WCW Monday Nitro
November 25, 1996
Salisbury, MD
Wicomico Civic Center

The current WCW champs were as follows:
WCW World Champion: Hollywood Hogan (8/10/1996)
WCW U.S. Champion: Vacant (11/25/1996)
WCW World Tag Team Champions: The Outsiders (10/27/1996)
WCW World Television Champion: Lord Steven Regal (8/20/1996)
WCW World Cruiserweight Champion: Dean Malenko (10/27/1996)

HOUR NUMBER ONE! Your hosts are Tony Schiavone & Larry Zbyszko.

Stills are shown from last night at World War 3 of the Piper-Hogan contract signing.

While the Giant stole the U.S. title belt and Flair has been stripped of the champion status due to not wrestling for 30 days, a tournament to crown a new U.S. champion will begin tonight and finish at Starrcade.

• Lex Luger vs. Arn Anderson – First Round WCW U.S. Title Tournament Match

Arn is essentially on his retirement tour at this point. He’s not really having any good matches and just doing what he can. By the way, Arn has his ribs taped up. Luger works on the arm until we go to commercial. Nothing to it. We come back to see Luger fighting out of a chinlock. Arn continues the violence with a catapult into the bottom rope for two. To the floor, Luger backs AA into the ringpost and it looks like there’s going to be a double countout, but it never comes. Back in, Luger stays on the back while the Giant barks down at the ring. He’s got the US belt in his hands! He really thinks he’s the US champion. Giant challenges the winner of the tournament to face him and then we’ll see who the REAL US champ is. Back to the match, they go to the floor where Luger backdrops out of a piledriver and puts AA in the TORTURE RACK! That generates the double countout and now both men are out of the tournament. (13:07 shown) Did they really think this would compete with Bret vs. Owen on Raw? *

We get some stills of Mysterio-Dragon, Jericho-Patrick, and Giant-Jarrett from World War 3.

And here comes the new World order (without Hogan) led by Eric Bischoff. Bischoff explains why he turned to the nWo. The morning after taking a Jackknife Powerbomb off a stage through a table, he asked himself whether or not he wanted to be consumed by the power, or did he want to become part of the force! Now we know it’s the latter. Not only is the highest executive in the nWo, but he’s the highest executive in WCW. The guys in the back have 30 days to convert their WCW contracts to nWo contracts or they will be targeted. As for you Mr. Piper, if you decide to get out of hand, he will fine you. As for the U.S. title, possession is 9/10ths of the law and I mean, who’s going to take that belt away from him? Wait a minute. Here comes the American Males. Riggs tries to change Bagwell’s mind, but he embraces the nWo boys anyway. When Bagwell goes over to tell Riggs that it’s just business, he drops him with a reverse neckbreaker! “nWo” chants roar throughout the arena. That’s actually as vocal as they get the whole night. Looks like Riggs got punked. And there you have it. Marcus Bagwell is the NEWEST member of the nWo.

Many call the defections over the next 30 days to be the first real mistake Bischoff had made with the nWo storyline by bringing in guys who were either long time midcarders or people who never had a big name in the business.

• Diamond Dallas Page vs. Disco Inferno

Disco tries to prolong the inevitable with a swinging neckbreaker, but DDP catches him with the DIAMOND CUTTER anyways. (2:14) Gene Okerlund accuses DDP of already defecting to the nWo simply because he’s old friends with the Outsiders and he happens to live in Bischoff’s neighborhood. Other than that and it’s a poorly thought out reason, Page has really shown no other evidence of jumping ship. ½*

• WCW World Television Champion Lord Steven Regal vs. Tony Pena

No he doesn’t play baseball. Pena is just a maskless Mexican wrestler who we’ve never seen before. If you check out his trunks with the roman numeral IV on it, he could be Villano IV. He tries to rough up Regal, but that just gets him angry. Regal forearms him in the corner. Pena hits a DDT for two. Butterfly suplex from Regal gets two, but the REGAL STRETCH gets the win. (3:05) Somewhat competitive. That Regal Stretch is curtains for anybody though. *½

Gene Okerlund interviews Rick Steiner. He says the Steiner Brothers are 110% behind WCW. After his trip to Japan, he sees Sting hanging up in the rafters and dropping people from behind. What’s that about? Oh Rick Steiner. You’re so much fun.

HOUR NUMBER TWO! Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Bobby Heenan.

• Konnan vs. Eddie Guerrero – First Round WCW U.S. Title Tournament Match

In our second first round match of the night, Eddie starts off with a lucha armdrag and a tilt-a-whirl headscissors to put Konnan on the floor for his big stage dive. Back in, Konnan drills Guerrero with the Rolling Lariat and dropkicks him in the corner. Konnan delivers a Fisherman Buster into a hammerlock roll. Powerbomb gets two. Another Fisherman Buster gets two for Konnan. Doctorbomb scores another nearfall. To mount a comeback, Guerrero dropkicks Konnan as he comes off the top. Konnan does a floatover out of the corner and rolls back, but Eddie comes at him with a clothesline. Could it be FROG SPLASH time? Nope, Konnan stops him with a superplex! Konnan goes for Splash Mountain, but Eddie tries to counter with a headscissors and winds up falling on top of Konnan instead for the 1-2-3. (5:23) And Eddie moves on to face the winner of Benoit-Regal in four weeks! **¼

More stills of World War 3 are shown. Heat-AFC, Malenko-Psychosis, and the triangle match are all included.

• Rick Steiner vs. Big Bubba (w/Jimmy Hart)

Back to our moderately short matches. Rick throws Bubba around for a while until Sting comes out and SCORPION DEATHDROPS him to give Bubba the win. (3:17) Same stuff that happened to Jarrett – just channeled towards Rick Steiner now. Whatever you do people, don’t talk bad about Sting! He’ll getcha! ½*

On the Road with Lee Marshall! He’s in Dayton Ohio getting fans pumped for next week’s Nitro. How does he always know where to find a good Nitro party? They have ‘Pin the tail on the Weasel’ games and everything!

• Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Psychosis

This is usually good as long as they have plenty of time to do their thing. They roll around out of wristlocks as Ultimo Dragon and Sonny Oono show up wearing the J-Crown. Back to the match, Psychosis tries that reverse powerbomb into a hotshot spot and dumps Rey out to the floor. Whoops. Back in, Psychosis hits the GUILLOTINE LEGDROP for 1-2-NO! He goes for Splash Mountain, but Rey counters with a rana for the win. (2:20) Dragon and Oono take a step back after that finish. *

They re-air the entire Piper-Hogan contract signing from last week complete with the chair attack on the hip! That kills about fifteen minutes.

• Jeff Jarrett vs. Alex Wright

Wow, we haven’t seen Alex Wright on Nitro in a couple months. He gets in a few dropkicks and headscissors takedowns on Jarrett, but jams his knee in the corner off a missed charge and submits to the FIGURE-FOUR just like that. (2:19) Jarrett used the ropes and everything! ½*

We get some more stills from World War 3. The only thing is the battle royal. I still love the Giant for that one-handed pitch on Rey Jr. It’s just awesome.

• Harlem Heat (w/Sister Sherri) vs. The Faces of Fear

No Jimmy Hart? Tenay puts over the Faces of Fear for being on a win streak even though they have lost the last two matches on PPV. Stevie Ray boots Meng back, but Barbarian comes in and takes him out with the KICK OF FEAR! When Barbarian turns around, Booker takes his head off with the Jumping Leg Lariat. Side Slam/Scissors Kick combo to Meng gets two. Barbarian gets a blind tag for the backdrop into the powerbomb combo. That’s so awesome, but it only gets two. STEREO DIVING HEADBUTTS earn the Faces of Fear another two count. Eventually, the match breaks down as Barbarian and Stevie Ray head to the floor. Here comes the new World order to beat up all four men for the DQ. (4:00) We go off the air with the nWo boys standing tall – including Marcus Bagwell. Everybody is there except Hogan. *½

AND WE OUT! Anybody else notice since Raw moved to 8-9pm, the second hour has quickly became meaningless?

Starrcade goes down on December 29. Here’s the card as it looks right now.

MAIN EVENT: WCW World Champion Hollywood Hogan vs. Roddy Piper

ECW Hardcore TV
02.13.96
Queens, New York
Your Host: Joey Styles

The Eliminators are in the back, as John Kronus is shaving his hair off, while Perry Saturn is laughing with the title in his hand. John is saying does he think they care about his hair; then he says he will eliminate you (referring to Pitbulls).

Joey Styles is in the ring as Bill Whistle Man and Taz march into the ring. Bill starts ranting on Joey Styles saying he hates him and hates Queens, New York. Bill says that 911 is finish. Rey Mysterio Jr. interrupts Taz—and says he is not afraid of Taz. Bill talks some trash, but then Rey spinning-heel kicks him. Rey then hits a botched hurrcanarana. Rey goes up the top and tries to go springboard, but get caught in a Taz Suplex. Rey fights back but Taz hits another Taz Suplex that puts Rey inside and out.  Wrestlers and Refs come out to check on Rey. Joey Styles is addressing for some help for Rey.  Joey Styles then puts over ECW by saying that you will not see action like this. Woman enters, and says that Joey Styles and her can go to WWF, but Joey says he wants to stay here. Sandman enters, and she asked him if he wants to come with her. He says he does not want to “come” with her, and then he says she has been a bitch her whole life. Women says she wants to stay here along time being the bitch here for along time, and no one is going to remove her from the ring. 2 Cold comes out and joins Women.  2 Cold then says business is picking up. He pretends he is with her, but he says Nancy you out of here. 2 Cold takes her out of the arena, and puts her in the limo. Stevie Richards comes out with Blue Meany, and lays down the offer. Sandman says never has he ever backed down from a fight. Richards says Sandman feels like a tough person with a chain in his and—and he thinks Blue Meany and him are a puss. Richards says Sandman should back out of the match—or he will have to Stevie-kick him. Blue Meany says he will do it. Blue tries to superkick him, but cannot reach him. Sandman canes Meany and Sandman said he is going for Raven. Richards is paranoid, as Raven enters the ring. Raven calls Stevie a moron. Raven then disses on Meany. Ravens says he was supposed to give Beulah her pill, but he could not handle that. Raven starts to beat the crap out of him. Richards tries sucking up to Raven. He goes into Blue’s paints—and it says Richards the king of dancing is engaging a lawsuit against Missy Hyatt for sexual harassment. Hyatt comes out and calls Richards a joke. Raven says that the other option is that she joins up with him. Hyatt says look at her and look at Raven because he is not on her level. She says that the bitch he is with now is a whore, and we all know that Raven has a low sperm count since Dreamer knocked up his ex. Raven gets angry and takes his coat off.  Sandman makes the save and canes all of them. Hyatt tells Sandman she likes that. Sandman and Hyatt celebrate hardcore style with beer, squares and Enter Sandman in the back round.

Joey Styles recaps what has been happening in ECW so far.  Joey Styles calls Taz offensive to the wrestling industry because of his evil intentions.

Commercial break plugs!!!!!!!!!!!

Joey Styles starts plugging what you can see on the DVDS if you buy them.

Shane Douglas/ Tommy Dreamer. w/ Beulah vs. Stevie Richards/Raven

Richard and Dreamer start the match. Dreamer hits a closeline that drives Richards out, and the crowd is wild up.  Shane sets up a chair near Richards head and Dreamer baseball slides into it. Dreamer throws Richards in. Richards puts on a Razor shirt and puts a toothpick behind the ear trying to piss off Shane. It cuts to a better part as Shane is cleaning house with the chair.  Shane tries getting a pin on Raven, but gets only two. Douglas hits a Piledriver on Richard, but Raven makes the save. Tommy jumps Raven. Cactus jumps into the match. Shane fights off Foley. Raven hits Shane with something, but only gets tow. Sandman enters, canes everyone including the ref as the place goes wid. Raven gets up, and pins Douglas, but there is no ref. Richards wakes up the ref, and Raven pile drives Douglas. ONE-TWO-NO.  Richards gets the tag in, and dominates Douglas. Raven comes back in, but Douglas hits him with a DDT.  Both men are done in the ring. Dreamer wants the tag, but Richards cuts him off. Richards hits a Stevie-bomb. ONE-TWO-NO.  Douglas gets Irish wiped, but hits a launch backwards springboard elbow. Dreamer has a frying pan and cleans house with it. Richards gets tree of wowed, and catches a pain in the groin. Dreamer goes for a cover, but Raven hits them with a chair. Dreamer gets back up, and attacks Richard. Meany is clueless and hits a meanymoonsualt onto Richards. Tommy goes for a pin, but Raven breaks it up. Raven hits a DDT but only gets two. She ties the frying pain to Dreamer’s boot. Dreamer kicks Stevie in the head. ONE-TWO-THREE.  You could feel the drama and the heat between all the wrestlers in the match. The excessive run ins and shenanigans made it a little overbooked, but that was pretty much what ECW was all about; it was about having that realism playing in—and making it seem like anything can happen at any given moment. Pretty decent and exciting and well booked match overall, but I cannot rate a match that was this clipped fairly.

Taz vs. Shark attack kid.

The kid tries to get fancy with Taz, but he gets drilled with a T-Bone on his head. Taz then hits a vicious Tazplex onto the kid, but Kid gets back up. Taz hit a belly-to-belly suplex him from the top of the top. Taz puts in the Taz-mission and that is it @ 2:00. Taz calls out 911, but Gordon comes out with the mic. Gordon comes out and says 911 do not want to wrestle him. Bill calls out Gordon. Gordon gets in the ring, and Gordon punches him in the face. Gordon closelines Bill—and attacks him. Taz attacks Gordon, but Bam Bam Bigelow makes the save! Bam Bam calls out Taz.

Going Home: We started ECW off this week with possibly the longest segment in the history of humanity. Well maybe I am exaggerating, but it was still very long. Some of the stuff on it was very interesting, but some of it was simply ridiculous. I liked the stuff with Sandman and Raven’s flock; it drew good heat and expanded the rivalry in the right direction. I found the stuff with Missy Hyatt and the restraining order to be entertaining, and they did a good job of making you want to see where Sandman and Hyatt goes from this point on. Both matches on the show were fine, but I think there could have been more wrestling on this show than what they gave us. Taz was possibly the most interesting and well-booked thing going for ECW at the time and I loved how they brought in Bam Bam in surprisingly. Overall, the show wasn’t bad, but if you missed it—or haven’t seen it, you really are not missing a whole lot.

WCW World War 3
November 24, 1996
Norfolk, VA
The Scope

The current WCW champs were as follows:
WCW World Champion: Hollywood Hogan (8/10/1996)
WCW U.S. Champion: Ric Flair (7/7/1996)
WCW World Tag Team Champions: The Outsiders (10/27/1996)
WCW World Television Champion: Lord Steven Regal (8/20/1996)
WCW World Cruiserweight Champion: Dean Malenko (10/27/1996)

Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Dusty Rhodes.

