March 18, 2009
Mike Abitabile

Monday Nitro
Coliseum, Denver, Colorado
8/11/97

Nitro is on the air 48 hours after Road Wild and the Giant is handed a piece of paper from Doug Dillinger and security in the back. He doesn’t look happy. We go the entrance video. Tony, Mike and Larry welcome us to the show as the Nitro Girls are dancing. When I last talked to you, WCW was riding high with a World title win by Lex Luger and a big defection by Ted Dibiase. Wouldn’t you know it, the cracks in the nWo armor have already been filled as Hollywood Hogan was able to regain the title belt on Saturday night.

The Outsiders vs. Bobby Star and David Moore
Syxx comes out with his Wolfpac brethren. Mike tells us the Outsiders were able to retain the tag titles against the Steiners by disqualification at the pay per view. Before the match starts, Hall says the people are only watching because of the nWo. He mocks the Steiners for not being able to beat them. Nash puts over the entire nWo, and more specifically, Hogan. The jobbers come out to the Steiners music and seem to be in on the joke, laughing it up. Hall starts with Moore and chops him in the corner then pounds away. Hall forces Moore to tag in Star who promptly gets destroyed with a top rope side suplex. Tony calls last week’s Luger/Hogan main event the most watched world title bout in the history of wrestling as Nash tags in. I don’t know the rating for that quarter hour, but I highly doubt more people watched it than Hogan vs. Andre on the first Main Event. Nash hits the jack knife and pins Star with his foot on his chest. The Wolfpac says they want anyone from the back, which brings out the Steiners, through the crowd. They clean house and pose with the belts. Now Dibiase is in to celebrate with them.

Wrath vs. Meng
James Vandenberg brings his human oddity out. Meng meets Wrath in the aisle and they start brawling all over the place. They make their way to the ring and Wrath gets side kicked by Meng. Meng then clotheslines Wrath over the top rope so Vandenberg yells at him. The distraction allows Wrath the chance to pull Meng outside the ring and throw him into the guard rail. Wrath then comes off the ring apron with a summersault! Meng is thrown back in the ring as Wrath heads to the top. Meng kicks him and crotches him, then suplexes him off the top! That gets two. Meng then pounds away on Wrath in the corner but then runs into a back elbow. Wrath follows up with a huge clothesline off the second rope, which also gets two. Meng locks in the Tongan Death Grip then pins Wrath’s shoulders to the mat for the win. Mortis runs in to make the save, which then brings out Barbarian for the four way brawl. The Faces of Fear corner Vandenberg on the floor, but he bails through the crowd.

WCW Saturday Night will feature DDP, Curt Hennig, Alex Wright and Ric Flair – don’cha dare miss it!

Mean Gene is in the aisle and brings out the Steiners and Ted Dibiase. Gene says the Steiners got a raw deal at Road Wild, to which Rick says it didn’t matter because he had the time of his life. Scott talks about how Nash pulled referee Randy Anderson out of the ring when the Steiners were about to get the win. He says they will reload and come again. Dibiase says Hall and Nash got out-wrestled. He then calls out Nick Patrick because of his questionable call to end the match. Dibiase thinks Nick Patrick is trying to make amends with the nWo. Nick comes out and says he understands the frustration. He says he let the match go as long as he could but had to disqualify the Outsiders when they put their hands on him. Nick Patrick chastises Randy Anderson for his errors in the World title match, claiming that he let the match continue after someone dressed as Sting hit Luger with a bat. Dibiase doesn’t care about that, only the Steiners.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Jericho
Tony points out that if WCW continues to bicker with itself, they are giving the nWo exactly what they want. Eddie runs in to start but Jericho moves and hits a few dropkicks and a press slam. Eddie lands on his feet out of a Jericho monkey flip then hits the ropes but gets dropped throat first across the top rope and hit with a spin wheel kick. Eddie bails then argues with the fans. He comes back in and begs off, then pokes Jericho in the eye to take control. He hits a dropkick to Jericho, who was on his knees. Jericho reverses an Irish whip then follows in with a clothesline and goes for the Lionsault, but Eddie got his knees up. Jericho catches Eddie running in with a power slam and gets a two count. Guerrero then gets hit with a release German suplex which gets a two count. Jericho hits a tiger driver out of a double under-hook then tries for the Liontamer, but Eddie held the leg, so Jericho hit a leg spin instead, making them both loopy. Eddie stumbles out of the ring so Jericho comes flying out with a slingshot cross body block then throws Eddie back in and goes up top. Guerrero then hits the ropes and crotches Jericho and hits the Frog Splash from three quarters the way across the ring for the win!

