March 4, 2009
Mike Abitabile

Monday Nitro
Civic Center, Charleston, West Virginia
7/28/97

Nitro returns to Monday night as Tony welcomes us to the show. He is joined by, as always, Larry and Iron Mike. We begin with the Nitro Girls dancing in the aisle. They are a little out of sync, but people aren’t watching them for their dance moves.

Vicious and Delicious vs. Ric Flair and Curt Hennig

Vincent comes out with Buff and Norton. Tony tells us there is a major announcement coming up later tonight concerning the World Heavyweight championship. On their way to the ring, Flair bows to Hennig. The announcers wonder if this partnership means Curt Hennig has officially joined the Four Horsemen. Iron Mike calls it a done deal, in his opinion. Hennig and Scott Norton start out. They lock up and Norton, not surprisingly, takes the advantage by shoving Curt into the corner. Curt goes behind then gets an elbow to the head. Hennig takes Norton into the corner and chops away but it does no damage. Norton chops Hennig right over the top rope. He comes back in and gets tossed by his hair. Damn. Hennig finally gets tired of getting beat up, so he tags in the Nature Boy. Flair goes to the eyes but gets bench pressed and taken down with a flying shoulder block. Bagwell tags in and whips Flair into the corner then backdrops him coming out. Buff hits a nice dropkick and poses, but Hennig comes in from behind to take him down. Both men get back up and Flair hits a loud knife edge chop on Bagwell. Bagwell goes to the eyes but Flair fights back and applies the figure four! Hennig comes in to cut off Norton, who was going to make the save as we go to break.

We’re back with Buff choking Flair over the second rope. Flair fights back but Bagwell ends that comeback with a quick clothesline and an elbow drop. Norton tags back in and goes to work on Flair. Flair fights out and is finally about to tag in Hennig, but Bagwell tags in and stops that. He gets a two count with his foot on the chest of Flair. Norton tags back in quickly and attacks Flair from behind, again preventing the tag. Norton then hits an avalanche in the corner then misses a second one! Flair finally makes the desperation tag to Curt who backdrops Bagwell and Norton. Syxx makes his way down to ringside and goes right after Flair and, in the melee, Curt Hennig applies the Hennig-Plex on Buff Bagwell to get the win.

More Nitro Girls as we return from break. Mean Gene then brings Lex Luger down to the ring. Lex has an announcement to make. He says that the WCW Championship Committee is going to start enforcing the mandatory title defenses every 30 days stipulation and therefore, Hollywood Hogan will defend the title against Lex Luger next week live on Nitro! Tony’s going to need a new pair of underwear! We go to the booth and the announcers are ecstatic. They mention that Nitro will be live in Auburn Hills, Michigan next week. Hmmm…. this time Luger won’t even need to tour the country all summer in a bus to get a title shot in the Palace of Auburn Hills in the month of August.

WCW TV Title Match: Champion Ultimo Dragon vs. Prince Iaukea

Before the match starts, footage is shown of Dragon winning the title from Lord Steven Regal last week on Nitro. The begin by locking knuckles and trading reversals until Prince lands a pair of nice dropkicks. Dragon is able to reverse the momentum though with his lightning fast kicks. They wrestle on the mat and Dragon applies an arm bar then hits his own nice dropkick. Dragon gets the Prince up top and calls for his hurricanrana but it’s reversed into a top rope suplex by the Prince. Dragon was playing possum though and hits a side suplex and a body slam. He goes up top and tries a moonsault but Prince moves and Dragon lands on his feet. Prince goes for a power bomb but Dragon reverses it and gets two out of a hurricanrana. Iaukea hits another dropkick and a superkick and gets two. Dragon slides off his back and goes for the Dragon Sleeper but Prince reverses it. Dragon goes for a spin kick and totally misses, but goes back to the Dragon Sleeper and retains the title by submission.

WCW Saturday Night will feature Meng, Giant, the Steiners and Hall and Nash. Don’t miss it!

Mean Gene is back in the aisle and brings out Ric Flair. MEEEEEEEEAN GENE. Okerlund wants to know if Curt Hennig is officially a Horsemen now. Flair says that it is a fact. This brings Hennig out and he is still non-committal. He says he’s not officially a Horsemen yet. This brings out Mongo and Some Other Guy. Hennig says he is still a free agent. Mongo and Other Guy look angry about it.

More Nitro Girls!

WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Champion Chris Jericho vs. Alex Wright

Alex takes Jericho over with an arm drag. Jericho lands his own then slaps the taste out of Wright’s mouth! Alex regroups on the floor. Back in and Alex Wright goes to work on Jericho. He applies a headlock and pulls the hair behind the referee’s back. Jericho finally breaks it and hits a spin kick. Wright bails again and fights with the crowd. Jericho catches him sleeping, and hits a springboard shoulder block off the second rope over the top! He goes for a suplex on the floor but Wright reverses it and hits one himself then breaks the count. He throws Jericho back in and goes up top. Wright lands with a stomp to the chest of Jericho from the top rope then hits a side suplex and dances for everyone. Wright hits a snap suplex and again goes up top. This time Jericho avoids the move and hits a series of running clotheslines into the opposite corners. Jericho hits the Lionsault but doesn’t make a cover. Wright rolls to the apron and goes to the eyes. Back in and Alex Wright hits a German suplex out of nowhere to win the Cruiserweight title belt!

We go back to Gene in the aisle. This time, he brings out Dean Malenko. Instead of Dean, Jeff Jarrett and Debra come out, but Dean is in tow. Malenko says he is joining Jeff’s team but Dean wants to know what happened with Jeff and Eddie Guerrero on Saturday Night. Jeff says everyone wants to be around a winner but Eddie will not be in their group. Meanwhile, Alex Wright is walking back to the locker room after his win and exchanges pleasantries with Queen Debra.

Hour number two is on the air! Brain joins Iron Mike and Tony to call the action.

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Syxx

Interestingly enough, Syxx comes out alone. Kimberly brings out DDP then goes to the back. Before the match starts, we see footage of Curt Hennig beating M. Wallstreet last week and DDP hitting the Diamond Cutter on Hennig after the match. Syxx slaps Page, which sets him off. He goes right after Syxx but he runs to the corner. Page works on the arm but Syxx pulls the hair then runs into the corner again. Page then hits a pump handle back breaker on Syxx for two. He follows up with a swinging neck breaker then hits an inverted atomic drop. A back elbow sends Syxx to the arena floor. On the way back in, Syxx drops Page across the top rope then works on DDP in the corner. Syxx hits the Broncobuster then exchanges blows with Page. DDP hits a pancake piledriver then calls for the Cutter. Vincent runs out and distracts Page, but he takes care of him. Syxx goes for the Buzzkiller but DDP turns it into the Diamond Cutter! All of a sudden, while Vincent is with the referee, Curt Hennig comes through the crowd and nails DDP with brass knuckles to knock him out. After that, he put Syxx on top of DDP to help him get the win. The fact that he pulled Syxx on top of DDP is the most telling part for the announcers. They think he has joined the nWo.

Dean Malenko vs. Hector Guerrero

We see footage from seven weeks ago when Eddie Guerrero came out to help Jeff Jarrett win the US title from Dean Malenko. And now, Dean and Jarrett are partners. They lock up and Dean takes Hector over with an arm drag. Hector goes to the legs but Dean reverses it. Hector gets a flying forearm but misses a second allowing Dean to hit a leg lariat. Hector slaps Dean then hits an uppercut. Dean stops that with a side suplex then applies a headlock with his legs. Hector rolls out and stretches Dean. Hector backdrops Dean then hits a body press for two. They trade pinfall attempts until Hector lands a head scissor takedown. All of a sudden, Jeff Jarrett and Debra come out to ringside. Hector is distracted which allows Dean the chance to apply the Texas Cloverleaf and get the win via submission.

After the match, Chavo Guerrero, Jr. comes out to save his uncle but Jarrett and Malenko take care of him.

And now, K-Dawg comes out unannounced with Mean Gene. He tells us if the picture at home is fuzzy, not to worry, it’s only Mean Gene. K-Dawg says he is going to take Rey Mysterio out for good and go through the Mexican wrestlers who he brought to WCW.

Lee Marshall is On the Road with 1-800-Collect. He is in Detroit, where next week’s Nitro will emanate from. Detroit is known for cars and Henry Ford originally tried weasels on a treadmill before settling on the automobile.

The Giant vs. The Great Muta

This is a rematch from last week when Muta misted the Giant. Before the match can start now though, we hear Randy Savage taunting the Giant from the crowd. Giant tells Savage to watch the following match and he’ll see him in Sturgis at Road Wild. Muta comes out by himself, too. After the bell rings, we hear the nWo music again and Eric Bischoff comes out. He heads right to the announce booth, which causes Bobby and Mike to leave. Bisch won’t let Tony leave though. He wants to call the action with him. Giant shoves Muta down. Bisch says there won’t be a title match next week. Muta chops Giant in the corner but he reverses it and chops Muta out of the ring. Muta comes back in and gets kicked in the stomach. Bischoff says he’s missed working with Tony as Giant chops Muta in the corner. Muta bails to regroup. He comes back in and gets some kicks in on Giant, but ends up eating a boot. Muta crawls under the ring and comes out on the other side to attack Giant from behind. He finally takes the Giant down with a dropkick to the knees. Muta continues to work over the leg of Giant and drops an elbow. Muta goes up top and chops Giant then dropkicks him from the other top turnbuckle. This only gets Giant upset so he catches Muta on the next attempt from the top rope. Giant goes for the choke slam and Muta goes to mist him, but this time, Giant blocks it with his arm then hits the choke slam for the win! Bischoff calls it a fluke as Giant grabs a microphone and dedicates that to the nWo.

