Gorman

Thoughts on Bash at the Beach 97 Ernest Miller seemed out of place in the Mortal Kombat feud, because he wasn't wearing an MK costume or called something like "Cataclysm." Eric Bischoff must have thought Miller was too big of a star from the karate world. The Steiners took another baby step toward the tag team title by beating Chono and Muta. Give the nWo credit for recruiting two of the biggest stars in Japan for its overseas branch. Villano V came down for the switcheroo with his big brother and quickly lost the match. The referee didn't notice the Roman numeral V on his trunks, which he could have easily changed to IV with a piece of masking tape. Kevin Sullivan lost a career vs. career match to Chris Benoit, but it was anticlimactic because Jacquelyn did the damage with a wooden chair. Sullivan was supposed to walk off a hero in his hometown of Daytona Beach by shoving Jimmy Hart, but it wasn't a moment on the level of Andre and Heenan at WrestleMania VI. Debra McMichael was the guaranteed winner of the "Winner Take All" match with the US title and her managerial services on the line. Either way, she would manage the champion. She chose to help Jeff Jarrett instead of her own husband. Speaking of choices, DDP picked Curt Hennig as his mystery partner against Randy Savage and Scott Hall. He wasn't the "perfect" partner. Their team lasted less than 10 minutes before Hennig walked out on him. While Hennig didn't join the nWo then, the Horsemen should have learned that Hennig wouldn't be a reliable partner two months later at War Games. Dennis Rodman's ability to perform wrestling moves astonished the announcers, even though they had just seen Kevin Greene and Reggie White do the same thing. "Sting" attacked the Giant, but he was so tall that he obviously wasn't the real deal. Lex Luger is the MVP for making Hogan tap out to the torture rack, and Luger was on such a roll that he racked Rodman and Randy Savage as well.

Not to be outdone, (from WON site) Ziggler responds by saying "the world needs ditch diggers too, kid." ... when he is only two years older than LA Knight.

Orangehausen will be there, and so will Trent.

Thoughts on Great American Bash 97 Sonny Ono kicked his own guy in the head again, but this time it was an accident. Psicosis lost, as Sonny failed to extract some "respect" from Ultimo Dragon. The Outsiders screwed the Steiners out of the tag team titles again ... before they could even have a match! They sent Vincent to attack Harlem Heat, getting the Steiners disqualified from a No. 1 contenders match. Konnan and Hugh Morrus blew up and lost the crowd. Neither man had Jimmy Hart in their corner, so the crowd wasn't sure who was supposed to be the babyface. Glacier beat Wrath after botched interference from Mortis, who was handcuffed to the turnbuckle. James Vandenburg was pickpocketing the referee to get the key to unlock Mortis, causing the ref to miss Glacier using a chain to hit Wrath. Team Count Chocula attacked Glacier after the match, but unfortunately he did not have a gi-wearing, James Brown-dancing karate champion to help him this time. I kept waiting for Madusa to beat Akira Hokuto, but it never happened. For winning three PPV title matches over Madusa and ending her career, Hokuto is the MVP. Why did Meng have to fight Chris Benoit in another death match after beating him one month earlier? Why did Benoit have to get through Barbarian and Meng to get another match with Kevin Sullivan when their restroom brawl was one year earlier? Speaking of one year earlier, Kevin Greene finally got revenge on Steve McMichael, who turned on him at GAB 96. Greene's mom even bopped Mongo with her purse. It was still weird that Greene teamed with Mongo's Horsemen teammate Ric Flair on the last pay-per-view. The nWo got revenge for the previous two PPVs, as Savage beat DDP and the Outsiders beat Piper and Flair. The Nature Boy totally forgot that he was in a tag team match, as he battled SyxyxxyyxPac back to the locker room and never returned. Nine years later, WWE fans voted for Piper to team with Flair again, and they beat the Spirit Squad for the WWE tag team belts. Savage delivered another Ref-Driver, this time to hometown referee Mickey Jay. Of course, everything was legal in this lights-out match, and give WCW credit for actually turning the lights out before the match!

