be Michael Buffer.
02:01:48
Speaker
Yeah, I just really wanted to talk to Dave, just personally. DDP's a little bit excited in this build-up to what I'd certainly call his biggest match thus far. So he stumbles a little bit over his lines. But he still gets across the story and emotion quite well, and if anything, the stumbles actually help with that. In character, he'd have butterflies too.
02:02:10
Speaker
Kimberly does a nice job supporting the story as well, and has some really good, steely facial expressions during it. Just as a solid stare at the camera. Looks very serious and driven. Yeah, it's interesting, because DDP gets a lot of credit, understandably, for being a good promo. But yeah, I thought Kimberly did a really good job here as well. She definitely prepared well for this, and she lowered the right emotion for it. Yeah. Yeah, I thought it worked really well, just getting the story across quickly.
02:02:40
Speaker
If you hadn't watched all the Nitros, you wouldn't necessarily know the whole story. This tells you the emotion going into it. Yeah, even not having watched everything leading up to this the way that you do for shows. I got enough that I'm like, okay, I get the gist of what's going on here and why DDP has ticked off. Yeah. They barely give Michael Buffer audio at first. He goes over Kimberly's recent appearance in Playboy and Paige's efforts to defend her honor, his honor, and his whole career.
02:03:10
Speaker
He says, Paige represents the WCW. Of course he does. Oddly, we don't get a buffer ring intro for Randy Savage. Oh yeah. There is a point in Paige's promo where the arena noise suddenly cuts entirely out and we only hear Paige with no background at all. So I'm betting that's where buffer was actually doing the Savage ring intro. Oh. And they just realized that would interfere with the promo they were showing. So they cut it out.
02:03:34
Speaker
but forgives us his let's get ready to rumble, which is, again, a bit odd, because normally he does that before the ring introductions. What have we just forgot? It was like, oh, crap, I got to do it. Yeah. I don't get paid the same amount when I say the words. The commentators praise Paige's work ethic and his diamond cutter, but Savage gets on a microphone and says, it's not Paige's big day, it's his last day on planet Earth. Oh, yeah.
02:04:03
Speaker
Is it going to let him spaceship with the rocket fuel and fit him into space? Wrong person. Right mindset though. It is, it is. Paige charges Savage, so Savage runs away. They end up brawling outside, and Paige counters a barricade slam with his own, but Macho accidentally kicks some poor kid's baseball cap off in the process.
02:04:25
Speaker
Paige beats Savage up outside and inside the ring, lifts him high and drops him knee first in a cool looking spot that might actually still have been a botch. I couldn't tell if that was what they were actually going for and Paige just like adjusted having slipped up on something. Yeah, I have to say.
02:04:41
Speaker
Paige tries the diamond cutter, but Savage holds the ropes and Paige lands hard. Savage snaps his neck across the ropes and Paige spills outside. Savage follows and charges right past Kimberly, knocking Paige into the crowd, and they brawl through the crowd and fight with trash cans by an arena entrance. The commentators debate precisely what kind of cable Paige uses to choke Savage, and Dusty decides it's a cable cord.
02:05:06
Speaker
Oh, okay. Revalatory. Yes. Now, so this might as an ODQ, but it's not no countdown, right? They kind of overlap most of the time, so I would assume so. But yeah, they never really specify that. Yeah. Back to ringside, and Savage hides behind Kimberly, and Elizabeth rakes pages back, then Savage shoves Kimberly into page and decks him. Savage drops page rib first on the barricade, then top rope double accentles him on the barricade. Ow.
02:05:36
Speaker
The crowd chants mightily for DDP, but Savage hurls him to the steps for about a 0.3 Senna. Yeah, not too strong. Then into another set for about 0.35 Senna. Yeah. Similar distance, but there's a better sound on that one. Oh yeah, that's true, the echo, yeah. Savage rolls Paige in and pints him with his feet on the ropes for two, and insists it was three, pointing Curtis to Elizabeth, who agrees and asks Curtis where his glasses are. I love that Savage totally expected that to work. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:06:05
Speaker
Savage goes out and steals a chair from Michael Buffer and smashes Paige with it, but Curtis throws the chair out. Savage goes back out, but Buffer's fellow announcer Dave Penzer won't leave his seat, so Savage slaps him hard to knock him down and takes it anyway, then stomps him. Savage throws the chair in, as Buffer kneels to check on Penzer. It's a rare moment with the ring announcers directly involved in the match story there. Yeah, it is, isn't it?
