83 Weeks - Nitro 10.21.96 Watchalong [Show Notes] (Patreon)

We've gone a month since doing a watch along in 1996 of Nitro’s so before we hop into the Peacock machine let’s do a quick recap of things going on in WCW from Syxx-Pac’s debut on September 16th to where we’re at today on October 21st!

A lot of WCW talent are in Japan for the WCW/New Japan tournament including people such as Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Rick Steiner, Lex Luger, Arn Anderson, Ric Flair, Steven Regal, Hugh Morrus, Marcus Alexander Bagwell & Sting. With this lack of talent on the second hour of the September 23rd show the nWo “takes over.” Was this just a necessary evil of keeping the New Japan relationship going?

On that show Public Enemy wins the WCW World Tag Team Titles over Harlem Heat and in one of the staples of Nitro the nWo is shown arriving backstage and Kevin Nash says, “Accept no limitations, the real deals are in the house” as a knock on the WWF “debuting” the fake Razor & Diesel. What were your thoughts on the fake Razor & Diesel and what were Kevin & Scott’s?

Virgil debuts as Vincent as the newest member of the nWo. How does this come to be and did he charge you for a picture?

The next week at the nWo suite in the Marriott Jerry Saggs does an impression of you with his bare ass. What do you remember of this?

Elizabeth is thrust into the nWo - Randy Savage - Hulk Hogan storyline. Were there any issues with Randy regarding this and what did Liz think of being part of this story?

Harlem Heat wins the WCW World Tag Team Titles back from Public Enemy at a Saturday Night taping. It’s obvious the Outsiders are being set up for the tag titles...did they prefer to work with Harlem Heat compared to the Public Enemy?

Flair gets hurt in Japan right around the time Jeff Jarrett debuts. Was Flair’s injury a catalyst for the Jeff Jarrett in the Horsemen storyline or was that always the plan?

On Nitro at the Mid-South Coliseum the week before this the Nasty Boys come out in the nWo colors but the nWo beats them down stating that they can’t wear the colors until they’re told to. Why was Hulk so heavy on giving the Nasty Boys the rub?

Sting is gone for the month filming scenes for “Liar, Liar” with Jim Carrey. Do you know why the Sting scenes never saw the light of day?

It’s time to fire up the Peacock machine for our watch along of Monday Nitro on October 21st, 1996. Season 2 episode 41! 3-2-1!

Eric we’re live from...Mankato, Minnesota. Eric...where the fuck is Mankato, Minnesota? Show draws 4,034 paying $52,155.

We open with clips of Savage & Liz together and Liz confessing to Randy that she still loved him. Man this is some deep layers to a professional wrestling angle. How was everyone to deal with in producing this?

Here we have Bobby Eaton facing off against Chris Jericho. So effectively, for those who care and most probably don’t, Bobby split from the Blue Bloods with Steven Regal and just went back to being his old Bobby Eaton self. We recently lost Bobby Eric. Do you have any fun Bobby Eaton stories?

There’s a shot of Syxx and nWo Sting in the crowd and Syxx has his camcorder filming. What is the point of this and was it supposed to lead to anything?

It’s announced that Syxx and Jericho will be facing off at Halloween Havoc on Sunday...and you can listen to us discuss that show in the archives so be sure to check it out when this is over. Did Sean push to work Jericho at first or was it just a logical matchup at this point?

Jericho gets the win in 7:14 and talks to Tony afterwards! Meltzer gave it **.

Dean Malenko -who has Rey Misterio Jr’s mask- and Jimmy Graffiti are out next and what many people probably don’t realize when they see this is that Jimmy Graffiti...is Jimmy Del Ray from Smoky Mountain & the WWF in the Heavenly Bodies and he has completely changed his look. And by changed his look I mean his pornstache is gone but this is his debut in WCW.

With Dean coming out with Rey’s mask was this something from the beginning of Rey’s WCW career that you knew you could market and eventually take off of him?

What was the thought process in removing Rey’s mask eventually?

Graffiti is out of shape really because he’d been out of wrestling at this point for a while. Why put someone looking like this on TV compared to a dark match?

Are you collecting talent at this point knowing you need 60 men for World War 3 next month?

Malenko gets the win with the Texas Cloverleaf in 6:45. Meltzer gave it **¾.

Next up is DDP vs. Sgt. Craig Pittman which is really just a backdrop because Nick Patrick is the referee. The growth of DDP though is tremendous as you see his in-ring work getting better and better. What do you attribute that to?

Nick Patrick is feigning various injuries and misses DDP trying to submit because of Teddy Long and DDP gets the Diamond Cutter out of nowhere for the win. Meltzer gives it ½*.

That diamond cutter...just the way he can hit it from nowhere was really such a catalyst for a star eventually. But really if you think about it...you give that finish to Ice Train and it’s not nearly as over.

Nick Patrick talks afterwards with Tony and denies being the nWo ref. Not as great as Patrick is usually but still...this is a slow burn for this story. Are you running out of ideas at this point with him?

Ron Studd is out to face off against Jeff Jarrett but before we can get started here comes Ric Flair (and in a great Tony line Flair walks out in a $3000 suit I’m sure as Tony screams that he’s in street clothes…) and struts and shakes hands with Jeff.

Jeff gets the win in a little bit over a minute and Flair cuts a promo afterwards talking about how Jeff is going to take his place against the Giant at Halloween Havoc and honestly it’s the first Flair promo in a while that sounds like Flair. Was Ric starting to lose confidence at this point? Meltzer gave this a DUD.

Did anyone have any issues with Jeff joining the Horsemen...even though he never actually really technically joins?

