Written By: Bob Colling
World Championship Wrestling presents Nitro
Date: 4/14/1997
From: Philadelphia, PA
Footage from last week where the New World Order was apparently having some issues is shown. Hogan wants Kevin Nash and his buddies to join the rest of them and be in the group for life. Nash says they don’t go to arenas saying catchphrases just to say them. Nash and Hogan patch things up.
Footage of DDP calling out Randy Savage last week was shown. Sting ended up coming down from the rafters and stood in front of the New World Order on the aisle way. Sting tossed a bat to DDP and stood in the ring with DDP to close out the show.
Nitro opening video
Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko welcome everyone to the broadcast. They talk about Lex Luger wanting to wrestle Hulk Hogan for the championship on Nitro. The New World Order music hits and the whole group come over to the broadcast station. Kevin Nash has a microphone and says that Philadelphia is defiantly New World Order country. Nash tells Lex Luger that tonight Luger will wrestle Nash in order to get his shot against Hogan. Nash says the New World Order is just too sweet to end the promo. Schiavone and Zbyszko return to the booth and hype up Nash vs. Luger later tonight!
Opening Contest: Chris Benoit defeated the Barbarian: Benoit quickly goes to work on Barbarian in the corner with chops and boots to the gut. Barbarian recovers and attempts a power bomb but Benoit is able to get out of it. Benoit connects with a northern lights suplex for a two count. Jimmy Hart trips Benoit from the floor and runs away until he runs into Benoit and is punched. Benoit turns around and is met with a big boot from Barbarian. Barbarian tries to press slam Benoit into the ring but Benoit gets caught up on the ropes. Benoit ducks a clothesline and connects with a German suplex. Benoit heads to the top rope but is crotched by Barbarian. Barbarian tosses Benoit off the top rope with a over head belly to belly suplex! Barbarian heads up top but misses a flying head butt. Benoit goes to the top rope and leaps off connecting with a diving head butt to earn the win! **
After the match, the Dungeon of Doom runs down to the ring and attacks Benoit! Jeff Jarrett and Mongo run down to chase off the Dungeon of Doom.
Mean Gene enters the ring and interviews Chris Benoit. Benoit talks about Kevin Sullivan going on and on about retribution and doing the right thing. Benoit is starting to think that Sullivan is his karma coming after him. Benoit makes it clear that he is going to destroy Sullivan because if he doesn’t, Sullivan will destroy him. Benoit tells Sullivan that the sun will soon set on his career!
Second Contest: WCW United States Champion Dean Malenko defeated Hector Guerrero to retain the title: They trade wristlocks and head locks to open the contest. Guerrero goes for a few rollups but only gets a two count. Malenko drop toe holds Guerrero and controls Guerrero with a STF. Malenko continues with a running clothesline in the corner. Guerrero tosses Malenko to the floor and dives onto Malenko! Guerrero counters a roll up with one of his own for a two count. Guerrero botches a backslide attempt. Malenko plants Guerrero with a double under hook power bomb and gets the Texas Cloverleaf locked in to win the bout. ½*
After the match, Eddie Guerrero comes down to the ringside are and has a stare down with Malenko. Guerrero tells Malenko to not hurt his brother or Malenko will see a side of him that he wouldn’t like.
Tony Schiavone confirms reports that Reggie White has signed to wrestle Mongo at a WCW event. Reggie is in attendance for this show.
Third Contest: Rey Mistero Jr. defeated Juventud Guerrera: Guerrera quickly arm drags Rey down and maintains control with a wristlock. Rey counters with a wristlock but Guerrera gets out of it with a standing spin kick. Guerrera gets out of a crucifix type of hold but Rey sends both himself and Guerrera to the floor with a head scissors. Guerrera tosses Rey into the guard railing and chops Rey several times. Guerrera stops Rey on the apron with a springboard power bomb onto the floor! Guerrera nails Rey with a springboard knee drop back into the ring and goes for a power bomb but Rey gets out of it. Rey dropkicks Guerrera in midair as Guerrera leaps off the top rope. Rey springboards off the top rope and connects with a very nice hurricanrana to win the bout. *1/2
Mean Gene interviews Luna Vachon on the aisle way. Vachon says she is the number one contender for the WCW Women’s Championship. Vachon wants Madusa to be on notice!
Fourth Contest: WCW Television Champion Ultimo Dragon defeated Lane Carlson: Lane clotheslines himself and Dragon to the floor after a few moments of boring action. Lane leaps off the top rope and twists down onto Dragon on the floor! Dragon slams Lane face first onto the apron and dropkicks Lane into the guard railing. Dragon follows up with a sling shot cross body and Sonny Ono gets a few cheap shots in as the referee is distracted. Dragon screws up a top rope hurricanrana and pins Lane following a dragon suplex. *
Fifth Contest: WCW Cruiserweight Champion Syxx defeated Prince Iaukea to retain the title: Syxx wins a extended squash match with a chicken wing submission known as the buzz killer. ½*
Mean Gene is in the ring and introduces Ric Flair and Kevin Greene for a interview. Roddy Piper comes down to join the interview segment as well. Piper finds it funny that every time he is here, the big bald guy (Hogan) stays home. Piper says they will take on the New World Order at the next pay per view. Piper says that if it weren’t for himself and Flair that the New World Order wouldn’t be so cool. Greene chimes in and says that Hogan stabbed himself and everyone else in the back. Greene says that Flair and Piper made wrestling. Flair talks about thanking Verne Gagne for allowing himself to get into the business. Flair says that with Piper and Greene they will rock all night long.
