Andrew Lutzke
Nitro
Nitro comes out firing as they are up against the last pre-Mania RAW and 3 title matches are announced right away.
Randy “Macho Man” Savage vs. David “Belfast Bruiser” Finley
The announcers put over both men’s grueling matches from the previous night. Finley traps Macho in some nerve locks and sleeper holds before walloping him with European uppercuts. Savage rallies with a stiff looking clothesline and sends Finley to the floor with a flying knee. The Bruiser takes the fight to Macho on the floor through and Randy is sent into the ring post and dropped face first unto the railing. Finley misses a charge back in the ring and falls right in place for Macho’s big elbow and the pin. Not a bad match considering it was a bit of a styles clash.
Ric Flair promo: Flair starts singing “I’ve got the whole world in my hands” and that’s quite surreal given Bray Wyatt’s recent usage. Flair sidesteps his match tonight with The Giant in order to scream about Lex Luger and him having issues again.
Eric Bischoff explains why Brian Pillman didn’t appear as scheduled in last night’s DOOMSDAY CAGE. Storyline wise, Pillman didn’t want to team with Kevin Sullivan. In reality, Pillman had throat surgery and WCW expected him back from it ASAP. Pillman declined to comply. He also felt it was foolish to book him in a match with Sullivan as a partner, since he “quit” WCW on screen due to Sullivan.
Pillman and ECW had issues going on as well, as Pillman expected ECW to pay him for creating and producing vignettes that put him over. Heyman thought Pillman would foot the bill. A planned Pillman vs. Shane Douglas match would not come to pass.
US Champion Konnan vs. Mr. JL
Lynn got a big win last night in the cruiserweight tournament, so I guess he had to job tonight to make sure he didn’t get too over. Konnan’s outfit is ridiculous again. He’s wearing his gangbanger rag on his head under his lucha hood.
JL gets a pair of flying head scissors and Konnan bails out. Konnan flips JL around with an armdrag into a monkey flip – then locks JL in a bow-and-arrow. They go through a nice back and forth flipping sequence.
JL nails a dropkick to the back of Konnan’s head and that somehow causes him to tweak his knee. Bischoff notes that Konnan is winded. Konnan takes his time climbing the ropes and JL hits a elevated DDT. Konnan survives that and manages to deliver a spinebuster into a roll-up for the pin. Match was fine. It’s nice to see Konnan trying to impress.
The Booty Man vs. Disco Inferno
The first “Nitro party” is mentioned. Disco is wearing DDP’s rings since Page had to sell them off since he’s poor. Bischoff pretends Booty Man is way over. Kimberly slaps Booty’s butt for inspiration and a flying knee ends this mercifully quick.
This Saturday Night!!!…Sting vs. Dean Malenko…Lex Luger vs. The Shark…Dave Finley vs. Bobby Eaton…and Flair and The Giant in attendance. I distinctly remember badly wanting to see that Shark/Luger match. I had odd tastes.
World tag champs Lex Luger and Sting vs. The American Males
Luger only slaps the fans hands when Sting’s looking as they walk down to the ring. Lex starts out poorly against Scotty Riggs’ speed and Bagwell out punches him as well. Sting and Bagwell have a friendly game of one-upmanship. Lex tries his luck with Bagwell and snaps when he can’t dominate. The announcers do a good job telling the story of the match, what a concept!
Sting and Riggs go tit-for-tat until Sting gets a fluky pin that Bagwell chooses not to break up. Luger storms off as Sting shakes his opponents hands.
World Champion Ric “Nature Boy” Flair vs. The Giant
Another major match given away for the sake of a rating. Not much sensible build here, as the Dungeon and the Horsemen were quasi-partners in crime. This should have been done at least a week later, with this week featuring a summit of Horsemen and Dungeon goons blaming each other for last night’s loss and then Giant vs. Flair being made.
The announcers are re-igniting a Savage/Flair angle that was sidetracked over the past month by the DOOMSDAY CAGE build. Woman and Elizabeth toss Macho Man’s alimony money to the fans. Why would that piss Savage off? Liz is the one blowing her share of the loot. Savage tries to attack but is held back by Hacksaw Duggan and other babyfaces.
Flair gets right into the Giant’s grill, so Giant tosses him across the ring. Flair tries a shoulderblock…that ends as well as would be expected. So he does it again. Bischoff reminds everyone of Flair’s conquering of Vader to try and sell that Flair has a chance.
Giant no sells everything and suplexes Flair. Flair tries a top rope attack and is caught.
The Giant climbs to the top rope (!) and misses a splash that literally could not have landed. Then the Giant misses a charge and flies over the top rope. I bet Big Show regrets those bumps now. Flair uses piano wire to choke the Giant. Giant shakes off more chops and punches so Flair blasts him in his Giant wang.
Giant shakes that off and hits a chokeslam. Arn Anderson runs in and cracks the Giant with a chair. Kevin Sullivan runs in and snags the chair away. Giant sees Sullivan with the chair and chokeslams his mentor. Arn is then chokeslammed for good measure. Bodies lay everywhere as The Giant walks off. Solid match.
