WCW Monday Nitro
September 15, 1997
Charlotte, NC
Independence Arena

The current WCW champs were as follows:
WCW World Champion: Hollywood Hogan (8/9/1997)
WCW U.S. Champion: Steve McMichael (8/21/1997)
WCW World Tag Team Champions: The Outsiders (10/27/1996)
WCW World Television Champion: Alex Wright (8/21/1997)
WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Eddie Guerrero (9/14/1997)

We open the show with a horrific view of Ric Flair lying comatose on an operating table with his head stitched up. If you didn’t watch Fall Brawl, you might think he was dead.

HOUR NUMBER ONE! Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko, and Mike Tenay. Realizing all he has done for his career, Tony feels like he can’t do the show tonight and walks off. We see more brutality from Fall Brawl including the nasty bump Chris Benoit takes over the ropes into the Wargames cage as well as Curt Hennig slamming the cage door on Flair’s head. Buy the replay, ya’ll.

This is a hot Charlotte crowd that doesn’t seem to remember their hero has fallen. SHUT UP AND BE DEPRESSED.

• Dean Malenko vs. Disco Inferno
  

Malenko sells the knee work Jarrett did last night. He’s even got it wrapped up to explain how serious the pain was for him to have submitted. Like how many of us feel, Charlotte makes sure to shout out that Disco sucks. He goes after the knee a little bit, but Malenko is too riled up and comes back with the butterfly powerbomb and the TEXAS CLOVERLEAF. Good night. (4:13) You think they figured Disco Inferno would be TV champ in two weeks? Nah. *½

Over on the world wide web fad internet show, Eddie Guerrero talks with Mark Madden. Whoever Guerrero is talking about sure needs to man up and stop complaining about whatever.

• Harlem Heat (w/Jacqueline) vs. The Faces of Fear
  

While Stevie Ray plays face in peril, Tenay and Zbyszko apologize for not being able to call the action because Ric Flair weighs so heavily on their minds. Yeah, because WCW commentary NEVER drifts onto topics unrelated to what we’re seeing. We see that Raven has himself a front row seat. Meng atomic drops Stevie Ray and holds him in place for the KICK OF FEAR. Booker immediately makes the save. As the Faces of Fear miss the double flying headbutt, Stevie Ray reaches Booker T for a tag. Tenay – “Harlem Heat are on fire here!” BRILLIANT. The crowd is going ballistic for all the kicks and whatnot Booker is dishing out. Stevie Ray holds up Barbarian for a Harlem Side Kick, but then Meng pops in and TONGAN DEATH GRIPS Booker down for the tapout. (6:28) The Heat are on a losing streak now. It looked like they would pick up the victory there, but Meng shut them down. The heat segment on Stevie Ray wasn’t too exciting, but everything after the hot tag was tremendous. *½

NITRO GIRLS! NITRO PARTY! SEND IN YOUR VHS TAPES!

Gene Okerlund introduces Diamond Dallas Page. Guess what. DDP has a fever (caused by Randy Savage) and the only prescription is another match with him. He’s got to have one more match with Savage, baby. So yeah, there’s the challenge. Halloween Havoc. DDP and Savage – PART III.

• Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera
  

Feeling out stuff to start complete with headlocks. Rey headscissors Juvi to get this going. Over to the apron, Juventud whiffs a dropkick by accident and makes up for the miscue with a powerbomb to Rey down to the floor! Geez. Back inside, Guerrera delivers a slingshot legdrop for two. Juvi launches Rey into the air, but Mysterio pounds Guerrera in the face to prevent a running powerbomb and falls on top of Juvi. In the corner, Rey delivers the ten-count punch and headscissors Guerrera halfway across the ring. He’s too HYPED to cover though and misses his opportunity for a three count. Juventud faceplants Rey, but misses a charge and falls out to the floor. Not even worrying about it, Rey busts out a somersault plancha. Back inside, Guerrera tries to come back with a springboard headscissors, but Rey counters with a powerbomb. One SPRINGBOARD HURRACANRANA later and Mysterio gets the win. (7:03) If this isn’t match of the night, I’ll be very surprised. Very good stuff here as they worked their tails off. ***¼

