February 11, 2009
Mike Abitabile

Monday Nitro
Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee
7/7/97

Nitro comes on the air recapping last week’s episode. Curt Hennig and Raven debuted, but did not make their allegiances clear. Plus, we still don’t know who will team up with DDP at the Bash at the Beach. Will we get any answers this week?

We go right to Mean Gene in the aisle who brings out Curt Hennig. Curt, who has no entrance music, is smiling from ear to ear. Gene asks right away why Hennig is here. He says he has his reasons but won’t go into them. He does say he will be at the Bash at the Beach and will be participating. Gene assumes he’s teaming with Page, but Curt won’t let anything on. All he says is that he says he’s a free agent. And now, out comes Ric Flair, who bows to Hennig. Flair puts over Hennig and says he must be here to join the Horsemen. Flair brought out a beautiful lady to try and persuade Curt. They all leave together, but Curt seems like he’s reluctant. All he says is, he will be at the Bash at the Beach.

Harlem Heat vs. Public Enemy

Sister Sherri brings out the Heat. The PE brings their signature table. Booker T and Grunge start out. They lock up and Book works him over in the corner. Book hits a back elbow then an exploding clothesline and gets two. Johnny fights back and hits a swinging neckbreaker and gets a two of his own. Rocco Rock tags in and hits a double axe handle off the second rope. He works over the arm of Booker T until Book breaks free and tags in Stevie Ray. Stevie goes to work on the midsection with quick fists and a Harlem Scissor Kick. Booker T tags back in and continues the onslaught. He hits a side slam on Rock and gets another two count as Johnny breaks it up. Book misses an elbow and Rocco Rock tags out. Stevie Ray tags in as well. Rock makes a blind tag allowing the PE to double team Stevie. Vincent begins to make his way down the aisle as the Heat are set to finish off the PE. Sherri jumps up on the ring apron and pulls Booker T back. That was weird. Oh, she was trying to tell him to stop Vincent. Book goes after Vincent, but this leaves Stevie Ray alone. He does a good job of holding his own, but as he is going to finish off Rocco Rock, Johnny Grunge heads up top. Sherri shoves him off the top rope, but unfortunately, it is right into Stevie! Grunge makes the cover and scores the win! Both members of the Harlem Heat are now mad at Sherri.

Gene Okerlund makes his way into the ring as we watch replays. Gene: “Did you send Booker T to go after Virgil…. err, Vincent?” Sherri says she did it because she figured Vincent would try and cause another DQ for the Heat. Book is confused. He threatens to fire her, but she quits instead. Stevie confirms she’s done and we go to break.

Joe Gomez vs. Konan

We are still on the “Extra N Watch” here, but, as of this week, they are still spelling Konan with one N. We see footage of Konan attacking Rey Mysterio, Jr. last week. Tony confirms Rey’s leg is broken, but we still aren’t sure if Konan just had a personal issue with Rey or if he’s joining the nWo. Konan goes right after Gomez to start and takes total control. All of a sudden, we see Raven sitting at ringside watching tonight’s show, just like last week. Tenay says he’s going to try and get some answers from Raven later tonight. I guess he didn’t learn his lesson last week. Gomez takes control and applies a chin lock. Konan fights out and hits a belly to belly suplex for two. He then locks on a submission arm bar and follows up with his rolling clothesline which gets a two. Konan hits a release overhead suplex then locks on the Tequila Sunrise to get the win by submission. After the match, Konan tries to lock his submission on again, but referee Mark Curtis steps in and stops it. The announcers agree that doing something like that is the modus operandi of the New World Order.

Juventud Guerrera and Hector Garza vs. Villano IV and V

Hector starts with…. one of the Villanos. He hits a tumbling arm bar, but the Villano reverses it into a cradle pin for two. Hector hits a kick to the face then a nice dropkick and tags in Juventud. He dropkicks Villano out of the ring, but on his way out, he tags in the other Villano. Juventud hits a moonsault off the ropes then a hurricanrana. The first Villano tags back in and so does Hector. Villano goes to work on him and hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. He leaves Hector on his knee and the other Villano comes flying in with an elbow. Villano nails a power slam and gets a two count. The Villanos double team Hector, but he tags Juventud who comes in with a high cross body block. It’s breaking down and all four men are brawling. Juvy hits a whisper in the wind on each Villano, but ends up caught on the second one and slammed down hard. It gets two. The Villanos then hit a double gutbuster on Juvy but Hector comes in to make the save and Juvy goes flying over the top to the floor onto a Villano with a plancha! He then runs right back in and makes the save when Garza was getting covered after a sit-down power bomb by a Villano. The Villanos bail to the floor so Garza hits his corkscrew moonsault and this week, he overshoots (as opposed to last week when he undershot it) it and lands on his shoulder hard. Man, I don’t think he’s hit it right since he debuted a few weeks ago. Juvy then hits a Michinoku Driver and the 450 Splash for the win! Garza is up and in to celebrate.