• J-Crown Champion Ultimo Dragon (w/Sonny Oono) vs. Rey Mysterio

For those unaware, the J-Crown is EIGHT lightweight championships combined from promotions all around the world. The funny part is and possibly the most annoying for the champion is that he’s got to carry around all those eight titles instead of having just one belt to represent all the belts. Needless to say, the J-Crown championship was short-lived and when the WWF came calling for their light heavyweight championship all of a sudden (which was one of the eight championships) in the fall of 1997, the J-Crown status was absolved and all the belts returned to be defended in their particular promotion. Anyways, this is match #2 in the three part series of the Mysterio-Dragon PPV matches. Mysterio won the first match at Hog Wild in Dragon’s debut and now that he’s got a boost of confidence in winning all those belts, maybe he can pick up the win here especially now that Rey has just lost the cruiserweight belt four weeks ago at Halloween Havoc. Alright that’s enough set up talk, let’s get to the match.

After a short feeling out process, they flip around to come to a stalemate. Enough of that, Dragon puts Rey down with his famous kick combo and corners him for some chops. Rey lands on the apron and looks for a springboard, but Dragon stops that with a springboard dropkick to put Rey on the floor. Awesome! Dragon hits a German suplex and then puts Mysterio in a lucha backbreaker rack drop. Rey outlasts a half crab, but then Dragon powerbombs him and lifts him back up for a hotshot! WHAT. Cover, 1-2-NO! Dragon gives Rey the Giant Swing! After so many spins, Dragon ends up making himself dizzy too. Fisherman buster gets two. Brainbuster gets another two. Tombstone piledriver gets a THIRD nearfall in a row! They go to the floor where Dragon drops Rey with ANOTHER tombstone! While Mysterio’s laid out, Dragon gives him a slingshot splash! Back inside, he hits the DRAGONSTEINER for 1-2-NO! RUNNING LIGERBOMB gets 1-2-NO! Mysterio catches Dragon charging in the corner and follows up with a springboard split-legged moonsault for 1-2-NO! Rey flips out to the apron off a whip and springboard dropkicks Dragon to the floor. He continues with the offense and wipes out Dragon with a springboard somersault plancha! Incredible. In the ring, Rey delivers a springboard sunset flip for 1-2-NO! Awesome cartwheel into a spinning hurracanrana gets 1-2-NO! Dragon comes back with a Dragon Suplex right on Rey’s head for 1-2-NO! He tries another Running Ligerbomb, but Rey sunset flips out for 1-2-NO! WHOA. So many convincing nearfalls. Rey calls for the SPRINGBOARD HURRACANRANA which always wins, but this time Dragon catches him in mid-air and bounces him off the rope into a powerbomb for 1-2-3! (13:47) Wow just an absolutely awesome match. I LOVE that finish too. A slingshot powerbomb? Who thinks of this stuff? Just incredible. Easily a MOTYC here. Next month, Dragon wants Malenko and his Cruiserweight belt. At the time, Ultimo Dragon held NINE total championships – that’s one other belt outside of the J-Crown. The cruiserweight belt would make a ridiculous ten championships at once. That’s insanity. But hey, when you’re a champ, you’re a champ all the way. ****½

In the back, DDP avoids Gene’s question about whether or not he’s got anything to do with Eric Bischoff since he’s his next door neighbor and all. You know what Gene, Page does in fact owe his great hair to Head & Shoulders. Don’t be jealous. BANG!

• Chris Jericho (w/Teddy Long) vs. Nick Patrick

For this match, Jericho has to wrestle Patrick with one arm tied behind his back. Nick Patrick comes out looks all sleazy. He wrestles in a sleeveless zebra shirt, black pants, white boots, and one of those soft collars. Jericho shoulderblocks and hiptosses Patrick around to start. He stalls and gets in Teddy Long’s face for a moment. Back inside, he slaps Jericho and then takes a slap to send him flying to the floor. Patrick finally gains an advantage when Jericho misses a clothesline up against the ringpost. Back in again, Patrick punches Jericho around in the corner, but charges into a boot and takes a bunch of turnbuckle smashes. Patrick leads Jericho in and out of the ring to stomp him on his way back inside, but then he gets slammed off the top (WOO!) and eats a superkick for the 1-2-3. (8:02) I know Nick Patrick used to be a wrestler before he hurt himself and became a referee, but he did pretty darn good since that was about fifteen years ago. Tony tells Patrick to go home to daddy. In case you don’t get the inside joke, his daddy is the Assassin who RULED the southern territories as a masked heel back in the day and in 1996, he ran the WCW Power Plant. Actually not that bad to sit through and it’s certainly satisfying to see Patrick get owned if you can forget about referees usually getting merely bumped and knocked out for five minutes. They’re usually so feeble! *½

Gene Okerlund brings out a rehabilitating Ric Flair. While this crowd was already molten hot, Flair comes out to help them become a little hotter. He promises the wrestling public that before it’s all said and done, he will dance all night and dance a little longer, stay all night and stay a little longer. Oh yeah and the new World order will belong to the WCW. WOO! Wait, what?

• The Giant vs. Jeff Jarrett

Giant wears the US belt with him to the ring. Schiavone says that Flair is no longer the champ because of not defending the belt in 30 days. Jarrett spends the whole match trying to knock Giant off his feet. When he fails, Giant takes over and chokes and chops on him. Wait a minute, here comes STING! Meanwhile, Giant misses a pump splash (yep, even back then) and Jarrett takes him off his feet with a flying bodypress for 1-2-NO! As Sting jumps the rail, Giant gets dumped. Jarrett doesn’t notice anything and takes this opportunity to do the Fargo Strut. While the ref is counting on Giant, Sting hops in the ring and gives Jarrett the SCORPION DEATH DROP! Once Sting leaves, Giant waits for Jarrett to stagger up to his feet and delivers the CHOKESLAM for the academic 1-2-3. (6:52) This achieved a couple things. It continues Sting punishing Jarrett for waltzing in here all of a sudden and demanding that he stop being a loser and become the leader for WCW against the nWo. Secondly it allowed Giant to finally chokeslam Jarrett when he said he couldn’t do it. And yeah, that pretty much ends Giant’s feud with the Horsemen. ¾*

It’s time for a contract signing! There’s a table with a plaid cover ready in the ring and Roddy Piper comes out with the contract in hand. Get out here, Hogan. Instead of seeing Hogan, Eric Bischoff comes out wearing an nWo t-shirt, Ted DiBiase, and Vincent. Bischoff says that Hollywood isn’t coming out to sign this because he’s a little busy looking over some scripts and has made Bischoff his power of attorney, so he can sign the contract in his place. First of all, Piper reminds Vincent that he taught him how to fight, so he better back off. Piper handles these three by being able to talk over all them. He doesn’t care about no WCW or nWo. To Piper, nWo means ‘no way out’. And somewhere Vince is thinking that might not be a bad name for a PPV. When Piper gets up in Bischoff’s face, Bischoff reminds him that he can fine Piper for whatever it is he’s about to do. O RLY? How much would it cost him? Piper gets a little off track and then tells Bischoff that this match against Hogan is no-DQ, no countouts – there must be a winner to find out who the real icon is. Piper doesn’t want to look at Bischoff anymore, he calls Hogan out again. And here comes Hollywood along with the rest of the new World order. First of all, Hollywood says he’ll sign the contract, but then he brings up Piper’s hip replacement. Show everybody the scar, Roddy! Hogan proceeds to call Piper a cripple and “Pegged Leg Pete”. Piper finally has enough and slaps Hogan away. Big mistake. The nWo swarms on him while Hogan blasts his scar with a chair and then spray paints the nWo letters across his hip! Before the nWo leaves, Piper gets to his feet and turns the table over to prove a point. He WILL NOT DIE! While the build towards this match is pretty awesome, it’s a shame that it can’t live up to it.

• Harlem Heat (w/Sister Sherri) vs. The Amazing French Canadians (w/Col. Robert Parker)

If the Heat win, Sherri gets five minutes with Col. Parker. Hopefully this time she won’t bump her head and fall in love with him. During the Canadian national anthem, Sherri wonders if the AFC think they’re at the MTV music awards. SUH-NAP! Jacques kips up after a shoulderblock and nails Booker with a dropkick, but then eats a Hook Kick. Tag to Stevie Ray for a double clothesline. Jacques catches Stevie Ray with a jumping back elbow, but has to tag in Oulette to put him down with a clothesline. Stevie Ray nails Oulette with a back suplex and Bicycle Kicks him down for two. Oulette gets stuck in the Heat corner for a while. Scissors Kick connects. Booker misses an elbow and SPINAROONIES up into a Jumping Leg Lariat. Jacques pulls the top rope down on Booker to send him flying to the floor. Back in, Jacques slams Oulette on top of Booker and continues the double teams with a double hotshot. Boston crab/flying legdrop on Booker gets two. Stevie Ray gets a hot tag and press slams Rougeau on top of Oulette. It breaks down into a pier-six brawl and the ref gets sandwiched in the corner. Booker misses a Jumping Leg Lariat and gets crotched and falls to the floor. That leaves Stevie Ray alone with the AFC for a SPIKE PILEDRIVER! With the Heat all down and out, Oulette makes a scaffold in the corner with a table and then puts the ring steps on top of the table. He puts another bundle of steps down on the mat to make for a SUPER QUEBECER CRASH! OH MY GOSH! Too bad it completely misses. I mean it took all of a whole minute to set up. Jacques gets kicked to the floor while Booker delivers the HARLEM HANGOVER to Oulette for the 1-2-3. (9:15) Standard formula tag with a silly finish. Kind of cool, but kind of silly too. I mean, really guys? Afterwards, Sherri gets her alone time with Parker and beats him to the back after about a minute or two. About what we expected with that. **

Tony Schiavone is wiping away the TEARS of laughter. Yes, TEARS.

On the WCW Hotline, Gene says he’ll tell you who the latest superstar is that will be coming to WCW! Well whoever he is, I’ll bet he’ll be just perfect for WCW.

• WCW World Cruiserweight Champion Dean Malenko vs. Psychosis

Malenko stretches Psychosis down on the mat to start. During the mat work, somebody apparently is getting kicked out of the building. Who knows. Finally, it picks up a little as Psychosis takes Malenko to the floor, but then he misses a leap to the floor and slams his face on the guardrail. Oww? Back in, Malenko returns to the mat with a headscissors. He changes over to a nasty vertical half crab and then levels Psychosis with a butterfly powerbomb into a TEXAS CLOVERLEAF, but Psychosis is in the ropes. They fight to the floor while Malenko cranks on the knee. Psychosis mounts a comeback with a pumphandle backbreaker and then NAILS Malenko with a corkscrew senton on the floor! WHAT. Back in, Psychosis delivers a GUILLOTINE LEGDROP for 1-2-NO! Malenko avoids a charge, but gets caught up top and takes a rana to the mat for 1-2-NO! Whoa, Psychosis catches Malenko with a rolling Koppou kick. We see a DOUBLE REVERSAL on a tombstone piledriver which Dean wins. Cover, 1-2-NO! Malenko eats a boot off a corner charge, but avoids a leapfrog and gets the rolling clutch into a bridge for the 1-2-3. (14:34) Took too long to get where it was going to be great. However it did include quite a few awesome nearfalls. Certainly not as great as the Dragon-Rey match, but still a very good match. ***½

• WCW World Tag Team Champions The Outsiders vs. The Nasty Boys vs. The Faces of Fear (w/Jimmy Hart)

I do believe this is the final WCW PPV for the Nasty Boys. While Knobbs would wrestle on his own later in WCW, I know this is certainly the end of PPVs for Jerry Sags. Anyways, they clean house on the Outsiders before the Faces of Fear even make it to the ring. Once the Faces of Fear make it to the ring, the Outsiders stand back while the other two teams beat the crap out of each other. As you might expect, there’s a lot of CLUBBERIN’. Knobbs gets cornered in the champs corner for a while. Hall kicks Barbarian in the head a bunch and that wakes him up. The Faces of Fear slug him around until the Nasties take over. Sags hits a PILEDRIVER on Barbarian and gets two. Nash lays out Barbarian with the Side Slam. In comes Hall, the Faces of Fear have some more fun with him. Back over to the Nasties, they concentrate on Barbarian some more. Eventually, Knobbs and Meng decide to stop fighting each other and they tag in both Hall and Nash. They think they are brilliant for making these two fight, but all they have to do is pin each other to regain the tag belts, says Tony. They hype the crowd up into a frenzy making them think they’re going to really fight, but then Nash lays down for Hall and they get a two count off that. Does that remind anybody of a certain Monday night in January of 1999? Just saying. The match breaks down with the Faces of Fear heading to the floor to beat up Sags. Meanwhile, Hall gets Jimmy’s megaphone and blasts Knobbs in the back of the head so Nash can give him the JACKKNIFE POWERBOMB for the 1-2-3. (16:11) I don’t normally like tag team triangle matches because they’re usually just a huge mess, but this felt like a good fight. The Nasties and the Faces of Fear are known for being tough dudes, but the Outsiders proved to be the smartest. In this case, being the smartest won them the match. **¼

• 60-Man Battle Royal – Winner Gets The Next WCW World Title Shot

The participants: Lex Luger, Eddie Guerrero, ‘Boston Bad Boy’ Tony Rumble, Diamond Dallas Page, Kaos, Rage, M. Wallstreet, Marcus Bagwell, Scotty Riggs, Sgt. Craig Pittman, Booker T, Stevie Ray, Big Bubba, Hugh Morrus, Konnan, Ron Studd, Lord Steven Regal, La Parka, Pez Whatley, Steve McMichael, Disco Inferno, Renegade, Joe Gomez, Meng, Barbarian, Bunkhouse Buck, Arn Anderson, Johnny Grunge, Ciclope, Galaxy, Syxx, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, The Giant, Scott Norton, Ultimo Dragon, Jimmy Graffiti, Mike Enos, Rey Mysterio Jr., Roadblock, Ice Train, Jack Boot, Jim Duggan, Chris Benoit, Juventud Guerrera, Jacques Rougeau, Carl Oulette, Prince Iaukea, Dean Malenko, Jeff Jarrett, Bobby Eaton, Jim Powers, Squire David Taylor, Chris Jericho, Alex Wright, Mark Starr, Mr. JL, Villano IV, Rick Steiner, and Kevin Sullivan. Our commentators for ring one – Mike Tenay and Dusty Rhodes; ring two – Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan; ring three – Lee Marshall and Larry Zbyszko.