WCW Saturday Night! Watch it IF YOU WEEL! 6:05PM eastern time! TBS! Ray Traylor, the Steiner Brothers, and appearances from the nWo. Can you believe it? The nWo on a show that isn’t live? Don’t get too excited – it’s just Scott Norton and Buff Bagwell. Surprise! It’s the MUTHASHIP! PAY WINDAHS, CLUBBERIN, AND PLUNDAH, BABY!

• WCW World Television Champion Alex Wright vs. Steven Regal
  

Not sure what the connection is, but Charlotte LOVES Regal. He gets a similar reaction to the one he received here at Slamboree back in May. Tenay interprets that they just hate Alex Wright that much. When has that ever been the case for any other situation? Regal makes Wright look silly with some chain wrestling. When Wright turns his back on Regal to pose for the crowd, Regal dropkicks him to the floor. Back inside, they run into one another. They stand up trading European forearms, leading to Regal trying the REGAL STRETCH. Wright makes him pay by flinging him into the corner and while he’s dazed, Wright gives Regal the GERMAN SUPLEX for the three-count to retain the TV title. (4:33) Fresh from his time off after urinating on a flight attendant, Regal did not seem his usual self here. *½

Gene Okerlund brings out Ray Traylor. They replay the clip of Traylor being beaten and spray painted by the nWo last week. This week, Traylor has a can of spray paint with him. He knows the now can beat him up as a group, but can they handle him one-on-one. Traylor reminds he started here in Charlotte, and tonight in Charlotte is where he will begin again.

• The Giant vs. Konnan
  

Yeah, I don’t think this will end well for Konnan. Giant heaves Konnan all around in and out of the ring. Hey look, Raven is in the front row. For somebody who seems super depressed, he sure does seem to have the cash flow to spend on front row WCW Monday Nitro tickets – the HOTTEST show on cable TV. Konnan tries to break away and comes off the top rope, but he’s caught and drilled with a CHOKESLAM for the three-count. (3:04) Sometimes you just want to see a tall man destroy someone else. ½*

HOUR NUMBER TWO! Your hosts are Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, and Larry Zbyszko.

NITRO GIRLS!

• Diamond Dallas Page vs. Stevie Richards
  

I have a feeling Stevie is about to get banged. Not the good kind either. DDP runs through his moves and gives the crowd what they want. Man, are they hot. DIAMOND CUTTER off the shoulders gets the win. (3:38) Afterwards, DDP leaves Raven to kick Stevie out of the ring and to the floor. ¾*

Time to check in with the 1-800-COLLECT On the Road Report with Lee Marshall. He’s in Salt Lake City Utah doing Mormon things. HE MAKES A WEASEL JOKE. HAHAHAHAHAHA! Heenan one-ups him as usual.

• WCW World Tag Team Champions The Outsiders (w/Syxx) vs. Mortis & Wrath (w/James Vandenberg)
  

Well, this is interesting. Worlds are definitely colliding here. Hall runs through his arm twist routine and slaps Mortis on the head a bunch. He wins a slugfest as well, but Mortis catches him ducking for a backdrop and delivers a Rocker Dropper. Hall quickly fires back with the Fallaway Slam. Wrath gets a punch in the face, but then Mortis nails Hall with a spinning heel kick. Tag to Wrath, Hall spits in his face and tags in Nash. He lays in his knees and elbows on Wrath in the corner, but Wrath returns the favor with kicks and chops. Nash is reeling! Bicycle Kick by Wrath gets two. Mortis tags in and hits a Russian Legsweep and a legdrop off the second rope for another nearfall. Nash fires back with the Big Boot. Wrath temporarily stops the JACKKNIFE POWERBOMB before he takes a Big Boot and takes a clothesline out to the floor. Nash hits Mortis with the JACKKNIFE POWERBOMB and gets the pinfall with his foot on his chest. (6:00) So much for that winning streak. I’m not saying they should have won the tag belts, but at least give the Outsiders a harder fought win to make the streak mean something. **

