Loss

Raven is cutting one of his typical slacker promos when a pair of cowboy boots and a familiar voice show up and tell him he needs to stand up. I don't think these two really have chemistry as characters, but Funk was fantastic here -- head and shoulders above everyone in the ECW environment. I honestly think his promos so far this year have been my favorite of his career. Raven needed to sell a little fear and he didn't, which kept this from getting to the next level for me.

My favorite unintentionally cringeworthy Sean Mooney quote is "A lot of people view London as a melting pot, but I was very surprised that the same was true about Germany."

Agreed. I understand why at the time he felt waiting for Sting to come back was the right move, but Flair/Luger had decent momentum on house shows at this time and people were ready to see the two-year Luger chase pay off.

It is in full! A Kanemoto box set came out within the last few years that had the complete match.

According to the WON at the time, yes.

I remember reading that he pitched something to be involved in the Mohammad Hassan angle, but they decided not to bring him back.

They made the decision around October. They were going to job him at Starrcade. Sting asked if he could at least win the feud before dropping the title to Flair, which is why the title change was done on the January house show. I think they were basing it on declining house show attendance and main events that weren't very good in quality.

It was because Sting bombed in the role. Flair wasn't the answer to their problems, but at least the hardcores (which was pretty much all WCW had at this point) liked him as the top guy.

I thought that too! In previous shoots, even when he said something smart, Hall sounded kind of like an asshole. Now, he seems like a fairly nice guy who has been humbled. Just shows the power of addiction. I'm really hoping he can stay on the right path.

Flair not turning in 1988 or so can be blamed on Dusty. Although before Arn and Tully left and before the Turner buyout, the breakup of the Four Horsemen was an eventual angle Dusty and Crockett were going to run, probably at some point in 1989. It would presumably have Ric Flair as a babyface. Flair turning heel in 1990 can be blamed on Flair. He was the booker at that point and wanted to turn because he preferred working heel, not realizing that at that stage of his career, he was too respected to really be viscerally hated, even if he was great in the role. I think more important than being babyface or heel, Flair just needed to be Flair, which I think probably landed him as more of a tweener. But that would have required some careful booking. 1989-1990 WCW was an incredibly political environment with tons of backstabbing and jockeying for position, and that was starting to eat at Flair anyway. By the end of '89, Herd had decided that the reason they weren't competitive with the WWF was because they pushed Ric Flair on top and he was too old. Others who wanted power and had Herd's ear, notably Jim Ross, pushed for it too. He hadn't reached the breaking point yet, but the stress of being the booker and top star, and also of giving Ric Flair-calibre performances every night, was starting to eat at Flair by that time.

Takaiwa looks a little green in this match, but he would improve pretty rapidly throughout 1997 if my memory serves me correctly. Benoit looks absolutely phenomenal here in terms of execution and body language. I know people don't really care for playing that up much, but it's pretty unavoidable. Anyway, Dave's ****1/2 rating based on the 10 minutes of the 15:30 that aired may have been a little high, but this was a very good tag match.

This wasn't as transcendent as my favorite lucha title matches, but I still found plenty here to enjoy and thought this was excellent nonetheless. Atlantis's repeated return to the cross armbreaker was excellent, and all the nifty legwork and pin attempts in the third fall was pretty cool. The last few minutes of nearfall attempts brought some much needed drama to a match that had some great exchanges, but didn't really have many strong momentum shifts to go with it before that. Something is keeping this from being a great match and it's hard to place my finger on, but I'd still say this is highly worth watching and really good. 1990 El Dandy may have permanently spoiled me on matches like this, to a point where there's no return.

I think he fit in later, but right now, Savage seems out of place in the NWO. Hogan buries Piper's team and hypes Uncensored. Sting is with them, but is just staring and off in the corner the entire time.

Okay, here it is -- prior to 1998, what was probably the worst segment in Nitro history. A rare major misfire for WCW around this time. The Omni crowd seems happy to see Piper again. I'm guessing it had been years since he had been in the building at this point. Piper finally explains what he said in gaelic months earlier. No name after no name comes down the aisle (including the future Luther Reigns), finally culminating in John Tenta, takes on Piper as the crowd dies. Honestly, I can see why they thought this might work and it's an interesting concept. But it … doesn't. No one can say Eric Bischoff didn't take some really ballsy risks during this time.

Eric Bischoff finally gets a dose of humility. He is confronted by his boss, Harvey Schiller (President of Turner Sports) and the crowd senses where this is going and they are excited. He tells him that effective immediately, he's suspended. He has no more financial responsibilities and can sign no more contracts. He's done. Bischoff pleads with him and there we go! One thing I am impressed with so far in 1997 is that at this point, they were still giving the babyface side some victories. The NWO was strong and won most of the time for sure, yes, but it wasn't as one-sided as some may think, at least not at this point.

