Written by: Kevin Kildenberger
WCW Monday Nitro 12/1/97
They go back to the announce table and they discuss EB’s degrees of cowardice.
Match 1: Juventud Guerrera v. Rey Mysterio Jr.
Honestly it is time to elevate Rey; this guy can go, not invincible like 2011 but he can go. Eddie lurks and goes up to the announce table and joins it. Rey and Juvie go at it and Juvie is catapulted over. They continue to go back and forth and then Rey strikes with a scissors take oer. Rey is on him but is thrust forward onto the top rope. Juvie runs him over….Eddie is doing pretty good on the mic. Much better than a year before. Juvie goes to work on the leg. Juvie keeps after him but Rey back only to be crotched and then Frankensteined off and nearly pinned. Juvie drives his head into the canvas and gets another near fall. Rey has him up after catching him off the leap and drives him back down to the mat. Rey calls for his finisher and does it getting the win.
Fast paced, and nice to see Eddie on commentary.
Match 2: Wrath v. Van Hammer
Wait it is Hugh Morrus; they just showed Hammer. Shit it was on bold. They go back and forth and Morrus knocks him down but Vandenberg runs distraction and is kicked to the floor and Wrath chops away. Wrath rolls him back into the ring and clotheslines him from the top rope. They show Mortis put a chain on his boot and he wants to use it and of course Morrus ducks and down goes Wrath. Vandenberg gets up on the apron and he is punched. Morrus goes up and finishes off Wrath.
So much for Wrath.
Here comes Hogan! EB joins him in the ring. EB screams about Hulk being the champ. Hulk tells everyone that he is the champ and the hero, as well as the nWo being too sweet. The only thing that gets him madder are those people who get him madder (yes madder) are people with their Sting masks. Sting has not come out to answer challenge and he and his fans are cowards and they need to take off their masks. He continues that he is wresting and the nWo and something really bad will happen if they do not take off their masks. He gets in the face of some old woman and knocks the mask out of her hand as she flails at him and he shuffles over and it is another old lady!
Match 3: Yuji Nagata v. Prince Iaukea
Prince has the wrist and Yuji rolls through but Iaukea escapes the bodyscissors. They lock up again, Prince puts him in a side headlock, off the push off he kicks him in the gut and tosses him over and applies a rear chinlock. Yuji counters out by literally dropping him on his head and then tosses him to the floor where Sonny kicks him a few times and rolls him back into the ring. Yuji drills him with the elbow and rakes the face before the ref stops him, Prince takes him down and stomps on the midsection, but he to his grabbed and taken down, Yuji focuses on the leg, trips him and bends it, rolls him over and keeps up the pressure. Yuji breaks the hold and they go back and forth with blows until Prince gets his eyes raked, off the whip Iaukea kicks him and dropkicks him but is tossed in a belly to back. Iaukea is placed up top but he fights him off and finishes him off with the flying crossbody.
Okay match, not sure what this says about the Ultimo Dragon but it is typical WCW midcard where no one advances.
Match 4: Faces of Fear v. Harlem Heat
Barbarian and Stevie Ray go at it with Ray getting the upperhand, slugging him into the corner. Barbarian is grabbed and back suplexed; Booker gets the tag and gets a two count. However, Barbarian fends him off and tags in Meng who unloads on Booker, Booker ducks a blow, sidekicks him and then nails him with an axe kick. Booker is caught with an atomic drop by Meng, and Barbarian who got the tag boots him in the face getting two. Ray makes the save and then gets the tag but gets punished; he makes a comeback and both men are down. Jimmy is on the apron and Jackie pulls him down. Booker gets the tag and runs over Meng and Barbarian is kicked in the head, Meng is dropped with a dropkick and goes for the pin but Meng makes the save and now all four are in the ring. Meng has Ray in the Deathgrip but Booker rolls up Barbarian for the win. Booker grabs a chair but he to gets the Deathgrip and Jackie is choking out Jimmy Hart and she is run off.
Okay match, trying to keep all of them strong.
Here comes Hall and Nash. It is survey time and WCW gets a huge pope but nWO gets a decent one too. Nash has the mic and wonders why WCW has not learned their lesson yet; Sting was hammered and then compares the nWo to Jack Ruby and WCW to Lee Harvey Oswald….why? Oh well.
Match 5: Disco Inferno v. Scott Hall
Hall knocks him across the ring and paintbrushes him. They lock up and Disco pushes him into the corner and kicks and hits him over and over. He chops him but it is turned and Hall gives him a solid chop and clotheslines him in the corner and down goes Disco. Discos reverses a whip but his hip toss is blocked and he is kneed and chokeslammed and Hall mocks the Giant. Disco rolls to the floor and gets decleated by Nash and rolled back in. Disco ducks a blow and leaps right into Hall who tosses him backwards and it is Outsider Edge time and over.
Squash.
