Raw History: Episode 181 and Reliving Nitro: Episode 58

Buried Alive Results
Steve Austin def. Hunter Hearst Helmsley in 15:32
WWF Tag Team Championship: Owen Hart and British Bulldog (c) def. The Smoking Gunns in 9:17
WWF Intercontinental Championship: Marc Mero (c) def. Goldust in 11:38
Sid def. Vader in 8:01
Buried Alive Match: Mankind def. The Undertaker in 18:25 (***½)

Raw History
Episode #181
October 21st, 1996 | War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana

WWF Champion: Shawn Michaels (1) since 3/31/96
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Marc Mero (1) since 9/23/96
WWF Tag Team Champions: Owen Hart and the British Bulldog (1) since 9/22/96

The show opens with a video recapping Bret Hart’s departure from the WWF. He returns tonight and has an announcement. Plus, Mr. Perfect steps in the ring for the first time in three years.

Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are on commentary.

Sycho Sid def. Owen Hart w/ Clarence Mason via disqualification in 7:00
After beating Vader last night, Sid is the number one contender for the WWF Title. Sid clearly overpowers Owen early. Owen comes back with a missile dropkick but gets knocked outside. British Bulldog runs down to help his partner and Sid goes after him too. Owen gets a cheap shot opening and is wise enough to take it. After a break, Owen is in control by working Sid’s leg. It’s a smart strategy that the Harts always did a good job with. Sid even sells well after missing a leg drop. Sid endures more leg work before hitting the chokeslam. He calls for the powerbomb but Bulldog runs in with a clothesline for the DQ. Better than I expected, especially the parts where Sid attempted to sell the damage. **

Shawn Michaels, Sid’s opponent for Survivor Series, comes out to make the save and even the odds. They send the Tag Team Champions packing. They talk things over and fist bump because they’re on good terms.

LAST NIGHT ~ Still images are shown from the Buried Alive match.

Number One Contender’s Match: The Godwins w/ Hillbilly Jim def. The Smoking Gunns in 4:14
With Sunny out of the picture, I was hoping these teams would never face off again. Jim Ross joins commentary for this. Also, if the Gunns lost their title shot last night and the Godwins beat the champions in a non-title match on Superstars a week or two ago, shouldn’t they get a shot? They go through basic stuff until Billy sends Phineas outside and stomps on him. Henry gets a mild tag and wins with the Slop Drop on Bart. This tag division is pathetic. ¾*

Billy argues with Bart, blaming him for the loss.

We get a video recapping the 1996 Hall of Fame class. Pat Patterson, Jimmy Snuka and Vincent J. McMahon are the inductees mentioned.

Backstage, Hunter Hearst Helmsley runs down Mr. Perfect with a storage crate. The bastard!

For the first time since WrestleMania XII, Bret Hart returns to WWF television. Before he comes out, they recap Steve Austin running him down on Livewire this past Saturday. Since Jim Ross is handling the interview, I bet fans were thinking it would be a knockoff version of Bret, but it is indeed the real thing. He is asked about his future and mentions that a “rival wrestling organization” made him a great offer. They treated him with respect and integrity so he was faced with a dilemma. Bret says he is greedy for respect, not money. Vince’s reactions are great here at ringside. The locker room watches from the back, with Steve Austin front and center. Bret says he will be with the WWF forever. Sure, Bret. Vince is relieved that Bret is staying. Bret continues by saying he didn’t leave because of Shawn Michaels. He lost fair and square and has no excuses. Shawn may be more popular and cuter, but Shawn will never be as tough or smart. Vince is quick to say he may disagree. Bret accepts the challenge of the “best wrestler in the WWF today”, Steve Austin. Brian Pillman is giddy over the news, causing Austin to throw him a stern look. Bret calls MSG holy ground and will kick Austin’s ass at Survivor Series. Bret thanks the fans and tells a story about a sick little boy in Canada. He looked up to Bret and Bret promised that if he pulled through, he’d come out of retirement. The kid got better but passed away anyway. It was Bret’s nephew (and brother of Teddy Hart). Bret promises to be a role model, since he doesn’t dance or pose for “girly books”. It went a bit long but it’s great to have Bret back. He got his point across and planted the seeds for the expected Bret/Shawn WrestleMania rematch in a few months.

Todd Pettengil and Jerry Lawler hype the Karate Fighters Tournament.

Mr. Perfect’s theme plays and he comes out limping with Marc Mero and Sable. Gorilla Monsoon is there too and announces that he will not allow Perfect to compete. Perfect is pissed but says Mero stepped up to replace him as a thank you for advice that led him to the Intercontinental Title. HHH is under no obligation to face Mero. Gorilla agrees and says he can leave if he wants. HHH says he’ll only face Mero if the title is on the line. Babyface Mero agrees.

