October 3, 2007
Mike Abitabile

Monday Nitro
Veterans Memorial Auditorium, Des Moines, Iowa
1/27/97

We get the entire Nitro entrance video this week. As we enter the arena, we aren’t welcomed by Tony Schiavone, but rather, by Eric Bischoff who welcomes us to nWo Monday Nitro and is joined at the announce table by Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. The Outsiders don’t look happy. Bischoff says it’s cold in Iowa and says they have business to attend to. There was a major injustice at Souled Out and we are shown video footage of the Tag Title Match from Souled Out between the Steiner Brothers and The Outsiders. Rick has Hall on his shoulders as Scott goes up top. Nash drives a knee into Rick’s back, freeing Hall and allowing him to hit the Outsider Edge on Scott Steiner as he was standing on the top rope. Hall goes for the cover, but Nick Patrick had been knocked silly outside the ring. The word “loser” comes across the PA system (the nWo had a sound board of audio clips they were playing all night during the PPV). In real time on Nitro, Hall calls the move sweet, agrees with the sound clip, and counts to ten to show how long he had Scott Steiner pinned. Rick takes Nash out on the outside, goes up top, and hits the top rope bulldog on Hall as he gets up. Hall calls him a dog-faced mutt. Rick puts his brother on top of Hall and tries to wake up Nick Patrick. All of a sudden, Randy “Pee Wee” Anderson comes out of the crowd, tells Rick he’s got this one covered and makes a three count, giving us new Tag Team Champions! Hall is out cold, but in present time contends his shoulder was up a little bit. Back in the arena on Nitro, Bischoff says that isn’t the issue. He calls this one of the greatest injustices in the history of this sport. He calls Randy Anderson up to the announce table (he was in the ring ready for the first match). Hall wants to beat him up, but Bischoff stops him.

Hall calls it nepotism and says Anderson only has a job only because he must be related to someone. Bischoff wants to know what Randy was thinking. He says he was just referring. Eric wants to know why Randy was even in the building. He says a WCW promoter gave him a ticket. Bisch wants to know how much it cost. Randy says it was a gift. Eric says you can’t receive gifts from other employees, under WCW policy. So Randy violated a company policy. Randy says he was just doing his job. Hall says The Steiners were the ones doing the job because they were beat. Bisch knows Randy has had a tough year, but he has no choice but to terminate Randy right now. The Outsiders laugh it up. Randy says he has a family to support. Bischoff doesn’t care. Hall calls him a loser and tells him to walk around with his index finger and thumb making an “L” on his forehead. Bisch says we aren’t done and wants to The Steiners to come out right now. The Outsiders stand up for this.

Here comes The Steiners with their tag title belts. Bisch tells to stay behind security. He tells them Randy Anderson was fired because of them. Bisch then strips The Steiners of the belts and tells them to return them to The Outsiders. The Steiners aren’t happy. Eric says they will be in breach on contract if they don’t do it. Hall says he wants Rick’s belt. Rick Steiner throws his belt at them and Scott throws his on the floor. Bischoff tells them that they have been fined six months pay for that! Nash celebrates with his belt. Bisch tells them to go to the ring because they have a match, and then he says everything is under control again.

