Nitro 8/23 with Attitude
gali...@earthlink.net
NITRO for the week of 8/23
by Chris Oien mailto:mull...@aol.com
Hey everyone, I’m in kind of a good mood after SummerSlam, where I was
the
only person I know to predict that Mankind would take the gold (I’m
sticking
my tongue out at you, Jeff.) But enough about me, let’s get on to
something
more important, which is everything, but WCW in particular. Nitro is in
Las
Vegas, Nevada. KISS is here, and Sting/Hogan is the main event.
Mikey Whipwreck v. Chase Tatum
Can anyone guess what might happen? Both guys exchange a few moves,
Chase
struts around the ring, and Sid interrupts. Apparently he’s 66-0 now.
Come
on, guys, if you count house shows, then he has a few losses, too. He
power
bombs both guys and pins both, the ref counts three on both, and now
he’s up
to 68-0. He rants about Goldberg.
Rating - 1/10. And that one point is for power bombing Tatum, whom I
really
don’t like. This is getting really predictable and redundant, and since
when
can you interfere in a match you weren’t in and get a win? Something
similar
happened to Hogan last week, I guess.
Kidman talks to Kimberly in the back, telling her he meant no
disrespect.
After a commercial break, DDP is in the back choking Kidman, Goldberg
arrives
and tells Page to back off. This leads to Goldberg and the Triad trying
to go
at it, with security separating them.
Triad comes out and does the standard mic work. DDP mentions Kidman, and
challenges Goldberg to a match.
Sting comes out. He talks a little about his match tonight, when some
surfer
dude-type music plays and Lex Luger comes down. He warns Sting not to
trust
Hogan. Sting says that Hogan gave him the shot tonight, and that’s good
enough for him. They shake hands and leave together.
Mike Tenay is outside and confronts Eric Bischoff as he gets out of a
hummer.
Bischoff more or less dismisses the fact that he will be named the new
president of WCW.
The Cat (w/Sonny Onoo) v. Buff Bagwell
The Cat called Bagwell down for this match. Cat starts off strong,
hitting a
moonwalk elbow drop for a two-count. He misses a second attempt, and
Bagwell
rallies. Cat hits him with a low blow and throws him outside. Onoo
stomps him
a little, before Luger comes down. Onoo tries to go through the ring to
escape, but finds Luger on the other side as well. The Cat is distracted
by
all this, and he is surprised by the Blockbuster. Buff gets the win.
Rating - 5/10. What’s Luger doing, anyway, trying to establish himself
as the
good guy? I hope he turns on Sting soon.
DDP v. Goldberg
This match never really happens. BBB tries to attack Goldberg from
behind, he
shakes it off, Page splashes him in the corner once, when Kanyon tries,
spear
city. Another for BBB, and Page escapes through the crowd. Guess it’ll
happen
next week.
Music video for "Good Ole Boys". Somewhat entertaining, but I wouldn’t
care
to see it twice.
A video tape of a bunch of Lodi fans.
Juventud Guerrera v. Lenny (w/Lodi) - Cruiserweight Title match
One disgusting yet funny thing that happened was that Lenny was behind
Juvi
in a waistlock, Juvi tries to run out of it but Lenny pulls him
forcefully
right back in. Juvi didn’t look like he liked that too much. Solid match
from
both guys. At one point Lenny hits two straight shoulder breakers then
slams
Juvi down for two. Later, Juvi attacks Lodi on the outside, allowing
Lenny to
go up and hit both guys with a corkscrew plancha. Crowd starts chanting
"You
are gay" and "Faggot". Hey, let’s have a hand for the sophistication of
the
fans. Anyway, Juvi sets Lenny on the top turnbuckle, Lenny tries to
counter
with a Samoan drop, but Juvi hits a power bomb into a sunset flip for
two. He
then hits the Juvi Driver and goes up for the 450, but Sid interrupts.
Power
bombs everyone, covers Lenny and Juvi, and he’s now 70-0. Rants about
Goldberg some more.
Rating - 4/10. The crowd ruined the match for me while it was going, and
Sid
did the rest. In the past week or so, Lenny has shown a lot of talent,
and I
think that he is the most deserving cruiserweight champ there is right
now.
The Rednecks now sing "Good Ole Boys" live. Why? It’s halfway through
the
show, and there have been three matches, two of which were ruined by
Sid.
What ever happened to "Shut Up and Wrestle"? I think they only used that
when
Jericho was still around, which is ironic because he was the only one in
WCW
with any real mic skills at all.
Hugh Morrus, Barbarian, and Brian Knobbs (w/Jimmy Hart) v. Saturn,
Benoit,
and Douglas
Not much to say about this match, momentum switches back and forth, with
the
Revolution usually coming out on top. End comes when Saturn T-bone
suplexes
Knobbs, then signals for the DVD, but Rick Steiner comes down, climbs to
the
top, Steinerdogs Saturn, and allows Knobbs to win. Post-match, Benoit
runs
down and challenges Steiner to a match.