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Hunter Hearst Helmsley def. Marc Mero (c) w/ Mr. Perfect and Sable in 6:38
This gets joined in progress and Mero lights up HHH. He goes to dive outside, but HHH pulls Sable in harm’s way. She responds by slapping him. Why was that not a disqualification? They fight outside, while Mr. Perfect is on commentary. He puts over Mero several times. Mero gets two on a sunset flip and a backslide. HHH gets in control with a backbreaker before hitting a knee drop that completely misses Mero. It looked bad. He gets two on the high knee. Both guys pick up near falls heading into a break. Mero channels his inner Johnny B. Badd with a taunt from those days. He goes up top but HHH shoves the referee into the ropes, causing him to lose his balance. Again, why no DQ called? Mero comes close on a big moonsault and the crowd is way into this. Mero gets tossed into the referee, taking him out. HHH gets a chair so Sable gets on the apron and grabs it. Perfect snatches it from them and backs HHH into the corner. He turns a whacks Mero with it! SWERVE! HHH plants the lifeless champion with a Pedigree to earn the gold. Tidy match that had an invested crowd. The title change was a TV rarity, so I liked it happening here. Good back and forth action here. ***

Hunter and Perfect hug and celebrate the success of their master plan.

Reliving Nitro
Episode #58
October 21st, 1996 | Mankato Civic Center in Mankato, Minnesota

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 (7) since 10/5/96
WCW Television Champion: Lord Steven Regal (3) since 8/20/96
WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Rey Mysterio Jr. (1) since 7/8/96

LAST WEEK ~ Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko open things by showing us the footage of a distraught Macho Man watching Elizabeth’s heartfelt video.

Chris Jericho def. Bobby Eaton in 7:14
Bobby Eaten is no longer pretending to be British. Commentary hypes the return of Sting tonight for the first time in about a month. Syxx and Fake Sting hang out in the stands by an nWo banner. It makes sense since Syxx faces Jericho at the PPV. These two start quickly and Jericho hits a shoulder block. The turnbuckle pads are blue and red, which is odd. They stumble through a powerslam spot leading to a near fall. Some guy in an nWo shirt in the crowd jumps into the picture, standing in front of other fans, and does some Scott Hall taunts. Jericho nails a springboard dropkick that sends Eaton outside. Eaton works the arm inside but the camera pays attention to the nWo again. Eaton knocks Jericho off the top and nails a diving knee for two. Jericho wins with a missile dropkick as Syxx looks on. Decent TV contest. Both guys put in effort and had a lean match with no shenanigans. **¼

Tony Schiavone interviews Jericho about the upcoming match with Syxx. It’s the most generic promo of Jericho’s life. His cheesy babyface fire was lame.

A Rey Mysterio video package is shown to horrible stock music.

Dean Malenko def. Jimmy Graffiti in 6:42
I’ve never heard of Jimmy Graffiti before, but it’s just Jimmy Del Rey in what looks like Public Enemy attire. WCW was a strange place at times. He badly needs his mustache. They start with some solid mat work since Dean is great there and Jimmy wasn’t half bad. Jimmy brings it with a DDT, sitout powerbomb and superkick, all for near falls. Someone is trying to stick around despite his horrible look/gimmick. Fake Sting must like the match since he records it. Dean wails on Jimmy, trying to put the jobber in his place. Jimmy blocks the Texas Cloverleaf and gets two on a small package. Dean uses a cross body to take them both outside. Jimmy comes off the top inside and gets caught with the Cloverleaf. Much better than expected. I thought Dean would just squash him but Jimmy had his working boots on. **½

SATURDAY NIGHT ~ No matches announced but appearances by Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit, Jeff Jarrett, Faces of Fear and the nWo!

Diamond Dallas Page def. Sgt. Craig Pittman w/ Teddy Long in 2:53
They take time to plug the Diamond Cutter during DDP’s entrance. Outside of feuds with the Booty Man and the Guerreros, he’s done a lot of nothing in 1996 but continues to get more over. DDP attacks from behind to gain the early upper hand. Pittman works the arm and applies the armbar. For some reason, Long gets on the apron, distracting Nick Patrick, who misses DDP giving up. Pittman argues with Nick and the Diamond Cutter ends it. I understand continuing the Long/Patrick issues but why make DDP look weak in the process? Plus, Long is to blame for getting on the apron. DUD

Tony Schiavone interviews Nick Patrick about missing the submission. He rightly points out that Teddy Long getting on the apron made him miss it. Tony again accuses him of being the nWo referee, which he denies.

TWO WEEKS AGO ~ The nWo jumps Ric Flair backstage and Jeff Jarrett called out the nWo for not showing respect.

Jeff Jarrett def. Ron Studd in 1:29
Ron Studd was almost guaranteed to appear on Nitro to be warm up fodder for anyone scheduled to face the Giant. Ric Flair shows up in casual wear purely so he and Jeff can have a strut off. The fans clearly pick Flair but they shake hands and Flair just leaves. That’s it. Jeff impresses by suplexing Studd and wins with the Figure Four. Fine stuff to push that Jeff could beat the Giant.

Tony Schiavone is doing his best Mean Gene, interviewing Jeff. Jarrett says it’s time for WCW to start playing offense and promises not to get chokeslammed at Halloween Havoc. Flair returns to put Jeff over and then rants about the nWo.