The Steiner Brothers vs. The Faces of Fear

Nash laughs hysterically. Hall calls Rick a moron and says he might not have even understood what just happened. Bischoff says that a Tag Team Title match was scheduled and announced tonight (which would have been this match) and asks The Outsiders if they want to wrestle tonight. They are game and Hall says they would have taken The Steiners right now. Bisch says not to worry, he’ll get opponents for them. All four men start brawling as the bell rings. The Steiners clear the ring, but the Faces come back in and they start brawling again. Barbarian hits a backbreaker on Scott and they become the legal men. Splash in the corner by Barbarian, but a second one gets him a big boot and Scott hits a belly to belly suplex and tags in Rick. Scott Hall mocks Scott Steiner’s “Village People” studded belt. The announcers point out we have a new referee, Scott Dickinson I believe, and Nash asks if he is the “Time to Make the Donuts” guy. Bisch says no. Meng tags in and he backdrops Rick into Barbarian who caught him and power bombed him. The camera shows Harlem Heat and Sister Sherri sitting in the crowd watching. Barbarian suplexes Rick and Meng comes off the top with a splash. This gets a one count, as Scott breaks it up. Faces with some nice double team action. Faces double team Rick in the corner and Barbarian hits a standing powerslam for two. Bisch says Scott Steiner looks good from his back injury and Hall says Scott is fresh because he sat at home for six months. Hall then brings up the alleged shoot incident with Jerry Saggs at a house show (but didn’t get into specifics, only saying “one night in Shreveport”) and says that “toothless punk” will get his when they meet again. Double top rope headbutts from the Faces on Rick and again Scott breaks up the pin. Hall wants a DQ called. Meng chops away and tags in Barbarian who puts Rick on the top rope. Hall calls Rick “Robby” and Nash and Bisch are silent for that one. Barbarian wants to hit a top rope belly to belly, but Rick kind of falls on Barbarian for a two count as the nWo is amazed. Rick ducks a Barbarian kick and hits a side suplex. He tags in Scott, finally, and Scott is on fire. Double underhook power bomb gets a two. Bisch lets us know Hollywood is here and will talk about his win over the Giant at the ppv. Meng goes for a suplex on Scott, which is reversed into a belly to belly suplex which gets the win! Hall says The Steiners are good, but The Outsiders are better. As they go to break, The Steiners want some of The Outsiders.

We are back and Tony and Larry are back at the booth. Larry does his L thing with his hand. Tony says the opening of the program was not good for WCW fans. Larry calls it humiliation. He says the nWo denies everything. Tony says a lot of good things did happen for WCW at the PPV though, but because it was an nWo sanctioned event, they can’t show video, but they can show still shots from the WCW photographers that were in attendance. We see Syxx and Eddie in the ladder match. Syxx hits a dropkick from the top of the ladder. We see Eddie knock Syxx down and he retains the US title, and regains possession of it. Next we see some of the nWo jobbers trying to again convince DDP to join. They really must be stupid because he does the same thing he did a few weeks ago – puts on the shirt, then attacks them. Tony is happy about these two moments.

The Giant vs. Roadblock

Tony and Larry discuss how Giant had Hogan beat at the PPV. Hogan’s shoulders were down. The last visual we saw of the Giant as the PPV went off the air was a gang assault and he was spray painted. Roadblock is a big guy and he jumps Giant as he comes in. Doesn’t work though, as Giant quickly takes control. Roadblock goes for a slam and that doesn’t’ work. Giant gets Roadblock up for a slam though. Huge clothesline by the Giant. Tony says it’s a good thing Eddie came down from the top of the ladder with the belt otherwise Bisch would have taken that away from him too. Giant whips out a huge dropkick that sends Roadblock over the top crashing through the “secondary broadcast” table! Back in the ring and Giant hits a huge chokeslam! That’ll do it. Giant wants a microphone. Larry says to give it to him and Tony, doing his best Ned Flanders impersonation, says “you’re dawg gone right give it to him.” Giant says he’s still alive. He calls out Hogan, he says he knows he is here. He wants another shot tonight! What doesn’t kill him, pisses him off more. If Hogan’s got any guts, Giant will take the title tonight.

