Raw History: Episode 176 and Reliving Nitro: Episode 53

Raw History
Episode #176
September 16th, 1996| Civic Center in Wheeling, West Virginia

WWF Champion: Shawn Michaels (1) since 3/31/96
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Vacant since 8/12/96
WWF Tag Team Champions: The Smoking Gunns (3) since 5/26/96

This block of tapings from Wheeling is somehow still ongoing. The opening video package focuses on the final four in the Intercontinental Title tournament. Marc Mero, Owen Hart, Sycho Sid and Faarooq.

The Sultan w/ Bob Backlund and Iron Sheik def. Jake Roberts in 3:04
Jake goes after Jerry Lawler at ringside but Lawler scurries. When the match starts, Roberts goes for an early DDT but Sultan slips free. Jake remains distracted by Lawler because they feud apparently needs to continue. He throws booze at Jake, which allows Sultan to win via camel clutch. A winning debut for Sultan but not an impressive performance. ¼*

Backstage, Brian Pillman reminds us that Bret Hart will be at In Your House: Mind Games. Owen Hart confirms this before Steve Austin enters the picture and promises to be there to get questions answered. He ends by saying that he’s the best there is.

Non-Title Match: Alex Porteau and Bob Holly def. WWF Tag Team Champions The Smoking Gunns w/ Sunny in 5:47
Sunny drops a giant photo of herself from the rafters before the bell. Holly starts hot and causes Billy to roll outside, where he can barely stand. JR claims that Razor Ramon and Diesel will return to Raw next week. Owen Hart, British Bulldog and Jim Cornette come down to get a closer look at the champions. JR also plugs Cornette and Sunny hosting the debut of Livewire. Look at the WWF packing a bunch of information into this match. The Pug and Sparky Plug show fire and nearly pull off the upset a few times. They even work a hot tag to Holly. The Gunns hit the Sidewinder but an Owen distraction allows Holly to roll Billy up for the upset. A relatively fun sprint. **

Gorilla Monsoon speaks from his office to say that Razor Ramon and Diesel are indeed under contract with another promotion. He apologizes to the fans who have been hoodwinked. An angry Jim Ross leaves the booth.

In the ring, Jerry Lawler conducts an interview with Jim Cornette and Vader. Cornette is scheduled to face Jose Lothario at the PPV. Cornette claims that Vader has been training him. They bring in Tony Williams, a jobber, to give Jim a workout. Williams gives Cornette problems and counters everything. He applies a toe hold so Vader comes over the levels him.

WWF Intercontinental Championship Tournament Semi-Finals: Marc Mero w/ Sable def. Owen Hart in 7:30
Jim Ross returns to commentary but isn’t pleased with Gorilla Monsoon. Pat Patterson, the first ever IC Champion, also joins. He will be officiating the finals. They work a quick paced opening of back and forth until Owen scores on a spinning heel kick. To take away from the match, Gorilla is back on a split screen to argue with Jim Ross. He calls them Kevin Nash and Scott Hall before sending it back to the “action” in the ring, which is just Owen working a chin lock. Owen’s cast is filthy at this point. Owen hits a missile dropkick but takes a back suplex. Mero busts out the somersault plancha and a splash inside for two. Owen uses the dirty cast but it isn’t quite enough. While Owen argues with the referee, Mero uses the cast and wins. Disappointing to be honest. I don’t think it was bad but they could have done more. **¼

Footage from the WWF’s tour of South Africa is shown. Though Bret was away from the company, he continued to work the foreign tours, which explains why he was still in great shape for his official return. He calls Pillman a liar, saying he never said he was coming back at the PPV.