HOUR NUMBER TWO!

Lex Luger def. Roadblock in 3:48
Yes, this is the jobber the future WWE Pay-Per-View is named after. He literally wears a roadblock around his neck during his entrance. Apparently, his first venture into the business was jumping into the ring years earlier and taking down One Man Gang as a fan. Surprisingly, he ended up in the business. Roadblock starts with some offense but Luger gets tired of selling and slams him. It wasn’t good selling to begin with. Luger calls for the Torture Rack but fails, dropping Roadblock several times. He finally wins with it but this did the opposite of what it needed to. Luger looked like crap. He failed to rack Roadblock and it lessened the impact when he finally did. -*¼

ON THE ROAD REPORT ~ Lee Marshall is in Phoenix ahead of next week’s Nitro. He plans on partying at Arizona State.

Non-Title Match: WCW World Tag Team Champions Harlem Heat w/ Col. Robert Parker and Sister Sherri def. The American Males in 9:35
Eric Bischoff mentions the score of the Braves/Yankees World Series game during the American Males’ entrance. Can’t have fans turning to check out Ted Turner’s team. The Males beat Harlem Heat for the Tag Titles on an early episode of Nitro. They start with some tandem offense and work at a quick pace. Stevie Ray tags out during the break and Booker is in to keep up with Buff. Remember the match they would go on to have on Raw? Buff takes the heat and gets pounded on in the corner. The Outsiders watch from the stands. Riggs gets the warm tag but it only leads to a controversial finish. Sherri and Parker get on the apron and Parker gets leveled. That opens the door for Booker to score with an axe kick. Stevie pins him and Buff is a split-second too late to break it up. Strange match. Not much of interest happened and the finish fell flat. ½*

The Faces of Fear w/ Jimmy Hart def. The Fantastics in 5:21
Nitro is adding 80’s teams left and right. Bobby Fulton looks rough. He takes a backdrop into a powerbomb. The Faces of Fear continue to annihilate these guys with a backbreaker and sweet piledriver. STEREO DIVING HEADBUTTS! I love the Faces of Fear. The Fantastics make a small comeback but Barbarian catches Rogers and Meng boots him to win. An extended squash but the most fun I’ve had all show.

LAST WEEK ~ Another recap of the Liz video.

JL vs. nWo Sting ends in a no contest at 1:45
The match is supposed to feature the real Sting, as he even gets the MAN CALLED STING theme. The crowd quickly realizes it isn’t the real Sting when the nWo come down through the stands. They surround the ring while fake Sting goes through Sting’s offense. He applies the Scorpio Death Lock but before JL submits, the real Sting shows up for the first time in the trench coat and white and black paint.

He calmly enters the ring and nails fake Sting with the Scorpion Death Drop and an elbow. Bischoff comments that the nWo don’t help their buddy and real Sting is wearing their colors. Sting hits a Stinger splash and the nWo join the ring. Ted Dibiase introduces him while commentary sounds defeated. I was wrong on Sting’s 9/16 appearance on Nitro when I said that was his last promo until 1998. Here he calls the other Sting a cheap imitation. The real Sting may not be in their price range and he says nothing is for sure. Sting drops the mic and leaves, with his future uncertain. A great bit of story here as Sting begins a crazy journey. Fake Sting celebrates with the nWo. That doesn’t make sense because A) Sting didn’t join, B) if Sting joined fake Sting would be useless and C) they just allowed him to get his ass kicked.

The main event is scheduled to be Chris Benoit vs. Randy Savage. Benoit comes out first and Savage shows up in all black because of the somber mood he’s been in. Hogan also donned all black around last year’s Halloween Havoc. Bischoff stops him and apologizes for the video last week. He directs Savage to an nWo video. It shows Hogan on the set of 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain. They list Hogan as the King of Hollywood. Hogan has hair for this and looks hilarious. He takes over the film and puts Giant as the director. He brings Liz out, demanding she send a message to Randy but she refuses. Hogan sends her to his trailer and says by the time he’s done with her, she’ll only be thinking of him and not Savage. Back to the arena, Savage hesitates before something about friendships, relationships and business being fragile. “Even marriage is final but Hulk Hogan…life is fragile.” That’s all folks.

Raw Rating: 2.6
Nitro Rating: 3.2

5.5

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

Raw:  A strong episode here. The live format helped and the crowd was into most of the show. The main event was better than expected and featured a title change for once. Bret Hart’s return promo was a bit long, but did what it needed to. Even Sid vs. Owen was decent. The only negative on the show was the Godwin's/Gunns tag match but even that gave us some forward movement. 7.0

Nitro: A lot of this show was rather dull. I found the opener and the Malenko/Graffiti matches good. All the matches after that were dire, with Luger/Roadblock being the worst. However, the Sting angle was cool and set things in motion for a big angle going forward. The closing segment was decent but I can’t help but feel Savage as a crazed man out for revenge would have worked better. 4.0