RAW
Bret Hart had planned on quitting after his match this Sunday at Mania, but his proposed role in TV’s “Lonesome Dove” fell through when the show was canceled. His future remains uncertain.
We are 6 days until Wrestlemania, so it’s time for what should be the biggest “go home” show of the year.
Shawn Michaels vs. Leif Cassidy
Shawn introduces Jose Lothario as his corner man. Leif acts geeked out to see Shawn in person. Bret Hart comes down and that scares Lawler off. HBK sends Cassidy flying with several hip tosses and Hart acknowledges that Shawn is faster, so Bret will just have to “pound him into dirt”.
Hart buries lucha libre again as he critiques Shawn’s moveset. Leif nails a beautiful spinbuster, a ura-nage (Rock bottom), and a modified surfboard/leg crab type move. Snow’s busting out his “A” game since he’s on his fourth gimmick within a year and needs to stick on here for the sake of his career.
Marty Jannetty wanders down. Hart makes fun of Shawn getting beat up by “nine cheerleaders.” Awesome smack talk as Hart continues on as the (unintentional?) subtle heel path. Vince sounds a bit pissed when Shawn ends up bleeding somehow. Poor Al can’t catch a break.
Just as I type that Snow botches some overhead toss move and tries to break Shawn’s neck by causing him to hit the ropes awkwardly while upside down and sends him crashing to the mat. What the hell was he going for there?
Shawn absorbs a superplex and Cassidy tries to give him another but this time HBK tosses him off and hits a flying clothesline. Shawn then gets his shine as he delivers two nasty looking reverse atomic drops and looks pissed doing it. Knowing Shawn, the botches and potato shots probably pissed him off and he’s giving Snow his receipts.
Marty trips HBK but Bret comes to his aid and backs Jannetty away. Micheals hits a superkick for the win and then shoves Hart aside to get at Marty. Hart takes exception to this and they have a staredown. Jose gets Michaels to leave.
Aldo Montoya vs. HHH
Aldo! Smell the ratings! Montoya helps HHH’s lady to the floor and that allows Hunter to sneak attack him. Vince makes fun of WCW for promising men to appear on their PPV that didn’t show up.
HHH runs through his offense but gives his Kliq-in-training buddy Montoya a few hope spots. HHH wins with the pedigree. Way more competitive than it should have been – then again HHH having a chance vs. The Ultimate Warrior didn’t matter, since the selling point is all about the Warrior’s return, his opponent is rather inconsequential.
Goldust is at the “Hollywood back lot” cutting a promo on Piper. They add “edited for TV” as an on screen graphic in a nice touch. Never know how far Goldust will go. He molests a mannequin that is dressed like Roddy. He smashes it when his threats are through.
The final Mankind teaser airs and alerts us that he’ll debut next week.
The Undertaker does an in ring promo with Vince. He and Bearer do a standard “Rest in Peace” promo.
Michael Hayes is singing “Badstreet USA” with the RAW band. It’s not the rock version and that makes it a bit jarring to hear. Hayes is dressed like he’s a country singer.
A Shawn vs. Bret video package is aired. It’s pretty great as they put Hart over as a legend and HBK as the predator coming to knock him off his throne. If HBK fails, he is letting down his trainer, his fans and his own life’s ambition.
Hart talks about admiring Randy Savage and then realizing he surpassed the Macho Man in talent and since then he has never looked back. Hart lays out his game plan and its all UFC like PURE SPORTS BUILD and I love every bit of it!!! Wrasslin’!!
Ahmed Johnson vs. Owen Hart
Owen challenges Ahmed to a pose off. Johnson makes faces in return. Johnson tosses Hart across the ring like he was a bag of garbage and not a flesh and blood human. Then a shoulder tackle sends Owen flopping head over heels. The Bulldog comes down.
Ahmed makes fun of Hart’s height and gets on his knees, so Owen kicks him in the guts. Serves him right. Johnson puts Hart on the top rope and gives him a love tap and walks away. Hart tries a flying attack and Johnson catches him for a sloppy spinebuster.
The Bulldog distracts Johnson long enough for Owen to knock him to the floor. Ahmed’s abuse is hidden by a commercial and when we get back Johnson is already making his comeback. The Bulldog runs in and Johnson fends both he and Owen off. Vader makes it 3-on-1 and that is too much for Ahmed. Jake and Yoko slowly waddle down to make the save. The heels flee.
A Bret Hart tribute video closes the show. The music is bad but I remember it well.
Final thoughts:
RAW was an excellent go home show, touching on all the key matches and adding the last sprinkle of heat to the matches. I am eager to watch Wrestlemania next week now.
As has been the norm in recent weeks, Nitro provided a (barely) better line up of action but RAW delivered on the intangibles to make for a more compelling broadcast.
WCW largely spins it’s wheels for another week, while RAW has the benefit of having the biggest show of the year to focus on. Next time I’ll be covering Wrestlemania 12 and we are only a few mere weeks away from the N.W.O.(!)