Thoughts on Slamboree 97 Sonny Ono took a page from Mr. Fuji's managerial playbook by turning against Ultimo Dragon while he was TV champion. This resulted in Steven Regal's fourth TV title, which sounds impressive but he really deserved to move up the ladder. Lee Marshall was the WCW women's expert announcer, just like Mike Tenay was the special announcer for the Mexican and Japanese wrestlers. Marshall helped to call Madusa's match with Luna Vachon, whose WCW run I completely forgot. The Glacier-Mortis rematch didn't last two minutes before Wrath came in for the DQ. Fortunately, a charismatic, trash-talking karate guy (Ernest Miller) saved the day. The Four Horsemen got off to a terrible start in Charlotte with two clean losses, as Jeff Jarrett lost to Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit lost to Meng in a death match. Steve McMichael broke the losing streak by beating Reggie White. Mongo tried to paint this as a win for the Bears over the Packers, but Mongo played with White on the Packers in 1994. There's no shame in losing to the Steiners, but Konnan broke up with Hugh Morrus after the match. The same thing happened one year earlier with Fire & Ice. Konnan was never a good fit with the Dungeon of Doom anyway. Ric Flair is the MVP for returning from a six-month absence to lead Roddy Piper and Kevin Greene to victory over Hall, Nash and S6yx. Between this match and DDP's win over Savage one month earlier, it seemed like WCW was turning the tide against the nWo ... maybe? (Spoiler alert: Maybe not)

Jays and Mariners are natural rivals because they both started in 1977.

Make sure the trash gets hauled away from the arena or someone might Duggan it.

He should try to phone in to the meeting but they ignore him because it's a Robo call.

Thoughts on Spring Stampede 97 Only WCW would think that an opener between Rey Misterio Jr. and Ultimo Dragon would benefit from focusing on the nWo. We really needed to cut back to the dressing room to see Lee Marshall fail to get an interview with Kevin Nash? Nash was supposed to defend the tag team title by himself against both Steiners. But since the nWo can never be at a disadvantage, Scott Steiner got maced and then arrested for accidentally hitting a police officer. Then Nash got Nick Patrick installed as referee, plus he had Syyxxyxyx and Ted DiBiase his corner. Ric Flair said Kevin Greene would be teaming with him next month in Charlotte. This made no sense, since the last time Greene was in the ring, Mongo was turning against him and joining the Horsemen. Shouldn't Greene have been looking for revenge? Booker T accidentally called Hulk Hogan the n-word, but the audio guy saved the day in post-production by dubbing in the "sucka" that Booker said one second earlier. If you're going to bring a foreign object to the ring, shouldn't you have some kind of plan to use it? The Public Enemy beat Jarrett & Mongo by using the Horsemen's own Halliburton briefcase. Giant was noble enough to give Lex Luger the chance to win the four-corners match with Booker and Stevie Ray. Luger had a ton of momentum and seemed to have the best chance to topple Hogan. Chris Benoit vs. Dean Malenko is a great idea for a match, but how about FIVE run-ins? Jacqueline, Jimmy Hart, Eddy Guerrero, Arn Anderson and Kevin Sullivan were the participants in this parade. The upshot was Sullivan, Jackie and Hart forcing Eddy to steal the US title, which may have turned a light on in his head. DiBiase helped (7-1) remove the turnbuckle pad, but Nash giving Rick Steiner FOUR Snake Eyes face drops into the exposed steel was a bridge too far for DiBiase and even for Nick Patrick, who reluctantly counted to three. Diamond Dallas Page earned the MVP award by stepping into the ring for the main event against Randy Savage at age 41 - win, lose or draw. But DDP won! This match had a ton of referee abuse. Poor Mark Curtis (who wrestled for us in Steel City Wrestling as a ninja turtle) took a vicious piledriver from Savage, who then whipped Curtis with his own belt. Then after Nick Patrick counted Savage down for a three-count, Nash gave Patrick a huge Jackknife powerbomb.

Greco-Roman Knuckle Lock ----- test of strength Same thing. Just saying it two different ways.

I'm so glad you were at ROH Reborn Stage 2 and you enjoyed it so much. That was a special night for a lot of reasons. It was my first show in my college town, and my wife, kid and college roommate were there. In fact, when I was preparing backstage, my girl was in a baby carrier on my back. Then after driving Punk and Cabana from Cleveland to Pittsburgh several times for IWC, I got to announce them as ROH tag team champions.