A black-eyed and bruised Benoit meets Sullivan in the aisleway as he comes to the ring. They had a rematch from the Great American Bash in Baltimore the night before. A Horsemen/Dungeon battle ensues on the floor. Benoit and Sullivan fight into the crowd. Bubba tries to help out, but he gets beaten down the steps. Hard to tell if any eliminations are happening even with the three-way split screen because the commentators are all talking about the Horsemen/Dungeon fight. Somehow Lee Marshall gets swept up into the brawl. HA. Apparently everybody involved in the fight is disqualified from the battle royal. The jobbers and the luchadores slowly get weeded out. That excludes Rey Mysterio Jr. The new World order people are just standing around picking their shots. Giant gets into it with Roadblock and clotheslines him out. In one ring, everybody clotheslines Ron Studd in the corner. Once he’s down, they all dog pile on top of him for some reason. While the Amazing French Canadians have their problems with Duggan after they eliminated, Eddie Guerrero pescados out on top of Regal. Off-camera, it looks like Bagwell eliminated Riggs to further their problems with Wallstreet coming up behind Bagwell to send him to the showers. It’ll all become clear tomorrow on Nitro. In another ring, the nWo pretty much stand back and watch while Rey and Dragon make a little match. I thought Eddie was eliminated when he launched himself out on Regal, but he’s still at ringside beating up DDP. Eventually, everybody congregates into the same ring. Jack Boot, better known as Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker, gets tossed out. I know everybody was DYING to know what happened to him. Luger tries to punch away on the Giant, but he can’t stay there forever with the nWo standing in his way protecting their own. Luger does manage to toss out a different giant in Ron Studd though. Now the midcarders like Rick Steiner and Chris Jericho get sent out. How is Regal still in the match? Finally when there’s nine people left, WCW stops fighting each other momentarily. Luger and Jarrett go after Hall and Nash while Regal, Mysterio, DDP, and Eddie continue beating on one another. I’ve seen everybody left from WCW on the floor at some point during this match. Regal backdrops Eddie out for a crazy bump. Rey charges Giant and gets hoisted up with ONE HAND. He pitches Rey on top of Eddie. That’s just ridiculous. Hall goes to give Jarrett the OUTSIDERS EDGE when Regal makes the save! Nevertheless, Nash clotheslines Jarrett out. DDP charges Regal and misses to crash and burn on the floor. Now that Regal is on fire, Nash and Giant swarms the guy and dumps him out.

We’re down to Syxx, Nash, Hall, and the Giant left to take on Luger. The crowd gets to their feet. Luger goes on the move and starts taking everybody down with clotheslines. All except the Giant. He whips Luger across and misses an avalanche to land himself up on the top turnbuckle. Lex gets Giant up on his shoulders to get rid of him, but Syxx kicks Luger in the gut. Hall kicks Luger for the OUTSIDERS EDGE, but Luger backdrops him out to the floor. Lex presses Syxx and throws him out onto Hall! Luger ducks a clothesline from Nash and then nails him coming back around with a running elbow! With Nash staggered, Luger lifts him up in the TORTURE RACK! As he moves over to the ropes to dump him out, Giant comes over and shoves them both out to win the match. (28:23) This actually turns out for the best because it creates an opportunity to weaken the nWo just a little bit. They were getting a tad too strong. Since Giant is part of the new World order and Hogan’s the champ, to ask for the guaranteed title shot for winning World War 3 would mean absolute treason. And boy, this should get a little interesting in the weeks to come.

Final Thoughts: What a fun PPV. Apart from who won at least from a booking standpoint, I’m not a big fan of the main event. It’s usually just a nasty cluster of a match, but the hot ending was just spectacular. Most people hate the undercard on this show aside from the cruiserweight stuff. I didn’t mind it and found those matches to be enjoyable. World War 3 ‘96 will get an easy thumbs up from me. November 1996 was just a great month for PPVs. For an interesting time in WCW, go and check this out however you can.

Drama’s Smackdown Report 11/20/09

Friday Night Smackdown!
November 20, 2009
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Todd Grisham and Matt Striker

OPENING ANIMATION

Todd welcomes us to Philadelphia, and tonight the Brothers of Destruction reunite as Kane & the World Heavyweight Champion Undertaker faces the Unified Tag Team Champions, Jeri-Show. However right now we UNLEASH…THE ANIMAL.

Batista vs. Matt Hardy

Batista comes out with his new entrance…no pyro…no smiles…no nothing. Matt Hardy’s a pretty good guy to have in the ring with Batista, as he has credibility and takes a pretty good beating. Although honestly Batista should go on a real big time jobber squash, ala Sid in 1992. Just show up on the other shows and start creaming guys. He drops Hardy with 3 straight spinebusters, then the Demon Bomb for the win. WINNER: Batista (Grade: 1.5)

-We go back to last week and the contract signing between Rey and Batista, where Rey flipped the table onto Batista, then Batista flipped out. We go backstage and Josh Matthews tries to talk to Batista, but he cuts him off and says Rey made 3 major mistakes. 1) He cost Batista the World Title, 2) He signed the Hold Harmless agreement, and 3) He embarrassed him last week. Well at Survivor Series, Batista says he will take care of Rey Mysterio, with no remorse and no holding back.

COMMERCIAL BREAK

-We return with a video montage of the Brothers of Destruction. It’s amazing how much they pump this up considering their matches are always a workrate-starved trainwreck. We then go backstage with Teddy Long, who’s interrupted by Vicky Guerrero and Eric Escobar. Vicky gives him crap about teaming the Brothers of Destruction tonight, that it will wreck the main event at Survivor Series. She’s also mad that her boyfriend Eric Escobar hasn’t been on the show. Vicky says there’s no wonder Teddy’s on probation. Teddy’s about to throw them out when Mr. McMahon comes into the office. He’s also perturbed that the Brothers of Destruction are teaming tonight and can ruin the main event of Survivor Series. So having said that, Vince decides to have Vicky Guerrero as Smackdown’s consultant to help Teddy with the show. Vince leaves and Vicky dances and screams in celebration. Ok, this idea completely sucks. No offense to the great Eddie Guerrero, but without Edge she is so damn annoying.

Drew McIntyre vs. Finlay

We go back the last few weeks and Drew’s beatdowns of Finlay. Drew takes the mike and says Finlay’s more like a crying old lady than a fighter. Pretty stiff match as Finlay’s really throwing potatoes out there. It’s a pretty short, as McIntyre takes control and hits the big DDT for the win. Not much more to say. WINNER: Drew McIntyre (Grade: 1.5)

COMMERCIAL BREAK

Out comes CM Punk our straight edge superstar. In the ring is a table with 3 upside down buckets with X’s on them. Punk says tonight he’s going to do for the WWE Universe what should have been done a long time ago. Punk says everyone must recover, and the first step is a confession. He says everyone must admit that they have a problem. He says everyone must stand or touch the TV at home and admit that they’re all addicts. Everyone is in denial and can’t admit their problems to anyone. Punk says he’s here to teach everyone how to survive. He lifts the first bucket and it’s a carton of cigarettes. Punk says no one cares that inhaling cigarette smoke is poisonous and they might as well throw their lungs in the garbage. Tonight Punk will throw the cigarettes in the garbage because that’s how they survive. That’s how straight edge lives. Under the second bucket is a bottle of pills. Punk says this helps weak people hide pain, suffering and cowardess. So these are going in the garbage too. Next is a bottle of whiskey. Punk says this is the worst of them all. Alcoholics are nothing more than weaklings who live in a cloud because they don’t want to admit reality or their own lives. He pours the whiskey in the garbage can. Suddenly R-Truth comes out. He goes “WHAT’S UP” to the crowd, then tells Punk that this is wrong and he doesn’t like him. Truth kicks Punk in the gut, then drops him with a DDT and pours all the crap in the garbage can all over Punk. Then Truth nails Punk in the gut with the garbage can. This is a good feud as its pushing R-Truth to the forefront and CM Punk is staying warm till his next Title feud.

Intercontinental Championship
Two out of Three Falls match
John Morrison © vs. Dolph Ziggler

This is Ziggler’s chance to show he’s a legit in-ring guy and not some 5 minute hump with blonde hair. Morrison gets the first fall with Starship Pain. A few minutes later Ziggler gets the second fall with his “Zig-Zag” finisher. See this is what sucks about TV matches. This should have been paced much better and really let these two guys wrestle for 20 minutes, eat up the middle of the show. The third fall is pretty good, but 2 out of 3 falls matches can’t be rushed. Some really good action during the last fall, and Morrison hits Starship Pain to finish it. Great match, but rushed. Let these guys go 20 minutes and show that Ziggler is the real thing. WINNER: John Morrison (Grade 2.5)

COMMERCIAL BREAK (Including a promo for the new Hulk Hogan DVD)

Mickie James vs. Layla

The match is nothing, as Mickie takes her out in about a minute. WINNER: Mickie James (Grade: 0)

-After the match Michelle McCool does a skit where she calls Mickie a pig. Actually pretty rough stuff and Mickie cries as she walks down the aisle.

Rey Mysterio vs. Tyson Kidd

Batista is at the broadcast table and he’s not said a word to anybody. The match is pretty good and Tyson Kidd needs more singles matches to give himself an identity. It ends quick as Kidd is thrown to the floor, then Batista gets up and throws Kidd to the barricade. WINNER: Tyson Kidd by disqualification (Grade: 1.5)

-Rey then hits a West Coast Pop on Batista through the broadcast table. Batista chases him around but can’t catch him. We go backstage and Jeri-show is talking. Jericho says they must work as a team. Big Show says he’s looking ahead to Survivor Series and becoming the World Heavyweight Champion. Jericho says that selfishness will lead to their downfall tonight. Big Show says tonight will be fine, as Show has tagged with both guys and knows how they tick. Show asks Jericho if he’s scared. Jericho says he’s not scared of Big Show nor is he intimidated by the Undertaker. Show leaves…then the lights go out. Jericho starts freaking out, then the lights come back on and its Show with the light switch. He says…point proven. Jericho’s scared. We then go back to Monday night to the awesome Raw at WWE’s Home Office…Madison Square Garden. That video montage was awesome…and they should make a DVD honoring….”The Garden.”

Unified Tag Team Champions Jeri-Show vs. Brothers of Destruction

Cool intro for Taker & Kane with the symbols on fire. Jericho will likely eat up most of the action here, as he’s getting pounded by both brothers. Kane becomes face in peril for a while but eventually Taker & Kane lay Big Show on the broadcast table and try a double chokeslam but Jericho breaks it up. Jericho is chokeslammed by Kane, but Big Show stops Taker from Tombstoning Jericho and Show chokeslams him. Big Show helps Jericho up and Jericho hits the Codebreaker. Jericho then takes the World Title belt and leaves. With that we’re out. This go home episode was ok, but with Vicky back on and no Edge, the future is bleak. WINNER: No Contest (Grade: 2)

02.06.96
From:  Queens, New York City
Your Host: Joey Styles

Raven cuts a promo saying he wants to introduce is to his most prized possession—the ECW belt as he throws that whore out of the way.

Opening Match: Juventud Guerrera vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

This is JG’s debut into ECW—and he faces Rey who has been in ECW for a couple of months now. We cut to commercial as we come back there is a “Fonzie Must Die” tee-shirt plug. The bell rings, and JG hits a firemans carry into a slam. Rey gets the advantage with the side headlock, but JG gets out, but Rey Mysterio hits a nice arm drag. JD hits an arm drag of himself. Joey Styles mentions that their both 21 years old right now. JG hits a spine buster but only gets two. They start exchanging slaps to the face. They both get up, JG softy paintbrushes him, but  Rey gives him a big slap. Now the action gets fast; Rey kicks his legs out, but JG lands on his feet. Rey tries to monkey flip him over, JG lands on his feet on the outside of the ropes. Rey goes to the top and hits a hurrcanarana. Rey and JG both exchange flashy moves. Rey comes back, and hits a closeline, and a head scissor. Rey then hits a springboard hurrcanarana followed by an over the top senton onto JG. Rey puts the chair on JG neck and drives him into the turn post, twice. JG comes back in, and hits a dropkick. Rey tries to do a dive under the legs, but JG hits him with a German Suplex. JG goes for a tigerbomb, and nails it. ONE-TWO-NO. JG press slams Rey into a throw away slam with a bridge. ONE-TWO-NO. Rey comes back, and hits a hurrcanarana for only a two. Rey hits a powerslam, but cannot put JG away. Rey goes up to the top, but JG cuts him off. JD is going for Splash Mountain, but Rey counters with a hurrcanarana and gets the win @ 9:34. The match was a very good opener; it had incredibly high pacing and tons of innovative and outstanding moves. Even though Juventud did not pick up the win, he still looked very credible in the match. I wish they gave this match more time, but it would have been very difficult to that because they really only got 45 minutes of TV time a week—so it was hard to actually give the midcard much time for Paul E. The match also gets an extra boost because Joey Styles was so excellent at calling all the moves in this match—and getting everything over. ***

More plugging shirts and Enter the Sandman (which shuts the volume off due to copyrights on youtube, so I had to download the show because of it).

Joey Styles is promoting Douglas vs. Jack; then summarizes their friendship and rivalry over their career.

Foley is in the back with Whipreck and Foley starts putting Whipwreck over. Foley then ask if he wanted to go to WWF, but Mickey says he is happy here.

ECW Tag Titles:Mikey Whipreck/ Cactus Jack vs. Eliminators (Perry Saturn/John Kronus)

Foley takes off his shirt, and under his other shirt, it says “WW F’N F”, which breaks out a “you sold out” chant.  John Kronus and Mikey tie up and John pushes him down. Mikey takes John down with a headlock. Saturn tags in, but Mikey does some nice arm drags into a headlock. Cactus pulls him off because he wants in the match. Foley gets on the mic and buries Mikey on the mic by saying Mikey has not done much, and that he won the titles all by himself. Foley works over Perry, and then tags in Mikey. Mikey puts in an arm hold, so Foley gets irate and pushes him off. Eliminators work over Mikey. Kronus puts in a rest hold, but Mikey comes back but Saturn cheap shots him. Kronus powerbombs Mikey; then PS drops a knee on Mikey from the top rope. PS hits a lariat but only gets 2.  Eliminators work over Mikey more.  Mikey is slowly going to Foley and makes the tag. Foley starts to work over both of them, but the numbers game start to take place. Foley regroups and hits a Cactus closeline and sends Perry over the top. Foley hits a springboard elbow on the outside to Perry. Foley hits a Piledriver, but does not want the count. Foley wants to hit Perry with it,but Mikey stops him. Perry has the glass, but Mikey saves Foley from getting hit. Mikey starts to clean some house. Eliminators regroup and hit Total Elimination @ 11:20. After the match, Raven does a beat down on Mikey, but Foley saves him. Foley trash talks Raven in the corner, but then Cactus closelines Whipreck. Raven grabs a chair and starts smashing Whipreck with it. Foley then hits a DDT on the chair. After that, Eliminators cut a promo with Styles. Francine says she joined the Eliminators, but ends up being a trick as Pitbulls come out; then they do a beat down on them. Pitbulls then cut John’s hair. The storytelling was great, but the wrestling in the match varied from great to sloppy. The more newsworthy and better action came after the match than in it. **

OG cut a promo on Pitbulls saying that they should not be attacking Eliminators because they beat them, not the Eliminators.

In the back, Dreamer cuts a promo with a candle lit over his bloody hand. He talks about mental pain and his hate for Raven. He talks about how he must snuff him out.

Foley cuts a promo with Raven with some Pulp Fiction playing in the background. Foley rants on Mikey on how he helped him in life. However, all he did was throw it down the toilet.  Foley talks about how he has an eating disorder, and other weird stuff.