02:06:31
Speaker
Savage back in, but Paige grabs the chair, tosses it to him, and dives at it to smash it into Savage's face. Both men are down, and they're up at five. They trade flurries of punches, and Savage hits a solid lariat. You can hear the...
02:06:46
Speaker
Thump noise, sending Page over tea kettle per Dusty. It's the first time we've actually heard that in a while. It gets two and a half. Savage chokes Page and catches a Page kick, but Page hits his spinning Lariat. Both are down again and up at eight. Savage repeatedly kicks and slams Page as he keeps trying to get up.
02:07:08
Speaker
Savage goes outside, throws poor Penzer down again, and gets the ring bell, but as he climbs up top, Kimberly steals it. Savage still dives at Page, but Page gets his boots up, and Savage is down. Savage counters a diamond cutter with a backslide attempt, but he can't lever Page over, so he mule kicks him hard on the balls. Yes. It gets two and a half. Frustrated, Savage beats Curtis up, pile drives him, whips him with his own belt, and throws him out.
02:07:38
Speaker
He goes up top and hits the big elbow on Page, going for the pin briefly before he realizes that he himself KO'd the referee. Oh yeah, that's what happened. He signals to the entrance and Nick Patrick runs down as Kevin Nash looks on approvingly. But Page revives, floats over a savage slam, and hits the diamond cutter.
02:07:58
Speaker
Patrick looks thoughtful. Page pins savage, and after a moment's hesitation, Patrick counts three, giving Diamond Dallas Page the win.
02:08:08
Speaker
Patrick raises the exhausted page's hand, but Kevin Nash runs down and grabs Patrick by the throat. Nash keeps hold of Patrick and checks on Savage, and much of the rest of the NWO comes down, with Bischoff at the head, and Dibiase, Six, Vincent, Bagwell, Norton, and the fake NWO staying behind. Six questions Bischoff about what's going on, and the NWO watches in confusion.
02:08:35
Speaker
Bischoff points at Patrick and the crowd chants, we want Sting, as Nash hits a monstrous jackknife powerbomb on Patrick. A revived Savage kicks DDP out of the ring and grabs Kimberly, but Bischoff grabs his hand to stop him from hitting her. Savage lets Kimberly go, but shoves Bischoff, and Bischoff shoves him back, so Savage slugs him, and Nash and the other NWO members charge in to separate the two. Thoughts on this one?
02:09:04
Speaker
It was a really strong match. I thought they showed the real intense planning they put into this kind of thing clearly with these two at the helm. Yeah. Every moment is sort of measured, like just the right amount. He stands in the top rope long enough to sort of set up the counter move that DDP has. In contrast to when he does the elbow, he does it much faster.
02:09:27
Speaker
They do little spots like when he's holding Page's foot. It's just long enough for the crowd to sort of think, what's he gonna do? And then when he does the counter, you go, oh, that's what he was gonna do. Uh-huh. Yeah. And this is still early enough in Page's career that you might not really have expected the spinning Lariat at this point. Yes. I'm sure he's done it a few times, but it's not a super well-established spot of a top-ranked performer yet. Yeah. I'm a little surprised they missed attempts to reference WrestleMania 3.
02:09:52
Speaker
with the whole ring bell thing. Yeah, true. Because I mean, I know they shouldn't, they got a different company, but they normally would, right? Yeah, yeah. According to Savage too, his balance, he climbed to the rope, he's not throwing up by pulling the thing out of his hands, and he balances up quite well. Oh yeah, absolutely. He's always incredible with that. Yeah.
02:10:13
Speaker
He makes a really good heal here as well, even if you were an NBO fan, no pun intended, savagery of his offense, and the way he does things, the way he acts towards everyone on ringside, no matter how you feel, he is a bad guy. Yeah, and it helps that Paige is, as always, excellent at gathering sympathy. He does just a great job of showing how much he's being hurt, but still being alive enough that it's clear he might be able to turn it around.
02:10:42
Speaker
It's a tricky balance and he basically pulls it off quite well. Yeah, once he hits face mode, it's really clear that he's able to do that. He knows exactly how much he needs to do to keep the crowd into it.