Thoughts on Uncensored 97 NO-DQ MATCH - Only WCW would think that an opener between Eddy Guerrero and Dean Malenko would benefit from a lot of focus on the nWo. First, they cut backstage to see Rick Steiner go to the hospital after an attack by the nWo, who were standing right there acting like they only discovered the crime. Later, Syxxyx6xyx interfered, and Malenko won the US title by knocking out Eddy with the video camera. Dean didn't know it, but the camera he held in his hand may have contained footage of the attack on Steiner. MARTIAL ARTS MATCH - Glacier beat Mortis with the Cryonic Kick in what should have just been called a Mortal Kombat match. Glacier was then attacked by another MK character (Wrath). Glacier thought, "maybe I need to even the odds by teaming up with a James Brown/Muhammad Ali/karate guy." STRAP MATCH - Buff Bagwell came out and said he didn't care if he lost to Scotty Riggs, but Buff won anyway. Riggs came out to the American Males music, which is like going into divorce court with a boom box playing "our song." TORNADO MATCH - Instead of just "no tags necessary," Harlem Heat vs. Public Enemy predictably turned into an ECW brawl. Jarrett & Mongo, who were supposed to wrestle TPE before getting drafted onto Team Piper, interfered anyway, and Harlem Heat won. Prince Iaukea foolishly gave Rey Misterio Jr. extra time to win the TV title, but then he heroically pinned Rey Jr. right in the middle of the ring. THREE-TEAM MAIN EVENT -If Team Piper wins, Piper gets to fight Hogan in a steel cage. Nothing about it being a title match. Some people never learn. Lex Luger wins the MVP award after facing the nWo 4-on-1, just like he did at World War 3. After eliminating Savage, Nash and Hall, Luger fell to the numbers game (including a half-asleep Dennis Rodman), and Hogan won yet again. Tony Schiavone asked out loud, "Why doesn't anyone on WCW step into Rick Steiner's spot? If WCW wins, the nWo loses all of their titles and goes away for three years." But nobody showed up! It made everybody in the company look weak. Sting showed up after the match and beat up the nWo, but he was the only person who had no obligation to stand up for WCW. The company should have disbanded if nobody cared about it. Here's what should have happened. The entire WCW locker room comes in at the end and throws out the nWo. Since there's no disqualifications and Eric Bischoff had been suspended, the decision stands. They could say Jack Boot was the fourth man. WCW gets the titles back and crowns new champions. The nWo hangs onto the physical belts, they get the three-year suspension cut to four months and have title unification matches at Halloween Havoc. Then you can still do Hogan-Sting at Starrcade.

Don't dump any commentary from 02 please.

If this lets more people hear Jim Cornette call me an idiot at Wrath of the Racket, I will consider this a win.

I vote for a middle-aged Special K rave.

Of course, he's imitating Savage, but he could be doing Fred G. Sanford and it would almost sound the same.

Thoughts on SuperBrawl VII Tony Schiavone mentioned that Hogan vs. Piper was a title match twice in his opening sentence. Piper spent the previous week in Alcatraz Prison because, you know, he needed to be crazier. WCW wisely let the luchadores compete in six-man matches, which got more of them on the show and always led to fun matches, even when someone whiffed on a big dive (I've got my eye on YOU, Ciclope). Eddy Guerrero failed to stop Syyyyxxyxx from using the cruiserweight title as a weapon, leading to Dean Malenko losing the belt. To his credit, the Iceman did not return the favor in Eddy's US title match against Chris Jericho. And now, a quick excerpt from my yes-it's-still-upcoming book, King of New York, about the Eddy-Y2J match at Insurrexion 2000: 9. Coin flip title match: Intercontinental champion Chris Jericho vs. European champion Eddie Guerrero (with Chyna) Chyna helped Eddie retain the European title. Less than a year into their WWF careers, Guerrero and Jericho were both champions and battling each other in the co-main event. WCW never gave them that spotlight. Okay, so they were fighting for the US title here, but it was in the first half of the show, and there wasn't a smidgen of a chance that the winner would be challenging Hollywood for the World title anytime soon. Prince Iaukea came in with the TV title and upset Rey Misterio Jr. This was just around the time that The Rock won his first championship in the WWF. Diamond Dallas Page wasn't one to hang around and get beat down by the nWo. After he hit the Diamond cutter on Buff Bagwell, DDP bailed into the crowd before the troops caught up with him. Jeff Jarrett became a member of the Four Horsemen after Debra McMichael threw the briefcase to him, causing her own husband to lose. She came out with a beauty-pageant sash, calling herself "Queen of THE WCW," which nobody in the company could seem to get right. Chris Benoit tried to put in Kevin Sullivan through a table and Miss Jacqueline tried to protect Sullivan. The table didn't break and they all went to the hospital. Lex Luger wasn't allowed to team up with the Giant against the Outsiders. But at the end of the match, he did just that and they won the tag team title. Of course, that title change was overturned as well. Randy Savage "shockingly" turned against WCW and helped Hulk Hogan beat Roddy Piper to retain the World title. We were supposed to be confused as to Savage's allegiance because he was hanging out with Sting. But Savage was dressed in black and white with lightning bolts just like Hogan! He might as well have been wearing a robe that said "nWo Megapowers OOOOOH YEAAAHHHH!!!" Despite this lack of effective subterfuge, Macho Man is the MVP for moving another powerful chess piece to the nWo side.