Shane Douglas is just laughing

Taz and Whistle man are ranting about New York. Taz says he will choke out all comers.

Pitbulls rant on Eliminators.

OG tell Pitbulls are going down, and the Gangstas are alive.

Beulah then tells Raven she faked it with him.

Raven is under the stairs, he talks about his scars, and how people think he does not have love but they are wrong.

2 Cold talks about how he loves a good women than describes what he loves about them. He asks if his baby wants to come in, he brings her in and it is his title. He gives the title a big kiss. 2 Cold talks about he gets all the women and now has the gold.

Pitbulls talk about how they took Eliminators pride and hair.

Eliminators are in the back, as John cuts his hair off asking them do they really think he cares that they cut his hair off. John says all that matters is that they have the gold because they make more money.

Going Home: No matter if you are pro-ECW or not; you cannot deny that ECW in 1996 was not written awesomely. Everything on this show was very enjoyable and set a purpose. The opener was a very good match, the ECW tag match was entertaining, the Dreamer promo was deep, and then the ending promos are brilliantly done. I just loved how they played the Pulp Fiction music in the back round as they all did their promos. Out of all the promos, I have to say that Foley’s was the best, but not to take away from the awesome, crazy segment with the Eliminators when John cut his hair off in a psychotic way.

In this show, they did a great job of explaining what is going on, and it also made you want to see want is going to happen on the next show. Dreamer-Raven, Foley-Whipreck and Pitbulls-Eliminators were all very interesting feuds that were must see. ECW in 1996, is when I think Heyman didn’t write with a pencil; he was writing with gold, because he made the best out of nothing, and that is why he is considered one of the greatest writers of all time. If you do not believe it, watch this episode, and this is coming from a person who thinks people overrate ECW.

• WWE Champion Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit – (Royal Rumble 2003)
  

Matt: Up to this point, this match was exactly how a match between Angle and Benoit should go: with the top prize on the line. Nobody was better. Why SHOULDN’T these two be fighting over the WWE title? These two traded back and forth between anklelocks and crossfaces and just absolutely ruled everything that had happened on the show prior to this match. Just an absolutely awesome affair. And even though Benoit lost, he still received a standing ovation on his way out for his excellent performance.

Justin: As if Benoit and Angle didn’t have enough pressure on them, they were tasked with waking up a comatose and jaded crowd as well. The bout was mat based to start as both men worked a quick, crisp pace and traded control as it wore on. Adding the great action, Cole and Tazz did a wonderful job telling the story of the match and they proved that they were really starting to become the premiere broadcast team of WWE with their insight and storytelling. The brief slow down of the bout would be short lived, as the pace got ratcheted back up with a crazy flurry of stiff, impactful offense moves. The final five minutes or so were just tremendous. It started with a nice battle over the crossface and transitioned into a counter maneuver buffet. It felt like a true heavyweight war as the momentum kept shifting with each move. Angle would finally land the win when he traps Benoit in the Anklelock and Chris was forced to tap. This was just a beautiful, old school clean wrestling match. They proved that they didn’t need weapons, gimmicks or blood to get the crowd invested in their match. It was an instant classic that won over the fans big time. The closing portion was just fantastic and Benoit looked strong even in losing.

Scott: Another pair from the Smackdown Six, and just like all of their other PPV battles Benoit and Angle tear the house down for 20 minutes. This match, however, seems to go down as more special, more unique than the others. Maybe because of the fact that it’s a title match or that Angle has this tag team of backups now to make him even more hated, or the fact that Benoit and his fans have been waiting for that first elusive World Title. So with all the plot points and the history these two have, we are presented with one of the greatest title matches ever put together in a ring. Both guys, awesome mat technicians and clearly in superior physical condition, go all out for 20 minutes with the WWE Title on the line. The crowd is clearly all over this one after just having to watch that last piece of shit. Both guys know how to dictate and sell better than almost anyone, and there’s no wasted motion by either guy. They both want to be the best, and they went out and showed it.

• Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho – (WrestleMania XIX)
  

Matt: Chris Jericho gets to wrestle his idol. According to Jericho for the storyline, Shawn Michaels is the reason he became a professional wrestler and now he’s going to have end his career. When Sweet Chin Music wasn’t enough, HBK had to surprise Jericho with a rollup to secure the win. And then Jericho punches his idol in the balls. Another heck of a match on the PPV of the year.

Justin: For the first time in five years, Shawn Michaels stepped onto the grandest stage in the game to compete in a match. This feud had been simmering since December and there was a lot of intrigue surrounding it. Michaels was Jericho’s idol growing up and Chris now had a chance to face him at WrestleMania. Both men seemed fired up by the crowd and the magnitude of the match. The two showed great chemistry right away as their work together was smooth as silk. The second half the match was quite good with great near falls and reversals. Michaels would quickly recover and roll Jericho up to steal the win and bring a close to a fantastic match. I think there are a couple of points that prevent this match from being graded even higher. I thought Michaels was a bit spotty in selling his back. Jericho punished it for almost the whole match, but Michaels would pretty much ignore it for various stretches. Also, there is always the usual debate over whether Michaels really needed the win. At this point, Shawn was still a part time wrestler and Jericho had been floundering a bit. A big win over Shawn could have bumped him back up a level. They tried to get Jericho’s heat back by having him kick Michaels in the nuts after the post match hug but I thought that cheapened the emotion of the story and the match. I am not too upset about Michaels winning, only because shortly after this he decided to return full time and this was no longer a part time guy beating a potential main eventer. Overall, however, the match was great and Michaels announced to the world that he could still deliver an awesome WrestleMania match.

Scott: Chris Jericho said many times during this buildup that he wanted to be Shawn Michaels. This match shows that Shawn Michaels, on the drop of a dime, can step up on the WrestleMania stage and Jericho finally got his wish and wrestled his idol. We almost saw a tearful reconciliation, but Jericho kicks him in the nuts to keep his heat. Except for the lack of back selling by Michaels, the match is perfectly done.

• WWE Champion Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar – (WrestleMania XIX)
  

Matt: Brock Lesnar gets put over FOR REAL this time. He’d already been champion after beating Rock at SummerSlam, but now Angle makes him look even better than before. Of course that shooting star press flub didn’t help. Some people say he didn’t get enough rotation, others say Angle was too far away. Anyhow, great wrestling match that helped make both guys look incredible.

Justin: This bout officially ushered in the next chapter in WWE history. The main event style would no longer be characterized by a crazy overbooked brawl with dozens of finisher trading and reversals. We were now seeing two legit amateur studs throwing down the gauntlet and putting on a hard hitting, mat based slugfest. Kurt Angle proved his toughness, and maybe solidified his stupidity, as he fought through a major neck injury to put on an epic main event with the Next Big Thing. Angle would unleash a great 360 release German that was just awe inspiring. After Angle kicked out of an F5, Brock got desperate and headed to the top rope. As the crowd buzzed, Brock unleashed his legendary shooting star press. Until this point, it had never been seen on WWE TV. Unfortunately, it isn’t always wise to debut a move that big in a match this big, because Brock miscalculated the distance and crashes onto the top of his head in a super scary moment. It was an awesome sight, but it could have been really bad if Brock was seriously injured. As it was, you could tell he was out on his feet. Even in the post match, Brock was starry eyed as he celebrated with the championship. Despite the flub, this was still an incredible match as both men went all out and delivered a classic. It is even more incredible when you factor in how injured Angle was heading in. Brock is back on top of the Smackdown world and would be looked at as the torch bearer and the future of WWE. The book on the Attitude Era has officially been closed and, for better or worse, a new era is now upon us.

Scott: Brock Lesnar certainly earned his keep in 2002, defeating Rock and Undertaker to establish himself. Then losing the WWE Title at Survivor Series to Big Show, he needed to change gears and become a fan favorite. He’s been gaining the fans respect with a win at the Royal Rumble and a quest to become champion from the cheating weasel Kurt Angle. The match is great, different from the previous matches here. Not a lot of quick strikes or fast paced action. Angle grounds the early pace and Lesnar sells well as the crowd is trying to stay energized after a long night filled with emotions and action. Angle was due for surgery after this match so he was going to do everything he can to make Lesnar look like a million bucks.

• Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero – WWE U.S. Title Tournament Finals (Vengeance 2003)
  

Matt: Out of all the matches they have had, this is the ONLY time they faced one-on-one on PPV! Can you believe that? This was their usual great wrestling match that was ruined somewhat by Rhyno interfering in the finish and turning on Benoit, but hey there’s still 20 minutes of awesome before that.

Justin: This bout features two of the best going at it for the newly minted United States Championship. Benoit and Guerrero fought their way through and reached the finals to renew their rivalry. The crowd was really hooked in by the time Eddie was able to hit Benoit with the belt and drop a frog splash on him for a near fall. Benoit’s buddy Rhyno would come down to the ring, but he turned on his friend and dropped him with a gore, allowing Eddie to win the match and take the title. The match was flat out awesome, but the ending was weak and unnecessary. The match should have had a clean ending and they could have saved the Rhyno turn for TV. Either way, it was still a great match and a fantastic opener to what would end up being a tremendous show.

Scott: So really, can you think of a better opener to fire this show up? I can’t remember of the last PPV opener to pass the twenty minute mark. Obviously there’s Owen & Bret from WrestleMania X, but if you think hard I don’t think there’s another since. As usual these two always bring the goods. I think this match is even better than their last PPV outing back in December at Armageddon. The pace is crisp, and even with all of Eddie’s antics, it adds to the match and makes him even smarmier. Rhyno’s heel turn at the end was out of the blue, but I guess it bails the writers out of having to job Benoit clean. No problem, doesn’t take away from a great match and an awesome start to that show.

• The Undertaker vs. John Cena – (Vengeance 2003)
  

Matt: I don’t think Cena was ready for Brock at Backlash, but he was ready for the Undertaker. This was an awesome brawl and probably the first match where Cena was able to back up all the smack he was saying on the mic back in those days. Even though Taker got the win, he still managed to make Cena look like he could hang and that was really all that the match required.

Justin: The push of John Cena continues as he steps into Undertaker’s yard for another big PPV match. Cena had really been gaining steam and was getting some quality pops from the crowd due to his biting raps and overall hip feeling. Taker hadn’t really been doing much other than mentoring Orlando Jordan, so he was used here to help elevate Cena. The problem is Taker pretty much just destroyed Cena in five minutes and he had him pinned with a chokeslam but Taker picked him up to allow the match to continue. That annoyed me. Cena would control for a while until Taker would battle back and sneak in a mammoth Last Ride out of the corner to pick up the win. After the stupid squash part of the match, Cena looked really good as he hung with Taker throughout a stiff war. I didn’t like how they basically had Taker win the match twice, especially with relative ease the first time. If they wanted to do the squash portion early, Cena should have won in the end. Cena was good enough here to gain from the outing, but Taker didn’t need the win, and really didn’t need two wins within 16:00. Despite that, this was still a really good brawl and the crowd stayed hot for it.

Scott: Cena went right along with Taker’s pace and let the big guy dictate. I’m sure almost all the fans in Denver on this night didn’t expect this match to go sixteen minutes, but indeed it did. Cena had a couple of moments where maybe, just maybe the upset could happen. Alas, Cena is set right up for the Last Ride and three seconds later respect has been laid out. A great match that shows Undertaker was slowly getting into the best shape of his career and putting on better and better matches. As for Cena, that match may have punched his ticket to bigger and better things down the line, but a little vig was paid here to get there. No bother, both guys went out and did what they had to do and it was the surprise match of this show.

• WWE Champion Kurt Angle vs. The Undertaker – (Smackdown 9/4/03)
  

Matt: Taker had showed signs of changing over to a more MMA-based style in the past. It was never more evident before than in this match. You know these two looked back to this match when they were getting ready for their No Way Out 2006 match that completely turned Taker’s career around for the better. Just when it looked like Taker was going to pull out the win and regain the WWE title, Brock Lesnar runs in for the DQ.

Justin: This was an extremely good TV match that featured some great mat based wrestling. Angle was on a roll at this point and Taker seamlessly meshed with to put out a fun well worked bout. Taker was able to escape the anklelock multiple times and looked to be ready to take home the WWE Title until Brock Lesnar showed up and cost him the belt. Angle and Taker always worked well together and this was further proof of their great chemistry.

Scott: They wrestled the previous summer when Taker was the Champion and Angle was the challenger. That was a great match, and this one was just as good. Their first few matches in 2000 were not the best, but they slowly learned to work each other’s style and by their last big match at No Way Out 2006 they were spot on. This match is one of the more forgotten in their series, but the pace was good and Taker who was in a creative funk on the show really looked motivated and brought the goods for the now back from injury Angle.

• WWE Champion Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar – 60-Minute Ironman Match (Smackdown 9/18/03)
  

Matt: In the ten years of the show, this was the most important match on Smackdown to date. Think about it – this was strictly a PPV match and you were getting for free. Two of my best friends went to this show and absolutely loved it. Why didn’t I go? I have no idea. Anyways at one point in the match, Brock Lesnar beat Angle up with a chair to get DQ’ed, then pins Angle to gain a fall for himself. Brilliant! Why hadn’t anybody ever thought of that before? I know that’s a bad example, but this was a great wrestling match too. Angle vs. Lesnar for 60 minutes. It has no choice but to be good.

Justin: Ah, the forgotten Iron Man match. I enjoyed this one because of the intelligence shown by both men, especially Brock. I also liked that he won the match and title cleanly to really put over how great he was. The commercials break the flow up a bit, but it is still a fantastic contest as the two men just went at each other nonstop, especially in the second half, and really delivered on a stipulation that played into the rivalry perfectly. I would have liked to have seen this on PPV as I think the stipulation plays out better there, but it is still a lost classic during a time when Smackdown was producing a lot of them.

Scott: It should have been #1 on the DVD of Smackdown’s 100 greatest moments. A great match between what I think is 2003’s Feud of the Year. These guys were joined at the hip and carried what was the better show in 2003 with one awesome match after another. Even as a heel, Lesnar still played it pretty straight and became the first guy in WWE history to have a lead in an Iron Man match and not blow it.

• Kurt Angle vs. John Cena – (No Mercy 2003)
  

Matt: Cena was wrestling the finest stars on Smackdown all year – Brock, Taker, Eddie, and now Angle. It could only be a positive thing for his career to try and keep up with Angle. Just a great match to continue pushing Cena along. Of course they would turn him babyface pretty soon, but he was an excellent character as a trash-rapping heel while it lasted.

Justin: Man, Kurt Angle just dominated this year. And he had nearly three months off with a major neck injury. Amazing. This was another great outing that saw the pace dictated by Angle. Cena went along for the ride and really held up his end of the bargain well. Many thought Cena should have grabbed the win here, but a hard fought loss was just as good, really. He was slowly proving that he could hang with the big boys and the fans were slowly starting to turn him face at this point as well. Really fun match that fit the classic Angle formula.