Back from break with the Nitro Girls dancing. They are interrupted by Cruiserweight champ Alex Wright, who comes out to dance with them. They don’t want anything to do with him and leave him by himself. Mean Gene goes over to talk to him. Alex yells in German then says he does that because he talks to the people who matter to him first. He calls the fans jealous.

Non-Title Match: US Champion Jeff Jarrett vs. Dean Malenko
These two men formed a partnership recently, but Jarrett turned on Dean at Road Wild. Queen Debra is with Jarrett, as usual. Jarrett tries to attack Dean from behind, but Malenko catches him and goes to work. He pounds away on Jarrett and kicks him in the corner. Jarrett takes off then attacks Malenko when he tries to get him in the aisle. Dean reverses it and brings Jeff back in then takes him down with a pair of leg lariats. Again, Jarrett tries to take off but this time, Mongo blocks his exit. We go to break.

We return with Dean and Jarrett brawling on the outside of the ring. According to Tony, Jarrett went back to the ring since Mongo was blocking his exit. Jarrett uses Debra as a shield then attacks Dean when he is distracted. Jarrett throws Malenko back in then hits a drop kick and a side suplex. Jarrett picks Dean up and uses a suplex then goes to work on the leg. Dean tries to fight back but Jarrett chokes him over the middle rope. He goes to jump on Dean’s back, but Malenko moves and hits a double under hook power bomb on Jarrett then applies the Texas Cloverleaf! Before Jarrett can submit, Eddie Guerrero runs in and makes the save, causing a DQ. Eddie and Jeff double team Malenko until Mongo comes out to make the save and cleans house! Dean then attacks Mongo! Tony says Dean can trust no one after Road Wild. Mongo tells the camera that Dean is tough, so he respects him.

Back to Mean Gene in the aisle. He brings out Ric Flair and Curt Hennig. Flair says he saw Curt talking to Eric Bischoff backstage. Hennig says he’s got business with Bischoff. Flair brings out Mongo and Some Other Guy and again invites Hennig to be a Horsemen. Curt says he won’t say if he is or isn’t a Horsemen because he’s in the main event tonight. Great reasoning, no? Flair says Curt can show Mongo and Some Other Guy why he is Horsemen material tonight then. Ric then asks Curt to be his partner against Konnan and Syxx at the Clash of the Champions next week and he accepts. As they leave, Mean Gene still wants to know why Curt was talking to Bischoff.

And speak of the devil, Eric Bischoff starts hour number two by driving down the aisle on a Harley with Scott Norton behind him. Bobby has joined Tony and Mike in the booth. As Bicshoff says he told Luger he would pay, Hall, Syxx, Buff and Vincent make their way to the ring. They all congratulate Hogan on regaining the title. Hogan is in Montreal making a movie right now, but they are all going to sing “Happy Birthday” to him because they know he’s watching. Bischoff then confirms that the piece of paper handed to the Giant at the top of the show was a restraining order. He can’t come within fifty feet of Bischoff, at any time. Bagwell counts fifty steps from the ring then makes a line with spray paint. Giant comes out but Larry tries to stop him from going to the ring. He feels responsible for this because he fed Bisch to the Giant. Giant will have none of it and steps right over the line, which brings Denver’s finest out to arrest him. The handcuffs don’t fit, so Giant goes quietly, with assurance from JJ Dillon that he’d take care of it. And now Scott Hall comes up behind Larry and throws his toothpick the face of the Living Legend. We go to break.

Gene is in the ring and introduces Lex Luger. He says Nitro last week was the best moment of his career and Road Wild was a disappointment. He is still proud of WCW though and calls last week a building point for WCW. Gene asks Luger’s opinion on the questionable officiating. Lex says he talked to Randy Anderson and they are okay with each other. Randy did his job and Lex understands that. If Randy was quick to throw a DQ last Monday, Luger would have never won the title in the first place, so he is okay with Pee Wee being lenient. Luger then takes off his shirt to flex for Hollywood Hogan in Montreal.