And now Larry comes back to the booth and tells Bischoff to shut his mouth and get off his set! Larry wants to go! He puts Bischoff in a front headlock and drags him to the ring! Larry rolls Bischoff in to Giant (who does the L thing with his hand towards Larry!) and hits a huge choke slam on Bisch! The crowd explodes for that! Before going to break, we see a replay of the choke slam.

Tony welcomes us back and he is very happy about what just happened. More Nitro Girls.

K-Dawg vs. La Parka

Footage from last week is shown when the lucha libre stars came out to save Rey from K-Dawg. K-Dawg hits a rolling clothesline then a dropkick to the face of a sitting Parka. He goes up top but Parka hits him with a dropkick as he came down. Parka then slams K-Dawg and goes to the top to hit a spinning corkscrew plancha. La Parka brings in his chair (which says “Konnan” on it) but Sonny Onoo accidentally distracts the referee allowing K-Dawg the chance to hit Parka with his own chair then get the win with the Tequila Sunrise. When K-Dawg refuses to let go, Psychosis comes out to make the save and K-Dawg bails.

As we go to break, we get to see the choke slam one more time. Bobby: “What’s the wattage on that bulb up there, Eric?”

Back with the announcers and Tony plugs the WCW title match next week. They then bring in JJ Dillon on the phone. First JJ tells us the title match will happen next week, regardless of what Eric Bischoff says. Then JJ tells us he wants to get Sting back in the ring by September. JJ says Sting is on WCW’s side and he will personally present him with an offer to get him in the ring again, maybe even as early as next week in Detroit, if Sting is there because JJ will be. Tony praises Dillon’s efforts.

“Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. Scott Steiner

Liz comes out with Savage and Scott is accompanied by his brother Rick. They lock up and tumble into the ropes and corner so referee Randy Anderson separates the two men. They tie up again and continue to fight for position. Finally, Savage shoves Randy Anderson into Scott but Steiner ends up benching the Macho Man, who then bails to the floor, right at the feet or Rick Steiner. Savage gets up and lays one into him, then backs up and gets a chair. He throws it into the ring and continues to taunt the fans as we go to break.

We’re back with Savage in control with fists in the corner. Scott reverses an Irish whip then hits a belly to belly suplex sending Savage to the floor. Scott comes out and Savage holds Liz in front of her. Steiner moves her out of the way and gets hit with a cheap shot by Randy Savage in return. Savage throws Scott into the crowd and they brawl in the fans. Savage then walks around the entire ringside area so he can attack Scott from behind. He then throws Scott Steiner into the ring post and lays the boots in. Back in the ring, Savage slams Scotty and goes up top. Steiner gets to his feet, catches Savage and hits another belly to belly suplex on Savage! Now Liz is on the apron and Rick Steiner comes up to stop her. This allows Scott Steiner the chance to backdrop Savage over the top rope to the floor then brawl with the Macho Man in the crowd again. Scott then heaves Savage back over the guard rail to the ringside area. They enter the ring again and Savage goes low. Pee Wee Anderson is letting them go tonight. Savage goes for a suplex but Scott reverses it into a small package for two then hits a huge Steiner Line. He then gets Savage in a double underhook power bomb and puts Savage on the top rope. Scott hits the top rope Frankensteiner! Liz tries to get in the ring but the Outsiders show up to attack the Steiners! Savage goes up top and hits his elbow on Scott. It’s three on two and the nWo is ruling the ring. Randy Anderson did the right thing and protected Liz once the fans started throwing garbage into the ring, breaking character.

The Giant comes out to make the save so Hall, Nash and Savage bail. Giant grabs a mic and calls out Nash. Nash says he isn’t going to fight through all the security guys holding him back. In a hilarious moment, security parts like the Red Sea! Hall, Nash and Savage make their way to the ring, but…. we’re out of time! Before we go, we see the choke slam on Bischoff one last time.

Earlier in the night, Chris Benoit and Steve McMichael beat The Texas Hangmen when Benoit made one of the Hangmen submit to the Crippler Crossface.

Next week, we will see the huge WCW title match between Hollywood Hogan and Lex Luger, plus we’ll find out what kind of offer JJ Dillon has in store for Sting.