Thoughts on nWo Souled Out What if the bad guys ran their own pay-per-view? Eric Bischoff gets the MVP award for making this show look and sound as different from regular WCW pay-per-views as possible. They even had a boom camera, which delivered a great shot of the debuting Buff Blockbuster. The Miss nWo contest was awful, but give them credit for hiring a live house band to play during the finals! I love how the contestants all had to live in Cedar Rapids to save money, and there was no cash prize, either. Konnan didn't wrestle, but Hugh Morrus took his place in the Mexican Death Match against Big Bubba. It was like the Punjabi Prison match without the Great Khali. Nick Patrick refereed every match and got chokeslammed by the Giant at the end. If it weren't for Bischoff, he would have easily been the MVP. He did a reverse Earl Hebner from the Hogan-Andre match on the Main Event. Giant had Hogan pinned three times, and Patrick just wouldn't count to three. The nWo couldn't stop stealing the US title. First, the Giant stole Flair's title, then Syyyxxxxx stole Eddy's belt. Finally, Guerrero was able to retain it in a ladder match, which Nick Patrick was unable to influence. Another reversal was the WCW wrestlers and referees being the cool outsiders at the nWo show. This resulted in Jarrett and the Steiners' wins, although we had a new version of the Dusty finish. The fans in the building saw the Steiners beat the Outsiders, but the fans watching at home heard the announcer/boss say the decision wouldn't stand. Giant was a heel in the Dungeon of Doom, then stayed a heel in the nWo, so breaking away from the nWo was the first of many face/heel turns in Paul Wight's career. GIANT TURN COUNT: 1. As the nWo celebrated Hogan's successful title defense, the fans chanted "We want Sting." Sting appeared in the rafters earlier in the show and didn't come down. So it was probably nWo Sting, who participated in the garbage-truck parade at the beginning of the show. The fans would have to wait all year to see Hogan vs. Sting.

Thoughts on Starrcade 96 Just when you thought WCW would build its women's division around Madusa like the WWF - surprise! Akira Hokuto wins the belt. Ultimo Dragon walked out of Nashville with nine belts after beating Dean Malenko for the cruiserweight title. Jushin Liger's win over Rey Jr. gave Japan a clean sweep of the first three matches, along with a bit of revenge for losing at Starrcade 95. Jeff Jarrett and Chris Benoit were having a no-DQ match that didn't seem worthy of the stipulation when three crazy things suddenly happened at the same time: Dungeon of Doom tries to kidnap Woman -- and fails! Sullivan breaks a wooden chair over Benoit's head! Arn gives Jarrett a DDT on the floor before accidentally throwing him on top of Benoit for the win! Eddy Guerrero won the US title tournament, but his win was overshadowed by the nWo beating up DDP before his win and Eddy himself after the pin. Eddy even had his new title belt stolen by Syyxxxx. With Nick Patrick as the referee for the Outsiders' title defense, Tony Schiavone said there was no way the Faces of Fear would win. So what are we even doing here? To be fair, Nash pinned Barbarian clean after the Jackknife powerbomb. Mean Gene said Roddy Piper would be in "role of challenger" in the main event. Somehow the Match of the Century (according to Michael Buffer) was a non-title match, and Hogan gloated about that fact after the loss. Piper, his kids, and the fans had been celebrating with fireworks going off, in the biggest case of mass hysteria since Luger beat Yokozuna at SummerSlam 93. Bobby Heenan, who was the voice of reason at that time, was even caught up in the joy of Piper's win. Speaking of Luger, he is the MVP for finally handing the nWo a loss on pay-per-view. During his match with the Giant, Sting showed up and said, "Give him the heater, Ricky! Hit him with my baseball bat!" Considering Hogan's career history, it was weird seeing him backed up by DiBiase, Virgil and Elizabeth. Hey, can someone please tell me why Elizabeth was in the nWo? It seems like she didn't want to be there. Did they own her contract or something? Thanks in advance.

