WCW Nitro 9/29/1997

Written by: Kevin Kildenberger

Hopefully WCW can get back on track. I have diagnosed a lot of issues that it has been having. They are building up Havoc early and that is good news. They have cut some of the cartoon aspects like Mortis and Glacier or at least pushed them aside. Now I am confused as to why Faces of Fear are getting such a huge push, but at least they are concluding the Savage/DDP feud, which had died off. Niitro stayed strong with a 4.0 while RAW had a boost to a 2.7 (only found these numbers, now breakdown).

Recap of Savage/DDP feud.

Match 1: Buff Bagwell v. DDP

Buff flexes and when they lock up he armdrags him over and flexes some more. They lock up again and DDP is put in a side headlock. DDP reverses it but is taken down with a back elbow…..Raven is in the crowd. Buff flexes and DDP hocks a loogie at him and Buff charges but is nailed; however he takes DDP down and slaps him. DDP smacks him right back and clotheslines him. Buff is knocked to the floor and DDP hits him with a flying crossbody. He rolls him into the ring, off the leapfrog Buff sells a knee injury and uses the delay to strike DDP. He dropkicks him and stomps away. DDP gut punches him but gets an eye gouge. Buff drops him throat first on the top rope, he grabs him but just taunts him and Page fires back. He gnails him with an inverted atomic drop and dropkicks him. He calls for the Cutter but is back kicked and then nearly pinned after a swinging neckbreaker. Buff keeps after him, and the ref is taken out. DDP drops Buff but Vincent comes in but he eats the Diamond Cutter. Buff runs up and hits im but DDP spins around and finishes him off with one too.

Not a bad opener and WCW is wise to keep puttting him over.

Match 2: Rey Mysterio Jr. v. Masked Guy

Rey wants to give his mask to a fan but is kicked from behind by a masked man they call El Caliente but not sure. It does look like Eddie Guerrer. Rey is punished but now he catapults him after arm dragging him. He follows up with a spinning neckbreaker, Rey trips him up and hammers him in the corner. Rey goes for a moonsault but crashes and burns. Caliente slams him and then gets a two count after a brainbuster. Rey holds onto the arm to take over Caliente but is dropkicked and tries to take off Rey’s mask. Eddie hammers him some more, tries to rolls him up but only gets two and the fans know it is Eddie despite the mask. Rey is briefly put in an ab stretch but decides to place Rey up top and superplexes him. He only gets a two count, picks him up but Rey floats behind and drives him into the corner where he finishes him off with his hurracarana finisher. Rey pulls off the mask and it is Eddie. Eddie is upset and chases him off.

Decent match.

Gene welcomes the Giant and he will be facing Curt Hennig tonight. Giant is none too pleased about what Curt did to Flair and paybacks are Hell.

Match 3: Goldberg v. Barbarian

They lock up and neither gets the advantage. They run into each other again and neither moves. Barbarian goes to hoist him up but Goldberg escapes and then takes down Barbarian. He gets a two count; he dropkicks him to the floor. Goldberg goes up top and is crotched. Barbarian tosses him off and he gets a two count. Tenay did some studying and gives us his football background. Barbarian hits him a few times and tries to help him out too….he gets a two count after a powerslam. He goes for a powerbomb but is back dropped. Goldberg drills him with a big knee drop and gives him the Jackhammer though it was awkward.

So much for the Faces….why have them beat the Steiners. But Goldberg really is not bad in the ring and we will see what happens.

Gene stops Goldberg again and shows a photo of him in a football uniform and Goldberg pushes the camera away and stalks off….Gene welcomes Zbyzsco who claims he will be fair and does not hate Hall’s guts. If he cheats then he robbed Luger of a victory and WCW of one too. He wants to show the world what he looks like when he has to wrestle for a living.

Flair will have a big announcement tonight.