WWF Intercontinental Championship Tournament Semi-Finals: Faarooq w/ Sunny def. Sycho Sid via disqualification in 7:14
The outcome to this felt obvious going in. Sid is way over so facing Mero in the finals would derail any face momentum Marc had. However, he is too over to job to Faarooq. Faarooq starts hot and thinks he did something but Sid no sells and kicks ass. When Faarooq wears down Sid, we go to a split screen of Ahmed issuing a warning to him. Faarooq tries a cross body off the top for some reason and Sid catches him in a powerslam. Following a break, Sid delivers a chokeslam but Sunny gets on the apron. Sid is supposedly so beat up that Faarooq gets up first and hits Sid with a chair twice. Sid kicks out and gets mad. He hits the weakest chair shot I’ve ever seen for the DQ. Hulk Hogan and Lance Storm would both think it was weak. Decent enough match with the expected finish. About as good as I could have hoped for with these two. **

We hear from The Undertaker ahead of the Curtain Call match on Sunday. Goldust is the first of many that he must destroy on the way to Mankind and Paul Bearer. I mean, who else do you have to beat? They run down the card to close the show. Goldust vs. Undertaker, Smoking Gunns vs. Bulldog and Owen. Mark Henry vs. Jerry Lawler. Jose Lothario vs. Jim Cornette. Mankind vs. Shawn Michaels. Mankind and Bearer cut a promo on the match. Bearer sings “Sexy Boy” while Mankind hopes to become one after winning.

Fall Brawl 1996 Results
DDP def. Chavo Guerrero Jr in 13:08 (**½)
Ice Train def. Scott Norton in 7:17 (*)
Konnan (c) def. Juventud Guerrero to retain the Mexican Heavyweight Title in 13:45 (***¼)
Chris Benoit def. Chris Jericho in 14:46 (***¾)
Rey Mysterio Jr. (c) def. Super Cal to retain the Cruiserweight Championship in 15:05 (***)
Harlem Heat def. The Nasty Boyz to retain the Tag Team Titles in 15:31 (**)
The Giant def. Randy Savage in 7:47 (**¼)
Team nWo def. Team WCW in War Games in 18:15 (***¼)

Reliving Nitro
Episode #53
September 16th, 1996 | Civic Center in Ashville, North Carolina

WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Hulk Hogan (2) 8/10/96
WCW United States Champion: Ric Flair (5) since 7/7/96
WCW World Tag Team Champions: Harlem Heat (6) since 7/27/96
WCW Television Champion: Lord Steven Regal (3) since 8/20/96
WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Rey Mysterio Jr. (1) since 7/8/96

Our typical hour one commentary duo handles things. They recap War Games. “Sting” showed up for the nWo, only for the real Sting to enter for Team WCW. He went nuts on everyone before walking out on Team WCW for not trusting him. Once he left, WCW fell back to shambles and nWo bested them. We see fans of the nWo handing out propaganda to fans entering the arena.

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Rey Mysterio Jr. (c) def. Juventud Guerrera in 6:54
While these guys work some stuff early on, Tony Schiavone informs us that Ted Dibiase changed the nWo’s demands. They don’t just want TV time, they want their own show. He then plugs Glacier’s Nitro debut. Juvi hits a big back elbow for the first hard shot of the match. Juvi’s momentum gets stopped when Rey dropkicks him in mid-springboard. Rey nails a springboard rana to the outside as we go to commercial. Returning, it’s Juvi who springboards now with a spinning heel kick. A baseball slide and Asai moonsault continues things. They continue to wow the fans but we get taken to footage of nWo fans celebrating Fall Brawl in the parking lot. Juvi tries a super bomb but Rey counters with a rana for an awesome finish. Easily the best finish on Nitro thus far. Would have been better with less distractions but what we saw ruled. ***¼

Backstage, Mike Tenay interviews Mongo and Chris Benoit. They’re pissed at Sting and Lex Luger for letting the Horsemen down and they face them in tag action tonight.

VIGNETTE ~ Our final Blood Runs Cold video. Glacier speaks here and it dooms the already faltering gimmick. He speaks and totally sounds like a Southern boy, which just doesn’t work here.