US Title Match: Eddie Guerrero vs. Jeff Jarrett

Tony says Jeff Jarrett walked away with a victory at Souled Out (against Michael Wallstreet), thanks to Steve McMichael and Debra. Tony is also happy to see the US belt around the waist of its rightful owner, Eddie Guerrero. Jarrett hits an arm drag and does the Ric Flair strut. Eddie with a snap mare takeover. They exchange arm locks and Eddie reverses a hiptoss, but Jarrett clotheslines him. Jarrett with a monkey flip but Eddie lands on his feet. Tony and Larry feel bad for Pee Wee Anderson and say he has four kids to support. Tony says they have a big surprise for the nWo that they are going to unveil in a little while. Something that they have “located.” Larry says not to say anything else. Jarrett with a swinging neckbreaker. Jarrett throws Eddie into the ropes and Eddie tries a sunset flip. Jarrett reverses and hits a clothesline. That gets a two. Suplex by Jarrett. He chokes Eddie on the second rope. Eddie fights back with a cross body block, but can’t capitalize with a pin attempt. They both go to the ropes and collide with each other and both men are down. Jarrett sends Eddie to the ropes again and he hits a head scissor then an inverse atomic drop. Eddie hits a brainbuster and calls for the Frog Splash. The fans explode. Jarrett catches Eddie up top and hits a top rope superplex! He calls for the figure four and here comes Steve and Debra McMichael. Steve doesn’t look too enthusiastic. Eddie and Jarrett fight in the corner. Debra wants Steve to waffle Eddie with his briefcase, but he instead hits Jarrett, on purpose. That causes the DQ as the ref saw it. Larry: “I think Steve finally put the pants on!” Jarrett wins by DQ and Debra actually celebrates this win until Mongo drags Debra out of there. Larry: “That’s why you should keep them in the kitchen.”

Time for the surprise. Tony says that since Starrcade, Bischoff has forbid them from showing the footage of Piper beating Hogan. Well, people pulled some strings and they now have the footage! Roll the tape! We go back to Starrcade and Piper has the sleeper on Hogan. Hogan’s going down. Hogan’s arm falls once. Twice. And….. the video feed dies. Back in the arena, Tony is confused. Larry says that was enough. But Tony says we didn’t get to see it. In his headset, Tony finds out someone is in the truck. Tony announces Eric Bischoff ran into the video truck and stole the tape. And here’s Easy E now. “Don’t you ever…. EVER, pull a stunt like that again.” Then he destroys the tape. Larry: “Gee, he can beat up a tape. Impressive.”

Ultimo Dragon vs. Billy Pearl

Tony is still upset about what Bischoff did. He calls Starrcade a black day for the nWo. And he says we would have seen it if Bischoff had gotten to the truck four second later. Tony apologizes for building something up for the fans and not being able to deliver. I’m not even going there. Sonny Onoo is with Dragon. Dragon and Pearl do some nice mat wrestling. Pretty good for a jobber. Dragon with a shoulderblock and then hits some kicks to the legs. Tony hopes Hogan will accept the Giant’s challenge. Slam by Dragon followed by an elbow drop gets two. Dragon misses the handspring elbow. Pearl slams Dragon and goes up top, but Dragon hits a dropkick on Pearl as he comes down. Tony says it was nice quickness by the “Ultimo Dragon, or Ultimate Dragon, whatever you want to call him.” I’ll go with Ultimo, since that’s his name. Dragon with an asai moonsault off the top, but doesn’t end it with that. He follows up with a double chicken wing suplex for the three count. Sonny Onoo kicks Billy Pearl as he raises Dragon’s hand. Tony mentions Dean Malenko won the cruiserweight title from Dragon at the Clash last Tuesday night and says that obviously, Dragon wants it back.

Mean Gene is by the entrance way and tells us to welcome the Four Horsemen! Tony wonders if all of them will be here, since they have not all come out for interviews in the past few weeks. First out is Chris Benoit with Woman, followed by Steve and Debra McMichael, Arn Anderson and, finally, Ric Flair! WOOO! Gene says he thought the Horsemen were on the verge of splitting, but that doesn’t seem to be the case right now. Flair’s happy. “MMMMMMEANNNN WOOOOOOO! GENE!” Flair says he can’t blame Benoit for his decision to love “Woman oh Woman, won’t you marry me now” (his nickname for her). He says Debra will have to listen to Steve because they have to coexist. He tells a fatboy to shut up in the crowd. Arn says that they don’t speak English well in Tennessee, but Mongo made it plain and simple to Jarrett earlier tonight – he’s not a Horsemen. He puts Benoit over for taking Kevin Sullivan down and says it was a page out of the Horsemen of the 80s book. He says the Horsemen are back on a roll. Mongo is proud of his actions against Jarrett. He says the Horsemen are united. Debra says she’s been pulling for Benoit 100%. Benoit says it’s his way or the hard way and Sullivan found it out at the Clash. He beat him mentally, physically and spiritually. He will go to the ring alone tonight to prove he doesn’t need help. And Woman is just happy and content. Debra says they are ready to leave now. Gene says bye.

