Post by Leo on Jan 31, 2024 17:13:13 GMT -5
WCW Monday Nitro episode 53 for 01.29.24
Live from the Mullett Arena in Tempe, Arizona
Commentary: Gorilla Monsoon and Wade Barrett
Ring Announcer: Gary Michael Cappetta
Interviewer: SoCal Val
Referees: Tommy Young, Joey Marella and Charles Robinson
The show starts with highlights from the men’s Tremendous Tussle, including David Von Erich winning by last eliminating Kurt Angle.
We then go live to the ring with David Von Erich and his brother, Kevin. David addresses the crowd. “My brother, Kevin, and I have bounced around a bit the past few years here in the UWA, but we think we have a permanent home right here in the WCW. And we couldn’t have come in at a better time when the next pay-per-view on Feb. 25 will be at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas. And there’s nobody who knows more about Dallas, Texas, than me and Kevin. And we also know a good bit about Rick Rude, the UWA Universal Men’s Champion. He ran back to the AWA after sitting in on commentary last night, but come Feb. 25 at Destination Dallas III, Rick Rude, there will be no running and no hiding from me.”
Kurt Angle then comes out and enters the ring with a microphone in his hand. “Everyone knows you don’t stand a chance against Rick Rude. You got lucky on a fluke against me last night. The smart thing for you to do is to vacate your spot as the Tremendous Tussle winner, so I can claim the win and the title shot.”
David goes to talk, but Kevin shakes his head ‘no’ at him and takes the microphone. “Shane McMahon gave David and I one slot for the Tremendous Tussle and David got it by a flip of a coin. If that coin flipped the other way, it would have been me knocking you to the floor last night. I didn’t like sitting in the back with nothing to do and I’ll be damned if I do that again for Destination Dallas. David’s dance card is full, but mine is wide open, Kurt.”
Angle accepts Kevin’s challenge for Destination Dallas. David then tells Angle to find a tag team partner and face him and Kevin later on tonight. However, Perfectly Wonderful of Curt Hennig and Paul Orndorff come out to the entrance stage with Col. Robert Fuller. Fuller doesn’t want Hennig to say what he’s about to. Hennig said if it wasn’t for David’s dumb luck, he’d be the Tremendous Tussle winner, so he challenges the Von Erichs to a tag match tonight.
Shane McMahon comes out and books the tag match, also making it for the WCW World Tag Team Titles Perfectly Wonderful has. That's what Fuller was afraid of and he curses and throws his hat down. And Angle can have a match with the other members of the Tremendous Final Four from last night, Nick Aldis. And that match will be for the WCW U.S. Title.
COMMERCIAL
We come back to Steve Blackman in the ring. He talks about how he didn’t come out with the rest of security to deal with Black Mamba last night at the Tremendous Tussle, because he was entering the match later on. However, that’s shirking his duties as the chief of security. He let his team down, he let Shane McMahon down and he let the fans down. Therefore, he challenges Black Mamba to a match right here, right now.
Viper Pillman and Jake Roberts lead out Black Mamba. Roberts orders him to take out Blackman with all due prejudice.
Blackman uses speed and kicks to chop Mamba down like a tree, but as he goes for the Bicycle Kick, Mamba raises up, grabs Blackman by the throat and chokeslams him. Black Mamba wins at 3:45.
Roberts, Pillman and Mamba beatdown Blackman after, but Randy Savage runs out and makes the save with a steel chair. Savage wants Roberts in the ring, but Viper tells Jake to let him have the match. It’s his choice, so take it. Gorilla Monsoon on commentary suggests Savage shouldn't be ready for a match tonight from the DDT he took on the floor last night from Jake.
Roberts sends Mamba to the back, but stays out himself and takes shots at Savage from the floor when he can. Viper throws Savage to the floor and distracts referee Charles Robinson. Roberts goes for a DDT, but Savage runs Jake back first into the ring wall. Viper nails Savage with a suicide dive and teases a brainbuster on the floor, but Brian Pillman runs out to break it up. The referee throws the match out at 8:32. Savage was sluggish and woozy throughout.
COMMERCIAL
Clips from the women’s Tremendous Tussle are shown.
Tessa Blanchard and Wendi Richter defeated Charlotte Flair and Taya Valkyrie with Maria Kannelis-Bennett by pinfall of Richter on Valkyrie via True Colors DDT at 13:21. The heels don’t really gel with both wanting to do all the work in the match while the faces work more like a team with quick tags. The finish comes when Valkyrie misses a blind tag by Richter as she shoots Blanchard into the ropes and then scores a backdrop. She lines up the Road to Valhalla on Blanchard while Flair is screaming and pointing at Richter who comes in and catches Valkyrie from behind with an Edge-o-matic. True Colors finishes.
Flair grabs a microphone from the commentary table. “This match means nothing to me. The three women in the ring mean nothing to me. I’m only out here tonight because I was ordered to by the boss, Shane McMahon. The only thing I’m focused on, the only thing I care about, is getting my hands on Jade Cargill again at Destination Dallas and winning the UWA Universal Women’s Title.”
Blanchard and Richter encourage the fans to boo Flair. However, this allows Valkyrie to nail Blanchard and Richter from behind and then she nails Richter with the Road to Valhalla.
COMMERCIAL
SoCal Val has Harlem Heat on the interview stage. Booker T talks. “A lot of suckas tonight are flapping their lips about being right there at the end of the Tremendous Tussle last night and I was right there with them. But, that’s not what I want to talk about right now. My brother, Stevie Ray and I, are still due a rematch for the WCW World Tag Team Titles. And I know the Von Erichs have jumped the line with a tag title match later tonight. And the Von Erichs talked about how they better be at Destination Dallas III. Well, our name might be Harlem Heat, but Stevie Ray and I are both Texas AF and we better be on the show too. So, belts on the line, no belts on the line, we want Perfectly Wonderfully back in the ring and we better get it. Believe that, sucka.”