More Nitro Girls dancing.

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Buff Bagwell
Vincent is with Buff then Kim gives the Cutter sign to bring out Page and promptly disappears. Bagwell takes Page over then poses for the camera. Page goes to work on Buff’s arm, but he bails to the floor. He comes back in and Page goes back to the arm. They trade reversals until DDP takes Buff’s head off with a clothesline. Bagwell then reverses an Irish whip and hits a beautiful dropkick. Bagwell chokes DDP over the second rope then gets some help from Vincent. Page goes for a power bomb but Buff lands on his feet then hits a swinging neck breaker for two. Now Buff gets into a shoving match with referee Scott Dickinson but eventually backs down then laughs into the camera. Bagwell gets a backslide for two then takes Page down with a clothesline. Buff makes Dickinson ask David Penzer how much time is left in this match, which allows Vincent to get on the ring apron but Page throws Buff into him then hits the Diamond Cutter to get the win!

TV Title Match: Champion Ultimo Dragon vs. Mortis
Vandenberg is back out with Mortis. They lock up and Mortis backs Dragon into the corner. He hits some shoulder thrusts then throws Dragon into the opposite corner who reverses with a dropkick then hits with rapid fire kicks. Mortis goes for a back drop but Dragon lands on his feet. Mortis is still able to take him down with a back elbow though. He chokes Ultimo then works on him in the corner. Mortis sends him to the opposite corner but misses a charge in. Dragon then sets Mortis up on the top rope but Vandenberg holds his ankle, allowing Mortis to attempt a superplex. Dragon counters though and sends Mortis to the mat with a front suplex. Mortis hits a Rocker Dropper for two, then calls for the Flatliner. He sets it up but Dragon reveres it into a power bomb then applies the Dragon Sleeper to get the win and retain the title!

Gene’s in the ring again, this time with JJ Dillon. JJ says he was disappointed in himself for not getting something done last week concerning the re-signing of Sting. We see Sting walking around in the rafters and JJ asks him to come down to the ring because he has a new contract. He says he has a valid contract with an nWo member that must fight if Sting signs the contract. On cue, Sting repels from the ceiling into the crowd. He enters the ring and goes face to face with Dillon. JJ says his phone has rung nonstop this week with suggestions to help him figure out what Sting wants. JJ announces the contract is for Sting to fight Syxx. And once again, Sting tears up the contract and walks away. Gene: “Sting, what do you want!?” The crowd: “HOGAN! HOGAN!” Sting points to the fans! JJ and Gene look confused. HELLO! IS THERE ANYONE HOME IN THERE?! Geez, this is the chairman of your executive committee? No wonder why the nWo is always able to one up the guy – he’s a moron.

“Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. Curt Hennig
Liz is with Randy and is all smiles. The announcers recap what we just saw and even they say it’s pretty obvious that Sting wants Hogan. Well, no foolin’! Classic Brain Moment: The camera pans the crowd and some, how can I say this nicely… unattractive woman screeches out “Hi Nancy!” to which Bobby simply replies, “Yikes.” Curt and Randy lock up and Henning applies a headlock. Curt pushes off then takes him down with a shoulder block but Savage comes back with a huge clothesline. He takes Curt to the floor then tries to throw him into the guard rail, but Hennig reverses it. Now Randy uses Liz as a shield but Curt is still able to take Randy down as we go to break.

We’re back with the two men brawling in the aisle. Hennig chokes Randy then brings Savage back into the ring. He lays the boots to Savage then hits his snap neck breaker and a knee lift. Savage is able to fight back though and goes to the leg of Hennig. Hennig grabs an opening and sends Savage to the floor. As he gets back up, DDP sneaks in and attacks Hennig! Now Savage is in and attacks Page as Hennig heads to the back. They have had their issues, as the announcers remind us. Scott Hall comes out to save Savage from DDP’s assault. He hits the fall-a-way slam on Page and Savage follows up with a pair of elbow drops. Finally, Lex Luger is out to make the save! Hall and Savage bail.

We go to the booth as Tony recaps the night’s events. And we’re...... out of time.

Next week, we’ll see if JJ Dillon can figure out what two plus two is and discover just who Sting wants to fight and we’ll have the final build for the Clash of the Champions.