Lex Luger vs. Ron Powers

Tony still wants to know if Hogan is going to accept the Giant’s challenge. Luger takes down Powers with a shoulderblock, and Powers is a big dude. He then hip tosses the big guy. They jaw jack for a so Powers pokes Lex in his eyes. Luger hits a clothesline to the back followed by the bionic forearm to Powers head. Luger easily racks the dude and gets the submission win. Tony says no one can stop Lex Luger. Gene is with Luger. He calls him the backbone of WCW. Luger says the nWo has a big problem – the Giant. He’s enjoying watching it because he’s fought the Giant, and is happy it’s not him. He says WCW has to trust people and he’s ready to be the Giant’s friend. He says they need all the help they can get.

Fireworks welcome us to hour two. The hour that set the standard, as Tony calls it. We welcome Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay to the show. Tony again says we might see Hogan vs. the Giant tonight. Tenay says The Steiners are the real champs and Brain says Bisch can make his own rules. He mentions that Bisch is trying to keep Randy Savage out of WCW, but Brain wants him back. We see footage from earlier tonight concerning Pee Wee Anderson and the tag titles.

The Amazing French Canadians vs. Steve McMichael & Arn Anderson

Tony says Eric is drunk with power. Tony feels that when Bisch is done, there will be no one but himself left. Colonel Parker is with the Canadians. Jacques would appreciate if the hillbillies in the crowd would stand up while they sing their national anthem. The Horsemen music cuts them off. Debra is with the Horsemen. The announcers run down the actions concerning Mongo and Jarrett earlier tonight. Jacques and Arn start. Jacques hits Mongo and Oulette comes in and attacks Arn from behind. This lead to a 2 on 1 attack. They throw Arn out of the ring where Oulette and Parker put the boots to him. Back in the ring and The Canadians continue to double team Arn with quick tags. Tenay finally brings up the logical point that Hogan could just say no to the Giant because this isn’t like two weeks ago when the Executive Committee forced him into the match. Tony moves on and says Nick Patrick’s actions at Souled Out were the most despicable actions by a ref he has ever seen. He says Randy Anderson has always been fair. Arn fights back with fists and tries to tag Mongo, but Jacques buts a stop to that. Pierre tags in and hits a shoulderblock. Another quick tag back to Jacques and they drop Arn on the top rope. Right back to Carl who hits an atomic drop, but Arn bounces off the turnbuckle and backs into Oulette and their heads collide. They are both down, and both make tags. Mongo is in! Clotheslines and fists of fury. Running knee tackle. Back body drop. Mongo is in charge. A bench press on Jacques! He then throws him to Outlette, who catches him, but Mongo takes them both down with clotheslines. Parker throws Oulette the Canadian flag, right in front of the ref. This causes Mark Curtis to take it and while he is not paying attention, Mongo hits Jacques with the briefcase and gets the three count! Heenan says Mongo is getting good at using Horsemen tactics.

We’re back with Lee Marshall on the Road with 1-800-Collect. He is in Memphis, Tennessee, where Nitro will be next week. He says there hasn’t been this much commotion in Memphis since Sun Records sold Elvis’s contract to RCA. He’s at BB King’s Blues Club on Beale Street having a Nitro party even though it sounds oddly quiet on the phone. He was at Graceland but it smelt really weird. Someone said there was a hunka-hunka-burning weasel. Heenan says Lee’s real last name is “Clampett.”