Scott Hall, Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth make their way out and head to the booth. Tenay and Tony bail, but Larry refuses to leave. Hall wants to know what smells. It’s them because they’re the stuff. Hall tells Larry to leave but he still won’t. Randy lies across the announce table. Hall says Hogan and Rodman will take care of business at the Bash at the Beach, but also on the card, Hall will team with Savage to take care of Page. They don’t care who the partner is. Savage says they are taking Page lightly. Macho tells us he will give someone a wrestling lesson later tonight. Larry looks on disgusted. Hall throws his toothpick at Larry, which gets Larry up. They exchange barbs as we go to break.

This weekend, WCW Satuday Night will see Eddie Guerrero, DDP, the PE and Chris Jericho in action. 6:05PM Eastern time!

We are now shown a pre-recorded interview with Lex Luger and the Giant. We go back to World War 3 1996 where Luger almost took out the entire nWo but was finally eliminated by the Giant. Giant says he always respected Lex and Lex says he forgave the Giant. Now onto Spring Stampede when Giant gave Lex the win and therefore a future title shot. Lex was surprised but it showed how much Giant respects him. Now they are ready for Hogan and Rodman. They will get revenge for the embarrassment Hogan and Rodman caused them in Chicago a few weeks ago.

Vicious and Delicious vs. Eddie Guerrero and Chavo Guerrero, Jr.

Scott Norton and Buff Bagwell come to the ring with Vincent in their corner. We see footage from last week as Eddie used Chavo to get a win over Dean Malenko. Chavo looks skeptical this week, but Eddie says he is just trying to toughen him up. Before the match starts, we cut to the parking lot to see a limousine pulling away. We go to break.

As we return, the match begins with Chavo and Buff starting out. Buff kicks Chavo before they can lock up then hits a nice dropkick and flexes for the camera. They lock up and again, Buff pounds away on him then sends him to the ropes. Chavo hits a spinning head scissor but Buff goes to the eyes and tags in Norton. Eddie makes a blind tag and hits a dropkick off the top to Norton. The Guerreros try to suplex him but he reverses it and suplexes both of them! Wow. Buff tags in and slaps Eddie across the face and it’s on. Bagwell gorilla benches Eddie but gets kicked in the face for his efforts. Norton is tagged back in and manhandles Eddie. He goes over and tags in Chavo. Buff tags in to and goes to work on Chavo from behind. Buff misses an elbow off the second rope and both men are down. Buff tags in Norton and Chavo crawls to Eddie to make the tag but Eddie doesn’t extend his hand and instead bails. Tenay thinks Eddie is not trying to toughen up Chavo with all of this and that he is lying. Norton hits suplex after suplex but only gets two. Buff tags in and beats the hell out of Chavo then tags Norton back in. Chavo tries to fight off both men but the numbers game finally catches up to him. Norton hits a sick power slam and continues to beat the kid up. Eddie makes his way back to the entrance ramp and tries to cheer Chavo on. After a minute, Eddie throws his hands up and leaves again. Norton hits a sick power bomb then tags in Buff. Buff hits the Buff Blockbuster on Chavo while Norton was holding him up in a bearhug position to get the win.

Hour number two is on the air! Bobby Hennan tries to take his seat, but Larry will not leave because Randy Savage is wrestling next. So we have a four man booth for the next match.

“Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. La Parka

Hall and Liz are with Savage. Before they go to the ring, they threaten to go to the booth but decide against it. Tenay says La Parka may not be in the same class as Savage, but he is the biggest luchador. Tony tells us Syxx and Nash are not in the building. Savage is clowning around, obviously taking La Parka lightly. They lock up and Savage nails an arm drag. Larry isn’t saying much, he’s just watching the action. Savage takes a breather and sites on the top rope. La Parka gets a side headlock but Savage breaks it with a back elbow. Parka gets a surprise small package for two but Savage takes him down again once he kicks out. Now Hall makes his way to the announce booth to mock Larry some more. In the ring, Savage slams La Parka then heads up top for the elbow. He measures and ….. La Parka gets the feet up! La Parka hits a…. Diamond Cutter? La Parka pulls his mask off and it’s DDP! DDP gets the three count on Savage! Hall, still by the announce table, hears the bell and celebrates thinking Savage won. He finally realizes what happened and runs to the ring but Page is already gone through the crowd. Larry finally speaks up: “Hey guys, I’m gonna leave now.” Mission accomplished!

Psychosis and Silver King vs. Glacier and Ernest Miller

Sonny Onoo brings out his charges. The Glacier/Miller entrance takes forever, as usual. Silver King attacks from behind and all of a sudden we cut to the back to see Eddie and Chavo brawling in the locker room! Back to the action and Ernest Miller will start with Psychosis. Miller goes for a suplex but Silver King dropkicks him off the top rope and the two men double team Miller. Glacier comes in and gets some of the same. Now Miller hops off the top rope to take both men down then goes to work with his quick feet. Psychosis tries for a spin kick on Miller but gets caught and power bombed. Miller goes up top for his finisher but Mortis and Wrath run out and attack. The luchadors takes out all four men while they brawl. Well, that was weird. The four important people brawl while we go to break.

Lee Marshall is On the Road with 1-800-Collect. He is in Orlando, where Nitro will be next week. Lee went to Disney but no one knew about Alice in Weasel-land.

Mean Gene brings Flair out and he is still with the lady from before. Flair wants to apologize to the audience because he said Piper wouldn’t show up tonight, and was wrong because Piper is here. The bagpipes play but like last week, Flair produces a mannequin dressed as Roddy. At least this week, the mannequin is on a stand and upright. Flair mocks the mannequin then plays with its kilt. Flair calls Piper a punk and says he’s only in second-rate movies. All of a sudden, Piper walks up behind Flair. Flair doesn’t see him and continues to go on and on until he turns around and sees the Hot Rod. Flair bails to the ring and Piper follows. They start brawling all over the place as Piper rips apart Flair’s suit. Flair ends up in his underwear and they continue to fight. Piper locks on the sleeper but the Horsemen attack, including some guy that looks very familiar but I can’t remember his name and Mongo. Piper controls them all for a while but eventually they overwhelm him. Some guy hits a flying headbutt off the top then, as we go to break someone else runs in to make the save. It looked like Jarrett, but we still went to break instead of staying with it for some strange reason.

As we return, Tenay is again trying to get some information out of Raven. He’s still not talking but Stevie Richards comes out of nowhere instead. He says he is Raven’s best friend and he’ll get some information out of Raven himself. Stevie asks Raven if he signed with WCW, but Raven still won’t answer, then he slaps Stevie and leaves.

Hollywood Hogan and Eric Bischoff make their way to the ring. Must be time to plug this Sunday night’s main event. Hogan poses while the fans pelt them with trash. Bischoff says Elvis had nothing on Hollywood Hogan. Bisch watched Lex Luger on Regis and Kathie Lee this morning and got a good laugh. Hogan says Luger will learn his lesson at the Bash at the Beach this Sunday night. As Hogan talks more trash, Luger and Giant make their way to the ring. Bischoff tries to attack Luger from behind but it has no effect. Vincent comes in and gets chokeslammed! And Bischoff gets racked by Luger! Now Buff is in and he gets chokeslammed too! Hogan has no other choice but to bail. He takes his belt and Bischoff (as Giant was nice to enough to throw him out to Hogan) and leaves. Well, for once I don’t have to say “we’re out of time!” because the show had a conclusive ending. Damn. Mark your calendars!

The Benoit related removal this week was a tag match with Mongo against the Steiners, which took place right after the Flair/Piper segment. The Steiners won after Kevin Sullivan attacked Benoit with a chair to continue to set up their Retirement Match at the Bash at the Beach. It’s important to note that Sullivan pushed Jacqueline a few times, thus giving her reason to back new clients after Sullivan loses at the pay per view. Also edited during that segment was Macho Man taking his frustrations out on Nick Patrick for counting his shoulders down.

Damn, they never paid off (or even mentioned again) that limousine thing in the back. Insert your own WCW joke here.

Next week, the fallout from the Bash at the Beach!