Gene is with JJ Dillon and he wants to know about Bischoff backing down from Zbyzko. JJ basically says too bad and Larry does not have the ability to put Nitro on the line but JJ has that authority and will use it. EB runs out and is literally hopping mad and denies that Dillon has that power. JJ calls EB a toad and at Starrcade he is going to watch Larry beat him up. EB is at a loss for words and finally screams no and Gene mocks him too.
Match 6: Ultimo Dragon v. Psychosis
They go back and forth, Dragon runs his head into the corner and then jams his boot into his face. Psychosis awkwardly knock him to the floor as they muffed up somewhere. However he does kill him with a guillotine legdrop. Back in the ring Psychosis gets a two count. Dragon comes back with a hurracarana and goes for a powerbomb but is rolled up and nearly pinned. He wraps him up again for another two. Psychosis bodyslams him, goes up and is dropkicked and crotched. Dragon goes up and it is over after a super hurracarana and a Dragon Sleeper.
Okay.
Raven is in the crowd and refuses to conform to the rules and will go by his own and tells Kidman to get in the ring.
Match 7: Chris Benoit v. Kidman
Benoit hammers him right away and takes off his head with a lariat. Kidman gets punished some more, dropped on his head and then stomped. He turns him into a crab and just breaks the move and goes over to taunt Raven. Benoit chops away at Kidman who is just getting demolished. Kidman kind of hits a headscissors take over off the apron and the crushes him with a springboard bulldog. Kidman spears him to the floor but gets the worst of it and Benoit chops him down and does it again. Benoit is sent into a lariat from Saturn and Kidman nails him with a shooting star press from the apron. back in the ring Kidman stomps on him, and gets two after a slingshot legdrop. Kidman works him over and puts him in a chinlock but Benoit gets up and back suplexes him. Kidman is up first and pounds him but gets nailed and then picked up front ways and given a backbreaker and then they go at it until Benoit trips him up and puts him in the Crossface and it is over.
Good match. The Flock runs in and gets destroyed but the numbers game takes over and Raven DDT’s Benoit. Saturn who was tossed applies the Rings of Saturn.
Match 8: Buff Bagwell v. Lex Luger
They lock up and neither gets the advantage and Buff poses for him. Luger poses too. Buff pushes and then slaps him and Luger unloads on him and back drops him. Luger runs him over and press slams him, Buff is clotheslined to the floor. Buff grabs his legs and pulls him out, drives him into the side of the ring. Back in the ring he kicks him in the ribs, and stomps away on him. Buff drops an elbow, getting two and gets two more after a bodyslam and has a reverse chinlock applied. Luger finally gets up and clotheslines him but Buff is able to take him down and get a near fall. He kicks Luger and then argues with the ref, goes back to Lex and chokes him out with the rope. Buff runs him from pillar to post, bashing his head into the turnbuckle. Luger fights back but gets pummeled and down he goes. Lex is whipped into the corner, then the other one and clotheslined. Another whip and this time Lex gets the feet up and Buff misses a charge and is dropped back with a suplex. Luger nails him with an inverted atomic drop, clotheslines him and now a powerslam and he calls for the Rack. He takes out Vince and Buff again, now he tosses Vincent into Buff and the match is tossed and Lex puts him in the Rack and now Bagwell gets the Rack.
Okay match, and Buff looked decent.
Match 9: Curt Hennig v. DDP for WCW US Title
Curt is taken down and retreats to the floor, walks up the ramp and slowly turns and heads back to the ring. He gets in and DDP pounds him, Curt cannot get him off as DDP holds the hair and then runs him over. DDP strikes with a swinging neckbreaker but he gets kicked in the nuts. Curt works over Page, snaps the neck and is bodyslammed. The ref is dazed, Curt clotheslines him and gets two. Curt applies the rear chinlock. DDP is up and fights him off but is briefly put in a sleeper; he falls down and the chinlock is back on. Curt is up and stomps on him, kicks him all the while taunting him, Hennig chops him but gets pulled down after telegraphing the backdrop. DDP clotheslines him and then goes off on him and down he goes. DDP motions for the Cutter but pancakes him first. Here comes Rick Rude, Curt pokes DDP in the eyes and goes for a bodyslams but is Diamond Cutted instead. Rude pulls out the ref and now the B team runs down and they get ousted with ease until Savage belts him with the US belt and let the beatdown begin. Here comes Hogan and EB. The fans chant for Sting as Hogan now goes up to DDP and gives him a terrible looking Diamond Cutter. Hogan lays out the title belt and the nWo holds him up as Nash puts a Sting mask on DDP and he gets Cutted into the belt.
Poor DDP as Hogan has just absolutely owned him and humiliated him, and Lord knows when it will end. A serviceable Nitro. It did the job in helping to set up the PPV and while the wrestling was not that great the last three matches were decent and long. The Raven and Benoit feud has some potential. Hopefully Sting makes an appearance soon and I wonder when Bret Hart will arrive. Curt has been booked surprisingly strong since coming to WCW and I also wonder how long that will last and if Ric Flair will come back and ever get some revenge. A lot of unanswered questions and I am positive many will not be answered but at least the show was entertaining.