The Outsiders vs. The Extreme

The Outsiders are with Syxx and mock The Steiners on the way to the ring. They proudly show off their belts. Hall throws his toothpick at the camera. The Extreme is Devon “Crowbar” Storm and Ace Darling in colorful attire, black sunglasses and black windbreakers. They are kind of like The Rockers. This is their debut. Tenay says The Extreme has turned heads on the Northeast independent circuit. Hall attacks Ace from behind to start and is in control. Hall hits the throwaway slam. Tony is still on about the nWo and says: “Politics run rampant in this sport.” No kidding. Hall throws Ace into Devon and forces him to make the tag. Nash tags in and takes control. Sideslam on Storm. Hall is just sitting on the top rope watching and makes a tag. Nash now sits and watches from the top rope. Heenan says they can do whatever they want. Outsiders Edge time. Hall steps on Devon and gets the three count. They hit Ace for good measure. Syxx throws Devon out of the ring and they celebrate.

Kevin Sullivan vs. Joe Gomez

Tickets recently went on sale for Superbrawl VII at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, the next PPV. Tickets are going fast, so get yours now! Sullivan is with Jimmy Hart. He comes right in and attacks. He throws Joe Gomez out of the ring and into the barricade. Tony says he spoke to head of WCW security, Doug Dillenger, and he was told that whenever Kevin Sullivan and Chris Benoit are in the same building, they each have security in their dressing rooms. Sullivan grabs a chair from ringside and throws it at Joe Gomez. Back in the ring, Sullivan with a right hand into the face of Gomez, followed by the double stomp and it’s over, just like that!

And here comes Hollywood Hogan (in an Outsiders shirt), Eric Bischoff and Miss Elizabeth. Hogan puts the title on Eric’s shoulder and the announcers say it should be on Nick Patrick’s shoulder because Giant had the three count and Patrick wouldn’t count at the PPV. Bischoff sends Liz to the back before they get to the ring. Eric, as Hogan poses: “Is he too much or what?” Tony: “What, actually.” Probably sounded better in his head. Bischoff says it is great to be associated with Hogan. He says Hogan’s approach at the PPV was scientific. Five successive arm drag takedowns, two hip tosses, a fireman’s carry into a pinfall, and bam, he remains World champ. In a weird moment, Hogan wants to switch sides with Bisch. That reminded me of that episode of Seinfeld where George wanted to sit on one side of his girlfriend, but she wanted him on the other because she was deaf in one ear. Bisch puts down Savage and Piper and says Giant is on the list of losers now. Hogan says everyone who gets in the ring with him is not in his league. He says he used Olympic wrestling moves against the Giant and forced him to scream “Yes Hollywood, you are the greatest and you will rule the nWo forever!” Giant is just a has-been. Whoever fights Hollywood will add their name to that list. Hogan says he’s going to do a new movie – Shadow Soldiers, but right now, yes, he will fit the Giant again tonight. And all of a sudden Sting and Savage appear in the crowd. Sting shakes his bat. Bisch says Sting is with them and that he said Savage couldn’t join the WCW, but maybe he can join the nWo. And they leave through the crowd. Hogan says he is going to go get ready and he’ll be back to beat up the Giant. Hogan calls Giant a loser and poses while Tony pumps up the match. Hogan dedicates the match to The Outsiders. Tenay points out that Hogan agreed to that match pretty easily. Heenan says Savage is driven and determined. He says Bisch wants him on Hogan’s side, not against him.

Cruiserweight Champion Dean Malenko vs. Jerry Flynn

Tony runs down the cruiserweight division members and says Malenko is dominant. They trade arm ringers and Flynn hits a side kick and uses more kicks in the corner. Malenko fights back with a suplex which gets a two count. Malenko works on Flynn’s leg by pounding it on the ring apron and locking in a spinning toe hold. The announcers just keep talking about Hogan vs. Giant. Flynn hits some rapid fire punches to Malenko’s chest. Malenko comes off the top and Flynn hits him with a back heel kick. He follows up with a powerslam. Flynn keeps kicking, but Malenko catches the leg, locks in the Texas Cloverleaf and gets the win by submission!