Scott: I honestly don’t remember this match that much, but what I do remember is that Cena really cemented himself as a player in the WWE landscape. Many thought his great match with Undertaker at Vengeance was a fluke, but this proved that was not the case. No Cena doesn’t have Angle’s skills, but he is a good worker and will bust his ass.

• Randy Orton, Mark Henry, Scott Steiner, Chris Jericho & Christian vs. Shawn Michaels, Rob Van Dam, Booker T, and the Dudley Boyz – 5-on-5 Elimination Match (Survivor Series 2003)
  

Matt: Let’s face it – Survivor Series 2003 as a show sucked. Well it sucked until this match came along. Do you remember anything else from this show without looking it up? I don’t. This was just a prime example of Shawn Michaels’ ability to take a rather lame situation and turn it around into a match that gets you on the edge of your seat and changes a mediocre match into something memorable. When it came down to Orton, Jericho, and Christian against HBK, he turned it on and had an awesome final ten minutes of wrestling.

Justin: I really love this match. It officially signaled the return of the classic Survivor Series style match as well. The early portion of the match was somewhat forgettable, but once it came down to Michaels against Orton, Jericho and Christian, business picked way up. Michaels’ blade job was insane and he just sold the beating like a champion should. He was just battered and abused and barely eeked out two pinfalls. Just when you thought he would steal a win and save Steve Austin’s job, Randy Orton was able to outsmart and defeat him, with some help from Batista, to win it. This was epic storytelling by one of the all time greats. It also gave Orton a big time win to help set him on his way to stardom.

Scott: Pretty solid match with a lot of chaos and activity. This was also the match that began Randy Orton’s legacy as Mr. Survivor Series, winning an elimination match 3 years in a row. The catch that Austin had to leave Raw didn’t really matter in terms of the match, but the endless chaos and the miracle run that Shawn Michaels ALMOST finished made for a great ending.

• World Heavyweight Champion Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels – (Raw 12/29/03)
  

Matt: I didn’t watch Raw much at all in 2003. It took 51 weeks for them to have a match I remember six years later. Once again, Shawn Michaels handled 30 minutes better than anybody else on Raw at the time with his arch nemesis Triple H. Hunter had just regained the World title from Goldberg two weeks earlier and he wasn’t about to give up the belt. Even with all the distractions from Flair, Bischoff, and Austin, this was an incredible match where you really didn’t know if Shawn was going to pull out the victory or not in the end. Check out this forgotten classic on HBK’s Heartbreak & Triumph DVD set.

Justin: This match officially signaled the return of the workrate freak Triple H and the death of boring, routine based Triple H that we had been stuck with since 2002. These two worked a beautiful, clean battle over the World Title, just as it should be. This match also came out of nowhere as Raw hadn’t really been known for delivering epic TV matches at that point. Many thought Michaels should have won the match, because the finish killed the crowd, but they had bigger plans for that title at this point. This was a great match to close out the year and got everyone’s hopes up that the good Triple H was back.

Scott: After not facing each other for almost a year, this rivalry was renewed with an unbelievable match right in Michaels’ backyard. Yeah the Bischoff screwjob at the end sucked, but it didn’t take away from the pace or the workrate. Not as violent or dramatic as the SummerSlam 02 match, but still one that’s in the annals of both these men’s careers.

Next week, we’ll see ten more matches from the year of 2004!

National Wrestling Alliance/Total Non-Stop Action presents Weekly PPV #10 8-21-2002
From: Nashville, Tennessee

NWA-TNA Opening Video

Opening Contest: AJ Styles versus Jerry Lynn
(best of three series #1 Falls Count Anywhere)
Lynn clotheslines Styles over the guard railing into the crowd. Styles nails Lynn with a super kick and a body splash off the railing for a near fall. Lynn sends Styles head first into a chair in the crowd for a near fall. Styles sends Lynn off the side of the bleachers and connects with a nice somersault splash for a two count. Lynn takes Styles down with a suplex on the concrete floor. Lynn blocks a springboard reverse DDT with a stunner. Styles stops Lynn with a face buster. Styles continues with a slingshot suplex into reverse neck breaker. Styles takes Lynn over the top with a hurricanrana but only gets a near fall again. Lynn with a spear while Styles was going for a discus clothesline. Lynn with the cradle pile driver at the top of the entrance ramp to pick up the win.

Backstage, Goldylocks is with James Storm and Chris Harris. Storm is still acting goofy with his cowboy gimmick. Chris Harris still doesn’t like Storm not being serious. Harris blames Storm for them not being on TNA television recently. Ron Harris and Brian Lee come over and insult Storm and Harris. Lee tells Harris he better find a tag team partner quickly.

Second Contest: Ron Harris/Brian Lee versus Chris Harris/James Storm
Lee uses his size to control Storm with shoulder blocks and such. Storm uses his speed to knock Lee and Harris off their feet with running forearms. Ron Harris flips out on the floor after a hip toss and scares the living crap out of a girl who was on a cell phone. Harris knocks Lee off the apron and clotheslines Ron over the top. Storm with a cross body over the top onto both of his opponents. Lee spikes Harris with a tombstone pile driver but only gets a near fall. Chris Harris gets manhandled for a few moments. Chris battles back with a running bulldog knocking Lee down. All four men go at it and Lee is sent to the floor. A “fan” begins to slap Lee’s back and Lee begins to beat the living crap out of him. Ron is distracted and Harris leaps off the top sending Ron throat first across the top rope. Storm comes from behind and rolls Ron up for the win.
After the match, Lee and Ron attack Harris and Storm.

Mike Tenay and Don West promote the rest of the show which will see Ron Killings defending the NWA-TNA Heavyweight Championship against Monty Brown. Jerry Lynn and AJ Styles fighting in a no disqualification match and possibly a ten minute iron man match.

Third Contest: Sonny Siaki versus Jimmy Yang w/Jorge Estrada
(best 2/3 falls)
Siaki tries to attack Yang at the top of the entrance ramp but Yang stops Siaki and sends Siaki off the ramp into the railing. Yang really controls the match for the first three to five minutes. Yang with a nice springboard missile dropkick. Siaki nails Yang with a diamond cutter out of a scoop slam position. Yang comes back seconds later with the Yang Time to win the first fall.
Siaki with a rolling spinning neck breaker to stop Yang’s momentum. Siaki botches a pump handle suplex. Siaki continues his offense with rest holds before being taken down with a spinning heel kick off the middle rope. Moments after that, Siaki finishes Yang off with the Money Clip to win the second fall.
Yang starts the third fall working on Siaki’s left knee. Siaki with a superplex, but Yang quickly gets up and surprises Siaki with a shining wizard. Yang crotches Siaki on the top turnbuckle and connects with a top rope swinging neck breaker! Siaki reverses a roll up, which he botched again, and held the middle rope to win the match.
After the match, Jeff Jarrett makes his way down to the ring with a microphone in hand. Jarrett says he is out here to talk to Bob Armstrong. Jarrett says no one is going to stop him. Jarrett goes over how many times he has been screwed over. Jarrett is attacked by Brian Lawler who came out through the crowd it appears.

Goldylocks comes down to the ring and asks Lawler what Jarrett did to him. Lawler yells at Goldylocks to get out of the ring. Tenay goes crazy wanting to know what Jarrett did. Lawler is about to tell us but Slash comes from behind and apparently has a scheduled match against Lawler.

Fourth Contest: Slash versus Brian Lawler
Slash came from underneath the ring and attacks Lawler connecting with a reverse DDT and hanging Lawler on the top rope and dropkicking Lawler to the floor. They brawl on the floor with Slash sending Lawler into the railing a few times. Slash chokes Lawler with a cable cord. Slash goes for a pile driver on the floor, but Lawler backdrops Slash onto the floor. Lawler sends Slash into the guard railing before going back into the ring where he clotheslines Slash back to the floor. Lawler with a running bulldog on the entrance ramp. Lawler goes to grab a chair, but the same fan form last week refuses to give it up. Slash takes Lawler down with a top rope suplex for a near fall. Slash with the “Slash and Burn” for a near fall again. Lawler plants Slash with a float over DDT. Lawler with a leaping kick to the side of Slash’s head. Slash low blows Lawler and places him on the top turnbuckle. Lawler punches Slash to the floor and connects with the Hip Hop Drop for the win.
After the match, Brian Lawler taunts the fans.

Backstage, Jeff Jarrett is arguing with Bob Armstrong. Jarrett says that he is going to take down Bob Armstrong.

Fifth Contest: © Low Ki versus Spanish Announce Team
(NWA-TNA X-Division Championship, Single Elimination)
Ki with several stiff kicks on Jose and Joel to control the contest. Red springs off the top rope and dropkicks Ki. Joel with a dropkick on Red for a near fall. Joel tags in Low Ki who chops Red. Red gets out of the Ki Krusher and dropkicks Ki in the corner. Jose gets the tag and works on Ki with right hands. Jose goes for a tornado DDT but Ki blocks it and chops Jose in the corner. Jose goes to another corner and plants Ki with a tornado DDT for a near fall. Double running bulldog by the Maximo’s which gets Joel a near fall. Joel with a clothesline but only gets a near fall. Ki with a springboard head scissors and a somersault kick in the corner. Cartwheel kick on both Jose and Joel. Red tags himself in and gets a near on Joel following the Red Star Press. Ki tags in and Joel has Ki on his shoulders as Red and Jose double stomp Ki but Red also takes Jose down with a hurricanrana! Red is standing on the shoulders of Joel and is met with a springboard kick from Low Ki! Maximo Impact on Ki. Red with a tilt a whirl DDT on Joel. Red leaps off the top and hurricanrana Jose off the apron on Joel on the floor! Ki with a stiff kick on Red. Ki tosses Red over the top onto both Maximo Brothers. Ki leaps off the top taking the Maximo’s out with a 450 dive! Joel kicks Ki off the apron to the floor. Joel with a package pancake on Red but only gets a near fall. Joel with the Maximo Overdrive on Jose for the first elimination.
Ki with several stiff kicks on Joel that knock Joel silly. Red with a springboard DDT and twisting leg drop on Joel to eliminate Joel.
Ki sends Red forcefully back first into the corner for a near fall. Ki goes to the middle rope looking for the Ki Krusher but Red fights out and kicks Ki. Red goes for a hurricanrana but Ki replaces him in the Ki Krusher and leaps off the middle rope! Ki goes for the cover and retains the championship

Backstage, Goldylocks is with the NWA-TNA World Champion, Ron Killings. Killings says that Monty Brown should be kissing his black ass. Killings says that Brown will have to kill him to take the title from him.

At ringside, we see April Hunter and her boyfriend Slyck Wagner Brown who Mike Tenay does not mention. Instead he mentions that April Hunter has accepted Bruce’s challenge for next week.

Sixth Contest: © Ron Killings versus Monty Brown
(NWA-TNA World Heavyweight Championship)
Brown shoves Killings into the corner and begins to dance mocking Killings. They trade right hands with Brown getting the advantage. Brown with a leaping splash in the corner. Brown charges towards Killings who is on the apron but Killings avoids Brown and Brown goes to the floor. Killings leaps over the top and dives onto Brown! Killings and Brown trade right hands on the floor with the fans cheering Killings on. Killings rams Brown head first onto the announcers table. Brown signals for the Alpha Bomb on the announcers table but Killings rakes Brown’s eyes. Overhead belly to belly suplex by Brown on the floor. I guess their aren’t any count-outs for this match. Killings with a modified STO back in the ring. Killings heads to the top and connects with a leg drop for a near fall. Killings locks in a sleeper hold but Brown fights out of it quickly. Brown with a spinning back elbow but runs into a spinning heel kick for a near fall. Brown blocks a suplex by Killings and takes Killings down with a snap suplex of his own. Brown with a running power slam and a leaping big splash but only gets a near fall. Killings connects with the scissors kick but only gets a near fall. Brown has Killings set up for the Alpha Bomb but Killings gets out of it. Killings comes off the ropes and avoids a fall away slam by rolling Brown up and winning the match.
After the match. Jeff Jarrett comes storming into the ring with a chair and hit’s the referee and brawls with Killings until Brian Lawler runs down and attacks Jarrett. Monty Brown is up and is just standing in the corner. Lawler goes to hit Jarrett with the chair but accidentally hits Killings.
After the match, Killings taunts the fans who continue to cheer on Killings.

Backstage, Goldylocks is with Jerry Lynn. Lynn says that tonight his issue with AJ Styles will end tonight. Lynn says that he is smarter than Styles and that Styles will respect him. AJ Styles attacks Lynn from behind which starts the match.

Seventh Contest: Jerry Lynn versus AJ Styles
(No Disqualification Match)
They brawl on the floor for a few moments before heading into the ring where Styles backdrops Lynn over the top to the apron. Lynn drops Styles throat first across the top rope and goes underneath the ring to get a table. Lynn sets the table up but is attacked by Styles from behind and sends Lynn back into the ring. Lynn attempts a sun set flip from the ring to the floor and tried to put Styles through the table but Styles blocks it and goes into the ring and misses a dive to the floor. Lynn gets a chair but Styles sweeps the legs of Lynn and leg drops the chair into the face of Lynn. Styles wedges the chair in the corner. Lynn goes for a power bomb but Styles reverses but Lynn reverses Styles pin attempt and catapults Styles into the chair head first for a near fall. Lynn avoids a shoulder block from the apron and connects with a guillotine leg drop. Styles avoids a tornado DDT onto the apron and clotheslines Lynn back into the ring. Styles hardly connects with a twisting splash for a near fall. Double clothesline with both men landing on a chair in the middle of the ring. Tug of war with the chair, with Lynn getting the advantage with a sunset flip but Styles kicks out hitting Lynn with the chair and gets a near fall. Lynn avoids a chair shot and kicks the chair into the face of Styles for a near fall. Lynn places Styles on the top turnbuckle and plants Styles with a elevated DDT on a chair for a near fall. Styles punches Lynn off the middle rope and gets his footing on the top rope but Lynn crashes into the ropes to crotch Styles on the top turnbuckle. Lynn connects with a sick hurricanrana off the top to the floor with Styles crashing through the table! Lynn only gets a near fall back in the ring. Styles fights out of the corner and manages to Styles Clash Lynn on the steel chair to win the match.