Match 4: Juventud Guerrera v. Disco Inferno for WCW TV Title

They lock up, Disco shoves him down and Juvie nips up. Juvie applies a waistlock but Juvie escapes and chops away. Juvie leaps up and takes him over with a headscissors. He springboard dropkicks him, Disco is tossed to the floor and Juvie strikes with a somersault splash. Back in the ring Juvie is guillotined off the rope and then tossed by his hair. Disco hammers him, stomping him into the mat. Wright is at the top of the ramp and dances. Disco clotheslines Juvie, and would have the pin but Wright puts Juvie’s leg on the rope. Disco is getting worked over now. Jackie is down here now. Juvie is whipped into the ropes and Jackie trips up Juvie who is front suplexed and it is over.

Disco is getting a push….okay match.

Savage is out with Liz. Ohhhh Yeahhh! He is living on the edge and breaking on through to the other side. He tells Roddy to not get to creative with his match at the PPV as he created the monster so he will destroy it. The nWo is ready to go tonight; he wants tjo Sting gots as he has what he wants.

Match 5: Jeff Jarrett v. Steve McMichael

JJ postures for the crowd. The fans chant that he sucks. He tosses Mongo over and struts. They lock up again and Mongo is taken over again this time with an armdrag. Mongo turns his back and is nailed, but he grabs and slams JJ. He decleats him with a big forearm, and follows up with the big boot. JJ retreats to the floor.

Commercial.

Mongo is laid out on the floor, JJ stomps on him, rolls him back into the ring. JJ whips him into the ropes, dropping him with a back elbow. He chokes him out on the ropes and Debra helps him out. JJ leaps on the back of his head, goes for a suplex but it is blocked and Mongo gives him a taste of his own medicine. Mongo is whipped into the ropes and put in a sleeper. Mongo finally powers free and appllies one of his own and JJ counters out with a jawbreaker. JJ bashes his head off the top buckle and tears in to him. He side slams him and follows up with some big forearms. He motions for the Tombstone, but JJ spins free and connects with another jawbreaker. He starts to work over the knee and calls for the Figure Four but is pushed into the corner. He goes for a float over off the whip, Debra is screaming as Mongo drops his face onto the top buckle and she slaps Mongo and this allows JJ to knee him and roll him up for the win.

Jesus the Horsemen have been reduced to a joke.

Here comes Hall who is on crutches and Syxx. Hall tells the crowd that he and Syxx missed them too. He wants to know if they came to see WCW and they boo or the nWo and the fans heartily respond as well as to Syxx’s 4 Life. Hall wants to talk about something more serious; he will be fine and will crawl to Vegas if necessary. The nWo wants to get rid of people who cannot cut it. Hennig ousted Flair, he dropped Piper on his head. Now he calls Larry and he will put him on the shelf if he does not call the match down the middle.

Match 6: Syxx v. Chris Jericho

Syxx has him in a side headlock, but is powerslammed off the whip. Jericho works him over until he is dropped with a spinkick. Syxx nails him with the guillotine leg drop. He chops him in the corner, now kicks him a few times for good measure. It is Bronco Buster time. Jeriicho elbows him in the gut but is bodyslammed. Syxx goes up top and he lands on his back on the backsplash attempt. Both men are down, Syxx misses but Jericho does not. He back body drops him, and sends him to the floor with a springboard dropkick. He flies over the top, crashing into him. He rolls Syxx back into the ring, goes up top but is kicked and crotched. He elbows Syxx off and gets two after the reverse crossbody. Jericho spins him around, drops him and now he too is dizzy (not sure of the point of this move) but he does recover more quickly this time, clotheslining him and he nails him with the Lionsault and he is going for his finisher. Hall gets up on the apron and the distraction leads to the Buzzkiller. Hall messes with the ref, slapping his belly. Larry comes down and pulls Syxx off who does some karate maneuvers. Luger comes down and Syxx hides behind Hall. Hall and Syxx retreat.

Decent match, Jericho looked strong and it had angle advancement too.