Diamond Dallas Page def. Ice Train w/ Teddy Long in 4:41
Ice Train gets an entrance but DDP doesn’t. Both guys won last night. Train overpowers DDP several times in the first few minutes. DDP turns it around but Train powers out of a pin. DDP hits a big clothesline to stop his momentum. Train gets a near fall with a powerslam and then hits a splash that Big E would be proud it. We get more nWo propaganda by the merchandise table. The match ends while we see this, so good job production crew. Train apparently had DDP in a full nelson and DDP grabbed a towel from Long. Nick Patrick believed Teddy threw it in for his guy WHO HAD THE SUBMISSION LOCKED IN! Awful finish. ½*

Sean Waltman is spotted in the crowd. They mention that he was formerly the 1-2-3 Kid and Larry Zbyszko thinks he’s here to join the nWo.

Mexican Heavyweight Championship: Konnan (c) w/ Jimmy Hart def. Super Calo in 6:44
So Juvi and Calo lose title matches last night and swap to get shots at the other belts tonight. Konnan as a Dungeon of Doom member is ridiculous. Konnan has the AAA Heavyweight Title with him as the Mexican Title tonight. They start quickly and Calo hits a dive outside. Konnan uses a super arm drag for two. Konnan tries the tree of woe, Kevin Sullivan’s specialty, but Cal counters with a head scissors and dives outside onto him. They continue the back and forth until Calo knocks him outside and gets Konnan’s feet stuck under the ring. He follows out with a somersault and then a missile dropkick. The dropkick spot is bad business because Calo crashes hard. Konnan can’t win with a cradle DDT or spinebuster but finally does with a black tiger bomb. Lots of MOVES but not much else. Typical AAA related stuff. **¾

Mike Tenay interviews Waltman at ringside. He says that he’s been in Japan for a while so he wanted to come check out Nitro. He looks much more like X-Pac than the 1-2-3 Kid here. He claims to not know who won War Games and gives an “aw shucks” when he hears the nWo did.

WCW SATURDAY NIGHT ~ The Amazing French Canadians, Taskmaster, Rey Mysterio Jr., Konnan and Jim Powers are all promoted.

Brad Armstrong def. Hugh Morris in 3:55
So is Hugh Morris not important enough for Jimmy Hart to accompany him? The fans don’t care about this at all. Morris manhandles Armstrong, who does a decent job of bumping. He starts rallying with a hip toss but gets knocked down. Morris hits No Laughing Matter but nonchalantly pins, allowing Armstrong to roll him over for the upset. Brad wins something but who cares? ¾*

Mike Tenay brings out Randy Savage for an interview. He does a lot of rhyming before saying that he’s a million miles below rock bottom after losing last night. He has nothing to lose and is coming for Hulk Hogan.

In the back, the nWo are here, including the fake Sting. They say there’s nobody left to beat up.

Scott Norton def. Randy Savage in 6:35
Savage is a wild man right from the start. They fight outside for a bit and then inside, Norton hits a Samoan drop. Norton nails a powerbomb for a near fall. Savage begins to rally with right hands but Norton counters with an inverted atomic drop. Outside again, Savage tosses Norton into the guardrails. They go inside for a few seconds before returning outside. Savage takes a chair and whacks Norton in the skull several times, resulting in a DQ. Fine little match that also got Savage over as being royally pissed. Nick Patrick runs out but Savage throws him aside too. **

Glacier def. Big Bubba w/ Jimmy Hart in 2:42
Glacier’s entrance might have been longer than the match. He is the originator of having lighting during his matches (early Kane and Sin Cara would later use it), with a blue spotlight on the match. He uses his KARATE offense to take over Bubba. He fires off kicks and rolls over Bubba, causing Heenan to say it’s amazing. A big kick gets Glacier the win. Mostly a squash that shuts up Bubba.