The announcers are still excited about Hogan/Giant tonight. As they are talking, a policeman comes up behind them and hands Tony a note. It says “Deliver to Tony Schiavone, to be opened immediately” and it’s from the offices of WCW. Heenan: “You’re canned.” Tony has to read it first before he reads it out loud. And uh-oh, I think Tony needs a new pair of underpants. He fumbles around and asks Tenay for the arena microphone and announces that the main event of Superbrawl VII will be Hollywood Hogan vs. Roddy Piper for the WCW title, by unanimous approval. Big pop. Mike and Bobby are happy. Tony even says Ted Turner will get a copy of that letter. Tony: “I’m starting to feel real good about being a part of WCW.” Give it time.

Chris Benoit vs. Hugh Morrus

To say the announcers aren’t worried about this match is an understatement. They say the match with Hogan is Piper’s as long as he wants it, so the announcers basically beg him to take it. Woman comes out with Benoit, and despite the fact that he is in the Dungeon of Doom, Morrus is alone. Benoit kicks away and chops to start in the corner. Big pop. He tries to send Morrus into the ropes but he’s too strong. Hugh hits a huge clothesline from behind and takes control. He bench presses Benoit and drops him on his face. Benoit fights back with chops. Tony wonders if Piper is watching Nitro right now and maybe he can call in and take the match. Easy Tony. Morrus hits a powerslam but no cover. He goes for his moonsault and misses! Benoit goes up now and goes for his headbutt. A female fan comes over the railing and goes after Nancy. Nancy asks “what are you doing here!?” As the ref and Doug Dillenger tries to break the ladies up, Kevin Sullivan comes in from behind and hits Benoit with his patented balsa wood chair, which explodes on cue. Morrus hits his moonsault and gets the win. Sullivan and the fan, who turns out to be Miss Jacqueline Moore, leave together with Jimmy Hart. Mean Gene grabs them for comments. Sullivan says it’s none of our business who the women is. “We know each other.” Jimmy Hart wants nothing to do with her. He says women screw everything up, citing the problems inside the Horsemen. Gene asks who she is. She says she tried to stay away but she couldn’t. She needed to help Kevin when Nancy hit him with the chair. She says she’d never hurt him. She puts down Nancy and is really rambling. She puts down all the women in WCW, like Debra, and says she is the best. She puts over Jimmy Hart and says he can’t give Kevin what she can give him. Everyone freaks out over that comment because, remember, it’s still 1997. They leave. Tony: “More women…. just what we needed.”

Hollywood Hogan vs. The Giant

Here comes Hogan with his entourage – Eric, Dibiase and Vincent. Tony reiterates the announcement concerning Piper and Superbrawl. The announcers hope Piper takes the match and wonder if he was even informed before they were. Hogan’s got the microphone again. He says nobody tells them what to do. He’s not very happy about the Piper announcement. He’s going to beat Giant right now and Piper later, only because he said so though. Giant makes his way out. Giant runs right in and Vincent helps Hogan kick Giant. He throws both Hogan and Vincent off him and chucks Vincent out of the ring. He pounds Hogan’s head into the turnbuckles. The announcers are happy to see Mark Curtis as referee, as opposed to Nick Patrck. He chokes Hogan with his foot in the corner. Giant is in total control. Hogan fights back with fists and a clothesline but Giant takes control back. He tries to make a pin but Vincent puts Hogan’s foot on the rope. Giant beats up Hogan some more and goes for the chokeslam on Hogan. Bischoff is in and tries to attack Giant. Giant just looks at him. He releases Hogan and goes for Bisch. Which means The Outsiders come in and attack. And there’s your DQ. They double team Giant and Hogan has high tailed it. Here comes Lex Luger in a WCW shirt! Too late as Giant has already taken control. Luger looks at Giant and they wonder whose side he is on. He kind of stands next to Giant and looks down the Outsiders. The announcers beg Piper to answer the call and we are out of time!

Next week, will be hear from Roddy Piper concerning Superbrawl?