02:10:55
Speaker
Thought they did a really good job here. It was interesting how they briefly had the valets interact in the match, but then kind of just really most part forgot about them there. Yeah. Kimberly obviously plays a big part in taking the ring bell away, which in hindsight, actually, if he is holding the ring bell and page counter, that would really, really hurt. So he takes the bell to his face.
02:11:16
Speaker
They probably thought about that one and then we're just like, I'm not sure we can do that safely. Oh yeah, totally. It would have made a great sound though. This is meant to be Page's big coming out party as the face that can possibly take out the interview to be the top guy here. He delivered quite well. Savage, to his part, really played this crazy arrogant heel that she wanted to see beaten.
02:11:42
Speaker
And even to the end, Paige didn't forget to sell. No, they really build up him pushing himself into the pinfall. And even his counter, the diamond cutter wasn't super fast. Yeah. And he, and at the end of the match, like he's lying there exhausted as much as Savage. It's like, you know, he won the match, but he can't move, can't defend himself when the end of the O comes down. Exactly. It took that much out of him, which is just an example of, again, Paige being an exceptional storyteller. Exactly.
02:12:08
Speaker
And also to his credit, Savage took the diamond cutter and stayed down for a long time. Oh my gosh, yeah, he super sells that. Yeah. You can tell Savage knew it was his job to make sure that DDP looked good. Yes. And was established as a main eventer after this match, and he took that to heart and did everything he could for him. A thousand percent, yeah. Very generous performance. Yeah, this is exactly as good as you would expect if I told you that Diamond Dallas Page and Randy Savage were going to have a match.
02:12:36
Speaker
It's properly epic as DDP's biggest match for this point. Paige does an excellent job showing ferocity and power, but also feeling like a proper underdog against the vastly more experienced former world champion Randy Savage.
02:12:49
Speaker
It nicely mixes complex counter spots and well-planned choreography with just the right amount of brutality, using it's no DQ stipulation without being ruled by it. There's enough changes in momentum to keep things interesting while still building the story of the wily savage wearing down the determined DDP who just won't go down for good. It's a great establishment of his never say die character that he's going to run with.
02:13:14
Speaker
Savage's quick counters of the diamond cutter established that he's watching for it closely, showing that it's a move to be feared, which makes it all the sweeter when he gets overconfident towards the end, drops his guard, and takes it. I just fear for W. Stebbe's budget with all the three ring binders these guys probably went through playing this match.
02:13:35
Speaker
We joked about this a while ago when we were first talking about DDP's rise and just that when these two finally got to have a match together, it had to be like the sweetest moment for them. Like, finally, finally I'm working with the guy who gets it, who knows how to put this together. Exactly. I don't have to convince you to study the binder. Yeah, it's great.
02:13:58
Speaker
I do have to question, it goes pretty quickly from just page at the end to the NWO coming in and going to the NWO angle. Do you feel like that at all cheapens it or do you feel like the intensity of pages win and Savage selling the diamond cutter is enough to still leave that a strong impression even though they go to the NWO story?
02:14:18
Speaker
Yeah, I could I don't know. I can kind of see that. I mean, I think you should get the effect of his win because he sells it and Savage. So I think if Savage didn't sell that would that would be if Savage was right up and angry, then it would be different. But because he has to be slowly revived. Yeah, that was that was my feeling, too. I think you still get the reminder as Savage is lying on the back. Oh, right. That's because Paige knocked him completely out.
02:14:42
Speaker
Yeah, the only problem you really have, and this is a recurring thing, is that you have this NBO as this group. We got the work together to stop them. Then like, okay, so I get another thing with a match, but why aren't Luger and Giant out to take DP out?
02:14:57
Speaker
That would have been one thing they could have done to reestablish DDP as well is have him get kicked out by Savage, but then, like you said, Luger and Giant, maybe even Harlem Heat, run down and at least help him and Kimberly escape. And then you can have the end up viewing dissension in the ring. Yeah. But I feel like the way they did it, it still worked. Yeah. It's a recurring thing where they're like, we got to fight the video together and they never. Never actually do. Yeah. Thus, he didn't getting on them about you. You need to have a leader, guys. Yeah, exactly. Come on. Exactly.