Eighth Contest: AJ Styles versus Jerry Lynn
(10 minute Iron Man match, #1 Contender X-Division Championship)
Styles quickly pins Lynn twice to start the match but Lynn kicks out on the third pin attempt. Lynn reverses a vertical suplex with a neck breaker for a near fall. Lynn with several right hand and trades sleeper holds with Styles. Lynn gets his arm up before the third drop. Styles yanks Lynn down by the hair as he tries to run the ropes. Lynn blocks a hurricanrana with a sit out slam and picks up his first pin fall but trails 2-1. Styles backdrops Lynn who was going for the cradle pile driver. Styles misses a leaping attack in the corner and crashes to the mat. Lynn with a springboard leg drop for a near fall. Lynn climbs to the middle rope but is cut off by Styles who connects with a DDT to get a third fall although Lynn looked to have kicked out. Styles with a spin kick as Lynn comes off the ropes and gets yet another near fall. Low Ki makes his way out to the entrance ramp with a ladder. Lynn plants Styles with a tombstone pile driver to cut the deficit to 3-2. Lynn plants Styles with the Styles Clash and gets the pin fall to tie the match at 3-3. Styles with backslide for a near fall, Lynn with a roll up for a near fall , they trade a series of rollups and pin attempts for the final twenty five seconds of the match but neither man is able to get the pin fall. Thus, the match is a DRAW.
After the match, Low Ki enters the ring and looks at both men and raises their arms up but kicks them both in the head. Ki has a microphone and tells both men that they will both get a title shot. Low Ki says that the X-Division is about him because he is the champion. Ki says that next week they play by his rules and says that they will compete in a triple threat ladder match! Ki tells them to be ready for next week..

Mike Tenay and Don West hype up the series of Lynn/Styles on the show. Don West goes into sell mode as he hypes up matches for next week’s show. West says that a triple ladder match has never happened … well WCW did that with 3 Count and the Jung Dragons and the WWF did them as well with TLC.. But oh well.

Backstage, Scott Armstrong is with Goldylocks begging his father Bob Armstrong to not mess around with Jeff Jarrett. Scott is trying to get Goldylocks to leave, but she will not.

Jeff Jarrett’s music hits and out comes Jarrett who wants Bob Armstrong to bring the surprise out to the ring. Bullet Bob Armstrong makes his way down to the ring, looking younger, Jarrett attacks “Bullet” on the floor and sends him into the ring. Jarrett begins to taunt Bob Armstrong and taunts him. Jarrett goes to give him the Stroke but it is blocked and Bullet delivers right hands and chops. Jarrett is clotheslined to the floor. Bob Armstrong is behind Jarrett with a steel chair.. Who is in the ring? We won’t find out until next week..

End of show

My Take: Looks like Ed Ferrera is no longer commentating for NWA-TNA. I’d much rather prefer Ferrera over Don West. I find that companies need the typical baby face announcer, like Tenay, and need a heel commentator something that Ferrera would bring. Instead, we will get Don West who over reacts to simple moves and agrees with Tenay on virtually everything. The opening contest was a good way to start the show. Shocking to see the pin fall actually take place outside the ring. The tag team match wasn’t great by any means but it was a solid encounter for sure. I do like the tag team of Ron Harris and Brian Lee they seem to work well together. I also like that this edition, early on at least, seemed to be action driven. Their wasn’t a ten minute promo to start the show which was nice to see. Jimmy Yang is really over with the Tennessee crowd. The match between Siaki/Yang was solid, but I didn’t like the best two out of three falls stipulation since there is already that type of match on the show between Lynn and Styles. Jarrett and Lawler brawl was fine, I guess. The quick transitions from each segment was interesting to see, but I’m not sure if I’m a fan of that. Sometimes you need to space things out so that the viewer can digest everything. Judging by who Lawler fought on this show (Slash), I have to think that he is the baby face or at the very least a tweener. However, judging by the response that is not working at all. The fans continue to chant “Lawler’s Kid” and boo him quite loudly. Jarrett must really want to be the top heel and not have anyone steal his thunder. For the casual fans out their, that would be known as politics and since Jarrett co-owns the company he runs everything. Lawler/Slash was a solid contest with the right guy going over. Lawler seems to have a desire to compete well and it is showing. The fans simply love Low Ki and who can blame them, Ki is simply one hell of a wrestler. A good X-Division title match that saw plenty of high risk moves. I’m completely confused with what happened after the world title match. Lawler is a heel I know that, but is Jarrett a heel or baby face now? Jarrett is feuding with Bob Armstrong, a baby face authority figure so I have no idea. Also, if Monty Brown is a baby face then why wouldn’t have helped Jarrett when he was getting beaten up? I guess that would mean Jarrett is still a heel. But, I’m not sure as I can’t imagine a in-depth angle being centered around three heels feuding. Lynn/Styles series of matches were good and entertaining but kind of got boring as seeing any two guys wrestle three separate times throughout the show will do that to someone. A triple threat ladder match next week sounds interesting and I’m sure that will be one of the high spot matches on the show. It was obvious to me that Bob Armstrong wasn’t the guy who came down to the ring.. Because he was wearing a mask. The guy was also clearly younger and in shape. I know who it is.. But I won’t tell you.. Until next week!

WCW Monday Nitro
November 18, 1996
Florence, SC
Civic Center

The current WCW champs were as follows:
WCW World Champion: Hollywood Hogan (8/10/1996)
WCW U.S. Champion: Ric Flair (7/7/1996)
WCW World Tag Team Champions: The Outsiders (10/27/1996)
WCW World Television Champion: Lord Steven Regal (8/20/1996)
WCW World Cruiserweight Champion: Dean Malenko (10/27/1996)

HOUR NUMBER ONE! Your hosts are Tony Schiavone & Larry Zbyszko.

Before there’s even an intro, we see the aftermath of an Outsiders beatdown with chairs in-hand as they interrupted a Nasties vs. High Voltage vs. Ciclope/Galaxy triangle match that occurred prior to the broadcast. They head over to Tony and Larry Z’s ringside announce table to tell them and everybody watching that the new World order can make you laugh (as they did for Tony Schiavone last week) and they can also be extremely deadly. Nash flicking Tony on the head is pretty hilarious though. WHO’S LAUGHING NOW, FAT BOY? After they leave, Meng and Barbarian are waiting to attack them backstage as they fight out of the building!

After a short break, Larry Z tries to calm Tony down and reminds him that they didn’t hurt him or anything, but he’s got five kids (wow!) and a wife. He doesn’t need to put up with this kind of abuse, so he leaves the broadcast for the rest of the show.

• Juventud Guerrera vs. La Parka
  

Here is La Parka’s WCW debut. Mike Tenay comes out and joins Larry Z for the rest of the first hour. They do some kip-ups from chops to start. La Parka dumps out Juvi for a suicide dive. Back in, Juvi pushes La Parka off the top turnbuckle onto the top rope and then takes him down onto the mat with a springboard headscissors! Cover, 1-2-NO! Quebrada gets another two. Juvi sets up for another springboard, but La Parka dropkicks him in mid-air. Back to the floor, La Parka delivers the Eddie Guerrero stage dive. Back inside, La Parka delivers a powerbomb for two. Juvi escapes a surfboard and drills La Parka with a missile dropkick for two. La Parka misses a corner charge and takes a whole BUNCH of turnbuckle smashes. Another springboard headscissors out of the corner gets two for Juvi. Ugh, Guerrera delivers one ugly looking spinning hurracanrana for two. La Parka misses something off the top and takes a Tornado DDT for two. However, La Parka blocks the Dragonsteiner and nails Juvi with a CORKSCREW SENTON for the 1-2-3. (9:22) Great TV debut for La Parka with loads of neat nearfalls on him, but Juvi just didn’t have the weight advantage over the big luchadore. ***¼

Video package shown to hype Ultimo Dragon as he looks to defend his newly-won J-Crown (short-lived unification of EIGHT lightweight championships from promotions around the world) against Rey Mysterio Jr at World War 3. We see some clips of him vs. the Great Sasuke in the J-Crown tournament final back on August 5.

• WCW World Cruiserweight Champion Dean Malenko vs. J-Crown Champion Ultimo Dragon (w/Sonny Oono)
  

OH SNAP. This should be good. Some nice mat stuff to start. Dragon hits the handspring back elbow, but Malenko immediately whips Dragon across for the corner clothesline. Some awesome counters lead to a nearfall sequence which leads to a Tiger Suplex from Dragon for two. They go to the floor for some guardrail action. Back in, Dragon elbows out of a back superplex, but misses the moonsault. Sonny Oono hops up on the apron once Malenko hooks on the TEXAS CLOVERLEAF. Malenko lets go of Dragon and flips Oono into the ring. Dragon goes to save his manager and takes a backdrop over the top to the floor. Oops, DQ! (4:02) Oh WCW and your inconsistencies over what is a toss over the top rope and what isn’t. Good for what it was and it’s got me looking forward to their match at Starrcade that nobody knows about yet. **½

WCW Saturday Night! Watch it IF YOU WEEL! 6:05PM eastern! TBS! The Faces of Fear takes on Ciclope & Galaxy! TV Champ Lord Steven Regal defends his belt against Dean Malenko! Both the Taskmaster and Chris Jericho will be in action! Arn Anderson faces Bunkhouse Buck! Jeff Jarrett battles Mike Enos! Also, a match from the new World order! Don’t miss out! It’s the MUTHASHIP! PAY WINDAHS, CLUBBERIN, AND PLUNDAH, BABY!

Recap to last week where Sherri took a swing at her former lover Col. Robert Parker.

• Amazing French Canadians (w/Col. Robert Parker) vs. The American Males
  

Parker debuts his new French Foreign Legion look. The American Males clean house to start so they can chant “USA” together. Back in, Jacques shows off a little bit. Riggs and Bagwell collide to cause a little problem. Oulette nails Riggs from the apron into a jumping back elbow from Jacques. In comes Oulette, as Jacques slams him on top of Riggs. Maybe they aren’t as good a gimmick as the Quebecers, but they’re still fun to watch. I’m a fan. Double hotshot to Riggs, but heel miscommunication ensues. HOT TAG TO BAGWELL! He completely owns the AFC with backdrops and dropkicks! DOUBLE NOGGIN KNOCKER! Jacques backflips to avoid another backdrop, but then Riggs knees Jacques into Bagwell and their heads collide. While the ref tries to get Riggs out of the ring, Oulette puts Jacques on top of Bagwell for the 1-2-3. (5:25) Fun little formula match to continue the problems between the American Males. *½

For all you total nerds out there who are always typing away at your computers and using that new fad called the world wide web that nobody uses except complete geeks who live in their parents basement and never even talked to a girl before, check out wcwwrestling.com! It’s cool if you’re a NERD!

• Lex Luger vs. Hugh Morrus
  

Another week, another TORTURE RACK! (4:22) Luger is on a roll! Surely he’s the guy who will win the 60-man battle royal at World War 3! After the match, Sting quietly interrupts Luger’s post-match interview with Gene Okerlund. He points his baseball bat at Luger and then shoves him back into the corner with it. What’s Sting going to do? He turns the bat around, gives it to Luger, and leaves through the crowd. Luger has nothing to say about what just happened. *

HOUR NUMBER TWO! Your hosts are Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan, and Mike Tenay.

Flashback to last week’s Saturday Night: Tony Schiavone conducts a meeting between Nick Patrick, his lawyer, Teddy Long, and Chris Jericho. Teddy says something about Jericho being able to beat Nick Patrick with one arm tied behind his back any day of the week. The lawyer guy takes him up on that and we’ve got another match signed for World War 3!

• Chris Jericho vs. Johnny Grunge
  

Seems like an odd match. Nick Patrick comes out to get a closer look at the match. Grunge ends the feeling out process with a back suplex. Jericho lands on his feet after Grunge moves away from a moonsault press, but gets nailed with a clothesline. We go to the floor as Jericho nails Grunge with a springboard dropkick off the apron. Grunge gets desperate and grabs a chair. He hotshots Jericho and sits him down in a chair for a running clothesline. Now Grunge slides in a table and sets Jericho up on it. Is he going to splash himself and the chair on top of Jericho? Nope. Jericho moves and hits a missile dropkick for the 1-2-3. (5:22) How is bringing a table and a chair in the ring not a DQ? Anyways, decent enough for somebody like Johnny Grunge who isn’t known to be a singles worker. ¾*

Hollywood Hogan, Ted DiBiase, Vincent, and Elizabeth all come over to take control of the announce table. Heenan gets the heck out of Dodge. Hogan gets on the mic and demands Bischoff to tell the world that he’s the bigger icon of wrestling than Piper, that he’s scared to death of Hogan, and that he’s a hundred times richer than Roddy Piper. Of course Bischoff says he disagrees but he’ll say whatever Hogan wants. That’s all Hogan wanted to hear.

Over to Gene Okerlund, he’s standing by with Diamond Dallas Page. He says he still refuses to be the eighth pick for the new World order. Hall, Nash, Giant, and Syxx stop by to tell DDP that he doesn’t get it. You don’t get it? He doesn’t get it.

Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay return to the announce position.

• Jeff Jarrett vs. Bobby Eaton
  

Extremely short. Jarrett struts and we go to the floor for some guardrail stuff. Back in, Jarrett hits the Bossman straddle and gives Eaton a suplex for the FIGURE-FOUR. That gets the win. (2:19) Here comes Ric Flair. Of course he’s got his arm in a sling. Flair says that no matter what Benoit and Mongo may say, Flair gives Jarrett his full endorsement as a member of the Four Horsemen while he’s away. We see Sting watching on from the rafters. WOO! ½*

• Big Bubba (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Jim Powers
  

During the match, Bischoff explains how he’s still unable to get Roddy Piper to sign for a match against Hogan. Bubba controls much of the match until Powers comes back like a good ’80s babyface. Turnbuckle smashes and the Knee Lift connects, but then he runs into a BUBBA SLAM for the 1-2-3. (3:54) Filler. ½*

• Chris Benoit (w/Woman) vs. Eddie Guerrero
  

This is a return match from the night after Halloween Havoc when both men were so banged up and couldn’t compete at the usual fast-paced high-impact level. Guerrero slows Benoit down early with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Eddie lands on his feet out of a monkey flip, but charges into the CRIPPLER CROSSFACE! Luckily Eddie makes the ropes. Eddie comes back with a Hilo for two. Benoit comes back with a series of suplexes in order to keep Guerrero on the mat. He’s stretching Eddie like he’s back in Stu’s Dungeon! Commercial break. We return to see Eddie taking Benoit down with a headscissors. Benoit hangs Guerrero out to dry and gets a superplex. Delayed cover gets two. Eddie takes Benoit to the floor and Woman gets in the way to temporarily help her man. Back inside, Guerrero delivers a back suplex to set up for the FROG SPLASH, but Eddie rolls through when Benoit moves. Eddie goes for a hurracanrana, but Benoit rolls through that into a sunset flip for the 1-2-3! (9:23 shown) Nice finish. One of the best Nitro matches we’ve seen in MONTHS. ***½

Eric Bischoff is in the ring to tell the crowd that Roddy Piper still has not signed a contract to face Hollywood Hogan, but he’s going to do everything he can to make this- IS THAT BAGPIPES I HEAR? The crowd goes insane as Roddy Piper walks out the tunnel. Bischoff doesn’t look too happy to see him and Piper has got his FIGHTIN’ EYES going. He’s here to tell some truth because he’s never heard more lies in his life than when he was telling them. Piper calls Bischoff a liar and the crowd seems confused, but Bischoff looks 1000% guilty. Did you have a nice flight to Portland? Is the path to his ranch straight or crooked? He grabs Bischoff and calls him a “little piece of poop” as the Giant and the rest of the new World order grab Piper (except for Hogan who comes out when Piper has been stopped). Hogan embraces Bischoff and reminds everybody that Eric runs WCW and now he works for the nWo! Hogan continues to denigrate Piper by calling him a coward and how he was nobody before he fought Hogan. A bunch of policemen come down and have to restrain Piper while the nWo pose and watch Piper while they head to the back. Before we go, Piper says he’ll be at World War 3 with the contract for his match with Hogan in his teeth! No surrender! No retreat! Kiss his butt, Hogan.