Rating - 5/10. Nothing special. What does "Out with Evolution, in with
Revolution" mean, exactly?
ICP (w/Vampiro) v. Rey Mysterio Jr. and Kidman
No Raven, apparently he’s walked out of WCW. ICP does fairly well, but
most
of the match goes to the Filth. ICP rallies and Violent J gorilla press
slams
Rey right on to Shaggy’s knee. Hey, I’m learning their names. Shaggy
hits a
Guillotine Leg Drop and covers, Kidman makes the save. Rey and one clown
spill to the outside and the ref is distracted by them, allowing Vampiro
to
enter the ring. It backfires, though, as Kidman reverses a whip, causing
Vamp
and the remaining clown to clothesline each other, Kidman covers quickly
and
wins. The Dead Pool attacks Kidman after the match, until Eddie runs
down.
Rating - 6/10. ICP is good considering they’re not actually wrestlers,
in
fact they’ve probably put on a better show than anyone else in the
previous
matches.
Hogan comes down for an interview. Doesn’t say anything new, except that
he
promised his son he would stay true to Hulkamania.
Rick Steiner v. Chris Benoit - US Title match
Steiner wins a slug fest to start, Benoit quickly comes back and
surprises
Rick with a German suplex for two. Fight spills to the outside, where
Rick
takes control. Back in the ring, Benoit hits three rolling German
suplexes
then goes for the Diving Headbutt. Steiner pulls the ref on top of him
and
Benoit hits him, knocking both guys out. Rick grabs the US belt and goes
to
whip Benoit with it, Saturn runs down and takes it away. Then Sid runs
down
and power bombs Saturn. Benoit recovers and chases both guys out of the
ring.
They mention the upcoming match on Thunder.
Rating - 7/10. Seen better from both guys, but at least they actually
set up
Thursday a little.
The Windham Bros. v. Harlem Heat - Tag Team Title match
Booker T was the only one that did that much. After a Harlem side kick
he
hits the Missile Dropkick on Kendall Windham, Booker covers, but the ref
is
distracted by Stevie Ray and Barry Windham on the outside. In comes Curt
Hennig, he nails Booker with the cow bell, Kendall covers, Barry orders
the
ref back, and we have new champs.
Rating - 1/10. WTF? I didn’t really believe all that stuff I’ve heard
about
the Rednecks being a racially motivated group, but now that they won the
belts from a black team, I’m beginning to wonder. The Windhams totally
sucked
in this match and have no right to be champs. Some might say the same
about
Lenny, but hey, he has proven himself recently. These guys have been
given
the chance before and failed miserably, in my opinion.
Vampiro v. Eddie Guerrero
Match starts off solid, with both guys exchanging moves. Vamp hits an
enziguiri/dropkick move and then a spinning wheel kick from the second
turnbuckle. He goes up, but Eddie catches him and hits a superplex. He
goes
for a Frog Splash, but the clowns run down, so he jumps on them instead.
Back
in the ring, a little more of the match goes on until Vamp catapults
Eddie
into a clown and quickly covers him for the win.
Rating - 6/10. These two had a better match before, and this one ended
pretty
stupidly.
Sting v. Hulk Hogan - World Title match
I have to admit, after a night of mediocrity at best, I was looking
forward
to something good here, but I was disappointed. Hogan controlled the
pace of
the match, which was pretty close to neutral. Things finally start to
pick up
when Sting hits what I think is a Northern Lights Bomb and then puts
Hogan in
a headlock. Hogan rallies and becomes INVINCIBLE. He hits the big boot
and
tries for the leg drop, but Sting moves. Hogan staggers into a corner,
Sting
hits one Stinger Slash, but gets countered on his next two attempts. As
we
all know, a clean finish in a main event is not allowed, so Sid and Rick
run
down and start beating on Hogan and Sting. Goldberg makes the save, and
all
three guys plus Luger stand strong in the ring, with Hogan promising a
re-match for Sting in the future.
Rating - 2/10. Didn’t get interesting until the last couple minutes, and
I’m
getting so incredibly sick of seeing Sid and Rick that I could throw up.
I
liked Hulk last week, but that was probably because Sid is slower than
Hogan,
making him look good in comparison.
KISS ends the show. They sing, I don’t know, something, and the KISS
wrestler
is revealed. If that is Bryan Adams, I didn’t recognize him. Is this
really
supposed to keep people away from watching HHH win the WWF World belt?
Come
on, your fans are wrestling fans, they’d rather watch wrestling.
Overall: Nitro was the biggest piece of crap I’ve seen in a long time.
Not
one single match truly ended cleanly. I thought they’d got the hint
after
Road Wild, which had a lot of clean finishes, but I guess not. Windhams
beating the Heat is the biggest crock I’ve ever seen, next to the main
event
that is. I’ve got one hyphenated word for this show: over-hyped. WCW can
not
afford to put on sub-par shows like this and hope to keep viewers.
Average
match rating: 4, and that doesn’t include some other segments that I
really
didn’t like either.
E-mail Chris Oien
mailto:mull...@aol.com
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