As get ready for hour #2 Eric there’s something interesting going on in Mexico that will directly affect WCW. Konnan and Antonio Pena have a split in regards to their business interests in AAA and Konnan is taking the WCW talent and opening Promo Azteca. What do you remember of all this going down and did it affect anything with you and the luchadores and any changes made?

A clip of this next match recently went around on Twitter between Roadblock...who is making his WCW debut...against Lex Luger.

Before we get into this match I have to talk about Roadblock’s path to professional wrestling from the Observer:

“he's best known in wrestling for about ten years ago when the WWF was doing a TV taping in Rochester, NY, he wanted to be a pro wrestler and Hulk Hogan blew him off at the gym that day, so he went to the show and just as Hogan was going to wrestle One Man Gang, he hit the ring and took Gang down (he was a good high school wrestler) and was pounding on Gang and a panicked Slick was pounding on his back with his cane and it was having no effect.”

How great is that...and by great I mean fans shouldn’t try to rush the ring to become a part of the business but still...that’s great.

So Roadblock is gigantic and it’s not exactly 6 stars in the Tokyo Dome. It just seems like eventually Lex gets annoyed and goes to the finish...and the finish is Lex getting the rack. In the Observer it’s said that Lex did it previously at the Saturday Night tapings but it takes 3 times for Lex to get him up for the finish. But each time it doesn’t work it makes the crowd reaction that much stronger until he gets him finally up and the crowd goes BANANA. Things like this...not intended but still...missing in today’s environment?

This is the little things I love about you Eric. Before we get to the next match...you congratulate the Atlanta Braves on their World Series victory over the New York Yankees… “We kinda make that a habit around here, don't we? Big win over New York” I love you for that.

Harlem Heat vs. the American Males are up next...and as this match goes to the ring Bret Hart is in the ring on Monday Night Raw doing his promo about accepting the WWF’s offer to return and speaking nicely about WCW during the negotiations that you say didn’t happen. From the Observer: “Bischoff faxed his last WCW contract offer to San Jose and was somewhat confident as late as Saturday that he was still going to pull the deal out even after the WWF plugged Hart's appearance on Raw and strongly suggested his return to the WWF as a full-timer on its "Live Wire" show that morning. The reason Bischoff seemed off in the announcing was because he was very nervous about how Bret Hart was going to handle his interview since he knew WWF would want Hart to rub it in his face. Sources close to Bischoff said that Bischoff had nothing but good things to say about how Hart handled himself in the negotiations and felt it was very classy how he handled it on television.”

So are you listening to Bret’s interview while this is going on because there are long stretches of you being quiet…

You do mention how the nWo was working to get their own TV slot. Were there thoughts to Saturday Night changing formats or an hour of Nitro?

The Outsiders are in the crowd watching with nose strips like Harlem Heat. That little detail sounds like a Scott Hall thing right?

This is the beginning of the signs of Buff turning heel to join the nWo as he is one second too late to break up the pinfall. Why Buff for the nWo and did you think he was ready for this type of push? Meltzer gives it *.

Next up here’s the Fantastics...Tommy Rogers & Bobby Fulton...against the Faces of Fear. Are we just bringing back every tag team from the 80s at this point to put over tag teams?

Rogers & Fulton do not look TV ready as the Faces of Fear just kind of squash them in 5 minutes in a match Meltzer gives *. Tommy Rogers looked good here all things considered. Why didn’t Meng & Barbarian connect with the audience in your mind?

Now here’s why we’re all here. Jeff Farmer vs. Jerry Lynn! Well actually The Fake Sting vs. Mr. JL. It goes just a bit over a minute when the real Sting...in this badass jacket but still kind of the same tights...comes out and puts the fake Sting in the scorpion...but the nWo doesn’t even attack him? It’s obviously because they want him to join but I mean...kind of silly when watching this.

Real quick from the Observer … “The idea here is to do an angle based on the shoot situation with Bret Hart, but this time WCW can win.”

Go ahead Eric open up on it…

Hall does get another line in about bonus imposters...the nWo offers a spot to Sting which has to make the fake Sting feel like shit...Sting will take about 13 months to get to the decision but the end line is Sting saying, “The only thing that’s for sure is that nothing is for sure.”

It’s probably the last time he speaks again until 1997/1998ish. Did you know at this time where it’s all going?

Randy Savage vs. Chris Benoit is scheduled as our main event...but before we get to it here you are in the aisle way...speaking of which what was the contract negotiations like with Gene Okerlund here as he is noticeably absent.

You go to some footage for Randy and here’s Hulk Hogan on the set of Three Ninjas...big time movie by the way...and also with him is Giant & Elizabeth. Hogan fires the director...makes himself the producer and also Hogan forces Elizabeth to be locked into a trailer. You tell Randy that you wanted him to see the footage...once again is this a precursor to a heel turn? Because it certainly lines up that way in hindsight.

Meltzer would say regarding Hogan’s Three Ninjas promo, “Hogan looked more like his grandfather, no exaggeration, he looked in his 60s and I couldn't believe he'd let himself be on a wrestling show looking older than Lou Thesz does today.”

Did you think Hulk looked old here?

Randy cuts this AMAZING promo...and it closes the show. What a way to finish and that’s the type of promo that sells pay-per-views.

From the Observer after the show… “Hulk Hogan had signed a three-year deal with WCW four days before Halloween Havoc, spurning a supposed five-year offer from the WWF.”

You’re negotiating with Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage between this Nitro and Halloween Havoc. You’re obviously negotiating with Roddy Piper at this time as he’s going to debut at Havoc and you’re about to set a gate record at Havoc. Is this one of those things you look back at now that you’re negotiating with 3 of the biggest stars in the history of this business and about to set a gate record for the company … and the show is a major fucking success?

Speaking of a success this Nitro is a success. A 3.2 vs. Raw’s 2.6. Strong way to close into Halloween Havoc.