Eric Bischoff introduces us to the WCW World Heavyweight champion Hollywood Hogan and the rest of the nWo. Most importantly, Bischoff introduces the newest member of the group: Curt Hennig. He comes out wearing Ric Flair’s red robe, which is BORDERLINE heresy in Charlotte. Hennig has a look on his face like he may get shot tonight. Once Hennig is in the ring, someone in the crowd throws a cup of soda and connects with his head. The rest of the crowd approves. Larry Z wants the fans to throw another cup. Hennig calls Arn Anderson and Ric Flair real jerks. He continues to say how much he enjoyed hearing Flair’s bones crack when he slammed the door on his head. When he’s done talking, he presents Flair’s robe ON HIS KNEES to Hollywood Hogan. Hulk says this day has been nothing but “perfect”. Bischoff has a big laugh over that. Over to Randy Savage, he responds to DDP’s challenge for Halloween Havoc with “it would be an honor”. Okay, it’s getting old now. Now back to Hogan. He says he was around when Roddy Piper was the head of another organization called the WWF and he never told any of us what to do. Wow, this man is so delusional. I don’t even think he’s a liar so much as all of his memories are just complete fiction, but he perceives them all to be factual. As for the cage match with Roddy Piper at Halloween Havoc, Hogan says he will put the old fossil to rest. Hollywood Hogan is eight months older than Roddy Piper. He hopes Sting will be watching that cage match, because then he will want nothing to do with Hogan, brother. Whatcha gonna do when the nWo runs wild on you?

Video package featuring Roddy Piper yelling and beating up on Hollywood Hogan.

• WCW Cruiserweight Champion Eddie Guerrero vs. Ultimo Dragon
  

A little feeling-out stuff to start. Eddie begins his gameplan of dissecting the shoulder. Dragon comes back with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. After the headstand in the corner, Dragon completes the Kick Combo. RUNNING LIGERBOMB gets 1-2-NO! He wants a Giant Swing, but his shoulder hurts too much. Dragon seems off his game failing to properly hit the out-of-nowhere headscissors. He can’t grip the DRAGON SLEEPER either due to his shoulder. Eddie catches a quebrada and drops Dragon with a shoulderbreaker. That’s enough for the FROG SPLASH and the win. (6:05) Dragon just has not had a good couple days here. **

The nWo’s “Rules & Bones” t-shirt ad with Scott Hall and Buff Bagwell. BUY THE SHIRT.

NITRO GIRLS!

• WCW U.S. Champion Steve McMichael vs. Curt Hennig
  

This is still at a point when Michael Buffer shows up, it’s a big deal. Understandably so, Mongo sprints to the ring to get at Hennig. He puts the boots to Mongo until he starts to absorb the blows. Being the smarter wrestler of the two, Hennig goes after the leg and wraps the knee around the post. He follows up with a spinning toe hold and takes McMichael to school. Mongo thumbs the eye and goes for a slam, but his knee gives out as Hennig goes back to work. Mongo keeps making comeback, including one where he throws Hennig across the ring by his hair to crotch him into the ringpost. He delivers a bunch of atomic drops using his good knee. Turnbuckle smashes everywhere! Hennig leapfrogs the Three Point Stance, causing Mongo to run his head into the bottom buckle. With Mongo staggered, the HENNIGPLEX is enough to pin Mongo for the U.S. title. (6:24) Pretty excellent gameplan right from the get-go from Hennig. He knew Mongo was way too powerful and motivated, so he had to take out a knee. Simple, yet completely effective. **

WCW and Slim Jim presents Halloween Havoc on October 26 from Las Vegas, Nevada at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Here is what the card looks like as we speak:

MAIN EVENT: Non-title Cage Match – Hollywood Hogan vs. Roddy Piper
Diamond Dallas Page vs. Randy Savage