— — — — —
Footage is shown of Kevin Owens and Eddie Gilbert returning at the Tremendous Tussle with Owens and Gilbert being eliminated and brawling off.
Killer Kross with Maria Kannelis-Bennett defeated “The Prizefighter” Kevin Owens by countout at 11:12. Eddie Gilbert strutted to the ring and taunted Owens, allowing Kross to get the drop on him. Owens elbows out of the Saito Suplex and goes for the Stunner, but Kross pushes Owens out of it and he uses the momentum for a baseball slide out onto an unsuspecting Gilbert. Gilbert runs and Owens chases him.
COMMERCIAL
Footage of the first blood match for the WCW World Heavyweight Title between Steve Austin and Dusty Rhodes at Tremendous Tussle is shown.
Austin is in the ring with the title belt. “What Dusty Rhodes got with my title belt is what we call a cup of coffee in this business. Meaning he had it about as long as it takes me to drink a cup of coffee and there better be some damn whiskey in that coffee. Booker T was out here talking about being Texas AF. Well, so am I and you better damn well know I’ll be defending this title at Destination Dallas III.”
Dusty Rhodes walks out and Austin says “uh-uh, I’m done with you.”
Rhodes replies. “Steve Austin, when we had our first match and you won by me passing out, you were a real man and gave me a rematch, I admit that. Then when I beat you in our Texas Bullrope match for the title, I gave you a rematch because I owed it to you. Then you beat me last night in a first blood match, despite bleeding first. I saw that replay just now like everybody watching at home and everybody here in Tempe, Arizona. So, if you’re the man you say you are, you’ll give me one last match, one last match only for that belt. Win or lose, Steve Austin, we're done after that.”
Austin gets in Dusty’s face. “I’ll say it again you hard of hearing son of a bitch, I’m done with you.”
“But I don’t think the fans are done with you two yet,” Shane McMahon says as he walks onto the entrance stage. “I remember awhile back Dusty saying there are two things he knew of from Texas - a Texas Bullrope Match and and a Texas Death Match. And since you’ve already done the bullrope match and we are going to be in Texas for the ppv…” the fans pop as McMahon trails off.
Austin speaks again. “Alright, Dusty, you got the bossman in your back pocket. You want to prove you’re Texas AF too in Dallas. Fine, but like you said earlier, this is it, win or lose. As long as one of us has this belt it’s the last title match between you and me.”
Rhodes nods his head in the affirmative. Austin starts to turn his back and says “oh yeah, and one more thing…” and he tries to surprise Rhodes with the kick, wham, stunner, but Rhodes nails him with the Flip, Flop and Fly first and Austin powders out.
COMMERCIAL
“The Ultimate Olympian” Kurt Angle defeated “National Treasure” Nick Aldis to become the new WCW U.S. Champion by pinfall via Angle Slam at 14:23. Aldis gets a full nelson leg sweep followed by a scoop power slam. He goes up top for the elbow smash, but Angle moves. Angle with a body slam and he goes up for the Anglesault, but showboats and eats knees. Aldis with a Samoan Drop for a two count. He lines up the Treasure Chest. Mickie James runs out waving the divorce papers. This makes Aldis pause, so Angle backdrops out. He comes back with a knee lift to the chin and the Angle Slam for the victory. Mickie James celebrates with Angle afterward. Wait, aren’t you with Steve Austin? Does it matter?
— — — — —
SoCal Val has Bret Hart on the interview stage and asks where the rest of the nWo are. “Bret Hart might be in the nWo, but the nWo isn’t in Bret Hart, if you know what I’m saying. I’ll take the allies when I need them, but I don’t need them when it comes to my worthless brother, Owen Hart. He’s the reason I’m in the nWo, having driven me from the Hart Foundation. He might call me a traitor, a Benedict Arnold, a Judas, whatever. The fact of the matter is that Owen could never stand living in my shadow and when he saw a chance to get out from under it, he took it. But I cast an awful long shadow, Owen, and forever and ever in the world of professional wrestling you’ll just be Bret Hart’s little brother. Because I’m the best there was, the best there is and the best there will be.”
COMMERCIAL
SoCal Val has Hulk Hogan on the interview stage. “Let me tell you something, Christy Hemme. That stinky, wart infested Calvin Hobbs couldn’t squash Hulkamania at Royal Rumble, even with Sensational Sherri on the outside of the ring with him. And while I’ll get back in the ring with him anytime, I really want the leader of the New Worst Odor, British Knights and his WCW 24/7, 7-11, I-95 Title. And I want him at Target Tulsa on Feb. 30.” Val asks Hogan if he smells burnt toast.
— — — — —
The Von Erich Brothers (David and Kevin) defeated Perfectly Wonderful (Curt Hennig and Paul Orndorff) with Col. Robert Fuller by disqualification at 15:32. Perfectly Wonderful keeps the tag team titles. David backdrops out of Orndorff’s piledriver and tags Kevin. He comes in with a flying crossbody from on high on Orndorff, but he catches him for a turn around slam. Tag to Hennig for the rolling neck snap. Kevin reverses the Perfect Plex to a regular suplex. Swinging neckbreaker and he teases the Iron Claw. Orndorff runs in, but David cuts him off with an Iron Claw. Kevin with the Iron Claw on Hennig. Fuller runs in and nails Von Erichs in the back of the head with his loaded loafer for the DQ.
They do a beatdown, broken up by Harlem Heat. Shane McMahon comes out and announces the main event of the next Nitro, the Von Erichs and Harlem Heat vs. the entire Stud Stable.