AND WE OUT! Finally, a great episode of Nitro.

World War 3 goes down on November 24. Here’s the card as it looks right now.

MAIN EVENT: 60-Man Battle Royal – (Winner gets the next WCW World Title shot)
WCW World Tag Team Champions The Outsiders vs. The Nasty Boys vs. The Faces of Fear
The Giant vs. Jeff Jarrett
WCW Cruiserweight Champion Dean Malenko vs. Psychosis
Harlem Heat vs. The Amazing French Canadians – (If the Heat win, Sherri gets five minutes with Parker)
Chris Jericho vs. Nick Patrick (Jericho has to wrestle with one hand tied behind his back)
J-Crown Champion Ultimo Dragon vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

National Wrestling Alliance/Total Non-Stop Action presents Weekly PPV #9 8-14-2002
From: Nashville, Tennessee

NWA-TNA Opening Video

NWA-TNA World Heavyweight Champion, Ron “The Truth” Killings makes his way down to the ring. Truth proclaims the TNA arena as his house and renames the arena as the “TNA Asylum”. Killings says he became a legend following his win over Ken Shamrock last week. Killings says that in the WWF he couldn’t make the same mistakes as the other wrestlers, because he is African American. Truth says he isn’t using the race card, although he clearly is. Truth says he took advantage of a opportunity and became a damn legend. Jeff Jarrett comes out and cuts Truth off and calls Truth “Walt Disney”. Jarrett brings up reverse discrimination against him. Jarrett says Truth was given his shot while he has been screwed over constantly. Jarrett wants Truth to give him a shot, tonight. Truth tells Jarrett to come down to the ring if he wants the shot strap. Jarrett stops because Bill Behrens music hits. Behrens looks like a complete fool with a cowboy hat and security guards. Behrens says he is the new sheriff in town. Behrens says that Truth and Jarrett will not be sanctioned by the NWA and will not be for the championship. Jarrett threatens Behrens and is attacked from behind by…. Brian Lawler! Lawler attacks Jarrett on the announcers table. In a hilarious moment, Lawler tries to take a fans chair, but the fan will not let him have it! Jarrett and Lawler have a pull apart brawl for a few moments. Lawler says “I know it was you Jarrett, I know it was you.”

Mike Tenay, Don West and Ed Ferrera promote the show. They mainly hype up the main event. Apparently something happen earlier today between Lynn and Styles. Low KI will also be facing the Flying Elvises in a elimination match.

Opening Contest: Kid Kash/Shark Boy/Slim J versus Spanish Announce Team (Maximo’s/Amazing Red)
Slim J is only seventeen years old and is a Marshall Mathers wannabe. Kash with the early offense for his team controlling both Maximo Brothers. Kash with a springboard dropkick and a slingshot hurricanrana to the floor on Joel Maximo. Jose with a suicide dive on Kash. Shark Boy with a somersault splash on Joel. Slim J with a moonsault taking out the Maximo’s and Shark Boy. Amazing Red with a somersault dive of his own. Kash with a springboard somersault dive taking everyone out. Maximo’s with a Boston Crab/chin lock combo on Slim J and Shark Boy with Amazing Red dropkicking Slim J right in the face. Kash with a top rope body slam on Amazing Red that was awesome. Slim J misses a sick springboard Phoenix Splash. Kash with a double springboard hurricanrana and a tornado DDT on Joel for a near fall. Shark Boy with the Dead Sea Drop on Red for a near fall. Double under hook into a brain buster by Kash on Red for a near fall. Spanish Fly and the Infrared on Slim J to give the SAT the win.

Backstage, Goldylocks is with the Dupp Brothers. Stan tries to get Goldylocks to touch his penis but Goldylocks hits him in the penis. Bo shows Goldylocks their outhouse that is full with crap.

Miss TNA Bruce comes out and is given a microphone. Bruce thanks the fans for making his reign as Miss TNA very enjoyable. Bruce is convinced that all the men are fantasying about what they could do to Miss TNA. Bruce says that if someone can beat him, he will pay them $5,000. Bruce begins to scan the crowd to see who will face him. Bruce says you have to have more than one tooth. Bruce says Athena isn’t a woman. Jeremy Borash goes over to a clearly planted woman and she signs a release to fight Bruce.

Second Contest: © Bruce versus A Fan
(Miss TNA Crown)
The lady takes Bruce down with a spear and a scoop slam. She follows up with a leg drop and sends Bruce over the top to the floor. She goes for another scoop slam in the ring, but Bruce rolls her up and retains his title.

Backstage, Goldylocks is with Jeff Jarrett. Jarrett says he didn’t do a damn thing to Brian Lawler. Jarrett will continue to play the games until the belt is his belt. Jarrett mentions crap, and proceeds to grab Bill Behrens who is taken a crap, and shoves him into the wall. Bo Dupp bumps in Teo and says that they will settle things in the ring tonight.

Third Contest: Malice versus Don Harris
(Last Man Standing Match)
The New Church has been barred from ringside. Harris with a side walk slam early on, but doesn’t bleed like he did last week following the move. Harris with couple of vicious chair shots. Malice throws powder into Harris’s eyes to gain control. Malice has been busted open from the chair shots. Malice continues using the powder and nails Harris with a chair shot on the floor. Malice gets a chain, but Harris stops Malice and chokes Malice with the chain and follows up with a clothesline with the chain. Harris sets up a table on the floor. Malice plants Harris with a power bomb in the ring. Harris blocks a choke slam attempt with a DDT. Malice with a middle rope back suplex through the table. Harris gets to his feet and wins the match.
After the match, Harris puts out his fist and Malice fist pounds Harris.

Backstage, Goldylocks is backstage with the Dupp Brothers. Stan is freaking out because he is afraid of midgets. Bo says that he will take care of everything.

Fourth Contest: Teo versus Bo Dupp
(Dupp Cup)
Teo nails Jeremy Borash twice and gets a early lead. Teo with a chair shot and trash can lid shot. Teo has a 4 ½ point to nothing lead. Stan screams like a pussy so Bo has -5 points. Bo hits Teo with three weapons brought by fans so get to -2 points. Bo sends Teo through a piece of plywood to get to -1 points. Stan touches Don West to get 3 ½ points. Stan goes to the ticket lady and suffers the same fate as he did last week. Puppet the Psycho Dwarf comes out of the out house and nails Bo with a kendo stick. Teo puts Bo’s head into the toilet and wins the match and cup.

A video promoting the recent happenings between Monty Brown and Elik Skipper is shown.

Before the next match, Skipper dares Brown to bring his “chicken shit ass” out to the ring to get his ass kicked.

Fifth Contest: Elik Skipper versus Monty Brown
(Detroit Street Fight)
Skipper tries to attack Brown from the entrance ramp, but chooses the wrong side and Brown attacks Skipper from behind. Brown takes his shirt off and chokes Skipper over the top rope. Skipper chokes Brown with a chain and sends Brown into the guard railing. Skipper with a nice slingshot spinning body splash on Brown on the floor with a trash can on top of Brown which only gets Skipper a two count. Brown battles back and finishes Skipper off with the Alpha Bomb onto the trash can.
After the match, Brown celebrates his win and signals for the belt.

Backstage, Goldylocks is with the Flying Elvises. Yang and Estrada do much of the talking while Sonny Siaki has his back turned and facing the wall. Siaki chimes in and puts down Elvis. Siaki tells them if they want to idolize someone or look up to someone, they should idolize the one and only Sonny Siaki.

Sixth Contest: © Low KI versus The Flying Elvises
(Four man Elimination Match NWA-TNA X-Division Championship)
Siaki starts the match with KI and manages to block a hurricanrana into a nice power bomb for a near fall. Estrada enters and connects with a standing shooting star press on KI for a near fall of his own. KI gets his knees up to block a springboard moonsault. KI with several kicks and soon locks Estrada in a dragon sleeper while in the ropes. Estrada with a nice slingshot split legged moonsault but Siaki pulls Estrada off the cover. Yang with a spinning leg lariat off the middle turnbuckle. Estrada tags in to replace KI and goes at with his own teammate Yang. Estrada takes Yang out with a somersault splash on the floor. Yang locks in a Boston Crab and Estrada taps out, although Yang went backward too much and botched the first elimination. Yang goes for the Yang Time, but Siaki crotches him on the top rope. KI finishes Yang off with the KI Krusher 99. Siaki with a impressive Samoan Drop after lifting KI up in the air. Siaki comes off the ropes but Yang kicks Siaki and KI rolls Siaki up for the win.

A video with Goldylocks interviewing Jerry Lynn in his car is shown. Lynn drives over to a shop and attacks AJ Styles who is leaving the store. Lynn places Styles in a bathtub outside of the building and says Styles will respect him.

Disco Inferno makes his way out for Jive Talking. Inferno says he doesn’t have a wrestler as a guest but rather a movie star. Inferno introduces Dean Baldwin. Naturally, Inferno asks about the bigger named Baldwin brothers. Inferno wants to know the dirt about his brothers love life. Brian Lawler comes over and says he doesn’t care about anyone but Jeff Jarrett and what he did to him. Dean Baldwin wants to know who Lawler is. Dean says that Lawler wants a autograph. Lawler proceeds to nail Dean with a right hand and ruins the set. Inferno says that next week he is going to have a huge TV star.

Backstage, security throw Brian Lawler out of the building.

Backstage, Goldylocks with the Dupp Brothers. Stan is rambling and saying that he is leaving NWA-TNA because of midgets. Bo is heart broken and doesn’t know what he can do.

Main Event: Jeff Jarrett/Ron “The Truth” Killings versus © AJ Styles/Jerry Lynn
(NWA-TNA Tag Team Championships)
Jarrett and Killings work on Lynn early on as Styles hasn’t made his way down to the ring. Styles makes his way down about thirty seconds into the ring and cleans house. Lynn goes to hit Styles but Styles ducks and Lynn clotheslines Jarrett. Styles and Jarrett battle in the ring while Killings and Lynn brawl on the floor. Styles with a springboard moonsault taking Jarrett out on the floor. Lynn with a middle rope bulldog on Killings for a near fall. Jarrett with a sit out scoop slam on Lynn to gain control for his team. Killings with a scissors kick on Lynn for a near fall. Lynn is controlled for a few moments until he plants Killings with a tornado DDT off the middle rope. Styles and Jarrett get hot tags and styles nearly connects with the Styles Clash but Killings gets involved. Styles knocks the referee out after coming off the ropes and falls to the floor. Lynn has Jarrett pinned following a reverse DDT but their isn’t a referee. Lynn spikes Killings with the cradle pile driver but Jarrett attacks Lynn and connects with the Stroke. Styles with the Spiral Tap on Killings. Another referee comes down and both referees count a three count.
After the match, Bob Armstrong comes down and immediately says the belts are held up. Armstrong also announces that Killings must defend the Heavyweight Championship against Monty Brown next week. Armstrong turns his attention to Lynn and Styles. Armstrong says that they will fight next week. Lynn wants a Falls Count Anywhere match. Styles a No Disqualification Match. Though, NO DQ is involved with a Falls Count Anywhere match. Armstrong says that next week Styles and Lynn will fight in a two out of three falls match. The first two falls will be No Disqualification and Falls Count Anywhere with the third fall being a ten minute iron man match. Bob Armstrong says that he has a surprise for Jarrett’s challenge next week.

Don West screams while promoting next weeks show. Apparently Sonny Siaki and Jimmy Yang will do battle in a two out of three falls. So, we will get two of the same matches on the same show. Brilliant.

Mike Tenay cuts Jarrett off and we go backstage where Lawler re-enters the building and chokes Jeff Jarrett while saying “I’m going to kill you.”.

My Take: I’ve been liking Truth’s promos as of late, but he was rambling and repeating the same things he has been saying for the past month. Behrens is a goof and I couldn’t take him seriously which was the clear attempt by his actions but I didn’t like it. Lawler attacking Jarrett was confusing. Is this an attempt to turn Jarrett into a baby face, possibly? Curious to hear what Jarrett may have done to Lawler. It took nearly twenty minutes to get actual wrestling this week. That’s not good as I don’t see people wanting to pay for promos. The opening bout was quite exciting and a fast pace contest, but since it was nothing but high spots it wasn’t great or anything. Hopefully Kid Kash will be in TNA for awhile. The female fan for the miss TNA crown match was good for the first fifteen seconds. After that, the match was repetitive and boring. I find it weird that Malice lost the match following his own offense move through the table. The match was uneventful and had a lot of similar moves from their match last week. The Dup Cup matches should never go beyond three minutes of action, especially with Don West screeching. This must be a hardcore wrestling edition for TNA. Not quite sure a street fight stipulation needed to be used for Brown/Skipper. Their match wasn’t really anything special anyway and Skipper wasn’t able to do his usual routine of impressive moves with a limited Monty Brown. The X-Division fatal four elimination match was a solid encounter. Siaki appears to have officially separated himself from the goofy gimmick with Estrada and Yang. TNA couldn’t get any celebrity bigger than Dean Baldwin? Dean has a celebrity name, but isn’t a celebrity if you ask me. Jive Talking was pretty lackluster this week though Inferno plays the heel well. Looks like the Dupp Brothers will no longer be in TNA, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Typical bogus finish to the main event. Usually with a finish like that a tournament will take place to crown new champions and were only nine weeks in. Hopefully Bob Armstrong gets a good surprise to fight Jeff Jarrett. Styles/Lynn should be good next week. Though, I’m sensing Monty/Killings will be lackluster because of Brown. The ending was once again centered around Jarrett. Lawler saying he is going to kill Jarrett must mean that Jarrett really screwed him over. That surprise is something that has me anxious to see what happens next.

WWF Survivor Series 1996
November 17, 1996
New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden

The current WWF champs were as follows:
World Champion: Shawn Michaels (3/31/1996)
Intercontinental Champion: Hunter Hearst Helmsley (10/21/1996)
World Tag Team Champions: Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith (9/22/1996)

Your hosts are Vince McMahon and Jim Ross.