Flair is on the phone. He has done better physically and he thanks Schiavone for his support. He thought long and hard about his future. He does not want anyone feeling sorry for him. He wants to thank Hennig for giving him the wake up call sometimes athletes need to go to the next level. He was caught off guard and he was beat up. He was too complacent. Four years ago he would have left Hennig laying weeks before. Next week the stitches are out and he will be back. Now to Hogan, and their careers have paralleled one another’s and they have sold out dates and in the past 20 years no one has ever stated that Hogan could wear his shoes much less his robe and he will rue the day. Arn is down never to return, and he thanks Benoit and Mongo. Benoit is the beste wrestler pound for pound, and he stuck by him. He wants Benoit to go his own way, and Mongo is a personal friend, and goes on about his storied football career. He is asking them to go their own way so they do not have to keep helping Flair and they do no need Ric Flair and go their own direction and not worry about taking care of him. He is going to prove the point at how good he is and then he praises WCW and how the nWo has it coming.

Bischoff comes down. He loves the people but has some business to take care of. First is the human muppet Sting and has the audacity to come out after being challenged by Hogan and waited until Hulk was gone to come out….I missed that? Hulk is doing a movie of course. Sting ambushed nWo members and did it under collusion with Piper. He tells Piper that this will be the last time Piper gets in the cage with Hogan because he will be beaten down. He wants Sting to show up at Havoc as they will be there.

Match 7: Wrath v. Lex Luger

They lock up and Luger puts him in a headlock. Wrath half carries him into the corner but the ref calls for the break. They lock up again, both try to get the upperhand but neither can. Luger puts him in a headlock, is pushed off the ropes and they collide a couple times with neither budging but Wrath is clotheslined to the floor. Wrath gets back into the ring where he chops him a few times, down goes Lex, and now he kicks him over and over in the corner. Wrath uses his boot to choke him out. Luger is whipped into the corner and then the other one. Wrath back suplexes him, and goes up top and he strikes with a flying clothesline for a two count. Vandenberg helps choke him out on the ropes, Luger off the whip, gets the boot up but he is nailed right back. Lex blocks a suplex and gives one of his own and both men are down. Wrath is up but his blow is blocked and Luger starts to hammer him. Wrath is powerslammed and Vandenberg is knocked off the apron: Rack and over.

Wrath had a decent showing but Lex did need a big win here.

Match 8: Curt Hennig (c) v. Giant

Giant grab him and knees him in the gut and then whips him into the corner where Curt flips out of it. Curt is on the mat getting sat on. Curt is tossed out to the floor and the Giant just glares down at him. He pulls him back up and suplexes him back into the ring. Giant drops him with a chop, chokes him out with the boot and now another knee lift. Giant misses the clothesline and flips over the top, hitting his back on the apron. Curt takes advantage and runs him into the post. Giant slowly gets back into the ring as Curt knees him. Curt is able to nail him with the Perfect Plex but the Giant kicks out and as he argues with the ref, the Giant nips up and chokeslams him. The nWo runs into the ring and they get dismantled. Now they are all trying to take him down manage too. They stomp away….EB is at the announce table. Here comes Sting and the fans erupt as he enters the ring and the nWo scatters. Sting drops the bat and they come in and Sting beats on all of them. Norton is dumped out and Savage and Vincent get torn up. Hennig is knocked off the apron and Buff is knocked out of the ring and we fade….

Not a bad show. They had some solid wrestling. Sting made his return and the Giant and Luger had some matches. DDP had a decent match. Jericho and Syxx had one too. It was mostly angle advancement but it did the job. Nothing happened that was asinine and they kept the show tight and flowing smoothly. Everything had a purpose and was part of an angle or at least associated. Goldberg is heading somewhere, at least I think….but it is evolving. Flair even had a long phone interview and while Mongo lost and the Horsemen are now a joke the show has gotten some of its lost footing back but as they head into the Starrcade season they need it.