Sixth Contest: Public Enemy defeated High Voltage in a street fight: Grunge whacks Rage several times with a trash can lid. Rage uses a trash can on Grunge and Rock to gain the upper hand. They are really using the trash cans and trash lids as weapons just hitting each other over the head. Grunge plants Rage with a pile driver onto a trash can. Rock wraps a toilet seat around Kaos head and hits Kaos with a trash can lid. Kaos connects with a gut wrench power bomb on Rock. Rock is on Kaos’s shoulders and nails Rage as he leaps off the top rope with a trash can lid. Rock with another pile driver onto a trash can, this time on Kaos. Grunge and rock put two tables on top of each other on the floor. Rage is put on the top table and Rock leaps off the top rope to crash onto Rage and through the tables to win the bout. *
Seventh Contest: The Giant defeated Big Al: I’m pretty sure Big Al is actually 911 from ECW. Anyway, Giant wins the match in quick order by connecting with the choke slam. NR
Eighth Contest: Diamond Dallas Page defeated Konnan: DDP works on Konnan with several right hands and a few shoulder blocks. Konnan arm drags DDP and taunts the fans. Konnan chokes DDP in the corner and delivers a few boots to maintain his offense. DDP comes back with a back suplex. DDP comes off the ropes and floats over Konnan to plant Konnan with the Diamond Cutter to win the bout. ½*
After the match, Randy Savage is in the crowd and tells DDP to tell Kimberly to stop calling him! DDP chases Savage through the crowd but Savage gets away in time.
Ninth Contest: Jeff Jarrett/Steve McMichael defeated Harlem Heat by disqualification: Booker works on Jarrett with several knee lifts and right hands to open the contest. Jarrett stops Booker with a dropkick, twice. Mongo and Ray tag into the contest. Ray punches Mongo several times but Mongo connects with a clothesline and scoop slam. Mongo grabs Booker and power slams Booker as well as Nitro goes to commercial! Ray works on Jarrett with several elbow drops and knee drops. Jarrett runs into a clothesline from Ray, who gets a near fall. Booker forearm smashes Jarrett for another two count. Booker scissors kicks Jarrett and taunts the fans instead of going for a cover. Harlem Heat connects with a double vertical suplex but Jarrett kicks out of a cover at two. Booker tags in and nails Jarrett over the back as Jarrett had a roll up on Ray. Booker connects with a leaping sidekick on Jarrett and plays to the crowd again. Booker goes for a cover but only gets a two count. Jarrett avoids a kick and goes for the figure four on Booker but Mongo and Ray enter the ring and brawl. Sherri grabs the briefcase from Mongo but the briefcase falls out of her hand and weakly hits Mongo. Sherri holds Debra in a corner and the referee calls for the bell. *
After the match, the Horsemen celebrate the win. Mean Gene interviews the Horsemen. Mongo talks about Reggie White wanting to wrestle him. Mongo says that White sold out and won a Super Bowl in Green Bay and not in Philadelphia. White rolls into the ring and gets into Mongo’s face. Mongo spits at White and White takes Mongo down to the mat! They are pulled apart by security and Jarrett.
Main Event: Lex Luger defeated Kevin Nash by disqualification: Nash knee lifts Luger in the corner several times along with a few elbow strikes. Nash misses a splash in the corner and Luger delivers several right hands and stomps. Luger knocks Bagwell and Syxx off the apron but runs into a big boot from Nash. Nash side slams Luger but only gets a near fall on a cover. Nash drops Luger face first across the top turnbuckle. Nash continues with a short arm clothesline to keep control of Luger. Nash gets a near fall following a elbow drop. Luger ducks a clothesline and nails Nash with a forearm smash. Luger tries to fight off the New World Order as they enter the ring but the numbers are too great. The referee calls for the bell. 1/2*
After the match, Diamond Dallas Page runs down but is beaten down by the New World Order as well. The Giant comes down to the ring despite Nash having a lead pipe. Sting comes walking down the aisle way, from the backstage area with three baseball bats. Sting knocks Nash down to the mat with a bat shot and the rest of the New World Order bail from the ring to close out the show.
End of show
My Take: Benoit/Barbarian was a fun, quick match to kick off the show. The fans are very vocal considering WCW is in ECW country. That’s right, not New World Order country, but rather ECW country. I enjoyed the contest, which went pretty quickly.
The fans didn’t care for Hector Guerrero so his match with Dean Malenko wasn’t all that good.
Rey/Juvi got maybe like three minutes to put on their match. It was a decent affair but considering the lack of time nothing was able to really develop between them. Still, it had some nice spots in there.
Lane Carlson = Lenny Lane in case anyone was wondering.
The Flair/Greene/Piper promo was kind of dumb in my opinion. I didn’t think it really offered much to their match against the New World Order at Slamboree.
The street fight match was boring aside from the finish. DDP getting the quick squash win wasn’t surprising and I enjoyed the aftermath with Savage. Their feud is really heating up. The fans didn’t care for the following tag match, really. Booker T seemed to be the only one to work well in that contest. The Reggie White/Mongo brawl was actually a highlight of the show. I didn’t expect White to get physically involved in the show.
Luger/Nash went maybe three minutes before the typical screw job finish. Same ending to Nitro with Sting coming down and all sends the fans happy, I guess.
Overall, the fans were riled up for most of the show especially for matches involving former ECW talent. Ten matches in two hours is something I can approve of as I’d rather have ten short matches or medium lengths matches then only have six long matches and a bunch of promos. This week’s episode was a decent episode but nothing great in my opinion.
Thanks for reading.