• Phil LaFon, Doug Furnas, and the Godwinns (w/Hillbilly Jim) vs. The New Rockers, Owen Hart and Davey Boy Smith (w/Clarence Mason)
  

Furnas and LaFon are making their WWF debuts after being awesome in All-Japan for the last five years or so. Jannetty and LaFon start us off. Jannetty flips off the ropes out of a wristlock, but LaFon lands on his feet to counter a monkey flip and runs Jannetty down with a clothesline. Tag to Cassidy, he leg whips LaFon over to Phineas for a tag. Cassidy gets him all riled up, which causes him to make a mistake and become the face in peril for a while as everybody gets in their licks on him. Jannetty misses a flying elbow, allowing Phineas to tag in Henry. SLOP DROP to Jannetty sends him to the showers at 8:13. Owen runs in with the Spinning Heel Kick out of nowhere and pins Henry at 8:19. BEAUTIFUL! That evens the sides. Phineas cleans house on Owen and Cassidy, but stumbles into a RUNNING POWERSLAM from Davey Boy for the 1-2-3 at 9:04. Furnas comes in for the first time in the match and lands funny after a dropkick. Sambo Suplex from Cassidy gets two. Tag to Bulldog, he blind-tags Owen to catch Furnas with a missile dropkick. Awesome. Davey Boy tags back in for the Stalling Suplex. Once Cassidy misses a corner charge, LaFon gets the tag and gives Cassidy a REVERSE SUPERPLEX! WHAT. That puts Cassidy away at 13:43. We’re down to the tag champs versus Furnas and LaFon. Hook Kick to Bulldog, but then LaFon gets launched. Tag to Owen, he nails him with the Belly to Belly Suplex for two. Flying elbow gets two. Uh oh, ENZIGURI! Cover, 1-2-NO! Bulldog tags in and kicks LaFon in the balls. DQ, ref? Off a front headlock, Owen releases and knocks Furnas to the floor. Owen and Bulldog try a double-clothesline, but Furnas trips up Owen while LaFon surprises Bulldog with a crucifix into a sunset flip for the 1-2-3 at 17:24. The crowd is POPPING for Furnas and LaFon. Before Bulldog leaves, he clips LaFon good from behind. Naturally, Owen goes to work on the knee leading up to the Indian deathlock. SHARPSHOOTER! Furnas breaks it up as LaFon comes back with a spinning mule kick. Tag to Furnas, he nails Owen with a cool dropkick for two. Overhead suplex doesn’t get the three count, but a DANGEROUSSSSSSS German Suplex will. (20:42) Survivors: Phil LaFon and Doug Furnas. Those two boys came in and made quite the impact on the tag champs. ***¼

• The Undertaker vs. Mankind (w/Paul Bearer)
  

Paul Bearer gets placed in the misbehaving manager cage for this one. If Taker wins, he gets Bearer for five minutes. Taker descends from the ceiling with bat wings? He also has no gloves! Aww, he’s got the teardrop on his cheek too. Are you sad because you got buried alive, Undertaker? Big brawl to start and then Taker busts out a drop toehold! He goes after Mankind’s claw hand and bends back on his fingers during a cross armbreaker. Mankind avoids an elbow drop and Cactus Clotheslines Taker out, but he lands on his feet and chases Mankind through the crowd. Back to the ring, Mankind low blows Taker to make him stop smashing his hand on the turnbuckle connectors. With Taker on the floor, Mankind gives him the CANNONBALLLLLL. In the ring, Mankind hits the running knee in the corner. Taker ducks low off a whip and takes the Pull Up Piledriver! They trade finisher attempts and head back to the floor. Eww, Mankind gets kicked back down to the bottom of the guardrail. He gets his head slammed on the steps and they head back in for Old Skool. VINTAGE UNDERTAKER~! Mankind comes off the top, but flies down into a GOOZLE. Whoops, MANDIBLE CLAW! His arms drops once, twice, but not three times! Taker fights up and Chokeslams Mankind, but he misses a charge and flies to the floor. Mankind misses a CANNONBALLLLLL this time. Back inside, Mankind pulls out his Abdullah spike and has some fun with that. DQ, ref? As Mankind climbs up on Taker’s back in the corner, Taker maneuvers him around in position for the TOMBSTONE! Cover, 1-2-3. (14:53) Another good match from their ‘96 series. Once UT gets his chance to put his hands on Paul Bearer, the Executioner (Terry Gordy) runs in for the distraction while Paul Bearer waddles away. Next time, Paul Bearer. NEXT TIME! ***

• Rocky Maivia, Jake Roberts, Barry Windham & Marc Mero (w/Sable) vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Jerry Lawler, Crush & Goldust (w/Marlena)
  

Sunny joins Vince and JR for commentary. Since JR thinks she missed all her trips to the woodshed, they argue back and forth the whole match. Jake Roberts is the surprise partner subbing for Mark Henry who is somehow injured. Oh yeah, this match is best well-known for being the WWF debut for the Rock. He’s just a kid here. Helmsley doesn’t want none of Mero, so he tags in Goldust. Mero armdrags him around and tags in Windham for a lariat. In comes Maivia. It looks like he’s going to be stuck in the wrong corner, but Lawler brings him out for a shoulderblock. Rocky NO-SELLS and leapfrogs all over Lawler to put him out on the floor. Tag to Hunter, he gets all aggressive with him. He’s already mad that Rock turns out to be a bigger star than him! Okay, now Rocky becomes the face in peril for a few minutes. He backdrops Helmsley and makes the tag to Jake. He cleans house and goes for the DDT on Hunter, but he gets backed into the corner. Lawler comes in and punches Jake silly. He’s all wobbly-legged, so King makes fun of his drinking habits. That gets him DDT’d just like that at 10:01. After Goldust wears Roberts down with a chinlock, he tags out to Windham. Goldust fights off a SUPERPLEX attempt, but flies down into a gutshot. Crush punches Windham into the CURTAIN CALL to put him away at 12:44. Now it’s Mero who gets worked over for a while. Pretty standard stuff. He comes back with a tilt-a-whirl headscissors on HHH, but then he goes to the eyes and gets tossed to the floor. Jake tries to get him some of Hunter, but meanwhile Mero ascends to the top for the Merosault on Helmsley to pin the IC champ at 19:20. Crush takes a dropkick to the floor, but Goldust pulls him away from a pescado by Mero. Crash and burn! Back in, Crush pins Mero after the HEART PUNCH at 20:33. Jake tries to set up Crush for the DDT, but Crush catches him with the HEART PUNCH to send Jake to the back at 20:54. Oh boy, now Rocky Maivia is all alone against Crush and Goldust. Dang, and MSG is already chanting “Rocky!”. Crush suckers him into a test of strength, but Rocky counters a suplex with an inside cradle for two. Goldust comes in for the failed double team, but the low blow certainly works. He holds Rocky for the HEART PUNCH, but Rocky moves and Goldust gets nailed. Crossbody to Crush gets the 1-2-3 at 23:12! Shoulderbreaker to Goldust gets Rocky the win. (23:44) Survivor: Rocky Maivia. Since Rock’s offense had no sizzle, the fans turned on him instantly, and he wouldn’t get over legitimately until he turned heel. *½

• Bret Hart vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin
  

After months of bashing Bret, these two finally meet in Bret’s quest for respect from the man who respects no one. Since the birth of Austin 3:16 at King of the Ring, Stone Cold has REALLY came into his own as a worker on the mic. He was never bad on the mic, but now he’s become great and it shows in his pre-match interview. As for Bret, this is his first match back on TV since WrestleMania XII. The winner of this dream match gets the next WWF title shot. Austin shoots him the double-bird and runs his mouth to start. Bret wants him on the mat and gets Austin there with a hammerlock. Great bit of psychology as Bret makes Austin think he’s on a roll when he escapes and hits him with a series of elbows, but then he takes Austin right back down into the armbar. Austin finally knocks the wind out of Bret with a Stungun and chokes him in the ropes. He grounds Bret with a chinlock for a while. Bret comes back with an inverted atomic drop and a clothesline. Rollup gets two. Russian legsweep connects, but Austin shoves off the bulldog into the corner. Bret avoids a superplex and hits the Flying Elbow for two. Austin claws out of the backbreaker and dumps Bret out for a ride spine-first into the ringpost. That fires him up as Bret backs Austin into the guardrail and breaks it loose while he’s punching on Austin! He tries to separate himself from Bret, but he’s just setting him up for a catapult onto the Spanish announcers table! JR – “It always happens to the Spanish guys.” Austin adds the exclamation point by dropping an elbow onto Bret’s chest from the apron. Back in, Austin drives another flying elbow onto Bret for two. Austin’s getting desperate! Bret takes a hard ride into the corner and receives the Bossman straddle for 1-2-NO! Austin goes all Mike Rotunda on him with an ab stretch near the ropes for some added leverage. Bret wins a slugfest and hits a Stungun of his own. Oklahoma roll gets 1-2-NO! Desperation piledriver gets Bret another two. He gets the backbreaker this time, but Austin stops him up top and beats him senseless so he can hit the top-rope superplex this time – a page out of Bret’s playbook. A funky double pin situation occurs. I’m glad that didn’t wind up being the finish. As Bret walks over to Austin with his back turned, he takes a STONE COLD STUNNER! Austin pulls him away from the ropes for the cover, 1-2-NO! Austin tries and tries, but he just can’t get the three-count. He grabs a Texas Cloverleaf (!!), but Bret makes the ropes. Bret takes his signature sliding bump into the ringpost and that earns Austin another nearfall. Austin locks in the bow and arrow, but Bret squirms out for the SHARPSHOO-no! Austin gets away into the ropes. Bret hooks on a sleeper and Austin tries backing him into the corner. Bret won’t break the hold, so Austin instead drops to the mat for a jawbreaker to break the hold. Austin applies the MILLION DOLLAR DREAM, but then Bret walks up the turnbuckles and drops back on top of Austin for the 1-2-3! (28:34) Just a great story with fantastic psychology that made Austin into a bonafide main event guy. I’m so glad to see Bret back on these PPVs again. ****¾

• Flash Funk, Savio Vega, Yokozuna & Jimmy Snuka vs. Diesel II, Razor Ramon II, Vader & Faarooq (w/Clarence Mason)
  

Cornette joins us for commentary. This is Flash Funk’s WWF debut. You may know him best as Too Cold Scorpio. Just inducted in the WWF Hall of Fame class of ‘96, Jimmy Snuka is *your* special surprise partner. Cornette seems mildly concerned from the announce table. Interesting tidbit: Ron Simmons introduced Too Cold Scorpio to the WCW audience at a Clash of the Champions show in November 1992 and now he’s wrestling Scorpio in November 1996 in his debut in the WWF. Flash Funk gives Vader a spinning heel kick and sends him to the floor for a MOONSAULT PRESS! Awesome. Back in, Vader blocks a rana with a powerbomb. Yokozuna comes in illegally to save with a terrible Sambo suplex. The man just can barely perform anymore. Pretty sad to know his best years of his career were over at the age of only 30 years old. Of course, he died in 2000, so it’s not like he got a lot older. Still though. Savio nails Faarooq (no longer wearing the blue gladiator gear in favor his new Nation of Domination look) with the SPINNING HEEL KICK, but he goes to the eyes and tags in Razor Ramon II. Gosh that guy was terrible in the ring. He hits the Fallaway Slam and everybody boos. In comes Diesel II – better known as KANE. He was at least somewhat better than the new Razor Ramon. Flash Funk leapfrogs into a SICK Spinebuster from Faarooq. Savio beats Vader back into his corner and out comes Diesel II as Vega tags Snuka. He gets a great reaction from his favorite crowd. He hits the Jumping Headbutt on Vader and slams him. Back to Savio, he nails Diesel II with the SPINNING HEEL KICK, but crashes out to the floor thanks to Vader pulling the top rope down. On the outside, Faarooq slams Vega’s kidneys into the ringpost a bunch. Back inside, Diesel II delivers the JACKKNIFE POWERBOMB to him for the 1-2-3 at 8:33. Snuka quickly puts Razor Ramon II away with the SUPERFLY SPLASH at 9:29. Then out of nowhere, Diesel II WHACKS Snuka in the back with a chair. That triggers a huge brawl and the ref completely throws the match out. (9:45) Boy that escalated quickly. I mean that really got out of hand fast. Match was lame, but it showcased Flash Funk well as a threat who can boogie Plus the crowd got their nostalgia fix from seeing Snuka land the splash one more time in MSG. *

• WWF World Champion Shawn Michaels (w/Jose Lothario) vs. Psycho Sid
  

Sid won a match against Vader to earn this title shot at the last In Your House PPV, but since then some misunderstandings have led to contempt amongst these two friends! We’re in MSG where the crowd is extremely pro-Sid and anti-Shawn. They run up a headscissors-kip up sequence and then Sid goes for the POWERBOMB, but HBK escapes to the floor before any harm can come to him. Back inside, Shawn attacks the knee and hooks on a Figure-Four. Sid rolls into the ropes and blocks a second attempt at the hold by kicking Shawn off into the ringpost. Sid misses a corner charge and jams his knee in the corner. As Shawn goes after the leg again, Sid kicks him out to skin-the-cat, but Sid clotheslines him to the floor instead. Down on the floor, Sid whips Shawn into the ring apron and then drops him on the guardrail. Back in the ring, Sid slowly covers for two. Shawn does the Ray Stevens flip out to the apron and hotshots Sid, but flies down into a backbreaker for two. Shawn tries to rope-a-dope with Sid and winds up slamming the big guy. Too bad he immediately flies down into a boot to the face. Sid grabs a cobra clutch (!) and nearly puts Shawn away. Shawn thumbs Sid in the eye to block the Chokeslam and goes for the SWEET CHIN MUSIC, but Sid catches the kick and spins Shawn around for the Chokeslam! Instead of covering the man, Sid basks in the praise and approval of his MSG fans. Thanks to his distracting fans, Shawn counters a powerbomb attempt with an inside cradle for two. Shawn hits the Flying Forearm, but kips up into a clothesline. While Sid stands alone in a corner waiting for Shawn to get to his feet, he grabs one of the huge WWF video cameras off the cameraman and teases blasting Shawn with it, but then he knocks Jose Lothario off the apron with it. When Sid drops the camera, he turns around into SWEET CHIN MUSIC! Now Shawn’s not covering when he has the man won and heads out to check on Lothario. It appears the man is having a heart attack! He’s crying for help, but then Sid rolls Shawn back into the ring. Shawn goes for a crossbody out of the corner off a whip, but Sid ducks and ref Earl Hebner gets wiped out. Looks like they screwed up something there. As Shawn heads back outside to check on Lothario, Sid walks over and slams that camera down across Shawn’s shoulders and gives him a hearty FCK YOU!! Wow. Back inside, Sid works the crowd into a frenzy and puts HBK away with the POWERBOMB to win his first WWF world title. (20:00) Shawn lets Sid have his title and his celebratory moment because now all he cares about is the condition of his mentor Jose Lothario. Hands down, Sid’s best singles match ever. ***½

Final Thoughts: Funny how the entire Survivor Series concept where good guys form teams to take on bad guys who form teams is all but an afterthought on this show. While those matches are booked and quite well I thought for the talent involved, the most important matches on the card were definitely your standard singles matches. Survivor Series 1996 is a great PPV for not only some very memorable matches, but for the historical aspect as you can see where guys like Shawn and Bret are losing their star power to make way for the future main event stars like Austin, Taker, and even Mankind. Survivor Series 1996 is an easy thumbs up and it’s widely agreed upon as the best PPV of the year for the WWF.