I'll try to fix it before I'm done covering WCW PPVs from 199Syxx.

Thoughts on World War 3 1996 DDP shouldn't have gotten excited about winning World War 3 and getting a title shot. He never got his title shot for winning Battlebowl. Nick Patrick had great heel presence and took a lot of bumps during his match with Chris Jericho. This brings up the question: why didn't Nick Patrick just become a wrestler? Ultimo Dragon retained his eight titles and targeted Dean Malenko's cruiserweight title as belt No. 9. In a perfect world, that would have been the co-main event of Starrcade. Roddy Piper brought his own contract to the ring for the Starrcade main event against Hogan. I'm sure Piper fired his lawyer for forgetting the whole "title shot" aspect of the match. Piper attacking Hogan with the entire nWo standing right there wasn't very smart, either. The Amazing French Quebecers built an elaborate contraption out of tables and steps, only to whiff on the huge version of their Tower of Quebec finisher. Their loss to Harlem Heat allowed Sherri to beat up Col. Parker, which had the announcers howling with laughter. Eric Bischoff was a game changer as the wrestling boss who joined the top heel group. Even Vince McMahon didn't start playing the evil boss until a year later. Tony Schiavone noted that Sting's attack on Jeff Jarrett didn't mean that he was joining the nWo, because Sting wasn't out there with Hogan during the segment with Piper. The Giant is the MVP. Not only did he chokeslam and pin Jeff Jarrett (which he didn't do at Halloween Havoc), but he won the World War 3 battle royale by banding together with the Outsiders and 6 to establish a 4-on-1 advantage over Lex Luger at the end.

Happy 20th birthday to Ring Of Honor!

I wish! That was after my time in IWC. I was fortunate enough to meet Kurt Angle after the first TNA house show in Cleveland.

Thoughts on Halloween Havoc 96 The Rey Jr.-Malenko match perfectly illustrated the importance of the mask. Malenko showed up with a mask he had stolen from Rey, who regained the possession of it and put it back on without revealing his face to the crowd. Malenko wins the MVP award for regaining the Cruiserweight title, showing that mat wrestling could be as much of a signature for the division as high flying. DDP beat another Guerrero clean with the Diamond Cutter (Eddy this time) to regain possession of his Battlebowl ring. Jeff Jarrett looked like he was dropped in from the WWF because he wore his old "Double J" outfit, minus the hat. Ironically, he would have fit in perfectly with the southern-style WCW if he had wrestled there first. Jarrett said he would not be chokeslammed by The Giant and he was right, as the Four Horsemen backed him up in a rare showing of solidarity by WCW wrestlers against the nWo. Arn Anderson shouldn't have placed the blame on Lex Luger for WCW's loss in War Games. Luger said he would destroy Arn, and that's just what he did. The nWo ran the table again with victories by Giant, 6, Outsiders and Hogan. Their dominance over WCW was already becoming tiresome. Even the power of Slim Jim sponsorship could not propel Randy Savage to win the title from Hogan, who really seemed to enjoy his heel role. While the main event was a rematch of WrestleMania V, Roddy Piper came out at the end and invited everyone to relive the first WrestleMania.

Thoughts on Fall Brawl 96 I've never been a big Super Calo fan, but he looked great against Rey Misterio Jr. Calo didn't even botch his ankle-rana off the top rope. Chavo Guerrero Jr. also showed promise before eating a Diamond Cutter. Ice Train won Round 2 of Fire vs. Ice, beating Scott Norton in a submission match with a full nelson. Chris Benoit kept up his momentum with a win over Chris Jericho, who was making his PPV debut. Having two managers paid off again for Harlem Heat. Sherri and Col. Parker led them to victory over the Steiners at Hog Wild and the Nasty Boys here. The Giant is the MVP, as his defection to the nWo swung the balance of power. Not only did the Giant beat Randy Savage in the co-main event, he came back to save Hogan from an attack by the Macho Man after War Games. Lex Luger had a lot of nerve not trusting Sting, after the Stinger stood by his side for months. Ric Flair and Arn Anderson also shouldn't have doubted Sting's loyalty. To be fair, the fake Sting looked a LOT like the real Sting, as you could tell when they were in the War Games cage together. Sting would have to wait more than a year before WCW would allow him to lead the charge against the nWo invasion.