I wasn't sure how this would hold up, but this is super. Cool to see Owen and especially Davey Boy do all sorts of things they didn't really show on a week-to-week basis at this time. Lots of European style armbar reversals and showmanship early on, and some beautiful wrestling exchanges as the match progressed. Owen is the heel, but gets the tone just right. It's subtle and he doesn't go too far with it, since at this point they are family, on good terms and engaged in friendly competition.

Austin cuts a scorching hot promo to hype the match with Bret at Wrestlemania -- his best of the year to this point. "You treat me like a dog and you expect me to smile. You remind me of a jackass."

Cool segment from the RAW in Germany of Mankind cutting a boxed-in promo in (what I'd guess is perfect) German.

Interesting to watch Kawada and Taue work with the "shooters" of All Japan. Takayama looks exactly what he was at this point -- not too far away from putting together the pieces to become a great professional wrestler. There was some awkwardness in some of the sequences, but I enjoyed this overall. The exchanges between Takayama and Taue were a highlight, worked like a crowd had gathered around them sparring at a gym. I could see some people really liking this, if only because it's not 2.9 at all.

February: #1 - Jushin Liger vs Shinjiro Otani (NJPW 02/09/97) ***** #2 - El Hijo del Santo vs Negro Casas (CMLL Japan 02/06/97) ***3/4 #3 - Jushin Liger vs Koji Kanemoto (NJPW 02/16/97) ***3/4 #4 - Rey Misterio Jr vs El Hijo del Santo (Promo Azteca 02/23/97) ***3/4 #5 - Chigusa Nagayo vs Mayumi Ozaki (GAEA 02/23/97) ***3/4 #6 - Eddy Guerrero & Chris Jericho vs Meng & Barbarian (WCW Monday Nitro 02/24/97) ***1/2 #7 - Shinya Hashimoto vs Kazuo Yamazaki (NJPW 02/16/97) ***1/2 #8 - Bret Hart vs Sid (WWF Monday Night RAW 02/17/97) ***1/2 #9 - Yuki Ishikawa vs Alexander Otsuka (BattlARTS 02/28/97) ***1/2 #10 - Bret Hart vs Steve Austin vs Undertaker vs Vader (WWF Final Four 02/16/97) ***1/4 #11 - Jerry Lawler & Brian Christopher vs PG-13 (USWA TV 02/22/97) ***1/4 #12 - Tommy Rich vs Terry Funk (ECW Crossing The Line Again 02/01/97) *** #13 - Undertaker vs Hunter Hearst Helmsley (WWF Shotgun Saturday Night 02/08/97) #14 - Jerry Lawler & Bill Dundee vs PG-13 (USWA TV 02/15/97) #15 - Ace Darling vs Cheetah Master (ECWA Super 8 02/22/97) #16 - Latin Lover vs Heavy Metal vs Octagon vs Hector Garza (AAA Rey de Reyes 02/21/97) Overall thoughts: There have been two absolute MOTD candidates so far this year, which is pretty impressive at the end of February. Lots of good wrestling and good angles. WCW is still a better all around promotion than the WWF. I can't complain.

The work here is really good, but it's hard for me to really get into wrestling where I can't see or hear much of a crowd. I remember that being true about much of 1996 BattlARTS too, so I'm hoping it's something that eventually changes. Otsuka has some great suplexes, and Ishikawa gives him most of the match. I liked this, but didn't love it.

Before the match even starts, Bischoff is out with the big NWO guns. The announcers rightfully suspect that Luger and Giant will be stripped of the tag titles. Luger refuses to just hand the belts over without getting something in return. NWO vs WCW at Uncensored, with every title in the company on the line. That's not exactly how they booked this match, but it's an interesting premise. Sting comes out and stands in the middle of the ring. He has a staredown with Hogan and Hogan hugs him as the show goes off the air. Nice segment.

Hall and Nash officially welcome Savage to the NWO. Hogan comes out to join the party, to reunite Savage with Liz, who has a smile on her face for the first time in months.

It's been fun while it has lasted, but DDP's luck has run out. Hall and Nash circle the ring and while DDP is distracted, Savage hits him from behind with a spray can. A fan jumps in the ring and gets his ass kicked. DDP gets spraypainted and Savage dons his NWO t-shirt. It's the beginning of what may be the feud of the year.

This was a pretty great TV match. Jericho gets his ass kicked and it's just one great spot after another. Wow. I'm really surprised at how awesome this was, to a point that it might end up in the lower rung of my top 100 for the year. There is seriously not a wasted spot in this match that I saw, nor one that wasn't hit cleanly. Spectacular. Jericho and Eddy are golden as a team, face or heel.