02:15:28
Speaker
The newest few will continue, however, the next match is actually at the Great American Bash. As we saw in Slamboree, they have an interview segment, which is entertaining and made my top segment, I believe. I believe so, yeah. But it's not a match. It's kind of a shame that they just sort of draw another match out so long. Maybe they thought it'd be more dramatic that way. Yeah. As far as Nick Patrick then goes, Swilly wouldn't pay after a couple weeks later. He'd be gone for a couple weeks and appear in the April
02:15:55
Speaker
21st Nitro, he would appear at the commentator's desk explaining that he regretted all his actions and wanted his job back. There would be a bit of a gap there where JJ Dillon would be hesitant about eventually sort of make him an enemy referee again and give him his chance, which would lead eventually into Starrcade, of course. Right. The commentators are stunned by the turmoil in the NWO.
02:16:22
Speaker
Henim recounts the chaos and sells the enormity of Page's win over Savage, seriously building it up. I think that's something that also helps with refocusing it back on Page. It kind of gets away from him a little bit as the NWO comes in, but then the commentators bring it right back to Page. Tony reminds us that Luger's got an upcoming title match against Hogan, and he and Dusty talk up the cracks forming in the NWO, with Dusty gleefully taunting Hogan over the Discord.
02:16:49
Speaker
Heenan says that Hogan needs to get a bullwhip and chair to tame his pets. Nice. Tony says they'll expect to hear from the NWO on Nitro and signs off. During the credits, we get some excellent Western movie music that is clearly, clearly a ripoff of the Magnificent Seven theme. Yes. In a nice gesture, WCW also put Get Well Moses in their special thanks section. Oh, that's nice. It's actually really sweet, yeah.
02:17:17
Speaker
The credits finish up with an ad for Slamboree, and Spring Stampede 1997 is done.
Overall Event Review and Closing Remarks
02:17:24
Speaker
So, final thoughts on Spring Stampede 1997?
02:17:29
Speaker
Overall, that was a pretty good show. We had generally pretty strong matches throughout. The show has a real identity with the Western theme. Even as you pointed out in the beginning, it's somewhat of a clash with the, look how serious and gritty and real is all is. Yeah, there's good matches throughout, good performances. The other segments are not super lengthy, so they don't take away too much from the matches, I would think.
02:17:52
Speaker
Obviously we get some big moments with pages victory being the highlight and you have the eventual Luger Title shot built off this. Yeah, it's very consequential show actually Yeah for it's an interesting one because like given the theme and everything you could think of it as one of those transitional shows But it really really matters for a lot of people. It does. Yeah
02:18:14
Speaker
Back when we did Slavery 97, I thought that show was also enjoyable, but it, like I said at the time, it felt like a big budget house show with some story implications. But yeah, this is, that was a better balance of just a normal review and also having the stories going throughout.
02:18:30
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I thought this was another brilliant show in this series. Spring Stampede 97 is filled with strong performances with a mix of highly technical matches and brutal brawls, sometimes in the same match and a number of important story moments that establish major transitions in the company's most significant angle, the NWO story. Intermixed with some major attempts to push new stars, transition characters to new roles, and above all, push DDP to the stratosphere.
02:19:01
Speaker
This is the make or break moment for DDP, who has been rising in popularity over the course of the last year, but is getting his first shot at the main event and focal point of the show. And he nails it. The matches are not without their flaws, from the odd rules of the Four Corners match to Hall's No Show and the rebooking of the tag title match. And there's some botches here and there, though quite minor ones in general.
02:19:26
Speaker
Overall though, the matches rise above their flaws and are universally entertaining. Each has its own identity, and all are solid to great performances, without a real weak link to be found. Another really strong card for this series, and again, one with a really, really hot crowd. Promo content tonight mixed the highest of highs and lowest of lows.
02:19:49
Speaker
We got great work from Giant and Luger, and a solid, if slightly stumbly DDP promo, and Flair enjoying building up his return. But we also got a non-promo that interrupted a great match, and a truly infamous flub from poor Booker T.E. It's truly amazing that they were able to keep that segment going, and even got a good ending to it out of the man himself. Overall, I think promos did a great job building up the stories tonight, even if there's some really notable flaws in the mix. Sure.
02:20:19
Speaker
It won't surprise anyone to learn that I like the commentary, of course. Obviously. The Tony Bobby Dusty team works as well as ever, and even works quite nicely with the addition of Tine and Marshall in the first and second matches, respectively. The team have their usual mix of strong discussions and fun-loving humor, and Dusty has some real winners of Bonkers Lines this time, usually leading to great heat and snark.