Sting comes out to no music and gets the microphone from the ring announcers. It’s subtle but Sting turns his back to the hard camera while cutting the promo. It’s a fuck you to WCW. He says that he flew to Atlanta last week and saw friends in the WCW turn their backs on him. Commentary does the bad move of explaining Sting cutting the promo with his back turned. Don’t beat us over the head with it. He avoided friends for the week to see what happened next. He showed up at Fall Brawl and nobody trusted him. Sting rightfully brings up how he always gave Lex Luger the benefit of the doubt, but nobody would do the same for him. He’ll stick by his fans but isn’t part of the nWo or WCW. The commentators and wrestlers can stick it. Sting calls himself a free agent who will only pop in when you least expect it. There you go folks. The last words spoken on WCW TV by Sting for about 14 months.

Backstage, Elizabeth is afraid to come to ringside because of the nWo, so Flair, Arn and Woman leave her behind.

Sean Waltman stands up on his seat and presses a button. A bunch of flyers fall from the rafters promoting the nWo.

Arn Anderson and Ric Flair w/ Woman def. Chris Jericho and Marcus Bagwell in 11:06
Poor Chris Jericho is saddled with Bagwell. Arn begins the match by trading offense with Jericho. He eats a missile dropkick while more nWo papers fall. Flair and Bagwell enter. I believe they would go on to feud in the waning years of WCW. Bagwell fires off some right hands that Flair sells well. Bagwell hits a back body drop and dropkick causing Flair to beg. It’s just a tactic to send Bagwell outside, where Arn wails on him. Inside, Arn plants Jericho with the spinebuster. Fans are throwing balled up versions of the flyers in the ring, which Flair throws back. Arn takes to wearing down Jericho’s leg. We get a split screen of the nWo welcoming Waltman outside. They call him “big man.” The Giant has a boom box that looks tiny in his massive hands. They play the fake Sting tape that fooled everyone last Monday. A distraction from Woman helps Arn spike Bagwell with the DDT. Flair taunts and applies the Figure Four, which gets the 1-2-3. Solid action but a lot of nonsense with the nWo distractions outside and the papers making a mess from the sky. *¾

Lex Luger def. Chris Benoit and Steve McMichael w/ Debra via disqualification in 6:00
Sting does not show up for this. Mongo and Benoit take turns giving Luger a beat down. Eric Bischoff mentions all the guys that won’t be here next week because they’re working Japan. Bobby Heenan tells him to shut up because the nWo now know how easy they have it next week. Luger makes a rally and puts Mongo in the Torture Rack. Flair and Arn show up, but eat SCREAMING CLOTHESLINES. This leads to a DQ. Boring stuff. ½*

The numbers game is too much and the Horsemen beat down on Luger.

The nWo get shown outside and a cameraman is brought into the limo. Waltman will officially be known as Syxx, since he’s the sixth member (I guess faux Sting doesn’t count). Hogan reiterates that Randy Savage will be one of the only guys still in the States next week. Hogan says that he’s the champ and has pull, so maybe he can get the nWo backstage thanks to his pull. The final shot is Luger laid out in the ring because Sting never returned to help him. Serves him right.

Raw Rating: 2.1
Nitro Rating: 3.4

5.5

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

Raw: After a terrible start, we were treated to three decent matches. The Gunns getting upset was fun and gave some build to a match that had none. The two IC Title tournament matches did their job and though I wanted more from Mero/Owen, I’d still call this a middle of the pack episode. 5.0

Nitro: Slightly better than Raw this week. Most of the matches are very skippable for sure, but some very important things happen here to balance things out. The Sting promo is historic, while Syxx debuted and added to the nWo’s growing numbers. The best thing was that nothing felt like it lasted too long. The tag match was decent, the Mexican Title match was better than expected and I thought the Cruiserweight Title match delivered as well. If only WCW could stop interrupting good things to show other stuff. I get they wanted a chaotic feel but it messes up the flow. 6.0