02:20:42
Speaker
I do feel like there are times the team lets themselves get sidetracked from telling current match stories in favor of the overall NWO story though. In particular in the Medusa Hokuto match, where they spend half the match talking about Scott Steiner. Time and place, guys. Time and place. Still, it's hard not to have fun listening to these three.
02:21:04
Speaker
Aside from some audio glitches, production was a strong point on this one, most notably in the awesome set design, which is one of WCW's best ever. It is, yeah. You can absolutely tell the team was having a fun time with this show concept, and it really comes through in just how much detail they put into the entrance set, how well it works with the pyro, and how well they held the theme together with the graphics and music choices for the show. Mine is a few points for the reappearance of the annoying split screen feature, but otherwise excellent job.
02:21:33
Speaker
I adored this show, much like the previous Spring Stampede. We are two for two so far on wonderfully entertaining shows and easy recommendations. Let's see how long the streak lasts. Yeah, soap. All right, it is time then for our match of the night and MVP. So Al, your match of the night. Bunch of strong contenders here.
02:21:56
Speaker
As I said before, if it wasn't for all the outside stuff at the end that back to the finish, I would definitely be going with, um, a link of Ben want that. They really know everything here. Likewise, the opener with dragon and the cheer is really good. I'm ready to look at story for me. I'm going with the one thing without arguably the most important match in the show and got the best overall reaction throughout. Yeah. So I'm going with DDP versus Savage. Okay. Yep.
02:22:22
Speaker
Yeah, for me, this ended up actually between Dragon Mysterio and Page Savage. Yeah. Between the two Dragon Mysterio is probably the better pure in-ring performance. Sure. Just for the innovation of their moves and everything. Oh yeah, I'm saying.
02:22:34
Speaker
but I'm gonna agree with you, it's Paige Savage tonight. It's also a really great match in and out of the ring, but it has this really, really strong storyline and reality of it being Paige's first chance to prove he belongs at the main event level, competing against the greatest in the sport. Paige has to prove himself tonight and, excellently supported by Randy Savage, he very much does, cementing himself as one of WCW's greatest performers and most popular figures for the remainder of the company's existence.
02:23:03
Speaker
This match just means something more. And I think it deserves recognition for that. Absolutely. MVP. Well, you know, I'm tempted to give it to public enemy just because I love public enemy. But no, I'm not doing that. For going above and beyond, not just being a bag of being fully insane and hitting so many little character things throughout, whether it's the promo backstage or taking chairs from the ringside people or the pile driver to the ref. I have to get ready to savage.
02:23:32
Speaker
Yeah, he did a really, really good job. And like we pointed out earlier, a super generous performance to pay as well. I do. I really want to say DDP because he puts in a heck of a performance and proves once and for all that he deserves to be in the main event scene here. But this has to be the giant. Okay.
02:23:53
Speaker
With an exceptional promo, a good match performance and a massive character moment. That's true. Yeah. The giant stole the show tonight, even amid several other excellent performances. Long after we're done watching this series, the slow change in expression and the walk across the ring to tag Luger are what's going to actually stick with me off of this show. Okay. Yeah.
02:24:14
Speaker
And that wraps up our review of Spring Stampede 1997. If you've enjoyed listening to us tonight, you can find us on Twitter or Facebook as let's go to the ring. Links will be available in the episode description. Follow us for episode announcements and other show details, and share your own thoughts about each show as we go through. You can subscribe to our show on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, High Heart Radio, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, TuneIn, Verbal, or Audible.
02:24:42
Speaker
And please, if you've enjoyed this show, give us a rating or review and share the show through your favorite social media platforms to help others discover us. Many thanks to OSW Review for attendance and pay-per-view figures, and to Gina Trujillo for our logo. Next up, Spring Stampede 1998. The biggest, the baddest, no bull.
02:25:07
Speaker
Sorry, Al. Bull Buchanan will not be showing up on that one, I guess. Aw. Do we just get bull from night court? See, that would have been good, too. Yeah. This is Bob Moore for Alec Pridgen signing off. Good night, everybody. Happy wrestling.
02:25:37
Speaker
Sorry, one second. Pick up, hello, you're live on Let's Go to the Ring. I gave it 997, I assumed that was your pager going off.